I will put this all together when i am done with the thread!
trying some heat sinks
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With 6 XPG3s running from 2 cells in direct drive it may get hot so i am trying to make a heat sink
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The gap is almost 4mm and the heat sink are only 3mm so i have to shimmy some shims in
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testing if the heat sink even works lol I used my heat gun to heat up the shelf
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Seems to work not the best but better than nothing? First pic the shelf is 40 degree Celsius and this picture the back of the first heat fin is 34 degrees Celsius
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Inside should look like this except i will cut the middle heat fin so i can fit driver and battery pack in
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It will have a wood top and bottom but the sides i have not decided yet i will polish the aluminum and see how it looks
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I may keep the front alloy or use wood it depends on what looks best
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Yea i might go fishing this weekend so i am making time when i can.
I found a better battery carrier with brass looking inserts so i hooked up what appears to be 20AWG wire to both sides.
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looks mad dodgy but it works i got 3k lumens with one set of LEDs and 1 18650 so ill see how it goes when i add the other side.
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I ended up doing spring bypass on the battery holder to see how it goes and it helps but i either have to get bigger gauge wire or shorten it a fair bit.
So another day has come and i needed to join the aluminum frame together, Monday i tried brazing the frame which was a fail. Yesterday was d day i needed to have the frame together first up i tried drilling holes with a 1.5mm drill bit into 3mm aluminum which was not working so i quickly gave up on that.
Issue is the drill press has some run out its not that much but seeing as the dimension are so small its an issue. I currently don’t have the time to fix before doing this project but that is next up on my list. This was supposed to be a none issue cause i was going to use 5mm+ thick flat bar which i never got around to buying!
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Okay so best i idea ever! make some custom brackets all well and dandy if i had used steel lol. The aluminum ones snapped lol i tried to make the brackets with 1mm thick aluminum flat bar. Honestly i wasn’t expecting much but i was still disappointed when they broke! They are strong enough so i couldn’t break them by hand but once you attach them to the longer flat bar frame you they break easy. Steel would over come cause it can hold strength while being bent but i have no steel on hand.
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I was a proud parent for a while till they disappointed me like all children hahahaha For a moment i though id start a business fabricating custom parts hahahaha
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Okay so the brackets didn’t work. whats next? Bunnings trip maybe? Think monkey think! Googles gluing aluminum to aluminum lol This whole time knowing i don’t need the frame as such because it will be covered in wood. I didnt want to glue because the whole point of the frame is to help heat sink the LEDs. So a mechanical joint is the best way to go.
I fixed my back fence so the niece and nephew wouldn’t jump down the ledge with steel rope.
I mean who am i to judge ones beauty?
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I done more work after this i cleaned up the front of the LED shelf and made the heat sink fins shorter on both ends. I have glued some wood together with wood glue which will be the top and bottom of the light. I also rewired the driver with 20 gauge wire and i soldered the LED wires to the driver wires i thru in 2 cells and gave it a burl. Not tee bag!
My mate works at Qantas and he gave some two part araldite they use on aircraft the stuff is crazy strong i used it to glue a mirror to a brick wall and its been there for years not a budge lol. Should work a treat.
Hi Chris
I’ve missed this thread somehow….all I can say is Ouch!
Hope it’s all healed up
We all watch youtube reviews and it’s not uncommon for ‘tuber to announce ’Strobe Warrning’……maybe you should have put up a ‘Half a Finger Missing Warning’ just before the photos.
Okay no we are up to here. I am done in a sense either i add a TP charging module and glue the lid on or i add a hinge. I dont really want to leave to high drain cells inside cause i need them so i might hinge it.
Honestly so many hours into this maybe 30-40 hours in total and i am not really happy i mean its nice but i wanted it a bit better if i can be honest. I am not a woodworker so all as i can do is try. Its what i wanted but maybe i should have cedar wood a bit thinner.
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I heat shrunk all joint for safety or durability
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Everything is hooked up and screwed in but i might sand it back with like 600 grit sandpaper
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I will slightly widen the front end. I am loosing to much light.
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I was about to chop the front of at 2am but i’ll be honest i CBF right now lol I think i need the front smaller so the optics sit at the edge.
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So much light comes out the top lol I’ll work it out i guess
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This is with a single run down HG30 cell. It is bright lol
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