DIy 700 lumen batteries inside light

Has anyone managed to finish one yet 8)

cant wait to see the pics of your completed lights

Actually trout if you do get spare kits together I will take one and figure out drivers etc after – its a good chance to get the leds and reflectors. thanks!

You can’t rush a good job! 😉

Troutie …I’m still interested in buying 4 * 20mm xp-g’s off you from the next batch! And if you still want them … I have the 3 * 8mm xp-g’s that I dare not solder!

Has anyone come up with a good solution for helmet mounting? I’m guessing noone has been able to source the Cateye spacer that would make the job a lot easier. I’ve bodged something out of a plastic bottle opener to interface with a HOPE helmet mount I’ve got. I’m not convinced it’ll be secure enough tho so don’t want to drill the case if anyone has a better option. Trout, how did you mount yours to your helmet as per the picture on page 4 or 5? Is it some kind of velcro like material stuck to the bottom of the head unit?

i’ll take another kit off you please Troutie.

(money sent BCT)

Light progress.

Switch and cable entry fitted to alloy end plate. Heatsink plate cut to fit and holes drilled to match solder pads.

Driver bonded and wired in place.

Led’s wired in.

Reflectors bonded in place with silicone.

Plastic front bezel and perspex cut and silicone gasket made

Done.

This is my battery solution.

Wow CK thats really nice, hopefully mine will come out nearly as well. What did you use to drill through the ali end plate. I know it may seem like a painfully obvious question but I’m not that upto speed on these things and have a limited set of tools at my disposal.

Lazymike yep heavy duty Velcro got it from B&Q about 5 years ago
put the loop on my helmet and now afraid to try and remove it .

but holds the CK light on perfectly in fact it hard to take it off .

Bob yep should be no problem .

Scissors whats BCT mean 😳

I think the whole world is holding its breath waiting for a finished light .

Edit
And breath 😯

Nice one CK very tidy

Nice looking unit CK,

May I ask how you bonded the heatsink to the driver board; in the pic I can make out what looks like solder ‘cusps’ to the centre of the holes you’ve drilled. Do you/have you then filled these holes with solder to connect those ‘cusps/blimps/remenants’ to the heat sink plate?

Thanks.

LT

Hail CK … glad to see you’re still “at it”!

What’s an easy source of the sheet you used to make the gaskets?

Your going to hate me for this, I have a milling machine so its dead easy for me to drill holes. All the holes in the alloy are drilled with simple twist drills, the holes in the front plastic bezel were drilled with a 20mm slot drill.

The heat sink is bonded to the driver and back plate with Artic Alumina. Despite AA being non conductive the holes are just an insurance policy to make sure I dont bond to copper on the PCB.

The silicone sheet material was a free sample that I scrounged from an o ring manufacturer some years ago, if you dont ask, you dont get.

I should say that I had rather a large advantage as I already had a full set of drawings that only needed a few mods to adjust for the length of the reflectors, the rest was exactly the same as an Easy DIY build.

That’s one sexy looking light CK..er of course it’s not complete without any beam shots 😛

Where did u source the CatEye mount??

CK – looks stunning, you could sell those! The two holes you have ‘avoided’ are electrically connected on the circuit board so no problem if you just connect them to each other with the heatsink but it could be a problem if you connect them to anything else.

Jazid – sorry, all kits went before you got in I’m afraid! Next time I order from Rapid I’ll add some more switches and connectors as I think I will start selling the complete kit as an item. I’ve got plenty of drivers left if you can source your own power connectors and switch.

CK, Excellent job done mate 8) I can see you being a tad busy once a few on here see that 😉

Have you christened it yet?

Wow, Looks great CK, I need some more details on that battery pack is it double AA ? The colour makes it look like 18650’s ?

Got my first one running tonight… Made it in 2 hours which is probably slow, but the finished article is fantastic…

The throw is phenomenal, really, really chuffed…

I’ll try and get some trail shots tomorrow night..

Big thanks to Trout, BCT and smudge, there is nothing that can compare at double/triple the price point…!

I’m going to need more kits as all my mates are going to want one!!

Big thanks to Trout, BCT and smudge, there is nothing that can compare at double/triple the price point…!

I’m going to need more kits as all my mates are going to want one!!

OOh er does this mean I can make a profit on the next lot . 😆 😉

Well done Clobber, really keen to see some beam shots. I’m planning on getting mine done over the weekend, inquisitive children permitting.

Expect my next lot of dumb questions soon 😉

Be very interested if someone can do a compare to a MS- Bastid
Well any othe lights too .

Ha and I got the 500 post

should have mine finished early next week,as I’ll be away all weekend. then to compare against my ms bastid . ck hopefully I can get mine as neat as yours.

double post. smart phone my arse

Bct: hold a driver back and ill wait for full bct kit for him. (Still not yet received your package yet btw).

started mine. leds drilled as per ck and ali angle drilled.

then my drill battery ran out. grr…

still its the weekend – we’ll have to see what i can get done.

lining up the holes for the ali angle fitting will be the hardest bit. need to get me some proper clampy things i think.

i`m guessing you more experienced chaps put everything together then solder?

trout and blackcat – will you post here when you know if you have more kits available or not. I’ll try to be quicker off the mark this time. Sorry to pester you, just quite keen to build one of these bad bwoys!

Apart from AAA what else can be used to glue the driver and ali heatsink to the back plate – does it need to be something with thermal properties? i may be a tightarse, but im reluctant to spend another £5 for a tiny spot of glue which I will prob never use any more of ever again

I have used silicon in one light with out repercussions .

you can even make your own thermal glue with a good epoxy
and if you have a dremel grind some copper to dust but wear a mask .

of use a fine file and collect the dust .

you will be fine with araldite

not sure about flour and water glue though

Could I use cpu arctic silver I have left over instead of the ali glue(aaa) if I screw the leds down like ck has done, or does it need to be bonded?

Hows everyone else getting on, when will we see the next one?

Mines been for a road trip to work today, not really dark enough to tell yet but the beam is nice and tight. Will try and get some beam shots this weekend.

In answer to some of the questions, the Cateye spacers where brought from Wiggle many years ago, dont think they do them anymore.

The battery packs are home made, each takes 4 18650’s and the packs spigot together to make on larger pack.

One tip that I found out too late is that if you cut the back from a Calco 20mm hex optic holder they are a perfect fit onto the reflectors. Assuming youve put the stars on 22mm centres it a great way of holding and centralising the reflectors.

Jazid Yep screws and the arctic silver paste is better than any Epoxy

Like I said at the beginning a smear of copper slip is as good as any
A guy has tested lots of different thermal pastes home mades and commercial and even water is good but does dry out though.

One tip that I found out too late is that if you cut the back from a Calco 20mm hex optic holder they are a perfect fit onto the reflectors. Assuming youve put the stars on 22mm centres it a great way of holding and centralising the reflectors.

Any chance of a link to these CK as I’m struggling to visualise it?!

As promised heres my next daft question;

Can you get self tapping 2, 3 & 4mm screws suitable for this build? Any
helpful links? I’ve tried my local model shop but they only had 2mm x 8mm in stock and werent very forthcoming about gettin others in.

Have a look in any old knackerd electrical stuff usually find an assortment of self tappers used in them .

Like old computer screws etc?

BCT can I get a driver off you please email should be in profile.

Any chance of a link to these CK as I’m struggling to visualise it?!

Have a look at the original build hear http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=407160
You can see the optics in the hex holders, these holder are a perfect fit in both height and width for the case.

If you cut the back away from the holder your left with this.

The holder will clip over the end of the reflector leaving two small plastic tabs slighly proud, you need to take acount of the extra length when fixing the position on the angle plate.

Ck, fatastic work and thanks for the 2008 easy diy link.

Thanks Trout.
Bct, your processed cheese slice packaging has arrived, cheers.

Could people point me to what silicon product they are using?(I may have missed it in the last 500 posts!)

Also does anyone know if pc case screws are typically self tapping?

CK What are you using to make your silicone gaskets from and is normal household bath sealing silicone ok to use for around the switches etc or does it have to be a specific type?
What size holes did you drill in the end plate for the switch and power lead?

Jazid Not sure if they are but will try using them later once I’ve done my drilling. Not had a lot of luck sourcing screws, got some 2mm from local RC shop however there 10mm long and heads cover the gold coloured contacts on the LED star. Not sure if this is a bad thing or not? A trip to Maplins is in order which I’m sure will be lovely 😕

As far as the holes to be drilled are concerned does the M number, i.e. M2 mean that it needs to be done with a 2mm drill bit etc? Sorry if this is obvious to all you engineering types out there, I am but a humble numpty 😀

Any silicon really but not the acid cureing type
or if you do use the ones that smell of vinigar then make sure the cure fully before sealing up the light .

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46001
this ones OK for sealing and glueing.

Lots of self tappers in a PC case

Stayhigh

M2 needs a 2 mm hole unless you are tapping it and then it needs a 1.6 mm hole .

The aluminium is very soft so even wood screws will cut their own thread .
just drill a slightly smaller hole than the screw

Dammit I was only at Maplins earlier. I got some screws that are m2.5 x12mm and also come with nuts so if cant get them to thread can always do them up with them. Looks like I’ll be heading back there tomorrow 🙄

I went into Halfords to get some Copper Ease and while there noticed they had a pillar drill. I jokingly asked the girl serving me if I could use it and she went and got somebody else who drilled the holes in ali angle heatsink for me. Bonus 😀

The downside to all this is they didnt have a 2.5mm bit so the holes are 2mm but from what you say trout that should be about right? I’ll head back there tomorrow and see if they’ll do the other one for me too as it saves me going through the kitchen table lol.

At this rate I maybe able to get dangerous with a soldering iron later this evening.

Hows everyone else getting on?

ps: Does it matter if the screw heads cover part of the gold coloured contacts on the LED star?