# Twin XML build



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Well to christen the new mill I found a lump of 6061 alloy and started knocking up a new light just to see how the new toy runs. One I get the AL330 lathe in the shed (still working out how to get it in) my dream will be complete

It has morphed into a double XML, with ledil square optics and a hipflex driver. There have been no cad drawings for this one, just cutting off alloy here and there to achieve what can be seen below. There is still some work to do and I have to say I have found the going a bit slower that i am used to not having a 3 axis DRO like my work machine, but, counting the rotations on the cross slide handwheels is therapeutic in some sadistic way.

Since I can do a bit of machining before brekky and after dinner it is quite enjoyable, and refreshing not getting into trouble from the wife spending extra hours at work . It's only 10ºc in the shed so not as hardcore and matthew the muppets -20º but hey, i do have a jumper on .

Should have said also that all the slots have round bottoms, just like my bike stand

Hey look Chris, we have the same granite kitchen bench tops.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

nice bench tops!

what? there's a light there? Oh, right.

Looking pretty tidy, industrial even. Where's the driver going to go? How big is it? I have shonky old laminate kitchen surfaces so I've no idea on the granite "scale" 

As for getting the mill in the shed, wouldn't it have been easy to put the shed over the mill?


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

oh, and there's 2 Ts in Matthew, otherwise when you shorten it you get Mat, which is what people clean their feet on 

Double oh, only my parents me Matthew - if anyone else does I get a guilt complex :blush:


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

mmm


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

For some reason this post has appeared here and not below vancbikers. Can't work that one out?

Here's a mock up with the driver housing fitted but I can feel some carbon fibre pieces making there way into this build, but you will have to wait as I have to make the moulds first.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

double post


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Sorry Mat, I know about the guilty part, when ever I am called Bradley i know I'm in trouble.

As for the size it is 55x40x30mm. The hipflex driver holder is 45Øx20mm deep and is secured to the end with cap screws but i left my camera at work so no pictures of that. The fin widths are 3mm with 4mm spaces in between. Weight wise she is a little heavier than I would like so time to shave some alloy off from somewhere. 

I also need to work out a front cover, so I'll have to see what materials are lying around.


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Looks good. Yours looks like microlights bigger brother.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=574292

Look on ebay for a DRO for your mill. There are some pretty cheap ones there. I am going to get one for the quill on my knee mill.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Well I manage to get some more done tonight but a bit cold in the shed though. All that's left now is to wire in the hipflex, make a handlebar mount and front bezel then give it a test run. Still have some carbon fibre parts to make also but i'll make sure the light works ok first before going to the effort. Got to love prototypes.

Also looking at the pictures i need some countersunk screws for the hipflex heatsink on the end and give the alloy a bit of buff in prep for anodizing


----------



## kan3 (Nov 11, 2009)

Nice


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

brad72 said:


> For some reason this post has appeared here and not below vancbikers. Can't work that one out?


MTBR is having issues with the whole forum it appears. Other ones I look at also have posting sequence mix-ups.

So much for the family resemblance of the lights now:sad:

Why did you make this as two separate pieces? I know you have the ability and equipment to do a housing like this as one piece so curiosity is getting to me.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

looks very tidy, nice job. Seems like a fairly quick build too?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Vancbiker said:


> Why did you make this as two separate pieces? I know you have the ability and equipment to do a housing like this as one piece so curiosity is getting to me.


There a few reasons for this one. Firstly the lump of 6061 alloy I had was too small to to make the housing one piece and I was too impatient to wait till Monday to try out the new toy.

Then as the build began I thought that the driver housing can be made from carbon fibre with the alloy end cap fitted for the hipflex heatsink. This means for a bar light the 2 parts can be joined to form 1 light but as a helmet light the driver section can be removed and mounted as an inline puck that mounts to the rear of the helmet. This way the momentary switch can still be accessed easily on the side of the helmet and the light will feel more balanced and less bulky. But I had to make the the alloy part as this is what the carbon fibre mould will be formed from.

Further thought also means that if I was to fit an all in one led modules instead of the big diameter hipflex the driver housing would not be required and I would be left with the 100g part in the first post. I did this with my 7 up build as an all in one 7 up board was available so the maxflex housing was made to be removable.

Not sure if I like the look of the 2 part housing but this is the first light I have built that wasn't made in 3D cad first but was more fun to make seeing what would eventuate as I started making chips. What i might do is make the driver housing diameter a bit small then it won't look so out of proportion

Mat I'm not sure how long it took as I have been doing 20 here, 20 minutes there, a real plus having a mill at home now. I suppose it would be somewhere around 3-4 hours. The slow down factor has been not having a DRO but the SWMBO was pretty generous letting me buy the mill so I better not stretch my luck for another $400 just yet.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Very interesting light Brad, I like the idea of being able to remote mount the control box.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

that's pretty decent going for a polished light like that, good job.

DRO (digital read out?) I get, but SWMBO? Significant other WIth Monstrous Body Odour?


----------



## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

brad72 said:


> There a few reasons for this one. Firstly the lump of 6061 alloy I had was too small to to make the housing the one piece and I was too impatient to wait till Monday to try out the new toy.
> 
> Then as the build began I thought that the driver housing can be made from carbon fibre with the alloy end cap fitted for the hipflex heatsink. This means for a bar light the 2 parts can be joined to form 1 light but as a helmet light the driver section can be removed and mounted as an inline puck that mounts to the rear of the helmet. This way the momentary switch can still be accessed easily on the side of the helmet and the light will feel more balanced and less bulky. But I had to make the the alloy part as this is what the carbon fibre mould will be formed from.
> 
> Further thought also means that if I was to fit an all in one led modules instead of the big diameter hipflex the driver housing would not be required and I would be left with the 100g part in the first post. I did this with my 7 up build as an all in one 7 up board was available so the maxflex housing was made to be removable.


Well thought out and increased versatility, all good!


----------



## baker (Jan 6, 2004)

mattthemuppet said:


> that's pretty decent going for a polished light like that, good job.
> 
> DRO (digital read out?) I get, but SWMBO? Significant other WIth Monstrous Body Odour?


She Who Must Be Obeyed


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

ah, that makes sense


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Thanks for the comments guys. 

Glad you cleared up the SWMBO part Mat as saying your wife has monstrous body odour will guarantee a beating with the sharp side of the machete. 

I ended up making the driver part of the housing much much smaller and about 1/3 the weight of the original. It's still in the mill vice getting some heat sink fins so I'll post some pics when finished.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Well I didn't get to work on my light today but our Toowoomba based company did break the Guinness World record by baking a Lamington cake 2,361Kg in weight.  That works out to be 1.8 x 1.8 x1.5 meters in size......woo hoo


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Pics or it didn't happen.

Did it have cream in the middle?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

emu26 said:


> Pics or it didn't happen.
> 
> Did it have cream in the middle?


No cream, just Jam. Pics were on 7, ten and nine news, I was too busy making the thing to get any shots. Friends got some though


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

looking forward to the new driver housing...that last one was BIG..
When do we get to see what you can really do on your mill Brad? I think your holding back


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

what did you do with the Lamington afterwards? That's a lot of cake..


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

mattthemuppet said:


> what did you do with the Lamington afterwards? That's a lot of cake..


About 1/2 a tonne was cut up, re-covered in chocolate and coconut and sold for with the proceeds going to a local children charity. That's all they could eat. It was a lot of cake.


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

brad72 said:


> About 1/2 a tonne was cut up, re-covered in chocolate and sold for with the proceeds going to a local children charity. That's all they could eat. It was a lot of cake.


Is this the reason the "coconut futures" went through the roof last week?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

emu26 said:


> Is this the reason the "coconut futures" went through the roof last week?


could be.....we make about 65,000,000 lamo's a year so we definitely go through a lot


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

That's about 3 each, who ate mine?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Managed to get it all wired up today and fitted the smaller driver housing which looks far better. I still have to make the front cover and handlebar mount so that will get done in the next few days.

I have shown a really quick method in the first picture to polish the alloy. It only takes 1 pass and also remove surface blemishes. The red grade of pad works well but if you want an even finer finish use the blue or gray ones. Here a link of the pads for reference https://3mcollision.com/products/abrasives/conditioning-discs Here a link to the backing pad https://3mcollision.com/3m-hard-roloc-disc-pad-45091.html I would recommend wearing a dust mask however to keep the lungs safe

Light wise on 2800mA this thing is very bright. I think it is going to make and excellent bar or helmet light. I ended up using a Ledil oval running parallel to the ground and a ledil spot (both mace for an XRE). This give me a wide beam without flood and a good spot for throw. Weight wise I think it is around the 130g mark. Very Happy.

There is a stat led just above the power connector and it uses a wired remote momentary button to select the modes


----------



## znomit (Dec 27, 2007)

Sweet!


----------



## HuffyPuffy (Jun 9, 2008)

The light looks great, and thanks for the Scotch-brite tip.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Thanks for the comments Huffy. At least i know the mill works. I think I'll try my hand at anodizing with this one. Shouldn't be too hard (famous last words)


----------



## Toaster79 (Apr 5, 2010)

brad72 said:


> Thanks for the comments Huffy. At least i know the mill works. I think I'll try my hand at anodizing with this one. Shouldn't be too hard (famous last words)


Let us know how it turns out! I'm rather curious myself


----------



## HuffyPuffy (Jun 9, 2008)

I was just checking prices locally on anodizing here, but they are way too expensive unless a bunch of items are done. I'd like to see how the home anodizing works out, since I may have to do that sometime soon. I have read that there is a bit of science to getting the temps and times right, and that some folks have problems with the dye's fading or washing off all together in the boiling stage. There are some threads here with links and such that I am gonna dig up, will post links here if I can find them.


----------



## HuffyPuffy (Jun 9, 2008)

Here at the threads I was looking for:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=662777&highlight=anodizing

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=592456&highlight=anodizing

Saw that you posted in one of these already, was educational for me though:thumbsup:


----------



## kan3 (Nov 11, 2009)

Personally, I don't feel it's worth the time unless you do hard anodizing. Regular anodizing just wears too easy for my tastes.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

kan3 said:


> Personally, I don't feel it's worth the time unless you do hard anodizing. Regular anodizing just wears too easy for my tastes.


Good point Kan3 but it will give at least a nice colour without affecting the emissivity through painting. As long as the diy setup is cheap there is nothing lost really. Maybe there is a diy route for type 3 hard anodizing?


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

Here's a good guide on anodising
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=13991.0


----------



## kan3 (Nov 11, 2009)

brad72 said:


> Good point Kan3 but it will give at least a nice colour without affecting the emissivity through painting.


If that's what you want to use it for then it'll work great.

You can do type3 at home but it's more expensive. With the small size of the lights it maybe not be much more up front really. You actually chill the bath instead of heat it for type3 and you use a lot more current. Something like 25-30A per sqft of aluminum.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

emu26 said:


> Pics or it didn't happen.
> 
> Did it have cream in the middle?


Emu, this is about the 2 tonne mark before the additional 361kg plus chocolate and coconut


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

kan3 said:


> If that's what you want to use it for then it'll work great.
> 
> You can do type3 at home but it's more expensive. With the small size of the lights it maybe not be much more up front really. You actually chill the bath instead of heat it for type3 and you use a lot more current. Something like 25-30A per sqft of aluminum.


I have an old industrial battery charger that puts out 30amps from memory? Perhaps I could use that. Just need to keep the water chilled and agitated.


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

You'll need to get the surface perfect before anodising...otherwise the anno shows up any imperfections i think..
Id have a go at anno, but the miss's wouldnt be to happy about a load of acid in the flat...


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

brad72 said:


> I have shown a really quick method in the first picture to polish the alloy.


bah, Real Men(Tm) don't use quick methods. If it doesn't take several hours, you're not doing it right 



brad72 said:


>


is that a bluetac bar mount?


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

mattthemuppet said:


> bah, Real Men(Tm) don't use quick methods. If it doesn't take several hours, you're not doing it right
> 
> is that a bluetac bar mount?


I hope it is and not recycled chewing gum


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

mattthemuppet said:


> is that a bluetac bar mount?


ahh, not just any Bluetac. That ball has been in the family for many, many years, has been added to and caressed by many different hands, hence it's superior holding power. Just the other week I used it a temperary wall mount for the plasma Tv

Like a Real man™ it did take many hours to polish, 2 minutes with the 3M scotchbrite then 2 hours 58 minutes drink ale admiring the result. My arm got tired lifting the bottle


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

brad72 said:


> It did take several hours to polish, 2 minutes with the 3M scotchbrite then 2 hours 58 minutes drink ale admiring the result. My arm got tired lifting the bottle


ah ha! The words of a Real Man(Tm). I do hope you spent at least some of that 2h 58m watching the wife doing the hoovering?


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

mattthemuppet said:


> ah ha! The words of a Real Man(Tm). I do hope you spent at least some of that 2h 58m watching the wife doing the hoovering?


Like a Real Man™ I watched the Canadian F1 Grand Prix again whilst sipping ale and admiring my light and was kind enough to lift my feet so the hallowed carpet beneath them could be hoovered as well. Twas a fine day for Real Men™


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

brad72 said:


> Like a Real Man™ I watched the Canadian F1 Grand Prix again whilst sipping ale and admiring my light and was kind enough to lift my feet so the hallowed carpet beneath them could be hoovered as well. Twas a fine day for Real Men™


nice job, I'm proud of you :thumbsup:


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

brad72 said:


> Like a Real Man™ I watched the Canadian F1 Grand Prix again whilst sipping ale...... Twas a fine day for Real Men™


I'm just glad I slept through the 2am alarm and woke at 4.30am. Caught the highlights of the first "session" then the best half of the race :thumbsup:

So glad Button won, and Webber managed to get past the old master


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Got the light on the scales and it came in at 160g. A bit heaver than expected but the fins are 3mm wide with a 6mm thick base for the leds to sit on so that's where the weight is. I might knock up another housing with 2mm fins which will give me a few more. I also want to make a carbon fibre driver housing and ano the housing so i'll have to find time to get all that done.

Better yet I could get an Lflex driver and use a 2s2p battery pack and wire the leds in series. Due to the size of the lflex the driver housing would be very small or not needed at all making machining much easier.


----------



## HuffyPuffy (Jun 9, 2008)

Looks great, the weight seems OK as-is, and the improvements for the next one sound like they will trim it down nicely. I like the idea of getting the driver inside the case, aside from the weight, it could have other benefits like being easier to get sealed up since there would be fewer covers to deal with sealing. Looking forward to seeing this light anodized.


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Ok so I still haven't been able to finish the light but I was able to get the housing weight down to 130grams so closer to where I want it. I also ditched the ledil square optics in favour of a couple of regina's trimmed to a height of 14.5mm with a hole just big enough to slip over the led chip. From the picture the Regina reflectors look like they are crooked in the housing which they are. I angled them outwards slightly to give a wider hotspot which worked really well.

I also took some beamshots and compared it to my 7 up light. I must admit although the 7 up is still brighter with more throw when driven @ 1300mA, the twin xml @2800mA is very impressive, only being not far behind the 7 up. The Regina reflectors are the reason behind this. When the square crs optics were fitted it was no where near as bright.










The white fence is at 115 meters(1st and 3rd image), the and horse is at 55 meters and the big tree is at 87 meters (2nd and 4th image).

Twin XML @ 2800mA


















7 Up XPG / XPE @ 1300mA


----------



## damian777 (Feb 7, 2007)

Nice beamshots. The horse really noticed the 7up!


----------



## kan3 (Nov 11, 2009)

Looks almost like a goat to me


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

looks good Brad. I wonder what effect shortening the Regina has on throw - doesn't look any different to what I'm used to.

Can't believe I finished my light before yours though, guess that's what comes from using Real Men(TM) tools


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

mattthemuppet said:


> looks good Brad. I wonder what effect shortening the Regina has on throw - doesn't look any different to what I'm used to.
> 
> Can't believe I finished my light before yours though, guess that's what comes from using Real Men(TM) tools


I've go the flu so staying inside, unlike a real man who would still go out into the freezing cold shed

As for the regina I found 14.5mm was the point at which the darker spots in the beam dissapeared, close up that is. I might try full height regina's outside when I'm over the flu.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

that sucks Brad  Are you sure it's Real Man Flu or just Man Flu though?!

interesting about the Reginas, hopefully you'll kick the flu quickly so you can get some results


----------



## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

Brad you need some of these...saw them in the supermarket the other day and just thought whatever next


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

That's hilarious Jay. I wonder if people actually buy it.

This sums it up perfectly. My lovely wife gave it to me


----------



## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Maaaaaaaate, you're an Aussie aren't you, or just an expat?

Maybe you need a cup of this








and then you can "harden the .... up"


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Well it's been a while since I have toughed this light but the anodizing success I thought it was time to finish it. The dye used was red although the pictures give it an orange tinge.

I have added a front cover with 1mm polycarbonate lens protector. The only thing left to do is to add the bar mount but I need some black ano dye to colour it so that will get finished in a week or so.

As a caveat now that the Lflex driver has come out the Hipflex driver is probably overkill and I could make the driver pocket smaller but since all my packs are 11.1v or 14.8v it is still the best solution for this light. I might make another light using a 2s2p pack and Lflex later on.

Anyway here some pictures of the nearly finished light. One thing I did find is that I must have used 2 different grades of alloy as the shade of red is different between the main light body of the light and the driver pocket even though they were all done at the same time. Something to remember for the future. I am also going to polish the alloy to a mirror finish next time. I experimented with this housing having different levels of polish and I much prefer the highly polished look as the colour seems a little more solid.










In this picture you can see the connector that carries the power and remote switch with the blue Stat led just above it.


----------



## savagemann (Jan 14, 2008)

Top notch work!
Im still fiddling away with hacksaws and files!

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk


----------



## troutie-mtb (Sep 20, 2007)

Weird how the differing alloys take the dye .

Nice looking job :thumbsup:

what we need now is smaller switches / connectors / and drivers .

though the rumour of a B3flex sounds good


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

I to was surprised at the different ano colour as I was sure the grades were the same but from what I have read different alloys will colour differently. 

I was going to strip the driver housing and re-anodize to see if I could get the colour a bit deeper but it is only slightly lighter so not a real worry.


----------



## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

looks great Brad, I really like the lip over the LEDs - I've been doing a lot of rolling log lined trails recently and leaning over the bars as you go over a log pile doesn't do anything for my night vision!

I shouldn't be too sad about using the hipflex - I think the stat LED voltage warning is well worth the extra cost and size over an lflex and using the main LED, especially with such a bright light. The b3flex does sound seriously promising though, fingers crossed!


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

I had been doing some gold anodizing this weekend and thought I would see what this housing would look like in gold. I haven't made the driver housing yet as I am waiting for a b3flex or I could use a Lflex and use a 2s2p pack.

Anyway here is a picture in the gold. A little lighter would have been nice but this still looks pretty good in the flesh, just a shade darker than 9ct gold.










.


----------



## rschultz101 (Oct 5, 2009)

nice, nice, like the burly look.
still drooling , over your ZX-45 !
wish , there was an conversion kit for it -> CNC .
do want an CNC,.... they always wished for an bullet proof vest,
and some even voluntary , put on hard hats, when I went to the mill,...
and one time , big boss, needed some brass balls, for the antique bed,...
had the privilege , to do it by hand on the lathe,... 
needless to say, most of them , looked like easter eggs, then balls ,...
forth try , was a charm . 
----
oh, next thing you know, you'd gold plate it for real .
big cheers,
Rob


----------



## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

rschultz101 said:


> nice, nice, like the burly look.
> still drooling , over your ZX-45 !
> wish , there was an conversion kit for it -> CNC .
> do want an CNC,.... they always wished for an bullet proof vest,
> ...


Cheers mate. I am tempted to get a plating kit to get that true chrome type gloss.

As for the ZX-45 CNC conversion I have priced up the parts and know what is required, now just to save up the money to purchase all the bits. I stripped the mill and added oil grooves in the ways in readiness for an automatic oiler so 1 job is done. The next thing I am going to do is the belt conversion with a VFD as the gears have too much backlash and therefore produce chatter and a poor surface finish. I can see it being one of those 10 year projects. :eekster:

.


----------



## starthere (Nov 7, 2011)

brad72 said:


> Well to christen the new mill I found a lump of 6061 alloy and started knocking up a new light just to see how the new toy runs. One I get the AL330 lathe in the shed (still working out how to get it in) my dream will be complete
> 
> It has morphed into a double XML, with ledil square optics and a hipflex driver. There have been no cad drawings for this one, just cutting off alloy here and there to achieve what can be seen below. There is still some work to do and I have to say I have found the going a bit slower that i am used to not having a 3 axis DRO like my work machine, but, counting the rotations on the cross slide handwheels is therapeutic in some sadistic way.
> 
> ...


Wow!!! Nice! That's how a bike light born....you are amazing!!!


----------



## starthere (Nov 7, 2011)

brad72 said:


> I had been doing some gold anodizing this weekend and thought I would see what this housing would look like in gold. I haven't made the driver housing yet as I am waiting for a b3flex or I could use a Lflex and use a 2s2p pack.
> 
> Anyway here is a picture in the gold. A little lighter would have been nice but this still looks pretty good in the flesh, just a shade darker than 9ct gold.
> 
> ...


Looking at the outer case design, it must have a perfect self-cooling feature!!


----------

