Is there any interest in a Goodman style handle for the DRIS 1000 and 500 lights?

[00wabbit]

I will post the updated solidworks with renderings tonight. I will also make a simple general model of the light to put into the bracket so you can get a sense of scale.

I have a couple other ideas that might further reduce cost. I also have an idea that might make it fit lights of varying diameters. I will have to play with it a bit to see if it works.

 

[rhwestfall]

any consideration of nylon as a material?

 

[00wabbit]

any consideration of nylon as a material?

I thought of nylon for the part that clamps the light in, but for the current design I have threads in it. I have an idea to change it to use nuts and bolts that way if you strip a nut you can replace it yourself. I'll post it up tonight and you guys can look at it and give your opinions on material and construction.

I am a designer by trade not an engineer. I know just enough engineering to be dangerous!

 

[HenrikBP]

I have a couple other ideas that might further reduce cost. I also have an idea that might make it fit lights of varying diameters. I will have to play with it a bit to see if it works.

Zip ties ...???

any consideration of nylon as a material?

Might work well for the clamp part; black delrin. The hole for the light could be made tight enough for good clamping without risk of marring the finish.
(Brandon beat me to it )

You could have the clamping bolts go all the way through the delrin and screw into threaded holes in the aluminum "platform". Of course, since the end user might install and uninstall the light often, stripping the treads is a definite risk. Maybe a countersunk hole in the bottom of the "platform" in hex shape to fit a shallow nylock nut. I think it'd be important not to have much sticking down into the hand opening. Would be uncomfortable without gloves, and could nick a dry glove.

For the rest of the handle the dimensions in delrin might end up getting a bit "thick" in order to get enough strength.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Zip ties ...???

Black ones so they are DIR

 

[HenrikBP]

Black ones so they are DIR

There's hope for you still Grasshopper

---------- Post Merged at 11:23 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:16 AM ----------

On can lights they fix the light head to the handle with 2 screws up through the "platform" into threaded holes in the light head. They use button head bolts, and no one ever removes the handle from the light head. So that works fine.

For this purpose, you could fix the bottom of the light clamp to the handle the same way. Then use 2 long bolts to assemble the clamp from the top down. Depending on how the bottom part of the clamp is designed, you could probably get quite a bit of threads engaged, which might be enough to prevent "ham fisted" users from stripping these threads ...???

Or, combine the ideas and use really long bolts top down into nylock nuts to assemble the clamp.

 

[00wabbit]

my current design is 2 long button head hex bolts coming up through the bottom oh the light platform. They pass through the bottom half of the light clamp and thread into the top half. They pass through the handle in a slot so you can slide the whole light clamp assembly left and right on the bracket. This way you can put the light more towards the inside or outside if you want. Also I can design wider brackets to fit onto the base in the future.

When I get home I will model it up for your review.

 

[HenrikBP]

If you're making a crosswise slot in the platform, maybe you'd want a mating "keel" on the bottom part of the bracket to minimize "slop"?

 

[00wabbit]

Here's an update.

I changed the design so the handle parts are bent and don't have any tapped holes. The light bracket is U shaped and sized to fit around the square profile in the middle of the light. This will keep the light from rotating when you turn it on. The top part is just flat sheet aluminum to hold the light in. This is much cheaper than 2 machined parts to hold the light.

Everything is black powder coated aluminum. All of the hardware is stainless steel. The bolts thread into the stainless steel locknuts with nylon washers. This way if you are a little ham fisted you can just get new hardware at a local store.

The grip can adjust up and down. The maximum height in the hand hole area is just over 2.1", The minimum height is just under 1"

The light bracket can also be moved left and right so you can position the light more towards the outside or more to the inside.

Visit this link to see higher res images of the handle:
DRIS 1000 Goodman - a set on Flickr



This version finished (but unassembled - that's up to you) will be about $53 + shipping if we can find 25 people to get in on it. If we find more then the price will come down.

 

[divemonkey33]

Since you are planning on using the square profile, if you turn the bottom part of the light bracket upside down you can get rid of the top part.