Author Topic: Homemade Finesse Lights (Read 13376 times)

pottergs18 · « **on:** March 23, 2005, 10:44:54 PM »

well i got my finesses (g2's woohoo) and i wana make light...

but i dont wana buy the kits.. so i think some one already tried this so i wass thinking bout taking film canisters and goin migiver on them and get leds to work and screw it to my finesse... so is there like a tutorial somewhere?

|}{| Julian |}{| · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2005, 11:46:00 PM »

Check out this site for homemade light kits.
http://digilander.libero.it/gepponline/diablumokit.htm

Julian

viiru · « **Reply #2 on:** March 24, 2005, 03:39:33 AM »

well....

Normal finesse lights are made out of one crappy circuitboard, 2 leds, 1 battery and couple of reles and condensators. basically if you take some light diodes or (dammet I really don't know the word) these narrow lighttube thingies and make the circuit of your own, you'll get lighter and programmable effectdiabolo. you can find tutorials of making circuitboard for example http://www.lasermate.com/driver.htm. The weight surplus will be about 90grams. It's still way lighter with finesse than for example babaches arlequino.

EDIT: author was very very drunken while submitting this post, so please be notified that the link presented above is comletely wrong. Author humbly apologises and do promise that he will correct his mistakes first thing tomorrow

Joe · « **Reply #3 on:** April 07, 2005, 09:52:28 PM »

Quote from: |}{| Julian |}{|

Check out this site for homemade light kits.
http://digilander.libero.it/gepponline/diablumokit.htm

Julian

sorry i was just wondering if this info was in english

seán_ · « **Reply #4 on:** April 07, 2005, 10:32:01 PM »

It's in Italian, you can kind of work out what he is talking about from the photos but if you want to read it try
http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/tr
copy the link for his site and translate it

dstaas · « **Reply #5 on:** October 16, 2007, 01:05:59 AM »

I have been working on my own homemade light kit for finesse Diabolos. Right now I am still prototyping the design, primarily working on the balance. I am using uv leds right now and they look simply amazing with yellow, pink, and orange finesse diabolos. The current circuit uses 3 uv leds (or any color you want provided the led is 3.3v and draws 20ma) and runs off of a 3.6v lithium ion rechargeable battery. I will be posting a guide to making this kit once it is completed but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or ideas I could try to incorporate into the design.

The circuit boards still need to be cut and holes need to be drilled in the battery holder to accommodate the mounting screws.

Here is the current eagle board design. You need eagle to view the board and modify the design.

Some Pictures of what I have so far
back of the circuit

Front of the circuit

The uv circuit in a pink finesse (pic does not do justice)

The uv lighting looks great on the yellow finesse, turning the diabolo into a vibrant green. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the yellow but I will post them when I get them

Eric Moffett · « **Reply #6 on:** October 16, 2007, 01:21:50 AM »

Just a heads up, UV LEDs have a danger to them!

BUT It's not all bad!

I only skimmed over this, so if some information is irrelevant I'm sorry! What I do know is you should stick to the UV LEDs that are the weakest to activate said diabolo to help prevent too terrible damage, or even make a filter so that the diabolo is activated and the audience is protected, you too!

dstaas · « **Reply #7 on:** October 16, 2007, 01:47:56 AM »

Already took a look into the different uv wavelenghts and got the "safe" wavelength of 400nm. Still if you look directly into the leds you feel the intensity. I also angled the leds to point inwards on the cup to diffuse the light and so no one is directly looking at it straight on. Thanks for the information and suggestions.

Eric Moffett · « **Reply #8 on:** October 16, 2007, 02:21:33 AM »

Ok, cool just making sure I don't want you sued for a stupid reason! Anyways I think that a little UV filter on the audience side will do wonders because then you can get the more intense LEDs without having to worry! lol

Nahxela · « **Reply #9 on:** October 16, 2007, 11:45:05 PM »

If you get a lot of drops (like from constant high/siteswap stuff), will the circuit boards/light kits get damaged from the concussive forces?
Those homemade ones don't look too solid

No offense meant...

dstaas · « **Reply #10 on:** October 23, 2007, 02:05:50 AM »

Quote from: nahxela on October 16, 2007, 11:45:05 PM

If you get a lot of drops (like from constant high/siteswap stuff), will the circuit boards/light kits get damaged from the concussive forces?
Those homemade ones don't look too solid
No offense meant...

So far they have been doing well. The circuit is lifted off of the mounting surface by 2 rubber washers which reduce shock. By having the circuit a little ofset of the mounting circuit the compression of the diabolo when it lands does not touch the circuit board. So far has held up to at least a 3 story throw and drop onto hard dirt, Excalibur attempt into wall, 2 hitting each other mid air and all the other stresses that occur within 2 normal 1 hour practice sessions.

The circuit boards are printed on 1/16" FR-4 boards which is a fiberglass weave impregnated with epoxy. It has little flex and I found it extremely difficult to break (I had to score it about 15 times to get a break). The traces on the board are made doubly thick to ensure there are no cracks due to stress.

My primary concern with the design was the battery holder. It is held in place by solder alone so I made the pads they are attached to larger than I would have normally done to provide a stronger mount. In order to mount the circuit itself I had to drill holes on the edges of the holder and then enlarge them to accommodate for the screw heads. So far i have not had 1 battery fall out.

The one problem that I don't like about my design is the lack of an on off switch. This forces you to remove the batteries from their holders when you are done as well as when you need to charge them. I did not want to take the time to design a charging circuit for the batteries so i purchased a wall mount charger along with the batteries.

Pics of installed lights

Lights off, kits in.

Lights on!

Close up of circuit

Chinese Snaps

Shuffle

Eric Moffett · « **Reply #11 on:** October 23, 2007, 02:37:36 AM »

I like how they are so bright!

diabolofreak617 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2007, 03:19:19 AM »

Those light kits are quite impressive. Don't make them too well or you might put Mr. Babache's light kits to shame

.

Nahxela · « **Reply #13 on:** October 23, 2007, 11:58:29 PM »

Quote from: diabolofreak617 on October 23, 2007, 03:19:19 AM

Those light kits are quite impressive. Don't make them too well or you might put Mr. Babache's light kits to shame .

Like Peter did with his Illuminated Sticks

Thanks for that dstaas, explains a lot more for that and those light kits look cool

Since you manually place the batteries in the kit would it help to get a longer battery holder piece so that you can bring it around from end to end of the battery to help hold it in?
The circuitboard sounds quite durable, but how about the light bulbs? Do you have reinforced bulbs to prevent cracking because I noticed that the positioning of the light bulbs is different to other kits in that they don't have anything surrounding them to protect them.

And don't worry, on/off switches aren't necessary if you've got something that works well

dstaas · « **Reply #14 on:** October 24, 2007, 01:20:54 AM »

Quote from: nahxela on October 23, 2007, 11:58:29 PM

The circuitboard sounds quite durable, but how about the light bulbs? Do you have reinforced bulbs to prevent cracking because I noticed that the positioning of the light bulbs is different to other kits in that they don't have anything surrounding them to protect them

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Im still not sure what you mean with the battery holder (larger batery, switch orientation, attach differently ....) but the idea of an enclosure sounds good. Perhaps i could integrate the cover as a means to hold the battery in place as well as protecting the led's. Right now I'm trying to figure out the orientation of the led's to maximize lighting. led's themselves are quite durable but the legs of the led's can easily break if bent too much. Having them secured by an enclosure would minimize the bending.

Since this is still in prototype stages I love to get feedback from you guys to try to create the best design.

I also want to make a design that can be used on both finesse and circus diabolos without using an adapter.

One of my favorite features so far is the batteries. I use lithium ion rechargeable batteries which have a bout a 45minute to 1 hour light time (till they start getting noticeably dimmer) with a 1 hour recharge time.

The total cost to make 4 light kits (enough for 2 diabolos + 1 extra set of batteries) was around $48 usd total.

Supplies as listed
www.batteryspace.com
Li-ion Rechargeable button cells LR2032, 3.6v 40mAh 3 packs of 2 @ $3.99 each $11.97
Smart charger for dual li-ion button cells LR2032 1 @ $5.95 each $5.95

www.mpja.com
Coin cell holder BH800 4 holders @ $.89 each $3.56
5mm UV 80mcd LED 12 LEDs @ $.22 each $2.64
1/4lb. Board etchant 1 pack @ $4.49 each $4.49
3x5" copper clad board 2 boards @ $1.95 each $3.90

Additional parts
12 18ohm 1/4 watt resistors - I had them on hand, not sure of price
1 sheet of glossy inkjet photo paper to print circuit onto - I had it on hand, not sure of price

Total without shipping $32.52
shipping (from 2 websites) $15.26
Total cost $47.78 usd

Tools used:
dremel rotary tool (or anything else to cut through circuit board)
drill (press preferred)
1/16 in drill bit
1/8 in drill bit
soldering iron
solder
iron

Guide to come with pics

Eric Moffett · « **Reply #15 on:** October 24, 2007, 03:25:17 AM »

Well, I have some good ideas for maximum lighting, like the MB Kits they have them at different angles so it gets the light spread more evenly. Maybe have four LED's positioned symmetrically around at different angles. (Symmetry in my opinion is the key to balance, if everything is the same however you cut it than they should all be the same weight.) Like have one LED 45° pointed inward, one LED 45° pointed outward, (opposite ends) one LED 180° straight, and one LED 90° towards the audience (opposite ends). That would work, or it would seem... also where they are positioned, how far in, or how far out. The only problem is that would put it off balance, unless you compensated some how.

Nahxela · « **Reply #16 on:** October 24, 2007, 10:11:25 PM »

Oh, wow, dstaas!
What an awesome guide you've made for your light kits :O
I envy your engineering abilities.
As for the batteries, I kinda meant designing something similar to the Babache Evolution 4 Kits where you can place the batteries in and can be enclosed by the metallic parts which hold the battery (sorry if it's still unclear, my vocabularly with this stuff is limited)

Those prices look a tad nauseating though $:-\$ , but I'm thinking about it.
They still seem a bit more effective in terms of convenience (storage/transport) and energy (brightness, energy usage).

Also, is the charger for the battery/batteries able to directly plug into an outlet, or does it need an adapter?
If it does need an adapter, what type (cord size, voltage)?

As for the idea that The Moff put out, I think that might be really excessive to have five light bulbs on an LED kit that would be no larger than a few square inches.
I actually think two or three are good numbers, since all the light kits I've seen up close only use a few bulbs: there's the finesse lights, the ones dstaas made, the Fly's lights, and a type for a diabolo made by a Taiwanese group.

Eric Moffett · « **Reply #17 on:** October 24, 2007, 10:31:50 PM »

Quote from: nahxela on October 24, 2007, 10:11:25 PM

Oh, wow, dstaas!
What an awesome guide you've made for your light kits :O
I envy your engineering abilities.
As for the batteries, I kinda meant designing something similar to the Babache Evolution 4 Kits where you can place the batteries in and can be enclosed by the metallic parts which hold the battery (sorry if it's still unclear, my vocabularly with this stuff is limited)

Those prices look a tad nauseating though $:-\$ , but I'm thinking about it.
They still seem a bit more effective in terms of convenience (storage/transport) and energy (brightness, energy usage).

Also, is the charger for the battery/batteries able to directly plug into an outlet, or does it need an adapter?
If it does need an adapter, what type (cord size, voltage)?

As for the idea that The Moff put out, I think that might be really excessive to have five light bulbs on an LED kit that would be no larger than a few square inches.
I actually think two or three are good numbers, since all the light kits I've seen up close only use a few bulbs: there's the finesse lights, the ones dstaas made, the Fly's lights, and a type for a diabolo made by a Taiwanese group.

I said four LED's...

Nahxela · « **Reply #18 on:** October 25, 2007, 09:34:22 PM »

Quote from: The Moff on October 24, 2007, 10:31:50 PM

I said four LED's...

Oh, my mistake, sorry about that ._.
But four still seems a little excessive $:-\$

Eric Moffett · « **Reply #19 on:** October 25, 2007, 10:24:39 PM »

I think it will add a cool different pattern to the lights, doesn't the Circus lights have like 8 LED's?

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Author Topic: Homemade Finesse Lights (Read 13376 times)