# Not micro, just small.



## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

I have been working on a small light weight housing on and off between painting the house simply to remove the boredom of painting.

I only started it as a bit of fun but it has turned out better than expected and I'm starting to get attached to the little thing. At the moment it weighs 22grams so will only get heavier from now on as I fill it up with parts.

I have no idea how Vancbiker gets his lights so light weight so I'll stop removing metal before there is nothing left and leave the really light weight stuff to the man that can.

I'll update as I make progress unless I balls it up. I haven't really planned this project so I'm just going to see how things go. It will probably end up with some 13 MM reflectors that I took out of a couple of torches and maybe some Osram LEDs just for a change...but then again I still don't know.

I'm not looking forward to the soldering :eekster:


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## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

Wow, yeti, the light looks fantastic. The last shot with the light on you finger really shows how small it is and I love the hood. I cannot think of a better way to break the monotony of painting.

I think Vancbiker uses aluminium with a high helium content  but 22g is hardly what I would call heavy. 

Again fantastic. :thumbsup:

.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Thanks brad, not too sure if I can fit a motor into it though.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

Nice workmanship there as usual.

Would a AMC 7135 board in a 1050 or 1400 mA, 17mm diameter board fit? 
I run most of my dual XML using the 1400 mA driver in the poor mans circuit configuration.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

odtexas said:


> Nice workmanship there as usual.
> 
> Would a AMC 7135 board in a 1050 or 1400 mA, 17mm diameter board fit?
> I run most of my dual XML using the 1400 mA driver in the poor mans circuit configuration.


Thanks odtexas.
Yes I could fit one as I made it big enough to take an LFlex just incase.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

That's a little gem of a housing! You must have spent several hours in front of the milling machine getting all those tiny grooves and slots cut. Now if those 13 mm reflectors make a tight beam you will be well rewarded. What torch did you salvage those from? Any thoughts on how they would work with an XML?


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## piesoup (Feb 9, 2009)

Nice one!
You must have massive hands, or that is a tiny housing!


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Vancbiker said:


> That's a little gem of a housing! You must have spent several hours in front of the milling machine getting all those tiny grooves and slots cut. Now if those 13 mm reflectors make a tight beam you will be well rewarded. What torch did you salvage those from? Any thoughts on how they would work with an XML?


Thanks Vancbiker, It's actually been a very easy housing to make. Probably due to just doing a bit every now and then. I set the carriage stops on the front of the mill table so that it was easy to repeat the slots. The hardest part was holding the thing in a vice, it has a few scars as the end mill would pull it out of the vice but if I tightened the vice anymore it would crush the part:madman:

The torch is really cheesy from good old Poundland so no expense spared on that side of things Here is a link to it: Flashing Light With Whistle | Poundland

They produce a nice beam with the XP-G and a better beam with the Osram Oslon but I should imagine are way too small to get anything more than a huge flood with the XM-L. I have already put a threaded hole on the bottom of the housing for a bar mount so that if it turns out too floody it can still be used as a bar light.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

yetibetty said:


> The hardest part was holding the thing in a vice, it has a few scars as the end mill would pull it out of the vice but if I tightened the vice anymore it would crush the part:madman:


Below is a pic that shows how I solve that problem. The "block" left on the housing is solely to allow me to clamp it tightly while milling. Once all the main machine work is done, I saw the housing off the block with a circular saw in the mill. I don't saw all the way through, but leave a thin tab. A few bends and the housing snaps off. Then I only have to lightly clamp the housing to finish cut the sawn surface. Da*n, there goes one of my "secrets" how to make ultralight housings. :eekster:



yetibetty said:


> The torch is really cheesy from good old Poundland so no expense spared on that side of things Here is a link to it: Flashing Light With Whistle | Poundland


Thanks for the info on the reflector. No Poundland here, I'll have to look around at some discount stores.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Thanks for the tip Vanc, I often leave a lump to hold things in the chuck on the lathe.This housing is two part and it was the front part that was a pain to hold. Keep the secrets flowing please:thumbsup:


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Beautiful looking light yeti and yes, it's not until we see it on your finger that we get to appreciate just how small it is.

Where did you get the angle vice from, that's one of the better looking quality ones I have seen?


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Beautiful looking light yeti and yes, it's not until we see it on your finger that we get to appreciate just how small it is.
> 
> Where did you get the angle vice from, that's one of the better looking quality ones I have seen?


Thanks emu, it's the smallest light that I have ever made. I'm going to put some green tinted XP-Gs that I can't stand in it later today to find out if it can cope with the heat. If it can then I'll buy some nice LEDs. If it gets too hot or the beam is crap then it hasn't cost me anything.

The contraption in the photo isn't an angle vice but my tiny 25 MM vice sitting on an ajustable V block which is all placed into my larger vice(it works)

I got them from here as they do some nice work holding stuff: Squares, Angle Gauges & Protractors - Arc Euro Trade

Sorry about all the pictures in this thread but this should explain it better.


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

that's a really beautiful little light yeti, I'm ever so jealous! No worries about pictures either, the more the better


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## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

Nice looking light Yeti..It looks much bigger than it really is in the first picture..I was surprised at how small it is on the end of your finger..Or have you got giant hands?

Cheers for the link to the adjustable V block..I was going to ask where you got it from..


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

I'm off to do some putting together. Wish me luck as I'm dreading this bit.

Thought that I should show what the reflectors look like just incase they actually work well.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Matt, you were right when you said in your sled thread how much weight just the LEDs and Lexon add as it's now up to 26grams.
Anyway..... sorry about the messy picture but I HAVE LIGHT


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## mattthemuppet (Jul 16, 2004)

awesome! Still, you should be able to hit 40g I would have thought, after adding the driver, cable gland, cable and mount. That's certainly something to celebrate!


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Thanks for the info and links yeti, yes, it was the adjustable v block I was referring to.

The pick of your desk, what are you using the yellow airfix paint for?


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Thanks for the info and links yeti, yes, it was the adjustable v block I was referring to.
> 
> The pick of your desk, what are you using the yellow airfix paint for?


emu, Please don't ask about the paint. I make other things apart from lights and you know how I love to take photo's

Anyway I'm pleased to say that I will be off to Poundland to see if they have any more of those torches in stock. I have a nice smoooooooth beam with no rings and a slightly larger hotspot than I get with the Regina, yet just as much throw(I think that the hotspot may be the same but it blends better with the spill). The housing gets quite hot but I think that an aluminium mount will do the trick. In the end it was worth it and I'm pleased with it.

I had to cut up a 7up board to get the LEDs for the test but may get some Osram Oslons or S2 XP-Gs and a lFlex or maybe a "poor man thingy" that odtaxas mentioned, of which I know nothing.......Help please odtexas

Here are the last couple of pics, one with it's reflectors in and the other a really bad beam shot.It's running of mains power so can't take it any where, sorry.

I'm done for now but will post again when I make a helmet mount and it is all finished.

















I'll try for some better beam shots too.


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## odtexas (Oct 2, 2008)

No worries. Poor mans circuit is a cheat to use the 7135 based boards to run higher voltage circuits/battery combo's. The 7135 is rated at 6 volt input max. This is how you work around it.
 Linky


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

odtexas, thanks for the info, I'll have a good read up on the subject.


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## Bobblehat (Dec 1, 2007)

yetibetty said:


> I'm off to do some putting together. Wish me luck as I'm dreading this bit.
> 
> Thought that I should show what the reflectors look like just incase they actually work well.


Those reflectors look like they work well enough! The photo seems to show far less spill than reginas .... almost no spill .... was that your impression? Did you need to drill them out or modify them in height or any other way?

Cracking little light anyway!


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Bobblehat said:


> Those reflectors look like they work well enough! The photo seems to show far less spill than reginas .... almost no spill .... was that your impression? Did you need to drill them out or modify them in height or any other way?
> 
> Cracking little light anyway!


Thanks Bobblehat, I must admit that this whole thing has turned out better than expected. I was expecting to get a silly wide, ringy beam with such small reflectors from a very cheap torch.

The beam is more of a corridor of light with less spill than the Regina. A larger centre and less spill but I think the front part of the housing is helping a little as in a way it is adding to the length of the reflector as I'm sure that the beam wasn't quite as nice when I tested it with just the reflector sitting on the LED.

All I had to do was remove a little from the bottom of the reflector to get it to focus as the hole was perfect for the XP-G.

I'll try and do some comparison beam shots next to the Regina when it gets dark and I'll find my piece of paper that has how much to remove from the bottom of the reflector written on it and post that too.


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## OverTheHill (Dec 3, 2004)

Great light, are you going to anodise it? 

Second thoughts, I'd get it Teflon coated, it could turn out to be the world's smallest frying pan! :devil:


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

OverTheHill said:


> Great light, are you going to anodise it?
> 
> Second thoughts, I'd get it Teflon coated, it could turn out to be the world's smallest frying pan! :devil:


I did think about having it anodised silver, just for a change.

I have fully tested this thing and found that as long as you switch to a low mode when travelling at less than 97 MPH it runs cool(ish).

Forget frying pans, this is a griddle thankyouverymuch (please note the ridges). Unfortunately however I just had a look and Poundland don't sell tiny, weeny lamb chops. If they did it would work great.


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## OverTheHill (Dec 3, 2004)

You could always wrap some streaky bacon round it!

I'd certainly like to see the comparison beamshots when you have them. How are you holding that faceplate on as well? 

Get me couple of those Poundland torches as well could you? I might have a go at one of my oval lights using them.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

OverTheHill said:


> You could always wrap some streaky bacon round it!
> 
> I'd certainly like to see the comparison beamshots when you have them. How are you holding that faceplate on as well?
> 
> Get me couple of those Poundland torches as well could you? I might have a go at one of my oval lights using them.


I can't even get myself any more as my Poundland has sold out.......You can get me a couple.

The front of the light is a very tight fit and has to be pressed on in a vice. It then takes 900 strong men to get the bloody thing off again. Great when you put it on just to take a photo:madman:


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## OverTheHill (Dec 3, 2004)

> I can't even get myself any more as my Poundland has sold out.......You can get me a couple.


There's a couple of stores about 10 miles away from me. If I'm in the area I'll pop in and see if they have any. It's the flashlight with whistle isn't it for a £1? (Well it is Poundland after all )


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## wquiles (Aug 22, 2010)

yetibetty said:


>


Nice job on the fixture


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

OK so nothing is perfect and there is a price to pay for small but I still think the beam isn't too bad.

I tried to aim the two lights in the same place but the hood on the small light actually works and cut the top of the beam off a bit. The Regina has a brighter but smaller hotspot.
I still think that considering their size that the small ones do a good job.

Some Pics:

The two lights in question:








The Reginas:









The Poundlands:









Sorry that they are only in the back yard but as you can see from the streaks it's raining and one of the lights runs off mains electricity:nono:


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## wquiles (Aug 22, 2010)

yetibetty said:


>


I love that small housing 

How hot does it get on high?


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## brad72 (Jun 12, 2009)

yetibetty said:


> The front of the light is a very tight fit and has to be pressed on in a vice. It then takes 900 strong men to get the bloody thing off again. Great when you put it on just to take a photo:madman:


Very impressive Yetti. It's always a punt with new optics.

As for the 900men do you pays them by the minute or hour

Are you going to pick up some mineral glass watch faces off fleabay to seal the front of the optics?


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

I believe that is the nicest beam I have seen in an optic or reflector below 20mm dia.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Vancbiker said:


> I believe that is the nicest beam I have seen in an optic or reflector below 20mm dia.


Vanc,I have to admit that I'm quite chuffed with this thing. It gets quite hot but it might make me get fit and ride faster just to keep it cool I did leave it running for a few hours @ 700ma in the house with no air flow and it was fine. @ 1.2 A it had to have a fan.

I require some advice from you.

How do you bend the Ali sheet to make your helmet mounts? Do you have to heat it first or anything?


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

yetibetty said:


> How do you bend the Ali sheet to make your helmet mounts? Do you have to heat it first or anything?


I have a 90 degree "vee" jaw that I put in a mill vise. I have a block with a 60 degree wedge angle milled on it. The alloy strip gets pinched between them and tighten the vise until I get the angle I need. I bend it cold and then mill the angles, slots, and driil the holes after bending. I use 5052 alloy. 6061 has a tendency to crack if bent too sharply.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Vancbiker said:


> I have a 90 degree "vee" jaw that I put in a mill vise. I have a block with a 60 degree wedge angle milled on it. The alloy strip gets pinched between them and tighten the vise until I get the angle I need. I bend it cold and then mill the angles, slots, and driil the holes after bending. I use 5052 alloy. 6061 has a tendency to crack if bent too sharply.


Oh so it's nice and easy then


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

yetibetty said:


> Oh so it's nice and easy then


Ha Ha. Yeah, after reading my description I can see some WTF is this guy talking about. I'll post a pic later.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

Picture is worth lots


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Thanks for that Vancbiker.
I suspect that the mount will be harder to get right than the housing was. I have loads of anodised aluminium plate from office doors that I can try, no idea what sort of alloy it is though.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

brad72 said:


> Are you going to pick up some mineral glass watch faces off fleabay to seal the front of the optics?


It has some 1 MM opical grade stuff in it covering the reflectors, the same as I use on my light with Reginas.
I get it from a model shop and it is realy for putting windows into model cars and trains. I don't know what the stuff is but is very hard to scratch, unlike Lexon/polycarbonate.

Hey Brad did I just fall for that one...... who has a 13 MM watch:thumbsup:


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

I thought that I had better update this thread before everyone raids Poundland.

I went for a ride tonight with both of the lights pictured earlier in the thread and found that small looks nice and is nice and light weight but those small optics or reflectors just don't have the light gathering power that the larger optics/reflectors have. In the end I'm sorry to say that( in my case at least) it just dosn't work.
I won't give up and have some ideas but for now just to many lumens not getting out of the front:sad:

In the end there is no harm in trying and it's good to experiment, who knows.........one day.....

I took some not very good beam shots with both lights running at 1A.
EDIT:All pics are 1/2 sec @ F2.8 so under exposed to show the beam and look realalistic.

Reginas:








Poundlands:








Reginas:








Poundlands:


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## emu26 (Jun 23, 2008)

Thanks yeti, that's almost the opposite of what those earlier backyard pics looked like.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

emu26 said:


> Thanks yeti, that's almost the opposite of what those earlier backyard pics looked like.


emu, that's 'cause my back yard is tiny. These small reflecors look great in a small space up to 5 meters then they just run out of oomph. I must admit that I was very pleased with it when shining it around my back yard...... if only the world was 5 meters long this light would be great.


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## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

Just a stab in the dark here..
What's the diameter of the round holes on the front plate? 13mm?
Could try some ledil Lisa there 10.8mm wide and 7mm high..
Or there's the Tina at 16mm wide and 9.65mm high


If you use the Lisa you could turn a delrin sleeve to fit around the optic which would hold it in place in the led slot.. 
Which LEDs did you go for? Think the Lisa will work better with the xpe..


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Goldigger said:


> Just a stab in the dark here..
> What's the diameter of the round holes on the front plate? 13mm?
> Could try some ledil Lisa there 10.8mm wide and 7mm high..
> Or there's the Tina at 16mm wide and 9.65mm high
> ...


GD, I did try some small T.I.R. optics and quite a few small reflectors and did manage to get quite a good beam but in the end it was like turning a light with full size optics to a lower mode .

In other word you can get a good beam from small optics but they are just not as bright. due to not enough light gathering suface area.

This thing didn't cost me anything apart from £2 in Poundland and only took a couple of hours to make. It would be easier to start again than adapt this one. I still like it and it's not too bad and still usable.

The biggest problem I now have is the fact that my normal size lights, that I used to think were quite small now look *HUGE*.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

yetibetty said:


> it's not too bad and still usable.


That's exactly how I felt about my original microlight that used the 10mm optics.



yetibetty said:


> The biggest problem I now have is the fact that my normal size lights, that I used to think were quite small now look *HUGE*.


Having a tiny, high output, helmet light is great for conversation too. I once showed up at a local club group night ride. I found the "leader" and introduced myself and asked if they minded that I tag along. He gave me and my bike a quick look over and said "you're really going to want a helmet light for this ride". I assured him I would fine then turned the microlight on. He hadn't noticed the tiny silver lump just above the visor. All were surprised that such a tiny light could have that kind of output.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Vancbiker said:


> That's exactly how I felt about my original microlight that used the 10mm optics.
> 
> Having a tiny, high output, helmet light is great for conversation too. I once showed up at a local club group night ride. I found the "leader" and introduced myself and asked if they minded that I tag along. He gave me and my bike a quick look over and said "you're really going to want a helmet light for this ride". I assured him I would fine then turned the microlight on. He hadn't noticed the tiny silver lump just above the visor. All were surprised that such a tiny light could have that kind of output.


Yes, I have already had a "is that for reading maps" comment.
It's great when you switch it on and it's more light than we had only a few years back.

I think it's a good compromise between 10 MM optics and 20 MM optics. I will keep using it even though I know that the Reginas are brighter as it's the first light that I felt I could simply keep attached to the helmet and not notice it. That was the point of this project after all.

It gets quite hot though. Vanc, your lights must get pretty toasty.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

yetibetty said:


> It gets quite hot though. Vanc, your lights must get pretty toasty.


You don't want to leave them on high if stopped for more than a couple minutes. I do make a pretty big effort to get the largest area in fins possible for the housing size. This helps some but when there is only ~1 sq. inch per Watt it's gonna get hot without moderate airflow.


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## Goldigger (Nov 6, 2009)

yetibetty said:


> Thanks for the tip Vanc, I often leave a lump to hold things in the chuck on the lathe.This housing is two part and it was the front part that was a pain to hold. Keep the secrets flowing please:thumbsup:


Is that a vertex K4 vice yeti? swivel? any good?
My vice is making me :madman: so looking for another..


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Nope.. I went for a 80 MM svivel and have had no problems with it and it has proved to be accurate







.


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## yetibetty (Dec 24, 2007)

Quick update. I tested the reflectors with the only Osram Oslon sample that I have and the beam is much better than with the XP-Gs so have ordered some plus an lflex. The Oslon has a round die unlike the XP-Gs square die so maybe that's why the beam is better.

Also gave the housing a more organic shape as I wasn't too pleased with the boxy look.

That's it for now


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