EBRZM-16 just over 1000 Kcd thrower

First thank you all, and sorry for late reply, but i have less and less time lately.

have made some schematics for some new more compact ideas, will upload in first post as soon as i can. maybe someone with some spare time and some nice equipment could have some fun some day. :slight_smile:

@djozz “What if you do not use a zoom flashlight, but just the bare emitter, e.g. just remove the head of the UF-T20? I’d say it would increase the throw even further (but the beam would be way narrower). Do you have beam-shots of the set-up actually illuminating something, to get a better idea of the throw?”

of course I have tried that, but the result was not that good. first as you say the beam would be way narrower, the spot very very small. but there is another problem, the beam quality downgrade too, the projected image go full artifacts too. the cheap mirrors shows their true face in this setup i think. using lens as pre collimator rise the overall performance (more light is captured ) but also the quality of beam.

@islisis_“i’m wondering how you figured out the focal length requirements for this also before buying the mirror. i think it was a good idea coming up with this precollimator set up. it allows a decent amount of light to hit the mirror, over the required distance to focus the light. i’m not sure it would work so well any other way, bare emitter=low coverage angle (without a short focus mirror), reflector/optic=mixed light angles? also curious what the beam spot looks like”
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I try to touch this subject a little in the review on my first post, but understand that without proper examples is not that clear. Will try to make schematics hoping it will explain something.

Lets assume that in the A we have an ideal setup.

Now going to B we have an mirror with a larger f. using the same lens but playing with x and y we still can find a right setup that give us an clear projection. In this case x become bigger and y smaller. We just lose mirror area as an unused space so overall performance can suffer a bit, but the system will work somehow, just working with x and y. in the worst case scenario going to extremes we will need to add some additional lenses. Case C. in extremes we go in normal reflector setup without the need for lenses.
In the end will add some photos and also will try to finish first post with additional photos.

“ ervin, have you thought about reducing the size of the setup by using two concave mirrors?”

not 2 concave mirrors but have thought of other ways:

maybe one day will go after those projects but i am shorts on tools

again thank you all for your kind words, really appreciate.
Photos(will try to edit later with proper explanation and if u click they go full size ):

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beam finally hit 1M cd :stuck_out_tongue:

thanks- i wish i could say i understand from the diagrams, but i’ll come back to it later :stuck_out_tongue:

for the indoor shots you should try using low mode and low exposure to get a better pic of the profile :slight_smile:

Very cool! That is really going out there. In your last two diagrams, the last diagram using the parabolic mirror- I wonder if putting the light source opposite of the large reflector might be easier and achieve similar results but be easier to focus. I am really enjoying watching your work. Please keep it up!

BTW, there is some information on a post here that might give you some more information that might be helpful. It’s different from what you are doing but the discussion and geometry are very related.

. . . beam finally hit 1M cd.

Daaaamn! Sounds more like laser territory than flashlight territory. Congrats man. You probably should be careful for aircraft when you point that monster up into the sky.

Wow awesome!

A cheap zoomie + a cheap makeup mirror = mega throw!!! :bigsmile:

Just when I thought I’d seen everything. Very clever!

Shame you don't have some room to cut that puppy loose! Bet the people in the apartments aren't all that pleased with your invention... ;)

Ok, it’s Northern California so I have to keep it a little redneck. I don’t have a zoomie. I know, I know, how can I be a true Flashaholic or BLF’er if I ain’t got no zoomie or an SRK. My caveat is that I am too cheap do buy one. :8) Note the cheap equipment in my replication of the original experiment.

Ok, the light isn’t cheap, but it’s what I had that worked. Regular XML in a P60 just had to long of a field of focus.

See, redneck. I couldn’t find the bailing wire so I went with zip-ties.

Sorry, iPhone pictures.

Picture is pathetic, I know but demonstrates the beam profile some. It shoots long and tight. I don’t have anything that comes close to touching it’s reach. My C8 reaches far but not even in the same class. Only my green laser reaches further.
I apologize for the lack of outside shots but it takes two hands to hold and the missus is loath to stand in the rain at night to take pictures of a flashlight beam. “You want me to do what?”

As I was playing with the beam, I had to stop as an airplane took of from the airport 5 miles away! It’s that bright and reaches that far. I didn’t want the police to haul me off like I was using a laser on the plane. My neighbors probably are groaning about that silly neighbor, out with his lights again.

So, now we have to figure out how to mount the pieces on a telescoping rod so they can flip down, slide down tight for portability. Slide out, flip up, BAM! for outside distance shots. We'll all start wearing massive baggie shorts with cargo pockets down to our ankles and rods sticking up out the top.

"That's just my Ervin." :)

Ok this is insane…

:open_mouth:
just wanna say wow

I need a grown-up version of an erector set and one of those zoomie headlamps, an MTG2 and then I think I can rock the “Full Ervin”

I can see your Santa workshop Christmas list...An adult erector set to support the Full Ervin! :)

Would that get you on the Coal list if Santa missed the perspective?

Ooh, I didn’t think about that. I was in deep geek mode thinking about this and about one of these

But the microrax kits are all out of stock except the $1000 kit.

Cool toys! Pricey too! Easy to spend a lot of dough on a relatively small amount of track and accessories. Forget about motors!

I can see you guys with this neat aluminum anodized structure, mirrors and lights, with motors and articulating joints, pressing a button on a remote to guide the light onto the target. Geesh!

I was imagining something like a bull-pup rifle, or a Recoil style shaped similar to a parabolic mike.

well forget about my stupid diagrams, trying to make those as most complete as i can they ended up like that lol.

bottom line is that with a zoom light you have some flexibility on the angle of the beam you are emitting adding a sec lens give you back even more room, and those plus the distance from the mirror make chances even grater that what ever mirror you find, you will end projecting the die out there.

About the spot. With my phone camera (like any other phone camera out there that have low dynamic range ) its very very hard to capture the spot as is seen by the eye. I tried like all camera software on my android i could find and the best I can was with one that captured three different pictures with different exposure. I made a bunch of photos hope you like them. All are ~ 3.3m distance that I usually use to measure throw (it’s very easy to just multiply with 10 what you see on light meter)

all are unedited straight from phone camera, click for full size
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some are made in low mode of the driver otherwise it was impossible …

thank you, i spent one night reading in that thread(one more night without sleep thank u very much :p), not that can help me for my case, but it was a nice reading , some talented members there and i enjoyed their progress till the end.

About your suggestion in fact it is what we are doing right now but trying to make more compact i made those diagrams. And by the way nice try i see there :slight_smile:

Those looks cool, one could build a lot of things, thanks for sharing.

Haha… hehe… … take it easy cowboy :wink:

yes using a zoom light allows the setup to be easily tuned…
thanks for the extra pics it’s interesting to see the final beam profile. looks like there’s quite a lot of dispersion (aberration) in that state of focus, makes me wonder about a two mirror set up again

Walmart had some 85mm 10X mirrors on clearance for 50 cents. Seem to be decent quality too. Picked one up and played with it by hand last night. Was kind of fun. Aspherics definitely work best. Made me want to make a recoil light now.

ah my thread that have never enough time to be finished in review :frowning: cya, after one month now :stuck_out_tongue: