Is there any good non-rechargeable headlights anymore?

On Wed, 17 May 2017 11:17:36 -0700, sms
wrote:

I've used this one http://www.dx.com/p/447307.

Barf. See my previous comments on how useless teeth are when clamped
to a smooth handle bar. If you want something to NOT slip against a
smooth surface, use another smooth surface and maximize the contact
area. Also, thick rubber shims cannot be properly clamped and will
slip and vibrate. This is better (no teeth):
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AcdGJVXXXXaQXpXXq6xXFXXXI/Aluminum-bicycle-light-holder-electric-motorcycle-font-b-clamp-b-font-flashlight-clip-led-font-b.jpg
Modifying motocycle riser clamps by boring out the 7/8" or 1" hole to
something larger, for both the handlebars and flashlight might also be
useful:
https://www.google.com/search?q=motorcycle+riser+clamps&tbm=isch
Looks like plenty of strange shapes available to try.

I SPIT on those rubber shims! Use heat shrink tubing on the clamp.

The clamp you mentioned in the above dx.com URL uses thick rubber
shims. Also, I don't see any way to slide shrink tube around the
clamp.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 5/17/2017 11:27 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

Some of us will be interested in what you come up with, if you care to
share.


Okay version 1 is in place.

http://beevilletrainwreck.com/assort...ts/lights.html

Image #1 shows the new lights in the same place as the previous ones.
The new lights are bigger at the front tho so they don't really fit
well. The left one is partially blocked by the brake & gear cables.
The handlebar bag is laying in place but it's not bucked down. It has a
pouch on the front side of the handlebars (held in shape by a piece of
plastic) and a second patch on the back side. IT wraps around most of
the handlebars so I can only put lights on the bars down right next to
where the stem is.

Image #2 is a closer-up view of the new lights, but without the
handlebar bag in place. I meant to link to the amazon pages for these
but forgot. If ya really care let me know.

Image #3 shows the pieces of the new light mounts.
Both flashlights are shown in the picture, along with a 6-inch long
ruler (the Adafruit PCB ruler, to be exact).
The red circles are silicone rubber sheet, 1/16" thick.
The lower-left black rectangles are pieces of Sorbothane 1/8" thick,
used inside the saddles of the mounts. The handlebars are 1" diameter
and the flashlight bodies are 1-7/16" diameter, and the saddles were cut
roughly 1/4" larger than that to accommodate the thickness of the
Sorbothane.

Sorbothane is a urethane that is made for attenuating vibration
(something that most other rubbers don't do hardly at all) and it also
is tacky and doesn't creep or take a set.

The mounts have two parts per side: a straight piece that clamps to the
handlebars, and an L-shaped piece that clamps to the flashlights, with
the fat part pointing backwards. The studs shown hold the two pieces of
each side together, allowing sideways adjustment. The red rubber circles
go in-between the two mount pieces to help them hold their position
while still allowing to make tool-free adjustments on the road.

I didn't bother much with getting a nice surface finish here when I was
making the mount pieces. I was working casual and taking shortcuts.
Cutting and drilling these pieces took about 4 hours tho.

Image #4 shows them assembled on the bike, in a very fuzzy picture. Of
course the bike was kinda fuzzy anyway, not having been rode in quite a
while due to not having its own front lights.
Anyway.
This version is using 6 hose clamps to hold everything on. If this works
out okay I may go buy some thumb-screw clamps (butterfly clamps) to use
instead of the normal hose clamps.

Image #5 shows the bike with the bag strapped back on. The lights sit
much wider and higher than before, they are well clear of the pedaling
areas. Also the flashlights are held almost perfectly at their center of
mass, lengthwise. If the hose clamps are loose, the flashlights stay
where they are--they don't have any great tendency to slip forward
pointing down, or slip backwards pointing up.

Hopefully can try it out tonight, if there's no rain. The sky was
looking kinda murky earlier....

On 5/17/2017 5:04 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 17 May 2017 11:17:36 -0700, sms
wrote:

I've used this one http://www.dx.com/p/447307.

Barf. See my previous comments on how useless teeth are when clamped
to a smooth handle bar. If you want something to NOT slip against a
smooth surface, use another smooth surface and maximize the contact
area. Also, thick rubber shims cannot be properly clamped and will
slip and vibrate. This is better (no teeth):
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AcdGJVXXXXaQXpXXq6xXFXXXI/Aluminum-bicycle-light-holder-electric-motorcycle-font-b-clamp-b-font-flashlight-clip-led-font-b.jpg
Modifying motocycle riser clamps by boring out the 7/8" or 1" hole to
something larger, for both the handlebars and flashlight might also be
useful:
https://www.google.com/search?q=motorcycle+riser+clamps&tbm=isch
Looks like plenty of strange shapes available to try.

I SPIT on those rubber shims! Use heat shrink tubing on the clamp.

The clamp you mentioned in the above dx.com URL uses thick rubber
shims. Also, I don't see any way to slide shrink tube around the
clamp.

Sure you can. It's easy on the top, and on the bottom it doesn't go all
the way around, it's two separate pieces. The ridges end up smoothing
out with a couple of layers of heat shrink. It's very secure, and that's
with a pretty heavy 3C or 4C flashlight.

On 5/17/2017 9:57 PM, DougC wrote:
On 5/17/2017 11:27 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

Some of us will be interested in what you come up with, if you care to
share.


Okay version 1 is in place.

http://beevilletrainwreck.com/assort...ts/lights.html

Image #1 shows the new lights in the same place as the previous ones.
The new lights are bigger at the front tho so they don't really fit
well. The left one is partially blocked by the brake & gear cables.
The handlebar bag is laying in place but it's not bucked down. It has a
pouch on the front side of the handlebars (held in shape by a piece of
plastic) and a second patch on the back side. IT wraps around most of
the handlebars so I can only put lights on the bars down right next to
where the stem is.

Image #2 is a closer-up view of the new lights, but without the
handlebar bag in place. I meant to link to the amazon pages for these
but forgot. If ya really care let me know.

Image #3 shows the pieces of the new light mounts.
Both flashlights are shown in the picture, along with a 6-inch long
ruler (the Adafruit PCB ruler, to be exact).
The red circles are silicone rubber sheet, 1/16" thick.
The lower-left black rectangles are pieces of Sorbothane 1/8" thick,
used inside the saddles of the mounts. The handlebars are 1" diameter
and the flashlight bodies are 1-7/16" diameter, and the saddles were cut
roughly 1/4" larger than that to accommodate the thickness of the
Sorbothane.

Sorbothane is a urethane that is made for attenuating vibration
(something that most other rubbers don't do hardly at all) and it also
is tacky and doesn't creep or take a set.

The mounts have two parts per side: a straight piece that clamps to the
handlebars, and an L-shaped piece that clamps to the flashlights, with
the fat part pointing backwards. The studs shown hold the two pieces of
each side together, allowing sideways adjustment. The red rubber circles
go in-between the two mount pieces to help them hold their position
while still allowing to make tool-free adjustments on the road.

I didn't bother much with getting a nice surface finish here when I was
making the mount pieces. I was working casual and taking shortcuts.
Cutting and drilling these pieces took about 4 hours tho.

Image #4 shows them assembled on the bike, in a very fuzzy picture. Of
course the bike was kinda fuzzy anyway, not having been rode in quite a
while due to not having its own front lights.
Anyway.
This version is using 6 hose clamps to hold everything on. If this works
out okay I may go buy some thumb-screw clamps (butterfly clamps) to use
instead of the normal hose clamps.

Image #5 shows the bike with the bag strapped back on. The lights sit
much wider and higher than before, they are well clear of the pedaling
areas. Also the flashlights are held almost perfectly at their center of
mass, lengthwise. If the hose clamps are loose, the flashlights stay
where they are--they don't have any great tendency to slip forward
pointing down, or slip backwards pointing up.

Hopefully can try it out tonight, if there's no rain. The sky was
looking kinda murky earlier....

Wow. Looks like you made lots of chips to fabricate the aluminum pieces.

Do you have access to a milling machine? I've lost my access since I
retired, and I do miss it. As a result, most of my fabricating is based
on bending bar stock or plate, with perhaps a bit of welding or brazing.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Wed, 17 May 2017 22:47:14 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 5/17/2017 9:57 PM, DougC wrote:
On 5/17/2017 11:27 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

Some of us will be interested in what you come up with, if you care to
share.


Okay version 1 is in place.

http://beevilletrainwreck.com/assort...ts/lights.html

Image #1 shows the new lights in the same place as the previous ones.
The new lights are bigger at the front tho so they don't really fit
well. The left one is partially blocked by the brake & gear cables.
The handlebar bag is laying in place but it's not bucked down. It has a
pouch on the front side of the handlebars (held in shape by a piece of
plastic) and a second patch on the back side. IT wraps around most of
the handlebars so I can only put lights on the bars down right next to
where the stem is.

Image #2 is a closer-up view of the new lights, but without the
handlebar bag in place. I meant to link to the amazon pages for these
but forgot. If ya really care let me know.

Image #3 shows the pieces of the new light mounts.
Both flashlights are shown in the picture, along with a 6-inch long
ruler (the Adafruit PCB ruler, to be exact).
The red circles are silicone rubber sheet, 1/16" thick.
The lower-left black rectangles are pieces of Sorbothane 1/8" thick,
used inside the saddles of the mounts. The handlebars are 1" diameter
and the flashlight bodies are 1-7/16" diameter, and the saddles were cut
roughly 1/4" larger than that to accommodate the thickness of the
Sorbothane.

Sorbothane is a urethane that is made for attenuating vibration
(something that most other rubbers don't do hardly at all) and it also
is tacky and doesn't creep or take a set.

The mounts have two parts per side: a straight piece that clamps to the
handlebars, and an L-shaped piece that clamps to the flashlights, with
the fat part pointing backwards. The studs shown hold the two pieces of
each side together, allowing sideways adjustment. The red rubber circles
go in-between the two mount pieces to help them hold their position
while still allowing to make tool-free adjustments on the road.

I didn't bother much with getting a nice surface finish here when I was
making the mount pieces. I was working casual and taking shortcuts.
Cutting and drilling these pieces took about 4 hours tho.

Image #4 shows them assembled on the bike, in a very fuzzy picture. Of
course the bike was kinda fuzzy anyway, not having been rode in quite a
while due to not having its own front lights.
Anyway.
This version is using 6 hose clamps to hold everything on. If this works
out okay I may go buy some thumb-screw clamps (butterfly clamps) to use
instead of the normal hose clamps.

Image #5 shows the bike with the bag strapped back on. The lights sit
much wider and higher than before, they are well clear of the pedaling
areas. Also the flashlights are held almost perfectly at their center of
mass, lengthwise. If the hose clamps are loose, the flashlights stay
where they are--they don't have any great tendency to slip forward
pointing down, or slip backwards pointing up.

Hopefully can try it out tonight, if there's no rain. The sky was
looking kinda murky earlier....

Wow. Looks like you made lots of chips to fabricate the aluminum pieces.

Do you have access to a milling machine? I've lost my access since I
retired, and I do miss it. As a result, most of my fabricating is based
on bending bar stock or plate, with perhaps a bit of welding or brazing.

Nearly everything that you can do with a milling machine can be done
with a hacksaw, files and possibly a scraper :-)

But for bicycle light mounts I much prefer the time tested methods as
shown in the 1916 Popular Science Magazine. See
http://tinyurl.com/n5wamjg top right side of the page. The elite will
of course use stainless.

Think of it as a design proven by 101 years of use :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 5/17/2017 9:04 PM, sms wrote:
On 5/17/2017 5:04 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 17 May 2017 11:17:36 -0700, sms
wrote:

I've used this one http://www.dx.com/p/447307.

Barf. See my previous comments on how useless teeth are when clamped
to a smooth handle bar. If you want something to NOT slip against a
smooth surface, use another smooth surface and maximize the contact
area. Also, thick rubber shims cannot be properly clamped and will
slip and vibrate. This is better (no teeth):
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1AcdGJVXXXXaQXpXXq6xXFXXXI/Aluminum-bicycle-light-holder-electric-motorcycle-font-b-clamp-b-font-flashlight-clip-led-font-b.jpg

Modifying motocycle riser clamps by boring out the 7/8" or 1" hole to
something larger, for both the handlebars and flashlight might also be
useful:
https://www.google.com/search?q=motorcycle+riser+clamps&tbm=isch
Looks like plenty of strange shapes available to try.

I SPIT on those rubber shims! Use heat shrink tubing on the clamp.

The clamp you mentioned in the above dx.com URL uses thick rubber
shims. Also, I don't see any way to slide shrink tube around the
clamp.

Sure you can. It's easy on the top, and on the bottom it doesn't go all
the way around, it's two separate pieces. The ridges end up smoothing
out with a couple of layers of heat shrink. It's very secure, and that's
with a pretty heavy 3C or 4C flashlight.

Yea but the heat shrink tubing is hard....?

You should get some thin softer Sorbothane and try that instead.
For two reasons:
1) it attenuates vibration way better than any other material you will
find, which helps things not fall apart.
2) the surface is very tacky when clean. If you clamp a part with only
moderate pressure, the sorbothane will flex but has a high tendency to
spring back to its original location.

I don't know how well it withstands UV but for a "sticky" pad that
dampens vibration there is nothing better.

Also I mainly look on aliexpress for the China-made stuff, since it has
the best buyer terms and usually has the lowest prices too.

On 5/18/2017 12:18 AM, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 17 May 2017 22:47:14 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 5/17/2017 9:57 PM, DougC wrote:
On 5/17/2017 11:27 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

Some of us will be interested in what you come up with, if you care to
share.


Okay version 1 is in place.

http://beevilletrainwreck.com/assort...ts/lights.html

Image #1 shows the new lights in the same place as the previous ones.
The new lights are bigger at the front tho so they don't really fit
well. The left one is partially blocked by the brake & gear cables.
The handlebar bag is laying in place but it's not bucked down. It has a
pouch on the front side of the handlebars (held in shape by a piece of
plastic) and a second patch on the back side. IT wraps around most of
the handlebars so I can only put lights on the bars down right next to
where the stem is.

Image #2 is a closer-up view of the new lights, but without the
handlebar bag in place. I meant to link to the amazon pages for these
but forgot. If ya really care let me know.

Image #3 shows the pieces of the new light mounts.
Both flashlights are shown in the picture, along with a 6-inch long
ruler (the Adafruit PCB ruler, to be exact).
The red circles are silicone rubber sheet, 1/16" thick.
The lower-left black rectangles are pieces of Sorbothane 1/8" thick,
used inside the saddles of the mounts. The handlebars are 1" diameter
and the flashlight bodies are 1-7/16" diameter, and the saddles were cut
roughly 1/4" larger than that to accommodate the thickness of the
Sorbothane.

Sorbothane is a urethane that is made for attenuating vibration
(something that most other rubbers don't do hardly at all) and it also
is tacky and doesn't creep or take a set.

The mounts have two parts per side: a straight piece that clamps to the
handlebars, and an L-shaped piece that clamps to the flashlights, with
the fat part pointing backwards. The studs shown hold the two pieces of
each side together, allowing sideways adjustment. The red rubber circles
go in-between the two mount pieces to help them hold their position
while still allowing to make tool-free adjustments on the road.

I didn't bother much with getting a nice surface finish here when I was
making the mount pieces. I was working casual and taking shortcuts.
Cutting and drilling these pieces took about 4 hours tho.

Image #4 shows them assembled on the bike, in a very fuzzy picture. Of
course the bike was kinda fuzzy anyway, not having been rode in quite a
while due to not having its own front lights.
Anyway.
This version is using 6 hose clamps to hold everything on. If this works
out okay I may go buy some thumb-screw clamps (butterfly clamps) to use
instead of the normal hose clamps.

Image #5 shows the bike with the bag strapped back on. The lights sit
much wider and higher than before, they are well clear of the pedaling
areas. Also the flashlights are held almost perfectly at their center of
mass, lengthwise. If the hose clamps are loose, the flashlights stay
where they are--they don't have any great tendency to slip forward
pointing down, or slip backwards pointing up.

Hopefully can try it out tonight, if there's no rain. The sky was
looking kinda murky earlier....

Wow. Looks like you made lots of chips to fabricate the aluminum pieces.

Do you have access to a milling machine? I've lost my access since I
retired, and I do miss it. As a result, most of my fabricating is based
on bending bar stock or plate, with perhaps a bit of welding or brazing.

Nearly everything that you can do with a milling machine can be done
with a hacksaw, files and possibly a scraper :-)

But for bicycle light mounts I much prefer the time tested methods as
shown in the 1916 Popular Science Magazine. See
http://tinyurl.com/n5wamjg top right side of the page. The elite will
of course use stainless.

Think of it as a design proven by 101 years of use :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.


I do have a benchtop milling machine.

The problem with the double-hose-clamp method is that there's no way to
adjust side-to-side (aiming) positioning. Also all hose clamps are
stainless now?

I did a test ride tonight.
1) The mounts worked just fine, the lights didn't move in use.
2) The two lights on low are a lot brighter than what I had before,
which is nice, but-
3) the round beam is very much not ideal, as I expected. So I'm going to
try to make a hood or something to cut off the light at the top, at least.
4) being able to adjust the lights from a beam to a flood is kinda nice
at times. As long as that part doesn't get loose and begin to wander on
its own...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...2c0e3fb98e.jpg

DougC wrote:
So I'm shopping around for ANY kind of headlights that take 4 x AA
batteries, and there is none.

Source of power is a weird spec. Why don't you specify your actual
requirements and then accept whatever power source the solution happens to
have?

In the days of LED and good rechargeables, this should be a complete non
issue. Just get a hub dynamo and forget all about buying or charging
batteries.

robert

Gunners clip on's

Day glo baseball cap

Fork mounted light

Bar light

Helmet light

This of it, you could make a helmet from copper