HID lens

[He Man]

Not sure where to put this... since i bought that HID kit.

I was wondering what kind of lens i should get, shape? The question just becomes what kind. I have a few lens at home and playing around its seems like a plano converging lens...or hell, any kind of converging lens with a focal length of about 2-4 inches works best on my flash light, though sinc ei dont have the HID bulb with me, i wont know for sure how its suppose to work...

[Autostrada Pilot]

Wasn't TAft playing around with different lenses (and making his own, I think)?

[TAftonomos]

I did, I have

Lexan, + cut it out in a perfect circle, heat it up, and let it sink down till you get the shape you want.  Took me about 15 tries to get it right though!

[He Man]

screw that! 15 tries thats alot of time and money!  i can just buy something like it for $4-5 bucks, i just dont know what shape i want, or what kind of focal length im looking for...

[TAftonomos]

I looked plenty of places, didn't see anything I liked so I made it myself.  It wasn't that much, but it was more than 4-5$ per piece of lexan I used.

[He Man]

i found a lens shop that sells various glass, pyrex, plastic, acryllic, etc lenses from 20mm up to 75mm over 20 different shapes sizes etc. various focal lengths too.

[djrashonal]

you still gonna make your soda can reflector for the cutoff?

[Düb Lüv]

I did, I have

Lexan, + cut it out in a perfect circle, heat it up, and let it sink down till you get the shape you want.  Took me about 15 tries to get it right though!

pffff! i don't know how you did it. i bought a heat gun and couldn't get the lexan to bend really, so i just cut a flat piece and stuck it in the bucket. this is how mine turned out.

[TAftonomos]

Try your powdercoating oven, my house oven worked for me.

[Düb Lüv]

how did you set it up to get it sink?

[He Man]

Try your powdercoating oven, my house oven worked for me.

wrong person. 


this is how i plan on doing it.

Ditch the reflector....

make a small 60mm circle with 8 pieces of 1/8" steel wire, this is going to be the housing. install the lens in front, and drill 2 holes to rivet it, or perhaps use some type of high temp glue, not sure what temp the HID would give off...so im not sure about mounting it yet.

Then using one of the steel wire cages, weld a little bracket and rivet an aluminum soda can as a shield for the cutoff.

The point: Okay, this is where im going to get flammed for being "book smart" and not a real tech guy cause im studying to be an engineer.

Anyway, the point is, if i use a converging lens, i can clean up a lot of glare. The only issue is, i dont have enough lenses to play with to figure out the right curvature, focal length, and etc.

[TAftonomos]

Crap, lol.  Had me pretty confused for a sec there.... 

Any household oven will get hot enough to heat form lexan.  I think I started at 275, but used 300-315 in the end to get it hotter faster.

[He Man]

Crap, lol.  Had me pretty confused for a sec there.... 

Any household oven will get hot enough to heat form lexan.  I think I started at 275, but used 300-315 in the end to get it hotter faster.

i can get you to 715 in about 10 seconds.  Hows that sound. 

Taft, how wide is your lens? and how far is your bulb from it?

im looking at a 55mm lens wit ha 45mm focal length. seems like the best fit with spread.