# Revolver Mk II



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

So it's been a year and a half since posted up a light build, and looking around, I got the bug to make something new. 

Can anyone guess what I'm planning? I'll give you a clue. Outside diameter is 19mm, and heat-sink is 16mm diameter. I've snapped a quick cell phone shot of the work so far next to the original Revolver.

b.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Very nice design and machining. Which led flavour are you designing her around? I'm guessing a single XML with Regina optic and having 2 together to make a double barrel design.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

brad72 said:


> Very nice design and machining. Which led flavour are you designing her around? I'm guessing a single XML with Regina optic and having 2 together to make a double barrel design.


You're on the right track.... you just have to think bigger.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Not a quad


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Shall we call you Octomom?


----------



## Praxis (Apr 30, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Shall we call you Octomom?


Nah, it's gotta be a six-shooter.


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

I was going to say tripple xpg with a carlco optic..but there 20mm so won't fit..
(Quazzle lux-rc board)


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Brad72 has got it. 
Quad XML with cut down Reginas and remote driver. The original Revolver used 2 barrels, each with a Lux-RC board.
I got a bit inspired looking at Scar's personal bar light, so I'm going down the same route, with a 2s2p arrangement driven off an lflex. This will be bar mounted with the driver fitted into a custom stem cap. I was vaguely toying with the idea of doing two Reginas and two LednLight flood optics as used in Gloworm's new X2 light... (see the Lights and Night Riding forum for details on that).
It's probably one of the most time consuming ways to make a four up, but what the heck.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

I started whizzing up another barrel this afternoon. Here's how I get the surface finish. I figure I'll get the best outcome by getting it mostly polished along the way and do a quick tidy up at the end.
Using Autosol paste polish. I might get better results with jeweller's rouge, but I'd need to buy another leather buff stick.

b.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Mate she is going to look lovely. Autosol does such and excellent job of polishing which certainly gives the anodizing that showroom shine.

I also found is easier to polish earlier in the build before the job becomes a nightmare to hold. Some soft jaws and paper do an excellent job of stopping scratches on the part.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Thanks Brad

I like to use cellulose tape to protect parts in the machines. I buy it from a watch parts wholesaler and generally use it to tape off polished parts of watch cases while I'm satin finishing other parts. It works a treat for machining.

I've finished the outer machining on the 2nd barrel, and done most of the boring operations on the first. I'm going to get some leds and optics wired up in these two before I decide what optics to use for the second set. I wanted to go under 20mm OD for these, and looking at the Regina, I settled on 19mm, which also allows me to hold it in my collet chuck for various operations like boring. The Regina is 19.5mm at the leading edge, so I've whizzed one down to about 17mm, which also shortened it up quite a bit. I have 14mm XML boards, so it's going to be tight down the bottom where the wires solder on. I have some more drilling to do, and maybe a bit of fine tuning of the bore, but for the moment I've squeezed the cut-down Regina in without pushing it all the way down.... just testing how well my theory works in practice. I reckon 1mm is still plenty of wall thickness to play with....

More photos:

_Does anyone know how to rotate photos? They are up the right way on my browser, but they keep uploading in landscape.... and the order changes from preview to posting._


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Very nice. thanks for the tip on the cellulose tape. I like you the little milling support you have made up


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

I saved your images and rotated them 90° right in paint and re-saved them.
If you want to save them and edit your post ill remove this post...


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Thanks Goldigger.

Let's see if this one displays the way I want.


----------



## bravellir (Nov 24, 2008)

wow..  perfect and really light..


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Very neat. It'll be interesting to see the beam pattern with the top end of the regina removed.


----------



## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Very neat. It'll be interesting to see the beam pattern with the top end of the regina removed.


Cool project there :thumbsup:

Echo emu`s thoughts its my belief that it will be floodier by removing the top of a reflector as its the top that give the spot ( I could be wrong there )


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Thanks guys.
I'm shooting for a lot of flood as this one is specifically designed as a bar light. I was thinking I would change my helmet light from two of Quazzle's L333 XP-G boards to two XP-E boards. I tried this once before, but without a bar light I lost a bunch of peripheral light. I was even toying with the idea of going up to his 1.5 amp boards. Then low mode should draw about .75 amps which would be great for most applications, while high should provide some serious throw for when I'm fanging it down hill.

I had a close look at Scar's new triple and quad XML lights and it looks like he takes some off the front of his Reginas. So the beam shots on page 11 of the Amoeba Received thread should be indicative.


----------



## ThinkBike (Jun 16, 2010)

I've combined a Quazzle XPE and XPG with good results. The XPE picked up where the XPG left off. Your XML / XPE should also be a good combo. 

The only thing I would change if I was going to do this again is to put relatively less energy into the flood light as the flood was so bright it seemed to compromise my night vision. They were both 1.5 amp boards. Elliptical optic for flood, narrow clear for throw.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Some more progress.*

So I've been chipping away at this project little by little in between jobs that actually pay the bills. I've machined all four light heads, but still need to bore out the outer two. But I was getting bored of that, so I decided to test my mounting principle by machining up a piece of stainless to join two of the light heads. The joint has a 3mm bore, to hold internal wiring and o-rings to seal them from the elements.

Pics:


----------



## ThinkBike (Jun 16, 2010)

Beautiful. How do you get the lights to end up being exactly parallel when you've tightened the connection?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

ThinkBike said:


> Beautiful. How do you get the lights to end up being exactly parallel when you've tightened the connection?


Thanks. To be fair, this one was a fluke. Once all those mounts are machined up I'll adjust the depth of chamfer in the housings. It doesn't have to quite perfect as the o-rings have a certain amount of squish.


----------



## Dalistro (Sep 21, 2011)

This may be a stupid question but what does the MK stand for? I've noticed a few topics about MK builds but no mention of what MK means...

PS: Lovely light!


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

ThinkBike said:


> Beautiful. How do you get the lights to end up being exactly parallel when you've tightened the connection?


First thing that popped into my head as well.

Is the friction from the O ring enough to give you play so that they can be aligned? Is there enough play to allow you to have one aimed slightly further down the trail? How do you plan on mounting them, I had envisaged a small "L" shaped leg coming off the joiner pipe.

Really nice work:thumbsup:


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Dalistro said:


> This may be a stupid question but what does the MK stand for? I've noticed a few topics about MK builds but no mention of what MK means...
> 
> PS: Lovely light!


MK, short for Mark or version


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Dalistro Mk II means mark 2, as in version 2.
Some regulars here may remember version 1 which I showed in the first photo. If I was more forum-savvy I'd link to that thread, but I ain't.

Emu yes, there will be enough squish to point the heads at slightly different angles. As for mounting, well you'll just have to wait and see. This build won't be remembered as being simple in it's execution. Beautiful yes (I hope) but simple most definitely not.

b.


----------



## Rich_SC (Oct 10, 2009)

Where did you get that dual threaded bolt with the center bore...I've looked all over. And can you go into a little more detail about your polishing process.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Rich_SC said:


> Where did you get that dual threaded bolt with the center bore...I've looked all over. And can you go into a little more detail about your polishing process.


I made it.
I've got a bit more work to do making stainless fittings, so I'll shoot some photos and post them up. I was about to do some work on that now, but realized I'd messed up a measurement, so I thought I'd better take the vernier gauge home and check something on the bike.

I pretty much showed the whole polishing process that I've done so far already. I might go and buy another leather buff stick from a jewellery supplies store and use Polinum jeweller's polish to try to achieve a mirror finish before anodizing although it is difficult to remove all the turning lines. The stainless piece I just polished on the normal buff using polinum. It was a pretty cursory polish at this point.

I thought I'd attach another photo to give you an idea of the actual size. I often find it difficult on here to see just how small some builds are until I see them next to something familiar.

b.


----------



## Rich_SC (Oct 10, 2009)

Where did you get that dual threaded bolt with the center bore...I've looked all over. And can you go into a little more detail about your polishing process.


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Looking very nice! 

On assembly do you augment the friction of the o-ring with a bit of loctite or anything?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Sweet looking light. Can't wait to see her all finished.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Vancbiker said:


> Looking very nice!
> 
> On assembly do you augment the friction of the o-ring with a bit of loctite or anything?


I'll let you know when I get there.


----------



## Gloworm Manufacture (Nov 29, 2011)

bshallard said:


> So I've been chipping away at this project little by little in between jobs that actually pay the bills. I've machined all four light heads, but still need to bore out the outer two. But I was getting bored of that, so I decided to test my mounting principle by machining up a piece of stainless to join two of the light heads. The joint has a 3mm bore, to hold internal wiring and o-rings to seal them from the elements.
> 
> Pics:


Blair, looking good. I am interested to see how the reginas go!

B


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*First fly in the ointment.*

Bugger.

I hadn't noticed this until this morning, but when I was boring out the first two light heads I went too deep too close to the edge and hit the ends of the flutes. The boring bar evidently isn't that sharp as instead of punching through, it pushed out the surface of the alloy a bit. It shows up in a couple of photos I've posted. If I was to leave these as is I know it would drive me mad.

Looks like I have a lot more machining to do.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

well that sucks


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

damn, but I must say I know how you feel


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

brad72 said:


> well that sucks


Yes.... yes it does.

Anyhoo... while I couldn't quite face machining any more heat-sink just at the moment, I decided to keep going on the mounts, so I whizzed up the two inside mounts. As promised, I took some photos along the way. They are part finished.. I'll want to polish them a bit better, and I still have one more outside mount to make, and I haven't attempted to put any o-rings on these yet.
I"ve sort of thrown it all together to show the basic layout, and put my glasses in shot for scale, and then just for larks shown the view from my shop floor onto my workbench.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Ah, I was wondering if your little lathe had thread change gears of whether you used a die. Very nice work. 

Is watch repair and building your passion?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

brad72 said:


> Ah, I was wondering if your little lathe had thread change gears of whether you used a die. Very nice work.
> 
> Is watch repair and building your passion?


I wouldn't say passion. Once maybe. These days it pays the bills and allows me to indulge in some of my various passions, one of which is designing and building needlessly complicated lights. Luckily for me I own the shop, so if I want to waste time on it then no-one is going to tell me off.

There is a threading attachment available for the Sherline lathe. I'm waiting for an excuse to buy it.... At some point I hope to get back to building the clock I designed, and then I will have the excuse I need. Although since you have to remove the motor to use it, I would still use taps and dies for small threading jobs.

Time for a long weekend... Auckland Anniversary Day... Or is it Waitangi Day? one or the other anyway.... I'm going to have some quality time with the family..... I might even manage to get my wife up to the forest with her bike. Wish me luck.


----------



## Rich_SC (Oct 10, 2009)

Thanks for posting this... I've been inspired to try to copy it for a dual xml build I'm working on. Why did you use stainless instead of aluminum?


----------



## klynk (Apr 18, 2010)

Nice light.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Rich_SC said:


> Thanks for posting this... I've been inspired to try to copy it for a dual xml build I'm working on. Why did you use stainless instead of aluminum?


Strength. I should be able to open up the bore a bit to make wiring it up a bit less of a sod.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Finally got back to the machine tools.*

So after a couple of short work weeks with holiday weekends and whatnot, I did a wee bit more machining this morning, finishing a new stem cap for my bike.
I have my stem set as low as it will go and flipped upside down to get some negative rise, so there's a bit of fork steerer sticking out the top which I don't really want to remove. At the moment I have a couple of spacers in there, but that's a bit untidy, so I have made a custom stem cap with spacer included. It is basically complete in the second photo apart from one component which hopefully will be here on Monday. Why this stem cap? Well, it's rather necessary for what I have in mind. This is just a teaser since I haven't posted any progress for over a week.
I've been exhibiting a bit of machining ADD. I still haven't turned up the two new housings to replace the two I stuffed up, and I've made about half the stainless connectors I need. I've only trimmed down one Regina reflector. I seem to be flitting about doing whichever bit of machining I'm interested in at the particular moment.

Question: I'm going to do a new helmet rig as well, but I"m having trouble deciding what to do. My two thoughts are 1) Two Lux-RC triple XP-E boards driven at 1.5 amps on high and 750ma on low, or 2) something aspherical along the lines of Troutie's Spider Eyes.
Both should have mega throw. The XP-E option will be smaller and lighter, but I've already done one of these in the past. If I do it again it will just be a refinement. Suggestions?

b.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Consider me teased.

As for the helmet, maybe you can be our first to experiment with these


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Mate I hear you on the procrastination front. I am yet to finish my single aspheric, double xml and triple xpg. Just seem to be making other bits and pieces.

As for the helmet light I think you need to make both and choose which one you like the best.


----------



## klynk (Apr 18, 2010)

Really nice work, *bshallard*.
Hope you'll finish this nice little light.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

for a helmet light I think an aspheric+spot optic would be a great option (or aspheric+triple XP-E spot). Getting great throw AND a smooth beam in a small package is pretty tricky in my experience.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

I've made a decision on the helmet front. Pre-ordered the new L334 XP-E boards from Quazzle. Going all out this time with the 1.5amp full power. Switched to 60% on low mode I will probably run them on low 90% of the time and then power them up for the downhills. I tried the original Revolver in a double triple XP-E format before, but found that the narrow beam mucked up my peripheral vision. But I wasn't using a bar light, so that won't be a problem anymore. In a micro helmet build I don't think you can beat the XP-Es for light weight and outright throw. And I can't be bothered waiting on the results of the XT-Es.

Anyway, here is the completed stem cap. This is destined for black ano. I'm intrigued to know if anyone can guess exactly what I'm up to with this.

b.


----------



## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

bshallard said:


> Anyway, here is the completed stem cap. This is destined for black ano. I'm intrigued to know if anyone can guess exactly what I'm up to with this.
> 
> b.


Battery stowed inside steer tube?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

kwarwick said:


> Battery stowed inside steer tube?


You know I've seriously considered that, but I don't think I could hold a big enough battery in there.
b.


----------



## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

bshallard said:


> You know I've seriously considered that, but I don't think I could hold a big enough battery in there.
> b.


Ah, so you putting the driver in there. Nice idea, you definitely will have plenty of heat sink.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

small flask of rum with straw?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Mmm I like the rum suggestion, especially on those colder nights.... although I'd have to change it to single malt. 

Nope, what I was actually up to was this: Obviously with my micro light heads the driver had to go somewhere else, so the housing will be a fairly easy press fit onto the nylon gasket stretched around the stem cap. I've left enough room for the plug as well. I probably didn't need to bother with the heat sink, but what the hell, eh?

b.


----------



## jbflyfshr (Jul 24, 2006)

OK,

Where will this sit on the bike or helmet or where??

JB


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

jbflyfshr said:


> OK,
> 
> Where will this sit on the bike or helmet or where??
> 
> JB


At the top of the fork steerer tube. The piece with the bolt through it is the cap you use to set the headset bearing tension. The driver housing press fits onto that, so it is easy to remove.

b.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

very swanky! I wonder if there's a way to run some of the wiring inside the stem, without having to drill holes in it of course. Actually, now I'm dreaming, it'd be awesome to have a light mount that incorporated the power contacts (similar to how the old Cateye Mity speedos worked) so you wouldn't need any cables coming out of the light at all.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Looking really good Bshallard. I love seeing all the different designs that everyone comes up with


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

I've spent hours pondering the whole hidden wire/battery possibilities. I wondered if I could insert the cells into the bar and then have the wiring come out holes in the bar into the stem..... all sorts of stuff. For the longest time I wanted to copy Troutie's stem face plate light and change to an alloy bar for a heat sink, but I gave up that idea. This current build is done so the light heads can be as small as possible, with the least obtrusive mounting solution. I also wanted to be able to flip my bike upside down to oil the chain without having to remove my light, and to avoid fouling cables and be out of the way of race number plates for when I do the odd event. 

Anyway, I took the stem cap components home last night to do a quick test fit:


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Fantastic mate. Looks really good. 

From memory you have anodizing capabilities don't you? If not I am happy to do it for you if you shoot it across the drink.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

brad72 said:


> Fantastic mate. Looks really good.
> 
> From memory you have anodizing capabilities don't you? If not I am happy to do it for you if you shoot it across the drink.


No I don't have ano capabilities. I had thought about it, but decided to just pay the professionals.
That's a great offer! Have you got gold? Or purple? I was going to round up a couple of other bits and pieces for my wife's bike and get them done in purple for her, and I want to do these in gold to match my snazzy Hope brake rotors.

Cheers,
Blair.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

I've got purple and want to get some gold because it just looks nice.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Switch.*

In lieu of doing any proper work I've made up a remote switch. I had a lump of delrin sitting around, and I have a bit of a thing about avoiding clutter on my bars, so I decided to use an existing piece of kit on my bars as a mount. I run a 1x9 set-up, partly because it keeps the chain in place nicely, but also in large part so I could move the trigger for my Gravity Dropper seat-post to the underside of the bar and operate it with my left thumb. It's easier to use in a hurry than having it mounted on top and it doesn't get in the way when I flip my bike upside down... but I digress.
I had a rubber switch cover sitting around from some other remote switch, and my off-cut of delrin was the ideal thickness, so I came up with this. When I wire it up I'll be able to run the wires along the seat-post cable.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Looks good, is it possible to round the corners of the swicth housing just to remove another "unnecessary" sharp edge? Does it pivot back when pressed too hard or is the back hard against something already?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Looks good, is it possible to round the corners of the swicth housing just to remove another "unnecessary" sharp edge? Does it pivot back when pressed too hard or is the back hard against something already?


Yeah, I think I might round off the edges a bit. I didn't do any drawings for this before I began cutting... just worked out a couple of crucial measurements and fudged it from there. The switch body pushes directly against the bar, so no worries about it pivoting anywhere.

b.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Nice work!


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Still chipping away.*

Literally still making chips.
I finally did some more proper turning and got the bulk of the work done on my new helmet rig. These are refined versions of my original revolver lights. I've upped the head diameter by 1mm to 24mm to incorporate a wee bit more heat sink (mostly for looks really) and I've refined the thermal path to the rear fins. These will house Quazzle's full noise L334 1.5amp XP-E boards. Admittedly I'll have to be fairly sparing on the use of high beam both for heat management and for battery life, but with a low mode of 60% drawing 900ma I reckon that will be perfect for 99% of riding conditions, especially with a quad XML bar light. I'll just crank it up for those high speed down hill runs.... or when I want anyone riding in front of me to crash.
I've got as far as drilling the holes ready to bore the led/optic cavity. I still need to make a mount, but I can't do that until my new helmet arrives. I tried to buy local, but apparently you can't get a Fox Flux helmet in NZ anymore without bad 80s graphics.

Pics.


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

A couple of beauties there!


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

Very nice..bet them fins took some time?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

She looks beautiful. Can't wait to see the finished light


----------



## rob1111 (Jun 16, 2009)

another "revolver"-design

LINK TO MTB-NEWS
LINK 2


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Yep, the fins took a bit of doing. Making sure I got the depth right every time on the tapered core took a bit of concentration. Brad, you'll be seeing them fairly soon I reckon. If you can do gold then I'll gratefully take you up on your offer to anodize them. Rob1111 the 'Revolver' design is kind a my thing. After making my first set I got a lot of requests to make them for others, and I did get a test batch CNC'd up for my riding buddies. I looked into doing a full production run and market them as "Revolver Lights" but it was all a bit too expensive and I didn't have the contacts to get stuff done economically in China. So now I just make them for me.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Mate I have gold dye arriving shortly. Just have to do a few tests as the gold is a little more time and ano thickness dependant to get a good gold colour. I am pretty sure that a 0.2-0.3 mil thickness with 2-3 minutes in the dye should be lovely.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Helmet about done.*

So I've more or less done all the machining for my helmet set-up.
I've done a quick test mount to make sure my ideas are sound. So far so good. I am still waiting on the leds, optics and wires from Quazzle, and I'll need to do a bit more modifying of the helmet visor to get it to fit perfectly. I'm also waiting on some small o-rings which will seal the light heads against the mount and allow me to get them pointed in exactly the same direction. At the moment when I cinch them up one points a fair bit higher than the other. I could also use JBweld on the threads I guess, which would stop them ever moving. I'll be doing that with the mount I think, and probably rubberizing the bottom of the mount to stop any sliding on the helmet. At the moment everything is a bit loosey goosey.

Over-all I'm pretty pleased. I think it will be worth the stupendous amount of time I've spent on it. One of the things I'm really happy about is that it has the full custom mount, but unlike my last effort, it won't be hard-wired to the helmet. Two zip ties and it will detach easily.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Fantastic work mate.....well worth the hours spent given the end result.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*light light.*

This helmet build is 9.4 grams lighter than my last one, despite having more surface area and better thermal path.

For the record my last build can be seen here... (I'm not savvy enough to do the flash linky things)

http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-diy-do-yourself/double-l332mc-build-630586-post7063286.html


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Got a package from Russia yesterday. Boards, optics, swanky silicon wires and pin connectors.

Obviously I had to stick them in to see how it's all going to look. Looks like the wiring loom is all going to fit without difficulty too, which is nice. Quazzle's silicon wire is thin and very flexible.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

They look the ducks nut now.... amazing how getting the leds and optics in brings the housings to life.


.


----------



## deesta (Sep 7, 2008)

:thumbsup: Lovely looking set up there


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

They look absolutely fabulous but I have to be honest, I'm still not sold on having the barrels sticking in to air vents like that. They would make an awful mess in the unlikely event of an OTB


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

emu26 said:


> They look absolutely fabulous but I have to be honest, I'm still not sold on having the barrels sticking in to air vents like that. They would make an awful mess in the unlikely event of an OTB


I hear ya. I've pondered that possibility at length, but my obsession with low profile mounting won over possible common sense. That and I'm kind of banking on over 20 years of hard riding since I last hit the front of my head on the ground. I've changed from the zip tie mount to using dual lock, and it should get ripped off in the event of a crash. There is also a fair bit of space between my head and the back ends of the light heads.

So anyway, I've been whittling away at this project little by little. I think if I had realized in the first place just how long it was going to take I might have done something completely different, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I need to hurry up and finish the alloy stuff so I can get it away to Brad for some gold bling, but foolishly, last night (while my wife was doing stock-take in the shop and trying to control two bored and cranky kids) I rather selfishly spent some quality time at the machines and did some work on the bar mount. It's gratifying to see that theory works in practice. Oh, and I've wired and glued up the remote bar switch too... and improved the appearance somewhat. The photo shows it full of araldite, just before I glued the cover on.
Shown in the other photos are the two light heads I stuffed up. I still need to make a lock nut that should (rather cleverly) hold the light heads in place and also provide strain relief for the wiring.


----------



## Toaster79 (Apr 5, 2010)

Love the stem mount idea! Ingenious!


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*At last!*

I've finished turning up all the alloy parts. I still have some stainless bits to make, but tomorrow I'll be taking this lot up to the post office and sending them to Brad for anodizing.

b.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

we really need a "drool" emoticon.

very nice work.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

What can I say









Sh#t, I better do a good job of the anodizing, the bar has been set very high with this build.

.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

brad72 said:


> What can I say
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah but you'll get to see all the little imperfections that I strategically left out of the photos.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Got the box of parts to anodize yesterday and the drool from above was well deserved. The workmanship is first class and housings are fantastic. It's not till you get them in your hand that you realise just how small and light they are. Very well though out design in deed. 

My 2 girls have decided I need to make them something similar, in fact their first comment was "are those lights for our bikes Daddy" 


.


----------



## crux (Jan 10, 2004)

bshallard said:


> I've finished turning up all the alloy parts. I still have some stainless bits to make, but tomorrow I'll be taking this lot up to the post office and sending them to Brad for anodizing.
> 
> b.


Nicely done.

I have one question. How do you cut the fins so deep and at a fine pitch? Each time I try on my lathe I end up shattering the tool and messing up the part I spent hours turning? On a positive note I have a box full of partially finished housings.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

crux said:


> Nicely done.
> 
> I have one question. How do you cut the fins so deep and at a fine pitch? Each time I try on my lathe I end up shattering the tool and messing up the part I spent hours turning? On a positive note I have a box full of partially finished housings.


Hi Crux.

I cut mine on the lathe, so I'll assume you have been trying that too.
Cutting deep narrow fins can be a bit tricky if you don't get three things right. They are:

Rigidity
Speed/Feed ratio
Lubricant.

I always cut my housings a bit long in the first place so I can centre pip the end and support it in the tail stock. That stops the job flexing away when going in with a parting tool, especially towards the end of the job. Even with the tailstock support on this small lather you get a bit of flex, and one of the things that helps is to start at the tail end and work towards the headstock. This helps minimize flex of the workpiece itself.
When I'm all done with the fins etc, and before I part it off from the stock, I back off the tailstock and trim down the back end of the housing. Only Brad and I know this so far, but there are a certain amount of chatter marks on the back ends of my two larger housings, as even with very light cuts it is difficult to stop the job flexing. To be fair, I could have removed these if I really cared, using a file or emery paper or whatever, but you can't really see them when they're mounted on the helmet.

For a lot of turning jobs you can get away with a less than ideal feed/speed ratio, but parting (or cutting fins) isn't one of them. The rule is low speed and high feed. You have to slow the spindle speed right down, and drive the parting blade in quickly. It's a bit counter-intuitive, but what it does is load up the tip of the tool, preventing chatter. Get it right and the metal just peels off a treat. I find I can both hear and feel when it is cutting properly.

Finally, you need lots of lubrication. Partly this keeps the cutting tip cool, but mostly it stops the sides of the blade from binding on the job as it rubs. Alloy heats up and then gets tacky. At this point it galls and you get a rubbish finish. I managed to achieve that when milling the heat sink on my driver housing, as I was cutting it dry. That just resulted in poor finish, but if you try using a parting blade dry, then the alloy sticks to the sides of the blades and jams. My lathe isn't powerful enough to break a blade, but it sounds like yours is. I use liberal amounts of RapidTap aluminum cutting fluid to keep it all moving. Even then I can hear when it is starting to jam, so I quickly back out the tool and let it clear, before driving it in again.
Make sure your cutter is sharp too. A sharp tool generates a lot less heat.

Good luck!
b.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Gold!*

Look what arrived back from Australia this morning.

Yes I'm happy! Thanks Brad.

Now I have to get my a into g and finish the bar mounts, as I've done nothing while these were away.

b.


----------



## crux (Jan 10, 2004)

bshallard said:


> Hi Crux.
> 
> I cut mine on the lathe, so I'll assume you have been trying that too.
> Cutting deep narrow fins can be a bit tricky if you don't get three things right. They are:
> ...


Love the new gold.

Thanks for the tips. Was cutting some bits this evening. Lathe is a Harbor Freight type with high and low speed. When in the lower gears you can really twist up metal if it is not cutting. Have no idea what oil I'm using when cutting, but it is suppose to be really good stuff that is used for cutting parts in the aerospace industry. Agreed with you on the feed & speed.

Found that having a good quality live center is important with the tail stock. Busted two blades today and did not even cut that deep. Find that I need to space the cutter 0.100" above where the lathe normally holds it getting it closer to center line. Starting to think the holder or blades might be part of the problem. Have been buying them here:

Micro Cut-Off Tool Holder with Blade (1/16 Inch x 3/16 Inch x 2 Inches)

and blades

Extra Cut-Off Blade (1/16 Inch x 3/16 Inch x 2-1/2 Inches)

Does your parting tool use more than one hold down point? Reason I'm thinking it may be the tool is once i hear the slightest chatter the cutter. If it were held in multiple positions the blade might not chatter as much.... At least it is a thought.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

crux said:


> Love the new gold.
> 
> Thanks for the tips. Was cutting some bits this evening. Lathe is a Harbor Freight type with high and low speed. When in the lower gears you can really twist up metal if it is not cutting. Have no idea what oil I'm using when cutting, but it is suppose to be really good stuff that is used for cutting parts in the aerospace industry. Agreed with you on the feed & speed.
> 
> ...


Hi Crux.
I've attached a photo of my parting tool. It is the standard blade that comes with the Sherline lathe, in a custom stainless tool holder that I got off ebay. The holder is super-rigid, so flex in the tool isn't a problem. I run the top of my blade exactly on the centre line of the job.
One thing I have found, is that some coolants don't work effectively for parting. My Coolmist Formula 77 works great for some stuff like milling, but is absolutely useless for parting. Probably because it is designed to evaporate and take the heat with it. The rapidtap stuff (visible in the photo) stays on the job and keeps lubricating.

Don't know what else to tell you. Good luck.


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

IMO a big part of your trouble is that tool. 3/16 tall is not going to be strong enough for 1/16 wide unless you are only cutting very shallow grooves and not extending the bit much out of the holder. I would look for something at least 3/8 tall.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Vancbiker said:


> IMO a big part of your trouble is that tool. 3/16 tall is not going to be strong enough for 1/16 wide unless you are only cutting very shallow grooves and not extending the bit much out of the holder. I would look for something at least 3/8 tall.


Agreed.
I didn't notice how low that tool is until I read this. 3/16 is bugger all.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

bshallard said:


> Look what arrived back from Australia this morning.
> 
> Yes I'm happy! Thanks Brad.
> 
> ...


Glad your happy mate. They are certainly a lovely set of lights.

.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Crux, I would check that your parting blade height it is not too low as this will drag the tool into the work and give crap results. Also make sure you have shapened the tool steel correctly and too much rake will cause problems.

I have had success with Rocol RTD cutting fluid but good old Inox or WD40 can be just as good. Even soluble cutting fluid in a sqirty bottle is very effective. Also you should be able to feel whether you are cutting to fast or slow though the cross feed handle and make sure you are keeping smooth rotations. I use 2 hands for this so I always have a constant feed

Cheers


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

Your gold ano came out very well brad.. I think gold ano has to have a polished surface to come out nicely..

All this lathe talk..I'm thinking of buying one myself as milling round parts on the mill is very taxing in the setup..I reckon I can save 3/4 off my time with a lathe.
I'm looking at the seig C2.
Buy Axminster SIEG C2A 300mm Mini Lathe from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Goldigger said:


> Your gold ano came out very well brad.. I think gold ano has to have a polished surface to come out nicely..
> 
> All this lathe talk..I'm thinking of buying one myself as milling round parts on the mill is very taxing in the setup..I reckon I can save 3/4 off my time with a lathe.
> I'm looking at the seig C2.
> Buy Axminster SIEG C2A 300mm Mini Lathe from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK


Whipping lights up in the lathe is extremely fast. You can knock a simple housing out in about 20 minutes. It's the milling that takes up the time.

.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Doing some wiring.*

Instead of attending to my large backlog of work this morning, I was fooling around wiring up my helmet lights.
I left JUST enough room to get the wires in..... but it was close. I sealed them by dropping a bunch of plastidip down into the wiring before screwing in the mount.
Here's where I'm up to at the moment:

The white wire is the master/slave sync.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Thanks for the pics. At least you have your priorities right. I was wondering how you going to wire them together. Are these having a Quazzle module in them?


.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

brad72 said:


> Thanks for the pics. At least you have your priorities right. I was wondering how you going to wire them together. Are these having a Quazzle module in them?
> 
> .


Yup. Quazzle's 334 XP-E modules, master and slave. I've been trying to figure out my switch and plug solution. I think I'm going to go with Deans Connectors on this one.


----------



## crux (Jan 10, 2004)

bshallard said:


> Agreed.
> I didn't notice how low that tool is until I read this. 3/16 is bugger all.


No wonder why i have so many buggered up scraps in the bin. 20 min on the lathe? Dang I really need to get a good parting tool. Will look for something taller that will work on the Harbor freight lathe. The one your using on the Sherline looks much more stable.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Let there be light!*

Finished my helmet today. All this damn wiring up takes longer than the machining. Oh well. Here it is completed!


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Beautiful


.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

awesome job and great to see it come to completion.

btw, are you going to seal the cable where it goes into the T-junction? Something like sugru would work well.


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Very nice! Love the low profile setup.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

mattthemuppet said:


> awesome job and great to see it come to completion.
> 
> btw, are you going to seal the cable where it goes into the T-junction? Something like sugru would work well.


Thanks guys.
I might seal that point. I've already sealed where the wires enter the housings, so it might just be overkill.
I used plasiti-dip to do the sealing, and since it was pretty old I had to think it first. But I can pretty easily remove the optic and either clean it or replace it. Quazzle sent me really mis-matched tint boards. One of them is extremely yellow. I'm of half a mind to order another, but the combined color tint is actually quite good, so I'll see how it goes for the moment.

The 334 module has a slightly different interface than the 333s I was using. I can set the low mode at pretty much any power level I want, so I can get exactly the low beam I want, which will be helpful.

Anyway, the helmet is at home now to avoid distracting me any further, and I have two Longines quartz, a Tag Heuer automatic, and a Raymond Weil automatic chronograph to assemble. I was supposed to be doing them yesterday instead of fooling with my helmet, so if you'll excuse me....

b.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

what? Do real work instead of make lights and browse the forum? Heresy!

I agree that you probably don't need to seal that point for waterproofness, but it just looks a little unfinished compared to the incredibly pimped look of the rest of the light. You can make your own sugru (search oogru on Instructibles) but you'll have to find the right colouring agent to make it black, as acrylic paints don't work very well. As a material I find that stuff incredibly useful - I've even used it to reconstruct one of my daughter's snow boots that a dog chewed up


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*C'est fini!*

It's done!

I finally completed the bar lights this morning and got them mounted on the bike this evening. I haven't taken it for a ride yet, and I'm going to rig up a wee bracket under the stem to hold the battery pack, but otherwise it is complete. Oh, and I have to read up on how to program the Lflex so I can get low medium and high, as at the moment I only have low and high. Wiring and soldering it all was a bit of a sod as I'm sure you can imagine. Small builds add a lot of complexity when it comes to actually getting it all in place I had to file quite a lot off the back ends of the Regina reflectors to get them to clear the solders on the 14mm stars, but it hasn't seemed to matter. I always knew I was sailing extremely close to the wind in how compact everything was going to be, but to my huge relief it all worked, and even more pleasing is that standing still on full beam the light heads don't seem to get very hot at all. I couldn't say the same for the helmet lights, which heat up very quickly without airflow.... But then at 1.5 amps they were always going to need forced induction.
A quick side note... Early on I was asked about how I was going to keep the light heads parallel to each other and whether I would use Loctite or JB Weld. I ended up using rubber r-rings and white teflon plumbers' tape to seal the threads. It worked an absolute treat. Far better than using something that sets up hard. (I did the same in the helmet light.)

So anyway, initial thoughts are that they are hell bright, with a slight centre spot from the Reginas and a wide smooth flood from the elipticals. Much much wider overall beam than the dual XPG helmet, and a very warm tint. ( I have no idea what bin XMLs I have. I bought them from Cutter a year or so ago to retrofit one of the watch cabinets in the shop and never ended up doing it.) With both bars and helmet on full burn there is some pretty serious punch.

I'll do some beam shots at some point over the next week or so. So far I've only used the iphone, so I'll have to go and find the other camera and try to remember how to adjust the settings.

Photos: (The beam shots against the garage door don't show the flood at all, or the massive difference it brightness)


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Fantastic and well worth all the effort given the final result :thumbsup: 

I was wondering how the smaller housing fit into the scheme of things. Best part also is you can aim each light individually if you so wish

.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

that's just nuts, what a work of art! Did you show pics of the finished remote? I can't remember..


----------



## ThinkBike (Jun 16, 2010)

Absolutely beautiful. Fantastic!


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

*Trail Tested.*

Over the weekend I did my 17th annual Cateye Moonride race in Rotorua. Years ago this started out as a 12 hour overnight relay race for teams of 5, raced in mid-winter. The following year it was incorporated into a mid winter festival with a downhill race held on the Sunday. Two of my brothers raced the first one, and I joined an all family team (father and four sons) for the second. I've raced every year since, in one capacity or another. A few years back the organizers brought it forward to May and added a 24 hour and 6 hour option, with solo efforts being optional. I race the 12 solo once, and decided never to do that again.

Anyway, this year I had my new light rig ready just in time for the race. I'm 90% sure I had the most amount of light of anyone on the track, probably by a significant margin. It was good! This year was also unique in that our all family team had the oldest 24 hour competitor, (my father) and the youngest (my niece.) And completely bizarrely, it was also the first time we got onto the podium, coming third in the 24 hour mixed category out of 17 teams, and 20th overall out of 51. Go us!

Oh, and did I mention that at least a third of the track was unrideable with mud the consistency of play-dough for a large portion of the race?

Anyway, here are a few more photos, including one of the switch, just for you MatttheMuppet.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Well done. Was it in the Whakka... forest? If so, beautiful spot for a 24hr race, but only if the shuttle was running.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Well done. Was it in the Whakka... forest? If so, beautiful spot for a 24hr race, but only if the shuttle was running.


A 24hr shuttle relay down Billy T and G-Rock would really be something. Actually there used to be a 12hr Super-D relay down one of the Ski fields in the South Island before the resort decided that running the lifts during the summer was un-economical. No dark riding though. For the last 14 years the Moonride was held in the Whaka forest, but for some reason it was moved to a privately owned camping facility 20 minutes north this year. Possibly something to do with logging at Whaka, or rising costs.... I'm not sure. So the track was brand new and couldn't really cope with the 65mm of rain three days before the event. At least it was sunny for the event. If it had been raining I think everyone would have just packed up and left.

Driving home by myself on Sunday I had plenty of time to contemplate a new build.... My wife will be absolutely thrilled I'm sure.


----------



## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

Hey, bshallard - nice lights!

What battery are you using for the bar lights - shown in the above photo (which is mountet on the frame)??


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

awesome job and well done on the 3rd place (thanks for the pic too ). I spent a weekend riding the trails at Rotorua and thought they were simply amazing, must be mind blowing for a 24h race!


----------



## scar (Jun 2, 2005)

bshallard - love the lights, absolute pieces of art.

I am not to sure about the stem cap/driver set-up. That plug coming out of the backside of the stem cap/driver looks like it could give you quite the punch to the nuts if the circumstances were just right. 



****


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

scar said:


> bshallard - love the lights, absolute pieces of art.
> 
> I am not to sure about the stem cap/driver set-up. That plug coming out of the backside of the stem cap/driver looks like it could give you quite the punch to the nuts if the circumstances were just right.
> 
> ****


Hi Jay.

Sorry about the really slow reply. I have been mostly concentrating on all the work I didn't do while i was working on these, so I haven't visited in quite a while.

I agree about the plug on the back of the stem mounted driver unit. I didn't really consider just how much it was going to stick out the back of the stem. As it happens the plug got damaged somewhere along the line, so I am going to have to re-wire that bit anyway. I really wanted to mount the battery up close to the light, but couldn't think of a clean way to make it work, and it mounts very effectively down near the bottom bracket, so I'm going to do away with the plug and simply run a cord straight down to where the battery sits anyway.

Whitedog1:
Sorry about the slow response. I didn't realize there were anymore comments or questions on the thread here. The battery is the latest offering from Gloworm Adventure Products. Bruce from Gloworm lives fairly close to me, and he's taken quite an interest in my prototype lights. I got the battery and reflectors and incidentally the driver from him directly. Excellent battery pack too! Top line Panasonic cells, fully water sealed and nifty battery life indicator.

Cheers,
Blair.


----------



## XX_MATT_XX (Jun 26, 2012)

Truely awesome


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

OP, do you sell your lights?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> OP, do you sell your lights?


Sure..... I reckon about $5k should about cover my time building them.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

The Understater said:


> Sure..... I reckon about $5k should about cover my time building them.


Couldn't have put it better myself. A labour of love for sure


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

I have had a re-think.

I'll build a set for anyone who wants to give me a new Nomad Carbon (green medium) frame and Fox 36 fork (kashima) in return.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

The Understater said:


> I have had a re-think.
> 
> I'll build a set for anyone who wants to give me a new Nomad Carbon (green medium) frame and Fox 36 fork (kashima) in return.


Would you need it to come with a receipt or are you happy to ride it like it was stolen?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Would you need it to come with a receipt or are you happy to ride it like it was stolen?


You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to emu26 again.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

I can't give rep to either of you...although I did try


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

ha, I'm in the same boat with the two of you, and they say the OC is a rep circle. 

BTW, yet another beautiful build, in complete awe at your machining skills. Well done.


----------



## mad1993max (May 1, 2012)

am i to stupid or what how many watts have the leds in your helm mounted radiator with 3leds in each?


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> OP, do you sell your lights?





The Understater said:


> Sure..... I reckon about $5k should about cover my time building them.


Note to self: Unsubscribe


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> Note to self: Unsubscribe


Get upset if you want, but if you want to buy something that takes me many hours to build, then expect to pay me a lot of money. I think that's fair, don't you?


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Don't take it personally Jay. I don't believe people have a fair understanding of the time and effort that go into quality hand built lights until they have tried to shape a piece of metal themselves, let alone many pieces that then have to marry up to each other as beautifully as your do.


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

The Understater said:


> Get upset if you want, but if you want to buy something that takes me many hours to build, then expect to pay me a lot of money. I think that's fair, don't you?


I was planning on it. But for,"5k", I could buy a new Santa Cruz Bronson and equip it with two Reflex lights from Exposure and have enough money left for a good steak dinner and the strip club!


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Don't take it personally Jay. I don't believe people have a fair understanding of the time and effort that go into quality hand built lights until they have tried to shape a piece of metal themselves, let alone many pieces that then have to marry up to each other as beautifully as your do.


No worries Emu. I was aware when we had that bit of back and forth a while ago that Shaun might think we were taking the piss. It took him a couple of weeks, but he just showed that was the case. I think by the time I've drawn, machined, and assembled a set of lights and maybe bought a specific helmet and made a mount to suit, I could easily have spent a good twenty hours or more spread over a couple of months.

Okay, to be fair, since I just cracked out a calculator, maybe a fairer number would be about $2K. Damn.... No carbon Nomad then.

Blair. (Not Jay)


----------



## mad1993max (May 1, 2012)

mad1993max said:


> am i to stupid or what how many watts have the leds in your helm mounted radiator with 3leds in each?


back to my question?

because i am planing to built me a lamp too (well not that exclusive than yours but lets see) and i am wondering if i would need an active cooling system if i am going for 2 10watt leds


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

mad1993max said:


> i am wondering if i would need an active cooling system if i am going for 2 10watt leds


Plan on at least 1 sq. inch of heat sink area per Watt of LED. That will keep the light cool enough while riding at a moderate speed in cool night air. Slow climbing or when stopped or really warm temps, you will have to switch to a lower output to avoid overheating.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Sorry Blair, I've been following your builds long enough to have known that.

Say, does that $2k include your profit margin?


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Sorry Blair, I've been following your builds long enough to have known that.
> 
> Say, does that $2k include your profit margin?


Oh, good point. I was a bit low on my hourly rate too, so $2.5K and if I want to turn a decent profit then we're back up to $5k... or my Nomad Carbon. I see Shawn has conceded the point that he could buy some decent mass produced lights for well under the cost of what it takes me to make mine.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

mad1993max said:


> back to my question?
> 
> because i am planing to built me a lamp too (well not that exclusive than yours but lets see) and i am wondering if i would need an active cooling system if i am going for 2 10watt leds


Hi Max. Sorry about not answering your question. I tried to look up the website of the led boards I use yesterday but the server wasn't responding. Because I didn't know what the output in watts was. I see you've found it anyway. 10 watts output, and mine use Lux-RC boards with the drivers on the same pcb as the leds, which creates extra heat.

No you don't need active cooling. Mine put out a bunch of light, but to run them on full I need to be moving at moderate speed. On full they are drawing 1.5 amps, but I can get almost the same light output at 1 amp. At one amp they can run quite happily for a whole ride without getting more than warm to the touch.

It will be interesting to see how hard I can run my new light rig using MTG-2s (see the Bazooka light thread) as the housings aren't much bigger, but according to Troutie's experimental thread they can crank out somewhere near 20 watts each.


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

The Understater said:


> I see Shawn has conceded the point that he could buy some decent mass produced lights for well under the cost of what it takes me to make mine.


Yeah!


----------



## Big B (Nov 2, 2005)

Where are the pics on this thread?? All the old attachments are gone.


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

They were just all black pictures with no light, so they took them down.


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

I don't know why all the photos disappeared. Something went screwy with this site a while back.


----------



## Big B (Nov 2, 2005)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> They were just all black pictures with no light, so they took them down.


Doesn't sound like a very good light. Haha.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Big B said:


> Doesn't sound like a very good light. Haha.


Big B, maybe you should check out this thread for the quality of light that The Understater makes, nothing understated about their quality.


----------



## Big B (Nov 2, 2005)

You understand that was sarcasm, right?

Thanks for the link....very nice looking light. And VERY bright.


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

Big B said:


> You understand that was sarcasm, right?
> 
> Thanks for the link....very nice looking light. And VERY bright.


That's more expensive then a car.

Big B, go light on the guy. Get it? Go light on the guy! RMAO!


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> That's more expensive then a car.
> 
> Big B, go light on the guy. Get it? Go light on the guy! RMAO!


RMAO? Damn Shawn you must be flexible to be able to rim yourself


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Big B said:


> You understand that was sarcasm, right?
> 
> Thanks for the link....very nice looking light. And VERY bright.


Sarcasm? Is that like a big hole in Sar dinia? Ah, maybe I'll learn about that when I go to big school.

Or maybe sometimes I just forget to put smileys at the end of my sarcastic comments?


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

emu26 said:


> RMAO? Damn Shawn you must be flexible to be able to rim yourself


Don't have to. That's what GFs are for. And just for you, she's rimming while I type this!


----------



## The Understater (May 6, 2007)

Mountain Cycle Shawn said:


> Don't have to. That's what GFs are for. And just for you, he's rimming while I type this!


That's a nasty grandfather you've got there Shawn. Did he take his teeth out first?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Man this thread has gone off on a bit of a tangent going from lights to rimming. Suppose your GF could wear the helmet light whilst performing the task. Would be pretty dark and perilous down there


----------



## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

brad72 said:


> Man this thread has gone off on a bit of a tangent going from lights to rimming. Suppose your GF could wear the helmet light whilst performing the task. Would be pretty dark and perilous down there


Thanks for the advice! Yes, my girl friend and I tried it last night with two Exposure lights. It puts a whole new light on rimming and keeps this thread on topic!


----------

