# Making a dental loupes light



## loupes light (Jul 29, 2014)

Hi I've read a few posts on this forum about home made dental loupes, but a lot of the images on them are missing with dead links, and there are some specific questions I have that have not been answered so hoping someone has the know how or experience to help.

What I'm trying to re-create is an LED loupe light which is about 15mm in diameter, 20mm in length, with an aspherical lens and a 6 degree angle. The light at 12 inches is 2.5 inches wide. The light temperature is about 6000k, lumens something like 100 or so, more is better but I don't want it to overheat too much and there is no space for a heatsink.

It can be bigger, like 21mm diameter by 3cm maximum, but ideally if it is possible that would be good.

Battery wise I want it to have removable cells and be able to last about 6 hours per 2 cells, I also would like to see if it is possible to install an inline switch with capacitive touch to turn it on and up in increments.

I want to mount the batteries in cylinders counterbalanced on a frame so they stick out the back and the ears are the fulcrum, it's a real pain having wires attached to you as they always catch on stuff and are always getting touched with dirty gloves.

The idea is basically to try and copy http://www.orascoptic.com/freedom or this http://www.orascoptic.com/xv1, with a frame that can clip onto the top of an existing pair of loupes. It doesn't have to be perfect or exactly the same, the small size and capacative touch is more of a wish list.

So the questions are, 1. What type of LED would possibly do this (or is there another option in halogen or something) and where do I get them, 
2. Are there stock housings with a threaded backing that the wire can stick through, 
3. How do I match the lens to the LED (or even get a lens which does this),
4. Is some type of controller required here between the battery and LED and how do you match this to the LED,
5. If I use a battery like those ultra fire ones will they heat up and potentially explode into my head.

The main thing I really want to find out is how to get a lens and light source to match up and if there are stock cases to match. The beam should be tight with no spill and bright and adjustable either via touch or a dial.

I've had little success searching for this kind of info as although I can find lenses I'm not sure if the specs match or if there is lots of spill which would blind a patient, also not sure on the power consumption of these lights and what sort of power lamp I should select.

I'm not trying to make it on the cheap, I've already bought a $350 lumadent light, but I would like to try and make one myself to eliminate the wires and stuff with similar quality light and no spill, but if the components are expensive I want to have some idea it will work as intended before buying the parts.

I'm probably asking too much but if someone could come up with some ideas it would help out a lot, thanks heaps if you have any advice.


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## loupes light (Jul 29, 2014)

I just had a look through the lumadent website and apparently the reason they're able to get a light so small is by using a custom led lens.

The lens has a giant bubble sticking out about 7mm which is almost as long as the housing for the LED, I'm thinking maybe this is the reason the professional loupes lights have such good collimation with no side spill, but I have no idea how much it would cost to get a custom lens made, or what LED would match up to it.

I'm guessing the driver is in the power pack because there's not much room in the led light housing so would I have to figure out a way to wire it so both batteries from each earpiece went through the same driver?


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