Morgan
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- Feb 5, 2009
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Hi All,
Thought you might like to see my latest build.
The host for this is not one I've seen used before and was chosen specifically to dissipate as much heat as possible but be small and compact and still run from just 1 x 18650.
The photos are limited at the moment and before anyone says it. THE BEAM SHOTS ARE COMING!!! (I've just started back at college and this came with me whilst the glue went off.) I also cannot publish an optical output reading, although i will be sending it off to get it graphed for us. I have now surpassed the upper level of my LaserBee I, :cryyy:, and have to upgrade.
Here's the host on DX -
DealExtreme: $21.14 SKYRAY S-R5 Cree XPE-R4 5-Mode 320-Lumen Memory LED Flashlight (1*18650/2*16340)
If you look down to some of the customer pics you can see the fin arrangement that will increase the surface area for better cooling. The inside of the host also gives a large area for thermal bonding.
[EDIT: The battery in the photo did not perform well, one flash when the switch made contact then... Nothing. Although I knew that high stated capacities often cheat to gain longer run times, it was worth trying this as I knew I would be asking a lot. I eventually found that a Trustfire 3.7V, 2,400mAh protected battery, from Scopeguy20, was able to power this setup, but not for very long I fear!
]
Some pics...
All the kit in one place, including the A140 diode!
The two drivers: Both MicroBoosts, each set to 900mA using 6 diodes on my test load, (yes, they were smoking by the time they were set correctly!). I wanted to give these little blighters the best possible chance of performing as I knew space would be tight and have to sit within the heatsink. To do this I wanted to mount them and individually sink the hottest parts on the drivers. After contacting Dr.Lava he suggested the 6 pin chip next to the inductor coil was the one to protect. This was good news to me as I wanted to leave the pot available for later adjustment and the slight differences in height of the components, (within tolerance of course), on that side would have made it more difficult to achieve. This difference in height showed on the inductor side as well but presented a good opportunity to sink both the chip and the coil as I have noticed that get quite hot in previous drivers. A small square of aluminium was fashioned for each driver that sits atop the chip and levels the board for a secure mount. The chip heatsink and the coil were thermally bonded with an Arctic Silver type compound and the rest of the boards bonded with heatsink plaster, (I must get some thermal epoxy as this is not really an adhesive but does offer some flexibility due to heat expansion.)
The tiny aerial like leads are the negative return path that will be pinched between the driver tray, (as I'm calling it), [EDIT: Now called the Driver Manifold. Thanks jander!], and the main heatsink. You can see the bare tray and end bush in the background.
The finished driver tray, [Manifold], assembly: You can see the thermal plaster doesn't give the best of finishes but it certainly does the job and makes for a neat assembly. The drivers are mounted on a roughly semicylindrical piece of aluminium that fits into a corresponding through hole in the heatsink. Like my, "Scratch Built 8x", build, the whole assembly loads from the back of the heatsink and the Aixiz is secured with the same plaster as the drivers. I prefer this method to a set screw and cut the hole to a close tolerance for each module I use. The wiring was cut to be as close to the same length for each driver to balance them as much as possible but over these short distances it may not have been totally necessary. The driver tray, [Manifold], was then secured using the M2 allen bolts. Incidentally, you can't see the back end of the driver tray, [Manifold], but this was machined flat with the rest of the heatsink after bolting it into position to allow good electrical contact in the host.
[EDIT: The lens at the moment is an Aixiz 3 element glass 405 AR coated. For the testing I may install a Jayrob 405-G-1 to give continuity with other stated max outputs. Otherwise I will simply do some maths as we know the 405-G-1 gives 30% gains over standard Aixiz and the 405 Aixiz gives 15%. The final product will have a different kind of focus ring adapter too that will remain in place and not unscrew with the lens assembly. Designed but not constructed at this point.]
I will have more pics for you this weekend, (INCLUDING THE BEAM!!!), but this thing actually works!
I set the drivers on my PSU using 3.8V and the current draw was around 3,600mA. The Trustfire battery I found measured 4.1V but I think when loaded this has dropped as the draw is a massive 5.1Amps!!!! No short circuits detected so I can only assume this is capable of discharging at 2C which is a real bonus.
[EDIT: A duty cycle has not been determined as yet. To be honest I'm scared to run this for more than few seconds at a time and am pleasantly surprised every time I fire it up and there is a huge blue beam. I will use thermal compound to finally fit it in the host, (not permanent compound), but I need to take a few more pics for everyone first.
I will eventually make this available as a kit but have to measure the heatsink and make a few tweaks. I fully expect the dual driver setup to be obselete in the coming months and the difficulty of building this was not something I wish to repeat on a large scale! (I may be persuaded for the odd one but it'll cost!). I'm waiting for the Flexdrive v6 myself although this setup would work well to heatsink a maxed out v5 as well.]
Bright is not the word and measurements need to be taken but for now, and until the weekend, enjoy and your comments are welcomed.
M
Thought you might like to see my latest build.
The host for this is not one I've seen used before and was chosen specifically to dissipate as much heat as possible but be small and compact and still run from just 1 x 18650.
The photos are limited at the moment and before anyone says it. THE BEAM SHOTS ARE COMING!!! (I've just started back at college and this came with me whilst the glue went off.) I also cannot publish an optical output reading, although i will be sending it off to get it graphed for us. I have now surpassed the upper level of my LaserBee I, :cryyy:, and have to upgrade.
Here's the host on DX -
DealExtreme: $21.14 SKYRAY S-R5 Cree XPE-R4 5-Mode 320-Lumen Memory LED Flashlight (1*18650/2*16340)
If you look down to some of the customer pics you can see the fin arrangement that will increase the surface area for better cooling. The inside of the host also gives a large area for thermal bonding.
[EDIT: The battery in the photo did not perform well, one flash when the switch made contact then... Nothing. Although I knew that high stated capacities often cheat to gain longer run times, it was worth trying this as I knew I would be asking a lot. I eventually found that a Trustfire 3.7V, 2,400mAh protected battery, from Scopeguy20, was able to power this setup, but not for very long I fear!
]Some pics...
All the kit in one place, including the A140 diode!
The two drivers: Both MicroBoosts, each set to 900mA using 6 diodes on my test load, (yes, they were smoking by the time they were set correctly!). I wanted to give these little blighters the best possible chance of performing as I knew space would be tight and have to sit within the heatsink. To do this I wanted to mount them and individually sink the hottest parts on the drivers. After contacting Dr.Lava he suggested the 6 pin chip next to the inductor coil was the one to protect. This was good news to me as I wanted to leave the pot available for later adjustment and the slight differences in height of the components, (within tolerance of course), on that side would have made it more difficult to achieve. This difference in height showed on the inductor side as well but presented a good opportunity to sink both the chip and the coil as I have noticed that get quite hot in previous drivers. A small square of aluminium was fashioned for each driver that sits atop the chip and levels the board for a secure mount. The chip heatsink and the coil were thermally bonded with an Arctic Silver type compound and the rest of the boards bonded with heatsink plaster, (I must get some thermal epoxy as this is not really an adhesive but does offer some flexibility due to heat expansion.)
The tiny aerial like leads are the negative return path that will be pinched between the driver tray, (as I'm calling it), [EDIT: Now called the Driver Manifold. Thanks jander!], and the main heatsink. You can see the bare tray and end bush in the background.
The finished driver tray, [Manifold], assembly: You can see the thermal plaster doesn't give the best of finishes but it certainly does the job and makes for a neat assembly. The drivers are mounted on a roughly semicylindrical piece of aluminium that fits into a corresponding through hole in the heatsink. Like my, "Scratch Built 8x", build, the whole assembly loads from the back of the heatsink and the Aixiz is secured with the same plaster as the drivers. I prefer this method to a set screw and cut the hole to a close tolerance for each module I use. The wiring was cut to be as close to the same length for each driver to balance them as much as possible but over these short distances it may not have been totally necessary. The driver tray, [Manifold], was then secured using the M2 allen bolts. Incidentally, you can't see the back end of the driver tray, [Manifold], but this was machined flat with the rest of the heatsink after bolting it into position to allow good electrical contact in the host.
[EDIT: The lens at the moment is an Aixiz 3 element glass 405 AR coated. For the testing I may install a Jayrob 405-G-1 to give continuity with other stated max outputs. Otherwise I will simply do some maths as we know the 405-G-1 gives 30% gains over standard Aixiz and the 405 Aixiz gives 15%. The final product will have a different kind of focus ring adapter too that will remain in place and not unscrew with the lens assembly. Designed but not constructed at this point.]
I will have more pics for you this weekend, (INCLUDING THE BEAM!!!), but this thing actually works!
I set the drivers on my PSU using 3.8V and the current draw was around 3,600mA. The Trustfire battery I found measured 4.1V but I think when loaded this has dropped as the draw is a massive 5.1Amps!!!! No short circuits detected so I can only assume this is capable of discharging at 2C which is a real bonus.
[EDIT: A duty cycle has not been determined as yet. To be honest I'm scared to run this for more than few seconds at a time and am pleasantly surprised every time I fire it up and there is a huge blue beam. I will use thermal compound to finally fit it in the host, (not permanent compound), but I need to take a few more pics for everyone first.
I will eventually make this available as a kit but have to measure the heatsink and make a few tweaks. I fully expect the dual driver setup to be obselete in the coming months and the difficulty of building this was not something I wish to repeat on a large scale! (I may be persuaded for the odd one but it'll cost!). I'm waiting for the Flexdrive v6 myself although this setup would work well to heatsink a maxed out v5 as well.]
Bright is not the word and measurements need to be taken but for now, and until the weekend, enjoy and your comments are welcomed.
M
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