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THE MAN, THE MACHINE:
This is where the sausage gets made.
“First get a clear notion of what you desire to accomplish and then in all probability you will succeed in doing it.” - Henry Maudslay
THE CLEAR NOTION:
This light will be a “7up zoomie” featuring seven 27.2mm Ahorton aspheric lenses, seven XP-L HI LEDs, a Taskled HBFlex driver, and four Sanyo NCR18650GA 3500mah 18650’s in series.
THE LOG:
Log Entry: 7/21/16
My current plan is to make a 7up zoomie using seven 27.2mm Ahorton aspheric lenses, either XP-G3’s or XP-L HI on copper DTP stars, a Taskled HBFlex, and four 18650s in series. The head will be multi-start threaded for fast zooming and the optics will remain rotationally fixed as they move in and out to focus. So far I’ve acquired one Ahorton lens for testing from illumn and I do like the beam profile… so the build is a go! Tests and beamshots to come in the next update.
Log Entry: 7/23/16
Excited to get an idea of what to expect, I rigged up a rudimentary testbed to compare the XP-G3 S5 3A against the XP-L Hi V2 3D.
I stacked gage blocks to achieve optimal focus of the aspheric lens with either LED.
A 3A Q-lite was used for power regulation which is pretty close to the 3.2A output that the LEDs will see from the HBFlex driver.
The XP-L HI seemed pretty well focused with a .55” [14mm] stack. I could see the dots on the die.
A lux measurement of 157.6 was taken with the lux meter fixed at an arbitrary height.
The XP-G3 was a bit trickier to focus. I ended up using a stack height of .52”. [13.21mm] I could see the pop-tart sprinkles on the die.
Not moving the lux meter between tests, a comparative lux measurement yielded 108. This is 68.5% of the lux value achieved by the XP-L HI.
XP-G3 on trees:
XP-L HI on trees:
In the field test I didn’t notice too much of a difference visually in brightness. I liked the way both beams looked. I will test and compare the LEDs side by side and more thoroughly when I receive the rest of the optics, but it looks like the XP-L HI is going to win the spot in this light.
Log Entry: 7/24/16
To achieve the best possible beam shape each LED will be installed rotated by 51.43°. (360/7)
Log Entry: 8/25/16
As of now I’ve acquired most of the components for the build. A few final things are in the mail, and I just put in an order for a batch of beryllium copper springs…
As for actual work… I’m designing the light from the battery carrier out, and so far this is what I’ve finished. Some final touches need to be added such as spring retention features, but I’ll wait until I get the springs to do that.
Log Entry: 12/1/19
Resuming project.
Probably more fallout from the time I wrote a technical treatise about how to design arbitrary thread forms that adhere to ASME B1.1-2003 specifications… in a BLF thread asking how to cut threads on a lathe, which prompted at least one person to explain in great detail all the reasons why I’m a pompous jerk. I deleted that post pretty quick for fear of having to read any more responses to it. Or maybe it’s from the time I sent Ouchyfoot a long PM about how to do right angle trigonometry since he said he found it troublesome. It was going to be a post rather than a PM, but you see, I had learned my lesson by then. :zipper_mouth_face: