AL-U-Mini
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Well I was hoping to use aluminum for this but I found the otherwise perfect victim for my crime!
This is actually the bottom plate for the dust collector attachment on a belt sander.
It has this plastic snout that fits into an embossment, and this will make the perfect chamber to hold some batteries, LEDs and the switch.
Roughing out my backing plate with the pneumatic cutter.
I have screwed the lens to the backing plate, and shaped it neatly, on the same belt sander that it came from.
This fits perfectly at the bottom and sides, but there is a gap at the top that I will have to fill. I’ll probably do the edge with black silicone sealant.
I sanded up the reflector surface nice and shiny and it will get some clearcoat.
The back doesn’t look bad with the hammer-tone green but I think it’s going to get stripped, polished, and clearcoated.
I still don’t have an attachment bracket fabricated.
This is actually the bottom plate for the dust collector attachment on a belt sander.
It has this plastic snout that fits into an embossment, and this will make the perfect chamber to hold some batteries, LEDs and the switch.
Roughing out my backing plate with the pneumatic cutter.
I have screwed the lens to the backing plate, and shaped it neatly, on the same belt sander that it came from.
This fits perfectly at the bottom and sides, but there is a gap at the top that I will have to fill. I’ll probably do the edge with black silicone sealant.
I sanded up the reflector surface nice and shiny and it will get some clearcoat.
The back doesn’t look bad with the hammer-tone green but I think it’s going to get stripped, polished, and clearcoated.
I still don’t have an attachment bracket fabricated.
So far I just hit that backing plate on the belt sander.
You can see that the corners of the backing plate not covered by the disc will need a lot more polishing.
You can see that the corners of the backing plate not covered by the disc will need a lot more polishing.
I got this buffed up today somewhat, assembled it, and found a cap for the battery housing.
Here you can see the gap I need to fill.
I still need to arrange a mounting bracket. That black plastic is polypropyline, and it is not going to take paint.
Here you can see the gap I need to fill.
I still need to arrange a mounting bracket. That black plastic is polypropyline, and it is not going to take paint.
Thank you, and I found the comments particularly interesting as well as the demonstration.
I have I have made several things out of high density polyethylene and poly propylene, and neither one takes paint well. Well I have tried sanding and primers of various kinds, but I never tried flame softening the surface.
I have done several experiments with heat forming, Flame polishing, and re-casting of these plastics. Specifically I was making sculpted risers for custom skateboards, and slider pucks for my skate gear.
I also made several U-shaped siphon tubes for my aquarium projects, by heat welding PP tubes.
I was going to paint this part (until I found out it was poly propylene) because the finish is non-uniform, like the guy that polished the dies didn’t really care about the finish on that side of the part being attractive.
Once my lamp is assembled, I will not be able to easily take it apart, because screws come from the inside of the backing plate and I am going to glue the lens on to prevent water intrusion. The surface, after trimming, was too irregular to allow the use of a normal gasket.
I am preparing to do the last disassembly, clearcoat the backing plate, and reassemble with RTV silicone, so this is my last chance if I want to paint the poly propylene.
I am still trying to fit some electronics into this package first. Maybe I will find something and get it together before Christmas, but we have lots of things to do and people coming over before then.
I made and discarded three different brackets for this before I decided to just rubber mount it with these cable clamps to the struts.
Small scale version of how we (one of the subsidiary companies of my employer) handled our contract to turn these grey polyol claddings......
into white claddings
where others had failed at in mold coat or dyed resins
Large flame ovens and alcohol etching flex primers
I wish I had known that 10 years ago when I was building lots of skateboards.
This is a solar powered LED garden stake light, and it has a nice little lithium battery inside. I should have taken a picture of it before I cut the stake off and shortened it.
I picked this up at a discount store for $3.
The rubber O-Ring I put on there keeps it in the hole.
This sticks out a lot right now but I can shorten it up considerably.
In the day:
At night:
I picked this up at a discount store for $3.
The rubber O-Ring I put on there keeps it in the hole.
This sticks out a lot right now but I can shorten it up considerably.
In the day:
At night:
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I just cut that clear lens off to a random length and stuck it in the hole. I can shorten it (and that poly propylene snout) considerably, which will bring the LED up to its proper position behind the reflector.
Anyhow, the whole guts just screws right off easily. The plastic lens will stay in the lamp.
BUT, I need to trim out the excess black plastic which was a sort of screen to keep big chunks from sucking into your vacuum cleaner. Right now the LED is throwing a shadow of that on the lens, unless you were looking dead straight at it (which is how I took the “lit” photographs.)
Anyhow, the whole guts just screws right off easily. The plastic lens will stay in the lamp.
BUT, I need to trim out the excess black plastic which was a sort of screen to keep big chunks from sucking into your vacuum cleaner. Right now the LED is throwing a shadow of that on the lens, unless you were looking dead straight at it (which is how I took the “lit” photographs.)
I removed the plastic spider from the polypropylene with a unibit. Then I trimmed off the black plastic and the clear plastic until they were only about a half inch long.
I reversed the black piece so it protrudes through the backing plate.
This gets the LED right about where it wants to be in relation to the reflector and lens.
Very little protrudes from the backing plate now. It also got some acorn nuts front and back. The screws still need trimming.
This also brings the solar panel and battery arrangement up close to the backing plate.
Off-axis performance in low light was improved a lot by moving the LED.
But look what happens when you get right on the axis. Bullseye!
The clear poly carbonate ring around the LED creates this effect in the lamp. That’s pretty bright but look what happens when I turn off the lights.
I think I can improve this further by judicious trimming of the black plastic
I reversed the black piece so it protrudes through the backing plate.
This gets the LED right about where it wants to be in relation to the reflector and lens.
Very little protrudes from the backing plate now. It also got some acorn nuts front and back. The screws still need trimming.
This also brings the solar panel and battery arrangement up close to the backing plate.
Off-axis performance in low light was improved a lot by moving the LED.
But look what happens when you get right on the axis. Bullseye!
The clear poly carbonate ring around the LED creates this effect in the lamp. That’s pretty bright but look what happens when I turn off the lights.
I think I can improve this further by judicious trimming of the black plastic
I do not know if that battery had a full charge on it when I purchased it, but at 2 o’clock in the morning it was still going, so I would say that it lasted over six hours. Perhaps longer, but when I woke up at 6:30 this morning it was dead.
It’s getting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a powerful 120 V LED right now.
Glittery midnight Christmas light reflection shot in the garage.
To be really rugged enough for bicycle duty I will have to make some modifications to the internal wiring. I have already had to solder one of the internal wires.
And for the sake of safety it will probably need a thumb screw or some other form of retention other than just a friction fit.
Edit: I don’t know why I said that clear plastic was polycarbonate. It is quite clearly polystyrene. That became evident as soon as I took a saw blade to it.
It’s getting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a powerful 120 V LED right now.
Glittery midnight Christmas light reflection shot in the garage.
To be really rugged enough for bicycle duty I will have to make some modifications to the internal wiring. I have already had to solder one of the internal wires.
And for the sake of safety it will probably need a thumb screw or some other form of retention other than just a friction fit.
Edit: I don’t know why I said that clear plastic was polycarbonate. It is quite clearly polystyrene. That became evident as soon as I took a saw blade to it.
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I bought some more of the LED stakes today. At only $3 each it makes experiments cheap. I own modern LED bicycle lights that cost $30 & $60 ! Yoikes!
Anyhow none of them would work for the light that I am planning to make.
I intend to gang 5 bulbs together from one switch, in a headlight housing. I don’t wanna put all the solar panels in the headlight itself though.
And I don’t yet have a housing that will work.
Anyhow none of them would work for the light that I am planning to make.
I intend to gang 5 bulbs together from one switch, in a headlight housing. I don’t wanna put all the solar panels in the headlight itself though.
And I don’t yet have a housing that will work.
I started sorting out the hardware for the tail lamp today, when I remembered that it points down about 6 deg. Phooie! I need to remount the whole thing.
I decided to ditch the cable clamps and put a bar across the struts. Then I could aim the lamp correctly, just by twisting the bar.
I have bent and discarded two, and I’m on my last piece of straight aluminum flat bar.
I decided to ditch the cable clamps and put a bar across the struts. Then I could aim the lamp correctly, just by twisting the bar.
I have bent and discarded two, and I’m on my last piece of straight aluminum flat bar.
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As I was doing the rough fitting for my bent aluminum bar, I snapped the head off of a stainless steel screw.
While faced with the prospect of digging it out and putting in another screw, I remembered that I was going to change these struts, eventually.
I made the four struts out of half inch galvanized tubing but it was my plan to replace them with half inch aluminum tubing, Once I figured out the geometry.
I bought a piece of soft 6063 at the hardware store for testing purposes because I’m going to have to form and drill the ends. I don’t want it to crack so I need to experiment with the process.
The thing is that I would really like to use some tempered aluminum half-inch tubing I already have, which came from a 1960s Ted Williams camping tent.
If I put an aluminum filler inside the tube end, I might be able to crush it flat enough to work and look good without cracking it; but I will try this with the soft stuff first.
I don’t want to just smash this with a vice or a hammer, but to make an appropriate set of wooden dyes to form the tubing.
I made a set that I didn’t show you, but they were failures because the steel tubing was too difficult to crush. I broke the wood instead. Unfortunately, Douglas fir is not strong enough, but I have some hard maple that should work, At least for aluminum.
While faced with the prospect of digging it out and putting in another screw, I remembered that I was going to change these struts, eventually.
I made the four struts out of half inch galvanized tubing but it was my plan to replace them with half inch aluminum tubing, Once I figured out the geometry.
I bought a piece of soft 6063 at the hardware store for testing purposes because I’m going to have to form and drill the ends. I don’t want it to crack so I need to experiment with the process.
The thing is that I would really like to use some tempered aluminum half-inch tubing I already have, which came from a 1960s Ted Williams camping tent.
If I put an aluminum filler inside the tube end, I might be able to crush it flat enough to work and look good without cracking it; but I will try this with the soft stuff first.
I don’t want to just smash this with a vice or a hammer, but to make an appropriate set of wooden dyes to form the tubing.
I made a set that I didn’t show you, but they were failures because the steel tubing was too difficult to crush. I broke the wood instead. Unfortunately, Douglas fir is not strong enough, but I have some hard maple that should work, At least for aluminum.
Here’s my little bent aluminum bar, getting dressed up on the belt sander.
I was able to extract the screw with a vice grips once I disassembled the bicycle a little.
To get this on and off you must loosen the seat and lift it up, and take the bracket off the top of the struts. Because they taper apart towards the axle, it will be difficult for the bracket to drop even without screws in it.
I was able to extract the screw with a vice grips once I disassembled the bicycle a little.
To get this on and off you must loosen the seat and lift it up, and take the bracket off the top of the struts. Because they taper apart towards the axle, it will be difficult for the bracket to drop even without screws in it.
It’s Christmas Eve here in California, but just barely Christmas Eve morn. I’ve been working away on a bicycle. I got my little mustache bar cleaned up nice.
I put some weird little green military screws in it because they were just the right size. Maybe I’ll knock the green off of them.
I added some notches to the black plastic inside the lamp and moved the LED closer to the lens. The bullseye effect is a little bolder plus there’s some good off-axis coverage at the bottom.
I got these little lights at some motorcycle raffle at Topaz Lake about 15 years ago.
I’m thinking I can hang a headlight of some kind between them.
Billet brake line clamps keep my rubber bumpers elevated to the correct location so the forks don’t smash.
I put some weird little green military screws in it because they were just the right size. Maybe I’ll knock the green off of them.
I added some notches to the black plastic inside the lamp and moved the LED closer to the lens. The bullseye effect is a little bolder plus there’s some good off-axis coverage at the bottom.
I got these little lights at some motorcycle raffle at Topaz Lake about 15 years ago.
I’m thinking I can hang a headlight of some kind between them.
Billet brake line clamps keep my rubber bumpers elevated to the correct location so the forks don’t smash.
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I tried to edit the above thread and I knocked my pictures out of order.
I took that tail light photo at 1:30 AM, and it is now 8:45 AM so seven hours and 15 minutes, and she still running.
So is another one that I lit off at the same time, And just left on the bench.
I think I’m going to love these little units, and I think the batteries will make a beautiful headlight arrangement.
I took that tail light photo at 1:30 AM, and it is now 8:45 AM so seven hours and 15 minutes, and she still running.
So is another one that I lit off at the same time, And just left on the bench.
I think I’m going to love these little units, and I think the batteries will make a beautiful headlight arrangement.
I wanted some more of those diecast aluminum light bulb heat sinks. In order to get them I went on a scavenging mission to inspect the fixtures in my house.
I then sacrificed a couple of working lightbulbs for “the cause”, but it’s not a big expense and they were old anyway.
To get it apart you have to grab that plastic globe and rock it back-and-forth until the glue breaks. It helps to have strong hands. If you have to break the plastic it’s not a big loss.
Then you have to remove the button which is the electrical contact. I chewed it off with some wire cutters. The screw base is thin aluminum, and it just unscrews from the plastic.
Rip out the circuit board with some small pliers. After removing the top led circuit board, the plastic can be removed with a little screw.
Here she is all blown apart
I lost one of the little screws in my shop carpet. It’s gone forever.
I then sacrificed a couple of working lightbulbs for “the cause”, but it’s not a big expense and they were old anyway.
To get it apart you have to grab that plastic globe and rock it back-and-forth until the glue breaks. It helps to have strong hands. If you have to break the plastic it’s not a big loss.
Then you have to remove the button which is the electrical contact. I chewed it off with some wire cutters. The screw base is thin aluminum, and it just unscrews from the plastic.
Rip out the circuit board with some small pliers. After removing the top led circuit board, the plastic can be removed with a little screw.
Here she is all blown apart
I lost one of the little screws in my shop carpet. It’s gone forever.
