Just started a dental flashlight project

[bshanahan14rulz]

http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1499
http://dx.com/p/4-x-18650-batteries...n-light-usb-port-for-iphone-ipad-black-128889 < similar to your cnqg link, but at DX and slightly different.

There seem to be a few of these sorts of boxes available, and I do think it would be awesome for your project. You can charge from USB, already has a mostly enclosed box, don't have to deal with individual cells. I don't know about what the internals are, but would be neat to actually put a nice charging circuit in there for balanced charging or cell monitoring. Or, get in the good habit of checking your batteries.

 

[Zenbaas]

So just a quick update. Ended up ordering some batteries and battery holders from fast tech which has quite a nice selection. Now have to wait for everything to arrive!

 

[Zenbaas]

Guys I need some recommendations. I have ordered the driver with the dimmer as per the original post below and will test that out but does anyone know of smaller drivers with smaller controllers(dimmers) perhaps that in could also consider using that will work..?

First of all I want to thank you all for the support. As I try to keep the budget down and the quality up, I will buy all the parts from one place (shipping is around 10 USD for every time I don't combine). I want a close to daylight cool white 6500K led. The reason I chose this one is because I currently work with this temperature and I find it very good as a mean of distinguishing pathological conditions. I will not do any color matching for restorative procedures under any type of artificial illumination. I use broad daylight for that (sometimes I even call my patients twice or three times in one day for that). I came down to this list from this shop because I find their drivers small, neat and uncomplicated. I think that 120-200 lumens is very high but again the standard of care is that I protect the patients eyes with protective glasses and I don't plan on powering the led that high. This is the list of the parts:

http://www.luxeonstar.com/Cool-White-6500K-20mm-Star-Rebel-220-lm-p/mr-wc120-20s.htm?CartID=1
http://www.luxeonstar.com/Carclo-8-7-Deg-20mm-Lens-No-Holder-p/10193.htm?CartID=2
http://www.luxeonstar.com/Harness-for-E-or-I-Drivers-6-Wire-With-Pot-p/3021hep.htm?CartID=3
http://www.luxeonstar.com/19mm-Square-Alpha-Heat-Sink-p/lpd19-20b.htm?CartID=5
http://www.luxeonstar.com/Pre-Cut-Thermal-Tape-for-20mm-hex-Bases-12-p/lxt-s-12.htm?CartID=4
http://www.luxeonstar.com/Carclo-20mm-Round-Lens-Holder-Black-p/10235.htm?CartID=9
http://www.luxeonstar.com/700mA-Ext-Dimmable-BuckPuck-Driver-PCB-Mount-p/3021-d-e-700.htm?CartID=10

I calculated that I need a heat sink with around 20 C/W thermal resistance if I power the led at 700 mA (which is not the target as I said before). I am thinking of either incorporating a heat sink as the above or actually mounting a solid copper base at the end of the tubing. Harold, I would greatly appreciate if you run the simulation. Again thank you all.

PS I will post pictures in a DIY build log way. If you have some counter suggestions about the shop, led, driver,etc they are all welcome

 

[slcrugby]

Sorry for not being on here sooner my email must have junked the addition to the thread and I have been to busy with Uni to really give this anytime unfortunately. What I have found is that those 9 degree Carclo lenses just didn't give a narrow enough beam for my liking and had too much spill (I am thinking patient comfort here). I have moved on to looking at trying to use an aspheric lens setup but am having real troubles with trialing the lens to light source distance and the effect of the different diffusers (or if they are eben necessary) at the moment. I did end up opting for a similar style battery pack with the 4 x 18650s as a starting point but need to modify it still to put in the driver and dimmer. Once I work out a way to have a look at the light sources and what they 'look like' I may move onto talking with someone about the bezel but don't have any idea how to mount the lenses inside of the bezel. Finally I wanted to adopt a mount rather than design one for getting them to attach the loupes but that is going to be my final issue in the design process which I can't really see myself getting the time for until around the end of the year...

If anyone has any pointers in relation to the above points please feel free to share some insight it as always would be greatly appreciated!

 

[buffalolume]

Great thread wow!

I do have a few questions though, since I will be starting a project like this soon. One of my most important priorities is a focused beam with very minimal side scatter at the edges of the beam. Where can I order glass lenses to place in the aluminum housing to focus the light? Are there any other techniques for minimizing this fuzziness on the edge. I will sit down and do the optics calculations for the lens to light distance and working distance I desire, but until that, any advice on where to actually purchase some small diameter lenses? Thanks!

 

[Zenbaas]

Great thread wow!

I do have a few questions though, since I will be starting a project like this soon. One of my most important priorities is a focused beam with very minimal side scatter at the edges of the beam. Where can I order glass lenses to place in the aluminum housing to focus the light? Are there any other techniques for minimizing this fuzziness on the edge. I will sit down and do the optics calculations for the lens to light distance and working distance I desire, but until that, any advice on where to actually purchase some small diameter lenses? Thanks!

No idea unfortunately. I haven't been able to progress any further either as I am having difficulty finding someone who can cnc the body for me. So it's a dead end at the moment until I figure that out.

 

[christophernguyendds]

How did it turn out? Your LED light is in use?

 

[mcnair55]

After reading several threads

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?234910-Headlamp-for-dental-student
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?91130-Any-decent-headlamps-for-DENTAL-use
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?147982-Dental-headlamp

I decided to give it a try and manufacture my own dental headlamp. I made a rough sketch using acad of what parts I plan on using/manufacturing.

I will use a Rebel White or Warm White LED mounted on a pcb star, 8 degree angle carclo optics and an 1 inch aluminum tube body + possibly a 19mm round X 20 mm high heatsink (the parallel lines, you will see as soon as I upload the drawing). Do you believe I might need a heatsink that big, or I could use something more compact. I was aiming at a 70-80 sqmm aluminium 6060 surface (12sqin). I will power the led with 8 AA NiMH batteries through a 700mA constant current regulator, connected with a dimmer. I am a dental student so please excuse any mistakes I make with the electronics or acad. I will post the acad sketch as soon as I am allowed by the forum administrator.

As i am not up to speed with dental lights,could you explain the advantage to you as a student and say myself as your patient.

 

[DIWdiver]

No idea unfortunately. I haven't been able to progress any further either as I am having difficulty finding someone who can cnc the body for me. So it's a dead end at the moment until I figure that out.

Are you familiar with any of these guys?

http://www.emachineshop.com/
http://www.protolabs.com/
http://www.internetmachineshop.com/

I bet you could find someone to ship to RSA, and if you googled from that location, you might even find one more local. I didn't, but I'm in USA, and google has gotten very aware of locations.

 

[Zenbaas]

As i am not up to speed with dental lights,could you explain the advantage to you as a student and say myself as your patient.

Better visibility when working. The better I see the better my work can be. Simple as that.

Are you familiar with any of these guys?

http://www.emachineshop.com/
http://www.protolabs.com/
http://www.internetmachineshop.com/

I bet you could find someone to ship to RSA, and if you googled from that location, you might even find one more local. I didn't, but I'm in USA, and google has gotten very aware of locations.

Thanks will have a look again.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Those old halogen lights are pretty cool, though. High power halogen, dichroic (IR-pass) reflector, nice cutoff edges. One thing from a patient perspective is how bright does the light appear. The answer should be, "Not bright at all, I can barely see it, or I'm not bothered at all by it."

Saw this thread and thought I'd share my recent info. Curing lights. THey are now portable, rechargable, and have high energy 18650-based power cell, kind of like the fenix ARB-L1T style cell. ~450nm, by eye. Couldn't find wavelength spec in writing on the outside of device. LED in most is a high power Nichia LED. Their older light had what looked like a luxeon 3.

They were hesitant when I started talking about LEDs, I guess the higher CRI LEDs haven't trickled into products just yet.

Also noticed that newer dentists are switching to electric heads, and often they have light fed to them via a light guide from an LED in the handle. The older, water powered ones often have a large halogen bulb in the source box, fed via flexible light guide up to the handpiece. Seems a prime candidate for LED retrofit!!! "What if you never had to change out your expensive, specialty dental implement halogen light sources again?"

 

[Zenbaas]

There are cheaper dynamo driven led turbine handpieces out now for ages which work pretty well. Also having a light in the handpiece does not negate the need for more light from another source. The issue with the brightness is that there should be no spill and the patient should be given protective eyewear in any case.

 

[Daneland]

Hello Guys and gals.
Instead of creating another dental loupe thread unnecessarily, I will try to explain my DIY project on this thread. I am a dentist (my wife is a dentist too and she is the one wants to have the light on her loupes) who hates to be ripped off and refusing to pay £300 (at least) for a 3w LED, an aluminium case and a battery pack.I have no electronic knowledge and skills but I am good at finding.
I have looked for DIY project or a simple conversion of a decent torch in to a LED headlight but I cant find a completed guide including this forum. All I can find here is half way projects and ideas.
I initially bought a cheap dental LED from e-bay. It was claiming it was that it was a 3W LED but it was not. However it gave me a chance to try different optics I harvested from different cheap torches and jeweller loupes. Even the LED is not powerful enough, I managed to get a bright focus but this was not really homogeneous and there was some considerable spill around it. I thought, if I could have changed the LED with 3W power LED, possibly I could have had a better light. So, I have decided to find a decent torch to harvest parts and try to assemble them. I have purchased a couple of LED Lenser TTs( they have not arrived yet).I am hoping to get a bright and homogenous light in the end. I am planning to use an aluminum round shape apertura (made from iphone's back cover, widely available, cheap or even free) to let the light shine through a small hole to create a small area. If TT's flood light is powerful enough on short distance, I am hopping w/o any more adjustment I will get something good enough. If not I will try to create improve it's focus light with some other optics.
If you dont mind me asking I have some basic question.The dental loupe I purchased has a battery unit. I opened it up and they are a couple of AA size batteries connected with a small electronic unit which makes possible to adjust the light intensity.Do you think I can use this pack to power up TT's LED(TT originally uses 3 X AAA battery) ?Will the potentiometer ( I guess this is the name of the part of the device to adjust brightness) work on TT's LED.a

As soon as I have TTs I will send pictures of the project.

 

[DrafterDan]

I'd like to see some photos. But you really should consider making a new thread.
A good friend of mine is a dentist, and helped me understand the specific color temperatures your profession needs to spot damage on teeth. It's an interesting subject.

~D

 

[archimedes]

I'd like to see some photos. But you really should consider making a new thread....

Agree, especially as this is an entirely new project and this thread is so old.

Please feel free, @Daneland , to "copy-paste" your post above when opening that new thread.