Decent cave headlamps (waterproof, separate spot and flood) are most expensive piece of caving equipment. I was going to make one and at first it was going to be based on aluminum project box. then I thought why not make a decent one with CNC machined housing and started designing 3D models. That was until I found out how much machining would cost. So I went back to aluminum project box and applied some ideas I thought of while designing custom housing. For a start I just wanted to make a mockup light to see how functional it would be.
I started with a Hammond project box
placed rocker on-off-on switch and cable gland
and then got too excited to take pictures. Several hours later the light lit up
I replaced original lid with 5mm lexan. Both leds are XM-L. Flood with 1A buck/boost driver and spot with 2A linear driver and Ledil lens.
Next day I made helmet mount and switch protection.
So far I like it. I got some experience and ideas for improvements. Perhaps I’ll make it an “open source” headlamp with all parts listed and plans/drawings available.
Tomorrow I’ll take it in a cave.
damn, that’s some thick lexan! Nice job, looks really sturdy. How do you find the bare LED? I would have thought a 45 or 60deg optic would give you the flood you need without losing too much light to the sides.
Good idea on the replaceable cells and the guard for the switch. Looks like you’ve put a lot of thought in to this!
Was thinking the same, looks like a good idea and done so well but think the insides could do with some copper plate on the bottom to base the LEDs on? You could get it pre cut from someone most likely under $8 and would improve efficiency and heat management.
Using a heat conductive glue I fixed a 2mm thick aluminum “L” piece (partly visible on first photo) to the box and then glued the bare led to that “L” piece. Spot led is on 20mm star glued directly to the backside of box. The light gets warm with flood on high and warmer with spot on high but not hot.
I needed thick lexan so it can put enough pressure on seal. I have some experience with my custom duo (bare led) and Zebralight H600F (floody lens) and I prefer bare led for flood especially if light has separate spot. It gives you better perception of surrounding.
I wanted to protect the switch from breaking and accidentally activating. A must for a caving lamp. For first try I just put two 18650 holders in parallel. I plan to make a waterproof battery canister. If successful I’ll post about it.
Thank you all for your comments. I’m glad you like it.
He doesn't need copper. That would just add weight and decrease thermal efficiency by adding two layers to the thermal stack. His current design looks like the spot LED is attached directly to the aluminum housing, and that's going to perform very well. You're not going to improve on that by adding layers in between.
As for the flood LED, it's only being driven at 1A. An XML at 1A doesn't get that hot, relatively speaking. His current setup looks good enough for it. The only change that I would make is to bolt the L bracket to the body with a small screw instead of using just glue.
What a fantastic light. I'm looking forward to the beam shots if your doing any. You could of spent mega dollars on a custom housing but at the end of the day the light itself would not work any better. The full cover in see through also looks good allowing the inside workings to be seen. Well done.
I’m speaking in all honesty… that is one great build! I especially like the reflectorless flood, that’s what I would do myself since I like the pure beam. To couple pure flood with another throw emitter is ingenious.
May I suggest a couple ideas for thoughts: 1. double switch, 2. Dimming pot. Seem to have ample space for these.
So glad to see more DIY stuff around here, too many ooh aahs with very expensive lights nowadays that IMO are not that big a value for money. Hope this trend continues.
few cuts to the box could give you “fins” to keep it cooler (maybe)
