grins projector, recoil and test light builds

Wow ” grin ” :open_mouth: Great idea on the wheel selection ! :smiley: , I never thought to look for a parabolic reflector. There are several irons in the fire now !!
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Nice welding on the big light. I can see that you enjoy a challenge. :+1:
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Thanks for keeping us up to date with pics :beer:
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No worries, here is a link to them parabolic reflectors after playing with them they are the best of both reflector and lens lights specially the glass optic grade mirrors. Enderman posted a link from ebay for glass ones they are expensive but top quality. I want a 9 1/4” for the smaller light. glass parabolic reflectors

And sunlight is 111000 lux.
The brightness isn’t the problem.
The problem is the speckle and refraction of a laser hitting a piece of glass, which makes it near impossible for a pilot to see through.
Helicopters have flown over the Luxor beam which is a few billion candela and it’s fine because it’s normal white light.

It takes far less than direct sunlight to blind night-adapter eyes.
Luxor is an interesting example though - and they do take precautions not to blind air traffic - they first do a mild strobe and then turn their 39 lights one by one.

Yeah see this is a misconception, a laser doesn’t “blind” pilots by making their eyes hurt like a regular bright light does, it “blinds” them by making it hard to see out of the glass windows.
Have you ever been out during a sunny day and tried to look through a window into a dark shop?

Think I might have a problem spiders :smiley: the first one I made from a vee belt pulley it has no copper block. The others a made from plate water. It will be interesting to see how the passive copper spider works. The glass one has a 6inch focal length. So I plan on having a collar around the led on all off them eventually with the aperture matched to the reflector that will stop any spill hitting the side of the drum.






Impressive grin!

Thanks
I have been working on getting meter readings right so I can do some comparisons with collars. I have the same size round nose router bit as the genuine collar. So I will make one from aluminium and polish it. I will also make one from brass then tin it with pure silver. The tests so far prove I can get it to focus as good as the genuine one. Have a hunch the silver coating will be as good as you will get for home built.

Ohhh yesssss! DIY collar!!

Sssh can be a little controversial. Research suggests silver may be as good as as as … I can make. Cutting it by hand is very accurate if i can find the appropriate diamond cutter I will try glass.

likevvii,
How is the LEP going? I would like to build 900mm LEP recoil.

It is going really really good.
I will soon be making some post about it.

Almost all of the critical components have arrived.

I think i’ve put like 60+ hours on it so far?

Likevvii I cant wait to see it.
I have the platform to build a monster hopefully a LEP recoil. It has been sitting in the paddock for at least 20yrs. I started it about 10yr ago so it should run just need to give it a service, flush the fuel tank and bleed the fuel lines. I have the diff but It will need an alternator mounted on it so maybe an electric motor and the diesel engine will be a battery charger.

Grin, you don’t do things by half do you lol!? :stuck_out_tongue: so interesting.

Cheers GOOSE, sometimes I get half way through something and then realise it wont work or could be done a better way :smiley: I found the 900mm mirror when I did a random ebay search and couldnt resist buying it, it was cheap for what it is and a great addition to my collection of parts and lights.
It has been a steep learning curve and this thread made me realise how little I actually know so I have gone back over things and reassessed what I am doing. Now I have a better understanding of why I decided to build the lens lights like I did. They are based on elipsodial reflector spot lights, telescopes and camera lenses.
A bit of an update I have been sorting things out the last week or 2 and havent done much on the lights. Im also wait for parts from china and that could be a while.
One of the things i did get was a 68mm parabolic mirror from aliexpress with the aim of building a smallish recoil.

The focal point appears to be down in the mirror which makes it hard to use it for what I brought it for. but when I turn it upside down on an LED I get this result.

It looks promising for a shuttering collar to keep light of the internal lens barrel :wink: I think a bigger one of these will cut the aperture i just need to do some calculations to work out aperture size. Then destroy one to see if it works.






Damn that’s a tight spot, what lens is that??

Looks like a regular spherical lens, not aspheric, because of the spill around the square die projection

Australia NSW News—Police in Hunter Valley were called by numerous alarmed citizens who reported UFOs flying in the local sky. Investigation details were not available.

Just 2 x 145mm fl370mm aliexpress lens. I find a single lens doesnt work as well as 2. It did attract attention last night because of the projection onto the clouds

Ah yeah, I think I remember something about multiple spherical lenses vs single aspherical lens having a similar effect on collimation.
That’s prett cool.