finished Machining my lights..

roccet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:22 am

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I changed everything back down to 35watt bulbs instead of 55 and 100 watt .. My wire even though im on relays and fuses was getting a bit to warm..
I will probably put 100 watt bulbs on each end but thats about it .. its DEFInatly bright enouph dont you think???
one is with only my headlights the other is JUST my overhead lights...
Im pretty happy but omg did it take alot of research to get the right reflection angles and such..
im almost not even caring to put my kc lights.. the lights i made are enouph light ..
now i need side lights and rear lights.

the last picture is what they looked like when i was machining them.
Each Radius is different to converge on a certain location to get the right coverage for light.

I posted in the wrong spot before so here ya go.. what do you think??

swyszomirski · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:59 am **Posts:** 286

Very cool light bar! That is the first one I have seen!

Stephen

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:40 am

If your wires are getting hot change them to a heaver wire. They are getting hot because they can't handle the amps.

Terry

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:15 am

Am I looking at that picture correctly?
did you really take a bar of Aluminum and machine it down to reflectors?? -
you just happen to have a CNC mill laying around???

It looks great anyway - and really lights up the area.

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:17 am

That looks very nice. I have to agree I've never seen a light bar like this and yup you need a larger wire, try 14-18 gauge nothing smaller. Great job

roccet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:04 am

im running 14 guage wire. 2 strands up to the lights and then down to one strand with splices across the back . Im running a 40A Relay with a 35AMP fuse on both strands. My thought was i was going to run 2 40amp relays to 2 seperate light bars but it hasnt happend yet. ..
with 55watt bulbs looks like 35amp draw which is my limit on that fuse and relay. 100 watt bulbs run 8.3 amps each so im a little out of luck there unless i run 2 seperate lines.
Im running 35 watt h3 bulbs right now.. those were hard to find.. most are 55w or 100w.
oh also .. im running 8 lights not 4.. there are 2 sides and then my Camera is mounted inbetween those two light bars..

Yes my light bar is a solid chunk of 1.75 x 1.75 6061 aluminum ..Polished to a mirror finish.
Each Radius has a purpose in light reflection.. i have gone thru 500 bucks worth of aluminum to figure out the angles and such. These angles seem to work the best. I have 4 other short bars that work great to which i will mount in the rear. They were test configurations to see where my light best reflects.

AS far as having a CNC machine yes i have several. I work for an engineering company i make all kinds of wicked things. But when 5pm arrives im in Playmode.. I own a company as well making parts for European cars. Porsches mostly since i own a porsche its easier to make parts for a car you already own.

riptricket · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:08 pm

is that a camera inbetween those lights?

roccet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:14 pm

Yes .. infared even..

welby · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 6:38 pm

Really beautiful work there. I'm admittedly jealous of your machining and fabrication skills. As far as the electrical, I'm not really sure I understand what you did. I'm guessing you're running 2 switches, 2 fuses, 2 relays. Are you running 2 14's paralleled out of each, or just one circuit with paralleled 14's? For your 2x100 + 6x55 :shock:

you could get away with paralleling 12's.

roccet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:06 pm

im making it sound much more complicated than it really is..
1 switch. 2 relays. 1 relay currently hooked up to 8 35watt bulbs wired in series.
14 gauge wire all the way up to the light itself.

The other relay is available for either additional power or another set of lights.. i was thinking another set of lights but now that i know that a 35 watt bulb pulls about 4 amps.. i may not be able to run what i want.

I had 55watt bulbs and they were pulling to many amps 5.8 or so and the 100watts were pulling 8.3 amps.. Ya a bit to much there. but man while i had those on they were Unbelievable bright.. i could not see for some time after i glanced at them.

If i want to run the 100watt ones it will take both relays to run them.

welby · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:38 pm

In what configuration were you amp probing your lights? A 55w should be around 4.6 amps @ 12 volts and a 35 watter should be under 3 amps. Your results could have to do with them being wired in series though. Is there any particular reason you wired them in series and not parallel?

roccet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:49 pm

because an engineer told me to. and they know everything :roll:

. i only enter the john only when instructed about the proper way to wipe my butt. javascript:emoticon(':D')
Very Happy
see i live with 12 engineers 40 hours and more per week so i get inspected on everything i do...

but seriously Its plenty bright and if i need more power its already hooked up. i just have to splice a short wire in.

jeepzilla · **Posted:** Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:54 am

Nice lightbar Roccet...I'm jealous I'm also a CNC machinist, but unfortunatle I don't have any at my expense they run pretty much 24hrs. a day I do have manuals to use... what type of machines do ya have? oh an I know this is an old post but I just recentaly joined...

Rush345 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:10 pm

How much would you charge to make one for another LOST member complete with instructions and choice of Light bulbs to use??? :twisted:

roccet · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:09 am

I Have a Haas VF2, Haas HSS VF3 and a Fadal 4020, a Haas HL30 cnc lathe, 2 manual verticle machines and a manual lathe..
I Just bought this shop 3 months ago. i worked at an engineering firm when i made those lights but now im on my own.
I am prototyping 3 different light configurations because my focus is currently on Search and rescue products.
. The whole idea about the light bar is it has a 2 spots and the rest cover the entire spectrum And do this using lower wattage lighting. No adjustment needed and Very rugged. no worry about branches hitting it etc.
I was approached by a rescue company on my rack and got to talking and next thing ya know people want to invest in my project.. yehaaa. away we go.
I want to make this project affordable so i can sell many units not just one unit at a time.
hope that answers everyones questions. Price point at this time is unknown but will keep you posted.

jeepzilla · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:02 pm

sounds like a great shop.. Is this the first shop you've owend? If so that's a pretty big jump, I've thought of doing the same myself over the last few years but, I'm a little hesitant because in this area there's alot of shops competeing for buisness... That's great you have an investor already that'll help your buisness take off.. good luck.. I hope to see that light bar of your in production what else have you made for your Lib.?

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:02 pm

Fantastic lights for sure! Now back to stand-by mode and see what shakes loose!

Terry

WoodysKJ · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:04 pm

Those bulbs, the 35's are pulling all together somewhere around 24 amps+-.

Thats 12 amps through 14 ga wire then you dump that full 24 amps into ONE 14ga wire? thats where your heat is coming from. at the least dump your 14's into a single 12 ga wire. should reduce the resistance and lessen the heat build up.

I would run 12 ga up to the lights, having one strand for your hot and one strand for your ground (isolating your ground and making it dedicated will lower any resitance also) for only four of those 35 watters. have two banks, two relays and two 35 amp fuses. Run them both off one switch or two, but break them into left and right. with 12 ga going up and then splitting to 14 ga wire for each of the 4 bulbs on that bank.

Rush345 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:56 pm

jeepzilla wrote:

sounds like a great shop.. Is this the first shop you've owend? If so that's a pretty big jump, I've thought of doing the same myself over the last few years but, I'm a little hesitant because in this area there's alot of shops competeing for buisness... That's great you have an investor already that'll help your buisness take off.. good luck.. I hope to see that light bar of your in production what else have you made for your Lib.?

If you want to start a business of your own, one of the first hurdles is don't go to businness hungry, I learned a long time agao if you are not lossing 80% of your bids your bidding too low. Keep your quality high and don't give ht farm away. Build you business off quality not quantitity other wise you will go belly up as hard as it is to accept you can't keep every customer ahppy but If you keep your product high quality high Ypu will enjoy a great customer base> :shock:

roccet · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:45 pm

No this is one of several companies i have owned. i have owned another machine shop and closed it in 2001 much like every other machine shop in the area. 911 was the worst year i have ever scene in this industry . ive been in since 1984 so just a young buck. My background is mechanical engineering and design I plan to proto type my parts 50-100 parts or so and then outsource production to other machine shops. Im definately not an electrical engineer so i have to rely on someone else to figure out the wiring.. I did end up going with larger wire and dual relays but will have to explore my options when i get the light spread and cosmetic design we are looking for. before this project i was not aware how complicated light displacement was and how you can control intensity from refracting light different ways. now im 1000 hours or so into different proto configurations.

Yes i do have other items that i have made for the libby. none of which i have thought about selling in production yet until i beat em up . Ill post pics of my suspension after i prove out a theory and get thru it with out breaking anything.

finished Machining my lights..

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