# MC-E XPG SST The 2010 Collection in "Ano"



## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Beam shots at a later date......... 

The Collection
















Triple MC-E and 10X XPG
























SST-50 Single and Dual








Tina RS Dual and Triple XPG with Dual Carlco Narrow XPG
















Triple and Quad XPG Carlco Narrow
















The Dual Carlco Narrow XPG up close


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Very nice!!! Did you find finned extrusion or are you still sawing your fins?


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## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

Fair old collection there Odtexas :thumbsup:

You got the bug bad need help


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## cimi (Oct 26, 2008)

I whant to buy one ... How?


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Cimi - Not into selling. Just like to build and share ideas. Top quality lights here on the forum are available from Scar, Troutie, Deesta, SDnative, Zen Bicycle, El34......... 
But thanks for asking. The lights did turn out nice enough to be sold with the mass produced lights. 

Troutie..... Started about a year ago with some aluminum tubing from home depot. You lot of maniacs have dragged me into this with all your crazy builds and ideas.
Didn't plan to make so many different lights, but the wait for the XPG was killing me and I just kept tinkering in the garage. Plus we have had 3 straight weeks of rain here in Texas. Now I know why you brits have time to build such cool lights. 

Vanc - All table saw and drill. Point of all my lights - simple builds with simple tools. If you have a table saw and a drill you can build any of these lights. I will be going into material sources and build instructions in the future for all of the lights. (After getting some beam shots once it stops raining here)
My quality control is much better with the cuts. I switched to a smaller steel specific saw blade. It really likes aluminum. The blade information was just emailed to me out of the blue by Zen Bicycle. So I owe him yet again for helping without me even asking him.
Then there is the whole anodizing issue. Once again I blame Zen completely for that. His description of the process and list of bits made it too easy to not try it myself.

BTW - Thanks to everyone out there building, suggesting, sharing information, selling bits like battery holders and bar mounts. Very few of these lights could have been made without the tons of input and knowledge available on this board..............:thumbsup:


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## cimi (Oct 26, 2008)

*odtexas*

I agree ...


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

Very nice fleet you've got going there OD! You could outfit the entire group on a night ride, and then some.

Looking forward to your build descriptions....and what blades you're using. Always looking for new tips for those of us at the "cut & glue" end of the DIY spectrum. 

JZ


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## wkumtrider (Dec 27, 2007)

I'm also looking forward to your build instructions. Great stuff!


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## bikerjay (Sep 16, 2007)

I want to hear more about this magical saw blade, 10" or is it a monster 14" and is it just hard steel or carbide tooth? Do tell. My father has a pro delta table so making some fins should be quite doable. I have even thinking about building a wooden sled to rip some fins into some round aluminum stock.


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

bikerjay said:


> I want to hear more about this magical saw blade, 10" or is it a monster 14"


I was thinking _smaller_ diameter, for a lower effective cutting speed. I've been using a thin-kerf 10" carbide blade with flat teeth (no bevel) with good results. But a smaller diameter will lower the tip speed.

Also, from my woodworking experience, a blade with a low or negative hook angle to the teeth reduces the chance of kick-back. Not sure how that affects the cut in Al though.

But OD mentioned this is a steel-cutting blade, so I'm curious.....

JZ


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## bikerjay (Sep 16, 2007)

Will be interesting to see the SST-50 beam shots, nice to see a new player in the LED world, since for our application CREE has all but buried the rest. 

Very nice work on the 3xp-e, that's a tiny little light there no room for any blunders.


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## 02Slayer (Mar 5, 2004)

Wow odtexas. You didn't just nail it, you hit it out of the park. That's an arsenal of lumens there. I can't wait to see your "how to" posts. 
If you're not going to sell them to recoup some of your RnD expenses, I hope at least your riding buddies will get to use some of your lights, it'd be a shame for them to just sit there looking awesome instead of blazing up some dusty TX trail.
Really nice work, man. You have upped the ante for all of us non-mill builders. Well done.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

odtexas said:


> Vanc - All table saw and drill. Point of all my lights - simple builds with simple tools. If you have a table saw and a drill you can build any of these lights. I will be going into material sources and build instructions in the future for all of the lights. (After getting some beam shots once it stops raining here)
> My quality control is much better with the cuts. I switched to a smaller steel specific saw blade. It really likes aluminum. The blade information was just emailed to me out of the blue by Zen Bicycle. So I owe him yet again for helping without me even asking him.
> Then there is the whole anodizing issue. Once again I blame Zen completely for that. His description of the process and list of bits made it too easy to not try it myself.


You certainly have upped your quality!. The biggest reason I had to ask was your accuracy and pattern of the spacing from fin to fin looks like extrusion or at least milled. Again, very nice!


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

The saw blade. 








I got mine at Lowes, but Harbor Freight and Home Depot often carry these as well.
The accuracy is due to the fact that there is very little flex in this blade. The 10 inch multi-purpose I used last year flexed all over the place and heated badly.
I also liberally sprayed the tubing and cutting deck with








May be better things to use, but I am very happy with the results.
To get the cuts so straight I trued up the cutting deck, slide, fence, blade. Then used and HID light (what else are they good for?  ) on the deck to eyeball the cuts. Started with maybe and 1/8 inch cut and readjusted the fence if the fin was to narrow or wide. Any swarf between the tubing and fence can throw these tiny cuts off. Realize that doing it this way I can slot 3 foot of aluminum all four sides in about 10 minutes. That yields around 12 to 18 light bodies. Much faster than the mill.:thumbsup:


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## 02Slayer (Mar 5, 2004)

Genius!!


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## OverTheHill (Dec 3, 2004)

Very nice odtexas and you have inspired me to try something similar on my first light. Can I ask you:

1) What wall thickness do you use on your sections and how far down do you cut i.e. what is the residual thickness of the section?
2) How do you ensure that all the fins are consistent thickness i.e. do you use varying spacers on the fence or just do it by eye?

Regards,

OTH


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Mostly using aluminum from Speedymetals.com. I prefer the .125 inch wall thickness. I generally cut the fins to 1/2 to 2/3's wall thickness. All is done slowly by eye with a very bright light and a very clean cutting deck/fence. Thought about spacers, but found that I could do without them.......

The tube for the dual tina RS, triple tina RS, dual, and quad carlco narrow is from piercemetals.com. 
They advertise the section as .125 thickness, but it is actually more like .09 if I remember correctly. It takes a bit of work to get it usable. But it made the quad XP-G possible so I think it was worth it.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

BTW 
I know my connectors are ugly, especially compared to the new lights, but I stick with them due to ease of use and univerasal fit with all my other lights/batteries/chargers.

Complete instructions for the triple XPG carlco narrow is in the DIY light database at the top of the page. Just insert XP-G in place of XP-E and there you have it.


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## msxtr (Dec 10, 2006)

Super nice collection!!!!!!!!!!! congratulations :thumbsup: 

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr


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## OldMTBfreak (Apr 8, 2006)

Those are nice housings! ODT, I want you to know; you are responsible for me not being able to sleep last nite. I was thinking about cutting fins with a table saw. Do you move the rip fence each cut? If the wall is .125", then the fins are .062 or so? thanks James


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

A fin cutting suggestion (which is probably obvious): Start with one groove dead-center on the tubing, and work your way outward. Each time you move the fence over you can cut 2 grooves by turning the tubing around. (4 if you're doing both sides; 8 for square tubing....efficiency!)

And a safety tip from the woodworking profession: Keep the workpiece snugly against the fence and the table surface, and moving forward slowly through the blade.....do _not_ let it move backwards over the blade, or away from the table or fence. It can catch and turn into a missile faster than you can blink. Blade tip speed on a 10" table saw is ~90mph (OD's blade brings this down to ~60mph). Stand slightly to the side, out of the ejection path. I've seen the results with wood; I don't want to see it with piece of Al tubing :nonod:

JZ


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Rode last night. Had 4000 L on the bar and 2000 on the helmet. Blinded everyone. 
Been busy today cutting some more bodies and taking pictures of the build process.









The silver carnage is just one reason for goggles and gloves. Aluminum kick back sucks bad. 
Here is some basic "How to" information

Get some good gloves and goggles when playing with aluminum on the table saw.

Covered aluminum tube and cutting deck of table saw in spray lubricant.

Run section of aluminum rectangular tube along tablesaw fence for entire length to cut slot. Flipped aluminum tube and cut same slot twice on top and bottom of tube. 
















Move fence about 1.5 to 2 mm by eye and cut the 8 new slots, 2 top, bottom, and both sides. 
This gives the tubing the "shoulders. 8 cuts on the first pass can actually interfere with each other so 4 initial cuts and then 8 cuts then on out until sides are fully slotted.








Just flip the work piece and keep in soaked in spray lubricant. Hot aluminum smears and deforms. Cool aluminum cuts nicely and uniformly. 
Constantly clean aluminum chips/swarf from cutting deck and your work piece. Small brush or high pressure blow gun works well for this.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

If my memory is correct Jim builds custom cabinets. He has really cool toys at his disposal. Can't wait to see what he comes up with.
OldMTB. Just eye ball it. My fins are around .065 deep sometimes plus, sometimes minus and about 1.5 mm in thickness. A little sharp, but look so good. The joke with my riding buddies is that we won't have to trim low branches anymore. We just ride with the lights on the helmets and let them cut back the face slappers. 
Hope to get the beam shots Sunday night.....................:thumbsup: 
BTW 6000 Lumens really rocks..................


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## ireland57 (Sep 11, 2009)

OldMTBfreak said:


> ODT, I want you to know; you are responsible for me not being able to sleep last nite. thanks James


I'm hearing ya. This forum owes me weeks of it.

Nice housings OD; good work all round.


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

odtexas said:


> If my memory is correct Jim builds custom cabinets. He has really cool toys at his disposal. Can't wait to see what he comes up with.


_Had_ really cool tools....unemployed at the moment  no one is buying our obscenely expensive furniture in the current economy. But that leaves me with loads of time to ride and think about light ideas. Been getting out several times a week for 2 hour night rides  No $ to order any of the cool new LEDs, but I've got a bunch of Q5 XR-Es, optics, and drivers on hand, and some fun ideas to try.



odtexas said:


> BTW 6000 Lumens really rocks..................


Except for the guy you're riding behind, who's riding into his own jet-black shadow  The guys here with the 15w halogen lights complain about this, and I'm only running about 800l. But by the looks of your fleet of lights, your whole gang is probably running at least 2000l 

JZ


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## zen bicycle (Mar 23, 2007)

Man OD you went nuts!

good job, but switch the connectors for god sakes man.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

I know, I know. Sort of like a hot chick missing a front tooth...r two. eek: 

That deep red comes from cooking them for 2 hours at 8 to 12 amps. Nice, thick ano coat to trap all that pigment. Just FYI. :thumbsup:

You probably have some time on your hands since everyone seems to be waiting on those Maxflex drivers.............


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

odtexas said:


> I know, I know. Sort of like a hot chick missing a front tooth...or two.


You can't tell in the dark...with the light or the chick. Well I guess you could with your tounge :ihih:

JZ


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Actually the three guys I was riding behind were in deep shadow. 
The one guy probably thought his Trinewt was broken since he couldn't see them beam from it at all............


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Nice.......................


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## 92SE-R (Sep 23, 2005)

On the fin cuts on the side, you should orient them vertical for better natural convection.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Cutting vertical on sides would be a PITA ( pain in the backside for our non-english members) 
Air movement is horizontal when riding. These are not "sit still and talk" lights. If they are on, you need to be moving. I think of it as motivation.  
The large 10x XP-G has low-medium-high capabilities. The low is for mechanical breakdowns and emergencies where I will need a light that can be on while sitting still.


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## cimi (Oct 26, 2008)

*If not selling .. maybee donate *



odtexas said:


> Cimi - Not into selling. Just like to build and share ideas.:


 .. I reali like the red one. I have will to build butr do not heve tools. :/

Cimi


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

New ones, most cut yesterday, all colored this morning.........


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

Wow! Assembly line. If you're not selling them then ???  

Are you using anything special to bore the big clean switch holes? Boring before or after grooving the Al?

JZ


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

I usually buy 4 foot sections of aluminum at a time. Costs like $12.00 and shipping is the $10.00 whether it is 1 foot or 4 foot.
I just slot it all at one time for fins and cross cut as many as I can.
Main reason for that is cleaning the aluminum chips up sucks. Rather clean up one big pile once then constantly having small chip piles everytime I want a new light body.

Same holds true with the anodizing. Setting up everything............ acid, lye, distilled water, hot pots of die, boiling water, etc sort of sucks. Set it all up once. Run everything and then break it down and swear that I will never go through it again.

Of course I eventually think of a new light design and the madness begins anew.

Seriously though I really hate aluminum chips. Don't know how the mill guys deal with it.

For the switch hole.................


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

Step drill....excellent....been meaning to get one of those.

JZ


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## sdnative (Aug 10, 2008)

Texas,
Nice collection you got there!

Do you press fit / bond an Alum / Cu slug in there for mounting the leds to? ..imagine so. 

Us mill guys us a 10+ HP wet dry shop vac, works like a charm and even sucks coolant out of little cracks where you don't want it rusting away precision surfaces.

Good stuff!


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## 92SE-R (Sep 23, 2005)

You are totally right. I'm totally brainwashed for stationary avionics boxes that go in aircraft. Forgot we make these for moving bodies on bikes. LOL.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

SD- Sure the mill doesn't throw the way a tablesaw does. Chips go everywhere. 
Use either my big or little shop vacs. Used the leaf bagger a few times as well. 

Usually line the inner front lip of the housing with Arctic Silver Adhesive and then pound the slug in with a rubber hammer. Very tight fit. Interference alone will keep you from being able to push the slug with your fingers. ASA just fills any little gaps and aids in thermal transfer. Your lights will run cool whether you are moving or not. Mine need constant motion.......


92S- No worries. We have all had to relearn a few things on this board over the past year and a half. Ideas, theories, designs have moved really quickly. Been happy to be here for the ride. Looking forward to seeing where we are in a year from now. 

JZ- Can't live without the step drills. Need a short fat one for these thin lights. The longer step shanks will drill right through the other side of the housing before you get a large enough hole. That was one of those "going right back to Lowes" moments.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Fence is 80 foot from light
Two white buckets are 55 foot from light and 15 foot apart
Neighbors house is at 105 foot from camera
Target on fence is 4 foot by 4 ft 
Center of target 5 foot high
lights all set at 4 foot from ground
Camera does not have manual settings so it is set to "night" 
Huffy previously pulled EXIF data of f2.8, 2sec exposure, ISO 200 in previous beam shot thread. 
Assuming camera using same settings
Control 








MR11 HID








2x XPG 860mA Carlco Narrow








2x XPG 860mA Tina RS








3x XPE 700 mA carlco narrow








3x XPG 860 mA carlco narrow[








3x XPG 860 mA Tina RS








4x XPG 860 mA carlco narrow








single CMC RS SST-50 2000 mA-parallel star








2x LM1 RS MC-E 2000 mA 2 parallel star 2 series








2x LM1 RS SST-50 - 2000 mA 2 parallel stars 2 series








3x MC-E -2 LM1 D - 1 LM1 RS - 2000 mA 3 parallel 3 series








10x XPG 4 elliptical 2 medium 4 narrow 350 mA per string 2 strings of 5








10x XPG 4 elliptical 2 medium 4 narrow 500 mA per string 2 strings of 5








10x XPG 4 elliptical 2 medium 4 narrow 850 mA per string 2 strings of 5


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## zen bicycle (Mar 23, 2007)

If the question was who has the most light

I think the answer is you win now.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

That won't last very long. 
Once taskled gets those maxflexes shipped the build gates are going to swing wide open around here.
So maybe a week on top of the pile and then I will be playing catch up again.:thumbsup:


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## ozlongboarder (Jan 12, 2004)

Ahhh......I think you need to take that 10XPG some place with a little more distance to see what it can really do. That thing is mad :thumbsup:


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## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

thanks for the pics OdT you have confirmed a thought I had ages ago 
that 10/12 XPs would be better than 4 MCE 

and I thought I was :crazy: but you now have the crown :thumbsup:


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

OD that is fantatsic, I'm drueling (?) here.

any chance you can set up a 10 x XPG all narrow? and please take them out on a trail to give some good distance 

Nice work


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

I have a 10x XPE, set up 8 narrow 2 elliptical. It was set up with 3 ellitical in this photo.









It is too narrow. I wanted a flood for the bar for all of our twisty trails around here. 
10 narrow would be nuts, but center would be so hot it would probably wash out your eyes ability to adjust in switchbacks.
I took apart the 10x XPE to change the optics once. PITA. It was just my proof of concept light so a little carnage with it from time to time was warranted.

The XPG is too nice to crack.
Beam shots on the trail would come in handy. Troutie is a heck of guy to pack everything out there and do the shots. I might try taking the camera out some night. Stabilizing the camera will be interesting. Currently I velcro the camera and light to the rungs of an 8 foot ladder.
Troutie.... Like I mentioned to Zen. Once you guy's get your maxflexes or maybe that new hyperboost then the pendulum will be swinging back. I will take the week though unless we have another gun slinger ready to drop his collection....... I am looking forward to being outdone.

Thanks for the compliments all............


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

*For the 10x or triple MCE.*










 Body tube 

Inside width is around 57 mm so the optics need to be reduce down to 19mm to fit 3 side by side. Sand lightly preferably by hand. The same is true of the 20mm stars. They need to be reduced to 19 mm wide.

MC-E stars can be purchased from Cutter, Ledsupply, or shiningbeam.com. The 16mm stars came from shining beam.

Optics are Ledil LM1 RS and D.

The "slug" is actually 1 inch outside diameter rectangular tube

 speedymetals 

(this is the body of the dual SST light) ripped down the middle and lightly sanded to fit inside the larger rectangular stock.

When ripping the aluminum only cut through 1 side at a time. Set saw blade to its lowest height to cut the bottom of the tube. Flip the tube over and cut the other side. Cutting both top and bottom at the same time causes lots of vibrations often causes the piece to kick back from the saw blade.

 Ordered 1 inch flat stock for back plate.

Order 2 ft at least to make the pieces manageable. Less than 2 foot is hard to keep hold of when the blade grabs it.

With everything finned or ripped now use your slide to make the cross cuts. Light body is about 2 to 2.25 inch long. Measure your internal width and cut the slugs accordingly.

Usually drill some random holes in the slug so I can use it for either the MCE or the XPG.

Back plate done same way. Cut to width and sand to fit as needed.

Prefer my switches on top of the light since it is easier to press when riding and wearing gloves. Some light have 2 switches to give me multiple power settings.

These two lights both have two buckpucks wired parallel.

The MC-E uses two 1000 mA with one switch. Stars are parallel wired with 3 serial. So you can think of it as 4 strings of three with 500 mA per string.

XP-G uses one 1000 mA buckpuck and one 700 mA buckpuck in parallel. Two switches, one between each battery positive lead and buckpuck. This gives independent control of each buckpuck so the two strings of 5 XP-G's can see 350 mA, 500 mA, or 850 mA per string.

One could use the HipCC with the Triple MC-E. I went with the buckpucks since I wanted the lower 500 mA current.

I have been running a 10x XP-E with 2 strings at 500 mA for the last month and a half or so. No problems with heat at all. Tight fit with all the parts and all lights are built exclusively with Arctic Silver Adhesive to maximize heat flow/cooling potential.

*SST - 50 single*









 Body made from 

slot and cut to length as desired. This light is usually cut to about 2 inches long.

heat sink/front collar lens holder

 heat sink/front collar lens holder 

Just cut sections as needed. The front collar is only about a .25 inch long and just gives the optic a framework to be mounted to.

For the heat sink cut rip a small section to end up with a channel section, |_| of the tube and slide it into the tube body.

A back plate can be made using the same one inch stock using the back section you cut off for the slug.

 Driver 

runs at a measured 2400 mA, not the 2800 mA as advertised . Two sides of the driver will need to be lightly sanded to fit inside light body.

Optic is a Ledil CMC RS from Cutter.

 Switch 

*Dual SST- 50 or Dual MC-E*









 Body 
 Slug 

(This section can also be used/ is the body for the 3x XPG Carlco Narrow)
or
 Slug option 2 

slug tube can be cut used to fabricate back plate.
Interior height is 19 mm so the optics/holder do require light sanding to get to fit. Same hold true if using 20mm stars.

*Dual/Triple Tina RS, Dual/Quad XP-G Carlco narrow. *

This one is a PITA, but we were waiting a while for the XP-Gs so boredom was the motivator to go ahead and fabricate these light bodies.

 Tube 

Yes, one tube makes both light bodies. 








Which side of the cross brace you rip determines your rectangular tube.

This one is ripped full thickness of both sides at the same time. Expect things to vibrate and screech horribly. Hang on best you can and wear a lot of protection incase of kick back. Seems to work better to only cut about a foot at a time and then cross cut the new section off.

 Next use some 1/4 inch by 3/4 flat strip.

Rip it to the inside height of the light body to form you slug. Then cross cut to fit width.

Getting the rip right is extremely challenging. There is always a little waver in the saw blade. Dumb luck and repeated attempts will eventually get you there though. Set your fence and rip about an inch. See how tight or loose it is in relation to the light body. If it is too small then cut the end off and start over with minor adjustment to fence.

If too big then narrow fence gap and slowly remove some more material.

Good times............. Took about 10 tries to get something workable....... Hopefully you have better luck or better equipment.









On the 2x, 3x, 4x the back plates are thin plastic from milk jugs covered with 5 minute JB weld. The 5 minute can be mixed to be black and looks really good when it sets up. It really takes about 12 hours before it sets up hard enough to not get finger prints in. So let them set up over night.

But your really only have about 4 minutes while it is workable.

Found that mixing with toothpicks and cleaning edges of overflow with toothpicks works best.

The 5 minute JB weld will self level. The warmer it is the thinner it is. If it is too thick in the first minute or so grab a hair dryer or hot air gun and heat up the mix. After about 4 minutes no amount of heat is going to thin it out.

The 3x and 4x lights all use the Fatman driver from  Taskled 
The 2x uses the cheapo  driver  from Dealextreme. Have 6 of them. Two ran at 860 mA, the other four ran between 980 mA to 1030 mA. 
Specific instructions for the 3x can be found in the  DIY thread. 

Bar mounts









Handle bar mounts
 El34 Marwi bar/helmet mounts with the DX P7 adaptor bolted to bottom of light body 
Have El34's Marwi and the Electron from Chain reaction. Prefer the Marwi. YMMV
 Fatman and HippCC Driver 
 Buckpuck Drivers 

*Battery holders*
Used holders fabricated by both 
 TurboFerret 
and 
 SDnative 

 Switch from Mouser 

*Optics*
 Cutter 

*Leds*
XP-G Cutter
MC-E  Cutter ,  Shining Beam ,  LEDsupply 
 SST-50 Star 

Tamiya Connectors available widely online.

Expect typo's, incomplete sentences, and other "smallish" errors in all that. When something sounds crazy or a link takes you to the wrong place please let me know and I will fix it.........


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## pricecw (Jul 24, 2008)

Didn't look at the EXIF of all your pics, but all the ones I looked at (handy Firefox plugin), had an exposure of 2s, f/2.8, ISO 200, auto white balance, anyway, it appears the camera kept the same exposure throughout the shots. (I mainly looked at the 3 XPG, and 10 XPG images).

--Carl


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Thanks for checking that EXIF data for me. It's nice to know that the auto settings are staying the same.


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## pricecw (Jul 24, 2008)

If you use firefox, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3905 is the plugin. Just right click on the image, and select 'view image exif data'. Gives you a new window with all the info stored in the image. Not usable 100% of the time, but there are times I just want to quickly see what my camera did.

--Carl


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

Carl - cool plugin...just added it to my 'fox.

OD - sounds like the "night" setting on your camera is fixed at those settings....so it's not using the auto exposure at all. Good for comparisons between your shots.

JZ


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the plug in link. 
There is alot of information there. Very cool..............


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## unterhausen (Sep 28, 2008)

zen bicycle said:


> If the question was who has the most light
> 
> I think the answer is you win now.


I think there is a little section of his yard over to the right that is a little dim.
I imaging riding in front of him is _really _annoying


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## sxr-racer (Nov 17, 2005)

Bright Lights, Bright Lights. My Eyes.

Good Job


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## OverTheHill (Dec 3, 2004)

Brilliant thread - thanks to odtexas for sharing his "modus operandi" with so much juicy info and pics included.

One small question; with the step drill does it give you enough clearance from the fins to mount the switch or do you have have to do something else?

Regards,

OTH


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

The only thing worse than riding in front of me is riding head on at me.  

Bright is good but brighter is better. Actually on high the 10x is really too bright. I put those ellipticals in there to try and reduce the hot spot and accomplished that goal.

Issue always is that your eyes adjust to light levels. The more light you have though the harder it is to adjust to lower light levels..... Dark Adaption and all that. So it is best to have the brightest lights when riding with buddies, but too much light is probably worse than not enough. Will run the 10x on medium or low most of the time I am thinking. High is just for annoying others.:thumbsup: 

Step drill takes care of about 90% of the switch fit. A little silicone fills in any gaps and an occasional tweak of a fin to get a good fit is all that is needed.


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## sdnative (Aug 10, 2008)

zen bicycle said:


> If the question was who has the most light
> 
> I think the answer is you win now.


Ya, seriously!! Hands down. Heard of excess overhead 

Man, 10XPG = daylight.

My in work 12 xpg setup is for the dirtbike bar ....maybe I don't really need one that big?? ...yea I do


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## 92SE-R (Sep 23, 2005)

Alright, I'm ready to order me some XPG's from cutter. What is this light engine thing? Is that a star PCB that the LED comes on? There is no description for anything on the pulldown menu. 

od, did you get the carclo optics from cutter?


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## znomit (Dec 27, 2007)

92SE-R said:


> Alright, I'm ready to order me some XPG's from cutter. What is this light engine thing? Is that a star PCB that the LED comes on?


Details here:
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut937

http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=Optics+for+XP-C/E/G


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

10 mm square mcpcb.
10mm square carlco optics


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## Itess (Feb 22, 2009)

Thanks odtexas! This thread gave my thoughts some kick  I don't have enough place for such a saw, but I have some ideas. I would like to ask you for an advice. I am considering buying one of these:
Proxxon FET
Proxxon FKS/E
Proxxon KS 230

The main question is: will be Proxxon KS 230 versatile enough for me or I'd rather buy Proxxon FET? Today I need to cut only 1,5mm thick Alu, but tomorrow? Also, I would like to be able to adjust the depth of cut.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

The KS 230 may not have the torque to cut aluminum.
Out of that bunch the FET is the way to go. Just seems really pricey.
Cheap table saws are available here for a little over $100 USD. They really aren't all that big and will have plenty of torque and cutting depth. 
FET is best of your list, but you might look around for a small/cheap general purpose table saw.
Good luck with the project.............


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

92SE-R said:


> Alright, I'm ready to order me some XPG's from cutter. What is this light engine thing? Is that a star PCB that the LED comes on? There is no description for


Same question....the item numbers are pretty cryptic.

I think I have decoded some:

*EDIT: never mind. In the first link that Znomit gave us above, near the top, click on "XPG on MCPCB" I find the Cutter site a little hard to navigate, but it's usually there somewhere if you poke around long enough.*

10SSQ = 10mm square board
10SRO = 10mm round board
20STR = 20mm star board
MR11T = 35mm triple
MR11Q = 35mm quad
407S = 40mm with 7 LEDs

I am not sure about these:

MR8SER
MR8IAD
254S

JZ


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## wrc2006 (Nov 2, 2007)

MR8SER = 20mm round MCPCB with 3 XPGs wired in series
MR8IAD = 20mm star MCPCB with 3 XPGs individually addressable
254S = 25mm round MCPCB with 4 XPGs wired in series

Full list @ cutter here http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut937


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## Itess (Feb 22, 2009)

odtexas said:


> The KS 230 may not have the torque to cut aluminum.
> Out of that bunch the FET is the way to go. Just seems really pricey.
> Cheap table saws are available here for a little over $100 USD. They really aren't all that big and will have plenty of torque and cutting depth.
> FET is best of your list, but you might look around for a small/cheap general purpose table saw.
> Good luck with the project.............


Thanks! My workplace looks like this:










I am really constrained in workspace


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

That is a small place. 
I cut the aluminum outside most of the time. 
Chips fly everywhere when using a table saw. 
Keep us posted on how the projects goes..........


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## OldMTBfreak (Apr 8, 2006)

Yep, ya gotta control the saw dust; wood, aluminum, or in my case plexiglas. If you don't sweep it up, it gets EVERYWHERE. A power saw really throws the saw dust. I use my shop vac for saw dust control.


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## dirtisgood (May 8, 2009)

Wow od. Great stuff.


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Itess said:


> Thanks! My workplace looks like this:
> 
> I am really constrained in workspace


Itess, are the pampers on hand to mop up the blood from really nasty workshop accidents?


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

odtexas said:


> The only thing worse than riding in front of me is riding head on at me.
> 
> Bright is good but brighter is better. Actually on high the 10x is really too bright. I put those ellipticals in there to try and reduce the hot spot and accomplished that goal.


Thanks for the feedback.

I assume you are referring to the 10 x XPE with XPE optics. Now that you've had a play with the XPG and XPE optic combination do you think the resulting wider beam would make much of a difference to the really tight all narrow set up?


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Found that I need a minimum of 4 ellipticals with a 10x light for off road use to balance the 2000 tight narrow lumens on the helmet. 
Even though there is more spread with the XPG emitter it still doesn't offset the increased brightness of the hotspot. 
Really comes down to riding preference and balancing bar vs helmets light patterns.
Here is a comparison of the wider and brighter beam of a 3x XPG vs 3x XPE both lights with carlco narrow optics. (yes there is that pesky difference in mA between the two lights but let's just consider light output since the XPE is set at its maximum rated current.)


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## dustyrider (Feb 19, 2004)

odtexas said:


> *For the 10x or triple MCE.*


How does all this get inside, any pictures for us?

I'd like to add, I like your connectors! (blushes)

It fits with the style of the light, kinda post apocalyptic.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

What I found interesting in all this was the difference in peripheral flood of the MC-E vs the SST-50.

The SST seems to put out a tighter beam with less peripheral flood. Not sure if this is due differences in emitter/dome size, height, emission angle. Haven't gotten around to a side by side datasheet comparison.
I think the pictures tell us enough about the difference. Just one more point to ponder when deciding what to build with.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Here is a better comparison using a single MCE vs a single SST-50. The floodier picture is the MC-E.
Optics are both CMC RS


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

No inside shots. There is a ton of room inside that box. I just put one buckpuck on the left side and one on the right and there is still plenty of room in there for 2 switches.
Tons more room if you use the HipCC, or XPG's due to the shallower optics with the XPG.

Yes, those connectors are very low tech looking. So primitive industrial seems to be my design style.....


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## Jim Z in VT (Sep 9, 2007)

OD - what switch are you using with the BuckPuck driven lights? You linked to a momentary switch in you parts list above, but you'd need a click on/click off switch for the BuckPuck, no? 

JZ


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

So Zen Bicycle emails me about this ITW switch earlier this year. 
I tell him that it wouldn't work since it was momentary switch only good for those fancy "flex" drivers. But thanks for trying to help. :thumbsup: 
So I get this email back saying "it's an on/off" "the momentary box isn't checked"
I felt silly for not figuring it out for myself........ Don't feel so bad now.....   
Thanks JZ................
Let's just blame mouser for the stupid layout of their product page....:madmax:


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## Itess (Feb 22, 2009)

emu26 said:


> Itess, are the pampers on hand to mop up the blood from really nasty workshop accidents?


LOL! 

No, there are some of my tools in


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## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

I am catching you up now OT


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

@ both of you


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Looks like you have been busy...............:thumbsup: 
Those all have homes or are you making up additional lights for the increased fall demand?


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

@ Troutie

Seems the 12up XPG is missing in your linup... :eekster: 
:ihih: :drumroll:


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## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

odtexas said:


> Looks like you have been busy...............:thumbsup:
> Those all have homes or are you making up additional lights for the increased fall demand?


67 of the beasties have new homes they were the first 12


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## jakomonster (Jun 20, 2006)

*AAA and sealing*



odtexas said:


> BTW
> 
> Complete instructions for the triple XPG carlco narrow is in the DIY light database at the top of the page. Just insert XP-G in place of XP-E and there you have it.


odtexas! wow! impressive! Thanks for sharing all the info. I'm still gathering info for my first build and found a lot of help in your threads. Can you help a guy out with a few more questions?

I read in the DIY post you use polycarbonate from Home Depot as a front cover. 
how is the polycarbonate lense sealed to the housing? 
and what is "AAA" that is holding the slug to the housing? (google gets way to confused searching that)


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## jakomonster (Jun 20, 2006)

jakomonster said:


> odtexas! wow! impressive! Thanks for sharing all the info. I'm still gathering info for my first build and found a lot of help in your threads. Can you help a guy out with a few more questions?
> 
> I read in the DIY post you use polycarbonate from Home Depot as a front cover.
> how is the polycarbonate lense sealed to the housing?
> *and what is "AAA"* that is holding the slug to the housing? (google gets way to confused searching that)


found one answer! AAA = Arctic Alumina Adhesive :thumbsup:


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Use either of these or any other clear silicone.


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## jakomonster (Jun 20, 2006)

odtexas said:


> Use either of these or any other clear silicone.


thanks,
I didnt catch that you used that to seal the lense but I got it now. I like the tip that you use that as well to stop any rattling from the lense to the cover.


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