Stay-At-Home Build (on hand materials only)

Oh, and if you haven’t guessed, it is a mule. Not enough length of aluminum tube to insert an optic or reflector without using a shorter cell, of which I have none. I guess I could have tried squeezing the switch into less space but I have enough trouble soldering, etc. as it is.

The last internal component. The USB-C type port for the charger. I did some chiseling to fit the USB board to a strip of pine. This will be shortened.

The rear cover is two pieces of lexan cemented together. The smaller, inner piece is to locate the unit on the end and keep it from sliding out of alignment. This is basically the same thing that I did with the rear cover on the 7th O-L contest entry. The wood block with the USB board is also cemented to the rear cover and also assists in keeping the rear cover aligned. I missed taking pictures of the process of drilling and then filing, doing a lot of filing, to make a hole for the USB connector to stick out.

The short length of aluminum tube is just for testing the fit of the parts.

A hole was drilled for the screw that secures the rear cover to the body. There is a 4-40 tapped hole in the rear copper strip that acts as a cell holder and mount for the charger board. A 4-40 machine screw threads into that to secure the cover plate. The screw is countersunk so the light can tailstand.

I fitted a 4-40 nylock nut on the inside of the rear cover to hold the screw captive and prevent loss.

I still need to solder positive and negative leads between the USB port and the charger. They will be fairly short. Once the copper led and cell carrier is inserted and secured the rear cover will be slipped into place and the screw tightened.

Then the final steps will be to radius the corners of the aluminum slightly and polish the aluminum. I think I will use wood top and side strips as I did with the 7th O-L contest entry. Same woods.

Not too long to completion date now. I hope.

Connected the USB port to the charger board. It works. I also did some preliminary fine grit sanding in advance of polishing.

Ooops! I just fried the xhp50.2

Not a great shot, but the little dark spots never used to be there.

I tried to limit the current to the led with smaller wires than I would normally use but after about 15 seconds it flared brighter and bluer and then blinked out.

I could try another xhp50.2 but that may be pointless. My other “on hand” choices are an XP-G3 (3000K or 5000K), a Nichia 319AT (4000K), an LH351D (5000K), an XP-L (unknown). Hmmm. Maybe the XP-L considering that the driver is an FET+7135 variety?

Thoughts?

Woah it takes a lot to kill the 3v 50.2. Maybe yours was defective? Matt Smith tested it to like 13A and it lived giving over 3100lm. I run mine in my zoomie (5000k) on a vtc6 and fet driver fine. Maybe try the xp-l or samsung. That’s the only other emitter I’d think could handle the current.

Still pondering what I have here….

The other XHP50.2 I have is on a 16mm noctigon, just like the first. I’m wondering about changing the mount from the brass pill to a copper slab, and silver soldering it to the base copper strip. Maybe the brass was not conducting the heat away well enough? Then I need to make/mod a mount for the driver. [scratches head]…. Space is tight.

Or use the XP-L or the LH351D. I have a single mcpcb I could reflow either onto….

And I discovered I have an unused 20mm triple LH351D…

Meanwhile I have been polishing the aluminum tube.

I was looking at your setup and as one who has done some crazy stuff with junk I had lying around for heatsinking in tight spaces, I can’t see a reason why your 50.2 died so fast. Thats a good mcpcb and the thermal path is good enough for short bursts on turbo. I’ve only killed one in my day and it was because I shorted the driver. That emitter should have lived, especially since it’s hot a super low IR cell and you did have current limiting. Maybe try a different battery with the xp-l and 24 gauge led wires. I really like the 319 with the hex die! Best beams you can get I think.

I’ve been looking it over and am thinking of slicing the pill in half, removing the front portion and replacing the front portion with a strip of 1/8” thick copper; 3/4” x 3/4”. That can be silver soldered to the copper base strip and the remaining brass which will still mount the driver. Then use the other XHP50.2 that I have. I cut a little off the front of the switch mount to give a small amount of extra space to fit in the driver. Nothing like a challenge. :slight_smile:

That would help heatsinking for sure. I used a brass C8 pill as a driver mount/heatsink before. Just sanded the front flat and soldered it to a 3.5mm piece of copper mounted to the heatsink. Was enough to tame a sst40 direct drive. I think you could make that work. I’ll be interested to see how it works.

I don’t recall off the top of my head which has a higher vf of those leds. I would go with the highest vf led you have.

After some thought, I decided to not use an XHP50.2 but instead to run a triple Samsung LH352D @4000K I did improve on the heat sinking by replacing that brass pill and making up a mount for the mcpcb from a piece of 1/8” copper strap material.

I cut a brass do-dad to mount the driver to. My first attempt at soldering it all together had problems. There are three pieces, the copper base strip, the copper mcpcb mount plate and the brass ring for the driver. They kept sliding around when the silver solder would flow. So I made up a clamp with an aluminum bar and a black oxide coated machine screw. The solder doesn’t stick to either. Here’s a picture or two. Not visible is a black oxide screw that is holding the brass ring in place on the copper base strip/

Once soldered and cooled I removed the clamping apparatus.

I spent a few hours over the past couple of days polishing the aluminum tube. I made the top wood strip from the cutoff from the project for the 7th O-L contest. It will secure to the aluminum tube with two 2-56 machine screws. The wood strip will hold the switch boot in place and the recess makes accidental activation less likely.

Next, a little more polishing and side skins. Then a reassembly of all the parts.

Thanks for looking.

Looking good MtnDon. Hopefully this time the LEDs hold up.

Looks good! Really like the wood skin!

Finished the polishing today and reassembled the light. Everything works as it should!

I have not yet finished the wood side skins, but did cut the strips. I do like the blingy look of the polished aluminum. But also like the toned down appearance with the side skins. I do believe I will complete this with the two side skins, but for now here it is….

The switch recess is deep enough to make accidental operation unlikely. The recess may be a little too deep, though. I intend to use it for a day or two before deciding. The wood will be easy to sand thinner, but that is irreversible. If I go too thin then I need to make a new plate.

Looks very nice :+1:

That looks awesome. I love the different elements, wood metal. What are you going to use for the sides? Maybe try inlays?

C’est fini! I used the same block of Bocote to slice the side sknis from. Here is the end product.

The parent and the scion. :slight_smile:

very cool light, :+1:

Thank you. It looks nice sitting on the end table in the LR. The 4000K LH351D’s are proving to be a good chocie too; nice color of light for indoor use.

Turned out awesome MtnDon! I take it you like how the recessed button feels?