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CNC triple cree housing

3K views 28 replies 11 participants last post by  Bryguy17 
#1 ·
hey everybody. I've been working on designing this thing, and i just started to put stuff into solidworks. i figured that i might as well share so that i can get some input from you guys on things to improve.

so without further ado, heres the pic of what i've got so far



still need to add holes for fasteners and such, and there's still one more piece that will be on the back of this assembly, which will hold the LEDs, switch, and an integrated heatsink. plan is for 3 cree Q5 or R2 (not sure yet) and ledil optics. a bflex will slip into one of the two holes on the top or bottom of the middle piece.

lemme know what you guys think, and if you've got any ideas for improvement. also, does anybody know the stack height on the cree stars? i need the distance from the back of the star to wherever the back of the ledil square lense sits.

peace,
Bryan
 
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#2 ·
My honest opinion :
I think since you are machining this out of a chunk of al. this is totally customizable - so you should make the light as compact as possible - maybe stack them 2:1, Keep the weight down.
You are not restricted to building out of al box section so it is not necessary to line them up.
 
#3 ·
Have it so the three leds are angled. Center pointing directly in front and side ones 5 degrees either way. This will give you a wide beam without needing a wide optic(which wastes a lot of light into the sky). Maybe source your optics first and bench test for optimum angle.
 
#4 ·
ya i was thinking that. i might still do it once i figure out solid works a bit better, im having trouble constraining things, but ill get there. one of the advantages of having it like it is is i can stash all the electronics into the front part of the housing, saving room at the back. sure its a bit wider, but its only an inch long without the additional heatsink on the back. ill throw together how it would look circular though and see what i come up with
 
#5 ·
Just an FYI, the round machining operation in the corners of the square holes, the deep plunge with the small end mill will have your machinist cursing your name. Better to come in with the end mill you're using the do the square hole operation. I know what you're trying to accomplish (no corner radius so the square part fits snug) but that corner feature as you're showing it will be harder than it needs to be.

EDIT: as far as the constraints, what issues are you having? It looks like you got a mate constraint, are you constraining the faces of the two parts and then offsetting? Constraining can be a frustrating thing when you're learning, been there.
 
#7 ·
yeah, i realise that, but like i said im new to solid works and i couldn't find an easy way of doing that (the program doesnt have 2 point circles for god sakes). at the moment im just practicing with the program and getting used to it, im going to talk to some of my friends who are really good with solid works before i machine anything.
 
#8 ·
threw together a circular version and figured out how to fix the corners of the squares.

rivet, most of the problems are coming from not being used to the software. I'm more used to pro/engineer, which forces you to make everything perfectly defined. while being a pain in the arse, it does make you have a good model.
 
#10 ·
it could be cool to integrate the bar mount into the back panel of the light, but i fear running into side to side aiming issues. this 3-led light will be on the bar, i'll be designing a separate 2x cree light for the helmet that will probably use some McR reflectors as opposed to the ledils. that will let me build a smaller light (circles pack nicer in this instance)
 
#12 ·
well, part of it is i feel like being unique. everybody's doing the MR-11's, and its nice to do something a bit more fresh.

second, with the ledils i have the ability to tailor the beam to whatever i want. spot, flood, somewhere in between.

im not ruling out the mr11 though. does anybody have a good white wall beamshot of the mr11 they could show me? might be helpful.
 
#15 ·
I agree that if it's going to be on the bars, make it more compact (stacked one above two), if in the helmet, go three across, perhaps with the center LED higher to contour to the curve of the helmet. Also, consider heatsinks that go length-wise along the body to encourage airflow, rather than ribbed. While ribbed designs are more common on round designs, it's mostly because they're easier to make on a lathe, not because it's superior for airflow between the heatsinks.

Overall, I envy your position. While I have a small bench mill, I can't CNC and some of that stuff is incredibly intricate and beautiful. I look forward to seeing your finished product.
 
#16 ·
i cant wait to see what i end up with either. as far as optics go, im thinking of doing the mr-11 for simplicity sake, but i still want to do the ledil style. im trying to figure out where to stash a bflex in the round design, but that involves making it thicker and its a mess at the moment :confused:

it'll need some tweaking, but ill get there.
 
#17 ·
a bflex is only 25mm in diameter, in the round design the MR11 is 35mm in diameter with a 32-34mm mcpcb ( cutters mcpcbs have been changing - you never know what you will get)
if you start off with a 40mm pipe, with a 34mm hole and a 34mm heatsink, there is plenty of space for the bflex
 
#18 ·
well, if i went the with the MR11 route, thats exactly what i would do.

now, im thinking of changing the overall design to be a bit more flexible:

I'm thinking two 2-led pods on the bar using ledils, and one 2-led helmet light using McR19 reflectors. use buckpucks the whole way around and run each on a 3s lipo. math says 2.5 hours at 1A high beam on each light only using 1800mA of the power (cant kill the lipos)

depending on the binning i go with, ill end up with somewhere north of 1100 lumen high beam with Q5's or i can pull somewhere north of 1500 lumens with R2's if my math is correct. should be fun...
 
#19 ·
The other thing I would suggest is (and someone else has probably already said it) make the housing as compact as possible. I'm not sure what size the buckpuck drivers are, but I would suggest keeping the "footprint" of the light to be as close in size to the diameter of the two lenses as possible. This is mainly to reduce overall weight, but it also makes for a cleaner look.
 
#21 ·
props for being different then the others.
When I started talking about doing some lights people kept sending me photos of everyone elses set ups.
I told them to stop because I wanted to do my own thing without any outside influnce.

Looks like you are doing the same thing. Sure you could shave some weight here and there. Sure you could do it a bunch of different ways. And you know what? You will as I'm sure you'll make a bunch of different housings by the time your happy.

I see some great light set ups on this site. Even some of the low buck stuff is cool. But I like seeing inovative stuff. The copies are ok but that's for the guys that don't have the talent to do something fresh.

Post some photos when you start making chips.
 
#22 ·
if i do the 2x 2-light pods, i wont have any trouble getting a compact design. i doodled out some ideas, and im looking at roughly 2.5-3in wide by 1.1" tall, and probably 2" long. as i have it, the front inch of the light will be aluminum, and the back inch or so will be a carbon shell that will house the driver, switches and wires. should be pretty pimp and light :thumbsup:
 
#24 ·
I guess I'd need to see dimensions, but unless you need all the material on the sides for attaching the parts together, I think you could make it even smaller... What diameter are the cutouts for the lenses, or better yet, what's the largest diameter you need to use for the LED sockets?
 
#25 ·
"Just an FYI, the round machining operation in the corners of the square holes, the deep plunge with the small end mill will have your machinist cursing your name. Better to come in with the end mill you're using the do the square hole operation. I know what you're trying to accomplish (no corner radius so the square part fits snug) but that corner feature as you're showing it will be harder than it needs to be."


or...you could find someone with a wire machine and burn it.
 
#26 ·
Bryguy17 said:
pics of the pod style light housing. there will be a flat plate that the LED's sit on, and a carbon fiber shell over the back to house the electronics.
I like the two LED light idea better. Soon enough 2 will be the new 3 (and one day down to one). Seriously, ~500L is plenty of light for a single source. With two sources, one light on the bars with one on the helmet, you have more than enough. :thumbsup:

Have you considered round optics/reflectors? Something in the 17mm to 20mm range. That would make machining much easier than the square for Ledil optics. The Cateye Double Shot is a nice example (you could easily get rid of some of the excess aluminum at the backside).
 
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