Texas_Ace BLF Calibrated Lumen tube / Sphere No math skills needed - Several spheres still available

My guess is he wants to test out the smaller version to see how it works first and go from there.

Yeah, I think I will contact him, what is the best method to do that without facebook?

skylumen54@gmail.com

I am sure Vinh will invest in an expensive sphere. I guesss those two lumen tube are for his buddy…

Ok, I got the Lux meters ordered so all that is left is to get the diffusing sheets cut. I will do that later this week.

I also updated the list, looks like we are just about sold out of the 3.5”. I think I got the ratio of 3.5” to 4.5” wrong on the order but the case sizes made it difficult to get exactly what I wanted.

Once I see how hard these are to make and if there is still demand I might make a few more just to have on hand for anyone that needs them, they would just need to pay for shipping as well.

I am in need of some computer components and a compact laptop if anyone wants to trade or trade + cash BTW

I have a line on someone that might possibly trade an 8700k for a flashlight on craigslist, if that goes through then I will be rotating all the house computers and I will need all new components for that system.

I just wanted to update everyone that the PVC orders showed up today, a pile of boxes the size of my front door.I didn’t really consider just how much room 40 of these would take up.

Photo?

Remind me to get one tomorrow when I get around to moving them to a place I could get a picture lol.

I just opened one of the boxes and they look great, they should work perfectly for what we need.

Any neighbors come visit and say “what’s in all those boxes”.
Can’t blame them I’d be curious too, I’d be thinking O’crap his started selling Amway, he’ll be hitting me up to buy something. :open_mouth:

lol, they are sort of used to it by now. There was a time years ago when I had the most packages coming and going of any single address (including the large box stores) in my entire post offices district.

My mail lady at the time got 1 extra minute to complete her area for every package she picked up. Generally I would give her between 25-100 packages a day, so she basically got to take her pretty little time every day. Her Boss was not amused lol.

Just wanted to give everyone an update, the spheres are coming along, just waiting for all the parts now.

PVC is in and looks good, although I only opened one box so far, I have not had time or room to move it out of the corner I shoved them in. I will get some pics once I move them, I tried taking one but it was too dark.

The Diffusing sheets I got mostly laser cut on Saturday, I saved a few sheets until I saw exactly how everything went together so I would know how to cut the rest.

The lux meters are ordered and I got confirmation they shipped, have not checked the tracking number yet but I assume they will be in late this week.

The 3D printed centering rings are taking much longer then expected due to how much labor is involved with swapping out the parts over 150 times. On the plus side I can calibrate the spheres without having them all done, so it should not slow things down that much.

I didn’t really think about this when I started this project, lets just say they are costing me a whole lot more then I first excepted. To the point it would be seriously tempting to just buy my own 3D printer if I thought one of the cheap ones would handle this kind of work load and I was not in a hurry. Oh well, live and learn.

Anyone have any experiences with the budget 3D printers with the heated bed for ABS printing?

What about using pvc caps, like 4”?

Then just drill out the center with a hole saw.

Maybe take a flap disc on an angle grinder to quickly reduce the diameter of the lumen tube opening. Then the pvc cap will drop right on.

I guess it depends on how much the centering rings are costing.

Maybe buy a sheet of pvc and cut it in squares of 4” X 4”. Then use a hole saw to cut the holes? You would just manually hold it on the lumen tube opening along with your light.

IDK, just some ideas.

Instead of a rigid cover, maybe use a dense white foam? You would only need maybe 2 sizes as it would stretch. Plus it’s easier to cut.

I have considered these options as well, for custom sizes that people may want or need this is exactly what I will recommend. Even cardboard will work, you just have to cover whatever it is in aluminum tape to make it reflective.

That said, I am considering other options.

I could laser cut some plastic sheets that would work for this, although they would not have a lip to hang over the edge of the PVC. They would work just fine though and I could knock those out myself in an afternoon instead of paying someone the labor to do it for me on top of the cost of the 3D printing itself.

What do people think? Would having a flat piece of plastic on top of the sphere be ok vs the discs that have a lip built in to remain in place?

For single measurements it should not matter, only for those like me that do many measurements or LED tests where you leave something on top of the sphere for long periods of time would it really matter.

If people would be ok with this I can look into this option, it will take a few weeks for the 3D printing to be finished anyways at this rate. I could sell the 3D printed discs that are already done as an upgrade for those that do a lot of testing. I think they have 10 out of the 150 done so far.

In fact the more I think about it, the more I like this idea if everyone is ok with it.

I sold these with the 3D printed discs though, so I will fulfill that promise if that is what people want.

I was doing some quick math and each print job takes between 45mins - 2 hours it looks like depending on the side. So figure 1 hour per print + 30 mins between print jobs for the swapping process.

That is 150 printing hours total, beyond that being some very expensive time, divided by 8 hour days and the fact that they would be lucky to actually be printing for half that time each day, and it could be over a month before they are all done unless they were really slow for some reason.

I am thinking that just for the sake of time going with a laser cut sheet could be the necessary option.

Opinions?

and 3 printers would be 1/3 of that time :slight_smile: - you saying this place has 1 printer?

What i’ve implemented in the paper-mache sphere i’m working on is made out of white abs plastic.

I am mounting an insert onto the sphere made of two rings, one slightly larger than the other. The one closest to the sphere is the smaller ID, same OD, and the outer one is an 8th of an inch smaller ID, same OD. Then i’m cutting basic discs with varied central openings for each light. The OD of the flashlight discs fits inside the “outer” ring. Each disc fits inside the “outer” ring and sits on the lip created by the “inner” one.

Sort of like a manhole, with a manhole cover for each light.

You could print one adapter from PVC to the circles, then hole saw the individual light opening discs pretty easily and cheaply.

I’ll try to grab a pic after work.

They have 2 working printers right now (it is a small place and this is just a side venture for them but they are nice $2500 printers that work very well even with nearly constant use).

They just don’t generally let 1 person use both printers at once unless they are sitting around doing nothing. Recently they are both generally working all day every day. They want to get more but they are out of room to put them.

The only other place I know of in the area that offers 3D printing is a membership place that is over an hour away from me 1 way. Might get it done faster but it would cost more.

Like I said, buying my own printer would be the next best option if I thought a cheap printer could handle this. I am looking into this but I have heard the stories of these cheap printers taking weeks or months of tweaking to get them working and then they break down all the time. Which would take even longer then what I am doing now.

Hmm, that is a pretty darn good idea. When only making 1 of these there was no reason to worry about this but now that makes a lot of sense.

I will have to look into that for sure. It would save some money but mostly it would be way faster.

Only caution is the cutting of the abs. It wants to melt on me, so i’ve cut them a bit larger and am sanding the edges with a dremel to fit. Not something you want to get into when mass-producing them.

I bet your laser cutter folks would be able to crank them out with perfect precision though.

Yeah, I would most likely use acrylic instead of ABS since it is laser cutter friendly and then just apply the reflective tape to that.