And congratulations on the sander. I have a small disk sander (without the belt part) and I use it very very often, it is one of the best tools for modding (one example: sanding down a 20mm ledboard down to 16mm takes 5 minutes and it looks impeccable :-) )
Mad skills and imagination in action here. I have no concept of how careful you had to be to not bend or otherwise destroy those thin reflectors. So fricken impressed.
I thought quite a lot about that question. I could say that I wanted to duplicate the SRK and BTU style of 3 up, so that I could have lots of spill and a more floody beam. That sounds good, but the truth is that I only build lights for my entertainment and the way I am entertained is by testing myself. If I simply set 3 reflectors in a head, then I haven’t done anything to test myself. This kind of crazy stuff is really all about seeing if I can and forcing me to think of how I can. Otherwise, for me, myself and I, there’s no reason to build something like this.
They are very thin and it was very hard. I found out right away that I needed more screws to hold the reflector in place and even then it was hard to cut. I couldn’t put much force on the saw. I just had to cut easily, with very little pressure and still they flexed a little. Nice thing about it was that you could flex them back again fairly easily.
Google search for Harbor Freight coupon or Harbor Freight 20% coupon. Then print it out and take it with you. Good for one item. You can use it online too. Good till the end of April I believe.
The glued reflectors look fantastic, if there are any flaws in the boundaries it’s very hard to make them out in the photo. Looks spot on to me! Great work!
Did I hear you say you do this for the challange?…
instead of one big lens how about three “std” sized lenses and then build an open air design to help lighten and keep the head cool?
this thing is going to be a monster and no lightweight, how about instead of a plunger/can style go for more of a railroad lantern/ “peacepipe” shape. use the square stock vertically and mount the head far enough up from the bottom that you can simply set it down on the end of the square stock and have the head still clear the ground.
Then all you need to do is make a comfy handle on the other end and you can let it swing while you walk(if it’s not to heavy to swing .
This way it’s no effort to hold it horizontially just let the weight hang.