LED Light for X2 Mill (Project Completed)

[75Plus]

I recently posted a thread about mounting an umbrella light on an X2 mill. That light worked fine when using the drill chuck and end mill holders to hold the tool bits. When I switched to using R-8 collets to hold the tool bits I found that  this light was just too large to allow a clear view of the work piece. At that point I started thinking about plan "B".

In my scrap box I found a 3" nylon wheel that was 3/4" wide. This will be the body of the plan "B" light. I also have a bit of circuit board material and a some 1/4" thick Lexan. In a departure from the way I usually do things I decided draw up the project first, then make it. I found some high output LED's and placed the order. While I am waiting for them I drew the major components.

Starting with the body here is the top view:



Since my RT moved 9 degrees per revolution of the hand wheel I decided on 20 LED's on 18 degree centers. This way I won't have to do any extra calculations. The holes will be drilled with a #8 (.199") drill which is a snug fit for a 5mm LED. The cavity is .435" deep and .500" wide. The circuit board will be recessed into the body so there is a ledge provided to support it. This view shows the details.



Here is the bottom view. I will be adding a counter sink to each hole to allow more exposure for the light.



Here is the circuit board with details added.



And here is the top cover /swarf guard.



The mounting adapter was described in this thread.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3017.0

I will be making swarf as soon as the LED's arrive. Stay tuned.

Joe

[Bernd]

Nice design there Joe.

It's fun modding something like that. What are you going to use for a power supply? The orginal one that came with the first light?

Bernd

[75Plus]

Nice design there Joe.

It's fun modding something like that. What are you going to use for a power supply? The original one that came with the first light?

Bernd

Sorry about the delay but I have been on another project.

I will be using a surplus cell phone charger. It is a switching type power supply that is rated 4.6v and 1 amp output. According to my digital VOM the 20 LED's and the dropping resistor draw a total of 186 410 ma. The circuit board will be mounted in an enclosure and attached to the motor controller enclosure. I have just about finished the project and will add more info and pictures in the next few days.

Edit: Current draw in error. I was on the wrong scale. The actual current is 410 ma.

[75Plus]

From the lack of replies this is not exactly a HOT topic but I started it and I will finish it.

After some consideration I decided to use the mill to do most of the machine work. Once I had it on the RT I was able to mill the cavity, drill the holes for the LED's and drill the circuit board all with one set up.

Here I am milling the cavity.



Cavity complete.



Drilling the holes.



Circuit board ready for drilling. I used the point of center drill to peel a path in the copper to create the circuit board.



The holes for the leads were drilled with a # 67 drill. The spacing is .100" so I shifted .050", drilled 20 holes then shifted .100" and repeated the drilling.



This is a shot of beginning the assembly.



The power supply. It was once a charger for a cell phone. The output is 4.4 VDC which is near the 3.6 volt forward drop I needed for the LED's. To set the current at 20 ma. required a 2 ohm resistor. After two hours of use there was no detectable heating. I mounted the power supply in a mini enclosure that was then attached to the bottom of motor control enclosure.



I mounted the current limiting resistor on a four point terminal strip which I stuck to the side of the motor control enclosure. The AC to supply the power supply was picked up at the terminal strip that supplies the cooling fan transformer. The light comes on when the fan does.



Here is the light mounted around the spindle. It allows a clear view of the work piece.



This shot was taken at night with no other light on in the shop.



Since I had much of the material on hand (the nylon wheel for nearly 20 years) the total cost was a huge $11.80.

I am very pleased with the outcome of this little priject.

Joe

[dsquire]

Joe

This has turned out to be a very nice light. Judging by the one photo that you showed with it as the only light it should certainly light up what ever you are working at on the mill.

Even though you don't have a lot of replies Joe there have been 170 people that have read it and everyone has probably taken something from it to file away for sometime when they need a light like Joe made. 

Thanks for finishing what you started Joe, I like people like that. 

Cheers 

Don

[Stilldrillin]

Joe,

Very nicely done, and shown.....  

Like many projects electronic/ electrical, I was watching quietly, in awe!  

I have had a vague idea to use one of those patio parasol/ table ring lights......

Thank you!  

David D

[andyf]

Nice job, Joe. I've been watching too, and mean to sort out something similar myself.

I recently bought (from B&Q at under a fiver each, for those in the UK) a couple of these:



which give a good bright light. I'm thinking of cannibalising the 24 leds out of one, then following in your footsteps. Unless a suitably sized bit of PCB comes to light (no pun intended) I may just use a couple of rings of bare copper wire, one for the led anodes and another for the cathodes. The lamps run on 3 AAA cells, giving 4.5V. That drops to around 3.6V when switched on, so I'll need to hunt through my ever-growing collection of discarded wall warts for something in that region which can push out around half an amp.

Andy

[Stilldrillin]

I`ve got one of those lamps Andy!

A very handy light. It`s magnet sticks it under the gearbox, behind the mill spindle. 

BUT! The magnet attracts steel swarf....

David D

[75Plus]

Andy and others, the LED's in the battery powered lights are wired in parallel due to the supply voltage being low. Any number of LED's can be paralleled and supplied with a wide range of voltages by using a suitable limiting resistor. Here is a resistor calculator that figures it all out for you.

http://ledz.com/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator

The picture I posted as "the mill light only" was from the original umbrella light that was too large. Here is one from the new light. Sorry for the error.



Joe

[andyf]

Andy and others, the LED's in the battery powered lights are wired in parallel due to the supply voltage being low. Any number of LED's can be paralleled and supplied with a wide range of voltages by using a suitable limiting resistor. Here is a resistor calculator that figures it all out for you.

http://ledz.com/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator

Thanks for the link, Joe. My bucket of old wall warts hasn't yielded anything with volts in single figures and capable of >500mA, but there's a 15V, 750mA one. So I'll complicate an otherwise simple task by wiring chains of 4 leds in series, to give 6 chains, then wire the chains in parallel and select a resistor on test (otherwise known as trial and error), starting high and working down to lower resistances until I get enough, but not too much, light.
Or I could fiddle about with Ohm's Law. I think I can remember it: An ohm is an 'ouse where a volt lives 

Andy

[Sic Semper Tyrannis]

Yeah I know it is a "thread from the dead", but check these light rings out...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=headlight+ring&_sacat=22689&_odkw=&_osacat=22689&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

Cheap for a pair, 12volts.

May get some to play with on the mill.

[saw]

Nice thinking 

[Fredbare]

Well done and well presented, certainly had my interest.

Johnhttp://madmodder.net/Smileys/default/happy0065.gif

[Pelallito]

I just found your post and liked it a lot!
I don't know anything about LED lights and very little about electronics,  , but you gave me the urge of attempting to make something like it.
There are many of us here that need all of the light we can get on a project, the eyes just don't work like they use too.
Thanks for the post.
Fred