Interesting to see what will be the response, thanks 4wheeler!
It sure looks big, love to see some simple tests where you put it on different LEDs (not having some zoomies with different LEDs where it can be held over the led easy?)
The sheer size of 120mm is still sinking in with me 
I’m in as well. Sounds like a great project so far. 
Put me in for one, please!
Thank you
Interested if the price is right.
Hey, another BLF project! :+1:
So this time it’s about throw then.
The conventional way is a normal but big reflector, which doesn’t use the best bit of the emitted light. :person_facepalming:
With an aspheric lens it does, but it doesn’t use the light a reflector uses… :weary:
I would say we want both, or rather ALL of it to be focussed into a tight beam.
So i.m.o. there are these options, obviously using a small die LED (XP-L HI?) :
- Catadioptric set up
I was gonna order that Carclo one Mountain electronics sells, but my browser didn’t cooperate. :person_facepalming:
.
- Parabolic mirror => recoil thrower
The recoil set up is potentially the most eficient, because it is just one reflecting surface, ALL of the emitted light bounces off into a parallel beam.
Problem will be to find a parabolic mirror that will indeed catch ALL of the emitted LED light.
.
- Another idea is combining a big conventional reflector with lenses.
A TIR should do that, maybe there are 2° TIR optics out there with a 75mm diameter?
Otherwise an aspheric lens could be mounted on the glass with a piece of tube, focussing the spill.
.
Personally i would love to see a recoil thrower ‘to end all throwers’
Interested
Has anyone experience purchasing from Phoenix? Manufacturer of Electroformed Metal Reflectors & Optical Collectors, Electroforms In Both Copper & Nickel - Phoenix Electroformed Products, Southern California
Electoformed reflectors are pretty high end but who knows.
You forgot Wavien collars that collect about all the light emitted, plus another design by MTE,ie H8-1s,which gives a pencil beam.You can see the design in a video in Youtube.
Definitely worth a shot.
Their biggest of the PA2 series is 4.725 inches big (120mm).
But I dont think they are designed to be used with leds?
count me in. Just wish we could do this with one led and the throw at least 3/4 mile.
Wavien collar is just to help a litle with aspheric lens.
With a deep enough parabolic mirror in a recoil set up you only lose the light where the emitter sits and its arm / boom.
With a 4 inch / 10 cm diameter mirrorthe loss is quite negligable when you have a slim design arm / boom (thingy that holds LED and provides thermal path).
Didn’t know about that one.
From what i just saw (will look into it further) it’s a multiple lens set up, projecting a perfect circle of light, but not exactly a pencil beam.
I’ve been messing around with lenses lately, like with this:
…bit heavy though…
But with some primary lens(es) i out throw a Jacob A60 with an XP-E on 2 Watts.
I think at least 1200m and a single LED is a given here. The idea is to kick the ’42s butt - that’s rated at 1550m.
I would fail to see the point of all the combined knowledge on this site result in anything less than the best-out-there.
Cripes even my 2X can boot a beam that far with its U4 LED —Not that it’s a slouch :person_facepalming:
We are talking about more than 1 mile of throw these days
Will update the OP later
OK to be clear
This is a large reflector long fat (4S2P as long as say 2 srk tubes) tubed light.
Wavien collars, lensen, mirrors are all cool but require the start up of a new project
This is for me also a light honoring and aiding Old Lumens.
I want a figure between $5 and $10 (final fair selling price rounded up to next x5 or x0) per sold light donated to Old Lumens and Valerie for as long as this light is being sold whatever the manufacturer will ask for it after the groupbuy.
Old Lumens described a lught he really would have seen produced, i can’t find tgst post anymore but except for
1 wanted US made (RMM) driver, we will go for a BLF designed and coded yet Chinese made one (no doubt a con for Justin)
2 larger head (a plus)
The light we now work on ticks the boxes.
We have discussed shape/form format and I did not push hard for the shape that would allow an OL honorary light since I felt that would not be fair as it would be to heavy and divert from the discussion what we should pursue.
Now that the shape is chosen I stand strong and say this is a Old Lumens honorary light and this is what it is going to be.
Please start new projects for box/square, lensed, mirrored etc lights, this is not going to be that
Amen! :+1: :+1: :+1:
Grtz
Nico
Well said!
+1
Cheers David
Ok, so to get this one track lets try to lay out the basics and work from there.
I think using the Q8 body tube is a great starting point. I do think that battery cariers is the way to go with this one as it would allow for any cell setup we want from 1S to 4S (or more) without having to change the driver. The carriers could have the Q8 tailcap PCB’s to allow easy cell adaptation.
This is the simplest option for moddability and allows for the light to be offered with multiple LED setups easily.
The driver pocket could be reused from the Q8 as well, possibly a bit deeper to allow for a buck driver to fit if needed. It could also reuse the Q8 drivers as well to make things simpler. Depending on if a buck driver is needed the Texas Buck should hopefully be done before long and would work but would add a fair amount of cost. I am going to see how the XHP35 plays with an FET driver soon.
So basically a Q8 with two 4 cell battery carriers as the base for the light.
The major change would come at the head. It would need to have threads added at the LED shelf for a septate head to be installed.
This head and the reflector would then need to be designed to around ~130mm external and ~120mm internal dimensions. Fairly simple to design really, just a matter of how we want it to visually look. I think something like the L6 type of effective yet non-intrusive finning would be ideal.
The reflector also needs to be figured out. Custom made is an option that needs to be priced out. This can only really happen once we find a manufacture though.
Overall it is a pretty simple setup that should not be that hard to figure out. We have already done most of the hard work with the Q8.
As far as other lens options go, I would love to see these used, I would REALLY love to see a TIR of some sort used. Sadly this is just not practical at a reasonable price point. Plus we need to leave something to keep us busy later on. If we build a light that can throw a beam 5 miles, well it won’t have much to improve upon next time will we? lol
++1 :+1:
So it turns out the IM reflector I have mentions is manufactured in China. I got the following response from IM:
"We are willing to do optical ray tracing analysis on other LED options on the 100-1332 reflector.
It is a specular, ultra bright finish, (no facets or flutes).
Attached is a sketch of the dimensions and interface. Please send to me a drawing of the LED/reflector interface you are looking for.
After agreement on the modification requested we can then quote to you min order, price and lead time. Lead time would be 6 weeks and if we can receive the order this week we could deliver before new year.
Yes, reflectors are manufactured by a medical surgery light optical manufacturer in China. We have an NDA in place and orders direct to the manufacturer would not be possible as we own and produce the designs. They use a Swiss M&M machine and can produce parts direct from 3D solid CAD files. Initial parts would be C02 laser cut, before we acquire a die for the production run. "
I told IM that we are early in the Scoping/Designing phase and needed to know what the expected cd/lm would be with an XP-L Hi sized emitter. I realize we will probably got with XHP-35 Hi, but it will be a reference point. I feel further communication with IM should be handled by someone that is experienced in this type of stuff. Maybe the manufacture?. If The Miller feels someone from BLF should work with IM, I will be happy to hand off to that person and introduce them to IM.
They have some promising looking stuff. Someone needs to get with them and see what they can offer.