# LED spindle light



## WobblyHand (Apr 18, 2020)

On the HSS tool grinding thread, I posted about making a tool that could cut a small retaining groove to hold down some LED rings I picked up on AliExpress.  I am in need of better lighting for my drill press.  I ground two tools to make this, a parting like tool and a grooving tool.  




As I'm about to cut metal, I thought I'd better make a better drawing of what I was going to do.  Looking at it,  some of the dimensions make me uncomfortable.  To cut to the quick, I've got 0.050" from the groove to the bore.  (Assuming I can hold dimensions to the drawing.)  Is this a reasonable amount of material?  Material is 3.75" diameter 6061, 1/2" thick. I'll reduce the thickness to reduce the weight.  I was hoping to epoxy magnets to the back after counterboring.  

I just have the top view of the drawing.  (Haven't sat down to draw the side view.)  The dotted lines represent the groove that is subsurface.  I haven't put in the locations for the magnets.  Is 50 thousandths enough? It's not holding anything but the weight of the plastic LED rings.  Thought I'd ask.  I don't have any other stock in that large a diameter to try, so it would be nice to get it right the first time.


----------



## RJSakowski (Apr 18, 2020)

.05" wall thickness will be plenty for your application.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 18, 2020)

RJSakowski said:


> .05" wall thickness will be plenty for your application.


I hoped it was, but being a beginner, wasn't sure.  Thanks for the confirmation.


----------



## Suzuki4evr (Apr 18, 2020)

WobblyHand said:


> On the HSS tool grinding thread, I posted about making a tool that could cut a small retaining groove to hold down some LED rings I picked up on AliExpress.  I am in need of better lighting for my drill press.  I ground two tools to make this, a parting like tool and a grooving tool.
> View attachment 321407
> View attachment 321410
> View attachment 321411
> ...


Would you mind posting the ring light description for us. I am  considering doing the same on my knee mill.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 18, 2020)

The AliExpress link is: LED Ring Lights
Specifications:
- Item Type: Angel eyes-style headlight rings
- Light Source: LED- Voltage: 9V~12V
Features:- 100% Waterproof
- Ultra-bright COB ring light
- Made from durable materials
Available in 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 mm OD

I power them with a 12V 3A LED power supply.  I'm planning to use 2 rings, one nested inside the other.  If I remember, together the current consumption was a little less than 700mA.  When looking at them, they are quite bright.  Kind of hurt your eyes bright.  I'm sure when mounted on a spindle I'll want even more light.  However, I also have a magnetic LED task light as well.  The rings will fill in shadows, it's a dark corner of the shop.


----------



## Suzuki4evr (Apr 19, 2020)

Thank you very much. Going to check my setup when I get to my shop and see how instalation could be done.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 19, 2020)

Uggh.  Carefully set things up and proceeded to put slot in the wrong place.   Oops.  I've got the other side, maybe I can flip around the piece. 

The parting tool stalled the lathe once, I guess I was excited it was cutting well and pushed it.  Fortunately, no fuses blown. Might as well practice with the slotting tool, while I'm here.    This is what I have so far.  I'm amazed there is an undercut.


The slotting tool had a lot of trouble, it didn't cut that well.  The tool was more rubbing than cutting.  Unlike the  parting tool which was making decent chips, the slotting tool was making anemic little dust like cuts.  It did cut better when I added oil, but only for a short while.  So I removed the tool holder and took a picture of the cutting edge.  That's not good. 




That bright flat at the top of the triangle shouldn't be there (left photo).  Guess I was rushing the honing.  Time to stop and grind that out.  Looks like that is where the rubbing is. The last time I put oil on the workpiece, there was like a puff of smoke.  When I stopped the lathe, I made the mistake of touching the workpiece.  It was really hot!  So much so that the chuck was hot too.  Yeah, need to sharpen the bit.  Be back for round two...  (The egg shaped object on the right photo is a magnet.  I put it there to fool the phones autofocus.)


----------



## Suzuki4evr (Apr 19, 2020)

I'll be watching.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 19, 2020)

New tool works!  Machined the undercut slots, bored out the hole, and chamfered the back of the bore hole.  Fits the spindle, and more importantly, the LED rings!  Pics to follow.  Just not sure when the website is going down.


----------



## Suzuki4evr (Apr 22, 2020)

Can't wait for the pics.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 22, 2020)

Two of my posts were lost during this website change over / turmoil.  I'll wait a little longer and attempt to recreate them.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 22, 2020)

Seems like those posts are gone...  Ok, let's try again.
Reground the tool, by touching the bit to the belt sander.  Didn't even have the tool hit the platen, just the belt for a brief second.  It was enough to remove nearly all of the flat part.  There only was a tiny spot on the right hand side that didn't get cut. Cutting edge has 14 degree relief.  Honed with 325, 600, 1200 grit diamond cards.  Flattened the corner along the cutting edge, so it wouldn't break off.


Used the parting tool to machine the grooves on the other side.  Just flipped the disk over.  Then used the super improved tool shown above to machine in the retaining lip.  Here they are.  Tool cut well.  Workpiece remained cool.  


Then I bored out the center.  Only minor casualty was the tips broke off the cheapo T8 tool when I tightened an aluminum insert in the boring bar.  Fixed that later by touching the T8 tip to the belt sander.  Also ordered a proper T8 screwdriver.


Next we did a fit check.  First the outer ring, and then the inner.



Hooray, they fit!  Inner is a bit snugger than the outer, but it's good enough!  I removed the part from the chuck and did a fit check on the drill press.  Spindle passes through, but the workpiece needs a chamfer to fit a little better.  Back in the chuck.  While I was at it, I machined down the mis-machined slot (affectionately known as the practice slot ), and then put in the chamfer.  Final thickness of the ring is 3/8".  Yeah, I meant that, really, I did!

Then it was time to add some mouse holes in the LED rings for the wires to pass through.  In the pictures above, the plastic edge was pressing on the wire insulation.  Long term, that's not good.  Used the edge of a rectangular needle file to cut some tiny slots for the wires to pass through.  I then placed some kapton tape over the solder joints on the back of the LEDs to prevent shorting out. Assembled everything to get an idea of my progress.


Hmm, that's not too bad.  Couldn't stand it any longer, needed to light it up.  Wired to a small LED power supply and there was light!


Woohoo!

What's left to do?  Need to counterbore some holes in the backside of the ring.  The holes are for N52 magnets.  Only 5 12mm diameter magnets have direct contact with the underside of the drill press.  These magnets are pretty strong, so I think it will work. There is a 0.030" gap between the back of the workpiece and the drill press.  The magnets are 0.105" thick.  So the counterbore needs to be about 0.075".  I'll epoxy them in place.  Guess I should counterbore a tiny bit more to allow for the epoxy.  Now the wait begins - don't have the tooling. Tools on order, will have them and other toys(tools) within the week.

While I'm waiting, I'll figure out how to hide the power supply inside the drill press and wire in a switch.  I hope to tap off power from inside the unit to power the lights.  That way I won't consume another plug in my constrained shop.  Considering that these LED lights consume less than 10W, I think it's pretty safe to do so.

Hopefully this post won't get eaten up by the great IP switchover...


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 23, 2020)

After cleaning out the remnants of a mouse nest in the drill press, I traced out the wiring.  It's pretty easy to determine which is the unswitched (always hot) wire.  I will tap power from the hot wire.  That way, I can power the light without having the motor running. The live wire is the one on the outside.  

My LED supply is a little bit big for the available space, and it isn't sealed.  I don't like the idea of belt dust getting into the electronics, nor the belt slapping the case. The approximate location of the power supply is below the grommet and along the right side.  So off to eBay to find a sealed and slightly smaller unit that I can wire inside.  Found something that should work.  It's 2.9"x1.5"x1.1".  Unfortunately it's not sealed.  A little RTV can fix that.  The sealed units seem to be significantly longer and would be difficult to wire in.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 27, 2020)

Power supply still not in.  Few more days, I hope.

While I was waiting, attempted to counterbore some holes for the magnets.  They are done, but not going to win any medals.  Using an end mill on a drill press on an el cheapo xy table was quite the experience.  Yeah, somehow, some day, there will be a mill in my shop.  No two ways about it.  Oh the chatter!  The non-repeatability!  Bore depths not the same, but using the drill stop.  Lucky to have made it through the experience.  This is what I have so far.  Not happy about it, but it's still ok.


I have to epoxy down the magnets and clamp them so they don't jump to each other.  Hopefully won't glue my clamp to the piece.   Going to use a piece of steel so the magnets will stay in place.  _Alternating_ the polarity of the magnets yields a lot of holding power, much more than non-alternating.  

These magnets are powerful.  I put in one magnet at the far left, and one in the middle.  It stayed that way for about 30 seconds, then both magnets jumped in air about 4 inches, stuck to each other, and fell as one unit.  I was really startled by it!


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 28, 2020)

Non-action shot clamped magnets in a vise.  Steel keeper plate holding the magnets in position.  Spindle ring and magnets cleaned with isopropyl alcohol.  Magnets are JB Welded and clamped.  Hope it holds.  24 hours later, we will find out.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 29, 2020)

24 hours later, the moment of truth, err, oh dear, the keeper doesn't want to come off...  Managed to twist it off.  A tiny bit of epoxy was glued to the keeper.  So far, so good.  The 5 magnets have pretty good holding power.  Still no power supply, but at least there is some progress.


Well, the curiosity got the better of me.  I was wondering what was inside these little black modules clamped on the wires.



I wasn't expecting that!   I thought they just were kludgy crimps.  Good thing I didn't cut them off.  Look like power supply components.  It seems there are two IC's and some kind of transformer, or inductor.  The circuit probably regulates the current to the LEDs.  Back go the covers.  Well, so much for neatening up the unsightly bump!


----------



## mikey (Apr 30, 2020)

Oh, to be mill-less ... 

This is a very sad state for a hobby guy to be in. @DavidR8 was that way and didn't even have room in his shop for one but he found a way so you must follow his example and cure this sorry condition of yours. I won't comment on the condition of your man parts; we all know what not having a mill does to them. Instead, I will just say that we will keep you in our thoughts as we shake our heads in sympathy ...


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 30, 2020)

@mikey, Ok, maybe I earned your comment.  Nonetheless, financial considerations preclude a mill purchase.  Being unemployed for an extended period makes one painfully aware of these niggling details.  Some day there will be a mill, but not immediately.  In the meantime, I'll just do the best I can.  Like @DavidR8, there's no room for a mill in my shop.  It didn't stop him, and it won't stop me, but it will take a while to come to fruition.  If I had a crystal ball, (who wouldn't want one now?) I'd say it would be at least 6 months before I could even think about a mill.  Of course, if a mill showed up in my lap, I'd be hard pressed to say no.


----------



## ttabbal (Apr 30, 2020)

Be careful! @mikey loves to spend your money and you'll have a Bridgeport in your garage before you know it! On the up side, he doesn't waste your money and recommends good stuff, but good and cheap rarely go together.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 30, 2020)

Wouldn't that be great!  I'd love a Bridgeport.  Anyone care to gift me one?  
Having recommendations on 1) how to size a mill, 2) what to look out for or avoid would be helpful.  

You know, start the researching early, so I could get something that would meet my needs.  @DavidR8 has lots of threads, maybe he has something already documented.


----------



## DavidR8 (Apr 30, 2020)

I see my name has been invoked in the quest for a mill 
Feel free to ping me if you have questions about my quest and where I ended up.


----------



## mattthemuppet2 (Apr 30, 2020)

WobblyHand said:


> View attachment 321834



If you can, I'd avoid the power supply pictured like the plague. I bought 3 some years ago and every single one of them blew. They got very hot, but even with ventilation holes drilled in the case they still blew up. I think that they're just undersized or inefficient for the power (1.5A) they're supposed to provide.

You can get sealed power supplies and they'll usually provide screw holes to attach them to a heat sink.

some low power ones








						2 x LED driver transformer power transformer with waterproof connection cab G1E1 for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2 x LED driver transformer power transformer with waterproof connection cab G1E1 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				




higher power one (got the 10W version)








						Power Supply IP65 Waterproof Adapter DC 12V/24V LED Driver Lighting Transformer  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Power Supply IP65 Waterproof Adapter DC 12V/24V LED Driver Lighting Transformer at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com
				




Used both of those on some garage LED lights, probably had 40-50h or more (hard to keep track) since I built them. Also used a bunch of 12-15V 900mA drivers, but I'd have to do some digging to find a listing. 

Not sure what the current draw of those LED rings is, probably less than 10W I'd guess. If you need a power supply >10W I'd suggest going with a larger power supply than you showed. I think those things are just underbuilt for their output.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 30, 2020)

mattthemuppet2 said:


> If you can, I'd avoid the power supply pictured like the plague. I bought 3 some years ago and every single one of them blew. They got very hot, but even with ventilation holes drilled in the case they still blew up. I think that they're just undersized or inefficient for the power (1.5A) they're supposed to provide.
> 
> You can get sealed power supplies and they'll usually provide screw holes to attach them to a heat sink.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your thumbs down on that power supply.  I don't want to go through the effort of mounting stuff, only to have it fail in short order.  What was the load on the power supply that blew up?  Together, the two rings consume 0.6A, (7.2W) which is only 40% of rated capacity.  (I usually don't load power supplies over 50% as a general practice.)  

I do have a 3A supply (36W), but it was a little large for an internal mount.  If I mount it on the outside of the drill press belt cover, on the top, I'm sure the 3A one would last forever.  I've used 3 of the 36W supplies in the past - no failures over more than 2 years.  I'm using them for homemade LED light strips, which I installed under the kitchen cabinets.  They have worked quite well.  I also have one powering 2 3ft LED strips over my desk.

Think I'll try to adapt the larger supply.


----------



## WobblyHand (Apr 30, 2020)

DavidR8 said:


> I see my name has been invoked in the quest for a mill
> Feel free to ping me if you have questions about my quest and where I ended up.


Yes.  PM coming.


----------



## mattthemuppet2 (Apr 30, 2020)

First two were a Cree MC-E Easy white, which shouldn't have been drawing more than 1A but was probably drawing way over that (3 out of 4 of the LED dies blew out eventually), third was on the replacement Cree CXA which should have been running at the supply's rated 1.5A. Both LEDs were on a large CPU heatsink out of a Mac work station, so overheating of the LED shouldn't have been an issue. The supplies were screwed to the heatsink too, but there's really no decent thermal path between the supply inside and the heatsink.

I'd definitely go with the 3A supply you have, especially if you've had a lot of success with them. Those LED strips/ rings have current limiting resistors wired in series with each set of 3 LEDs, so you won't blow them up with a higher rated supply.


----------



## Firstram (May 1, 2020)

WobblyHand said:


> The circuit probably regulates the current to the LEDs.  Back go the covers.  Well, so much for neatening up the unsightly bump!



 Does that circuit need to be that close to the LEDs? You might be able to move it next to the power supply to clean things up.


----------



## WobblyHand (May 1, 2020)

Don't know how close it needs to be.  Moving it would be easy enough.  Definitely would clean things up.


----------



## WobblyHand (May 1, 2020)

Although the magnets hold up the LEDs without problem, the ring isn't flat relative to the casting.  Part of that is droop due to gravity, and the most important factor is the fact that the casting itself isn't flat at all.  I really don't want to hand file the casting flat in an upside down position.  I don't have any idea of how much meat there is, and don't want to chance it.  If it was flat, then the magnets would have more than enough strength to hold the assembly.  I'm going to plan B.

Plan B requires attachment of a small piece of key stock to the front of the casting.  I should be able to drill 2 holes in the casting and tap them.  A couple of 10-24 screws can fasten the key stock to the casting.  The LED ring will be modified to add a couple more magnets to the front.  This way the ring will be supported in both the front and back.  The front surface will be flat, so the magnets will stick with great force.  The key stock will mostly be hidden by the switch cover which is in that area.  Of course the casting isn't flat in the front either.  To compensate for that I will file or grind out the key stock in the center so it will mount a little flatter on the casting.  If I get lazy, or tired of filing, I'll stack washers to fit!  Now that I think about it, it would be very nice if I could find a supply small enough to fit under the cover plate area, that way all the wiring and mounting could be done in a tidy area.


Ring held up, but not level.  You can see the tilt.  


Add keystock, or equivalent here.  Gives magnets something flat to stick to, and would support the ring on two sides.  Need a piece of steel that is about 1/2", the 3/8" doesn't quite let me get the screw holes in the right place.  (Too close to the edge of the casting.)


----------



## SLK001 (May 1, 2020)

That little nodule is a boost converter.  The LED supply only puts out 12V.  If all the LEDs are in series (which keeps the current low), then the voltage required would be 3 x N, where N is the number of LEDs.  If there are 33 LEDs, then the voltage would be close to 100V, with a current around 0.100 mA (depending of the type of LED).  The boost converter can be anywhere after the supply.


----------



## WobblyHand (May 1, 2020)

SLK001 said:


> That little nodule is a boost converter.  The LED supply only puts out 12V.  If all the LEDs are in series (which keeps the current low), then the voltage required would be 3 x N, where N is the number of LEDs.  If there are 33 LEDs, then the voltage would be close to 100V, with a current around 0.100 mA (depending of the type of LED).  The boost converter can be anywhere after the supply.


Thanks.  I think I'll tuck them inside the drill press switch area to keep them out of harms way.


----------



## WobblyHand (May 10, 2020)

Decided to attack this some more.  Made a small piece from a tiny angle iron 1/2" x 1/2" x 2.25" long.  Sort of spotted roughly where I wanted to drill mounting holes in the angle, all the while holding the angle up to the drill press housing.  Drilled and tapped the angle iron to 10-24.  Then made some transfer screws out of 10-24 SHCS on the lathe.  Once I had the transfer screws, they were threaded into the angle iron.  


The drill locations for the drill press casting were then marked with a light tap of a hammer.


With the holes marked, they were drilled and tapped to 10-24.  I only drilled in enough to get 3 threads.  Used some drill stops to limit the hole depth.  Fortunately, the drill did not break through the housing.  Had to grind my tap into a bottoming tap to get the threads to the bottom.  Hey, it was a cheap tap, I got my money's worth out of it.



Then I had to modify the plastic cover, so it would go over the new bracket and angle iron.   I did the unspeakable, used the drill press as a plastic milling machine.   Besides making a mess, it came out ok.  Here is everything all assembled again.  Washers were used as spacers, as the casting is not quite flat across the face.  It's sturdy enough for the application.


Ok, finally something for magnets to stick to on the front side!  Next the light ring was disassembled to prepare for making more pockets for magnets on the front side.  Onto the drill press for pockets.


Now it's upstairs to mix some epoxy to add four more more magnets.  Tomorrow, is figure out how to mount the larger power supply. The small power supply hasn't come yet.  Seems to be lost in the mail, or was never sent.  I'll have to cobble together a plate for the larger supply and mount it near the top cover.


----------



## WobblyHand (May 11, 2020)

Save for making the wires pretty, it's done!  Made up the plate for the power supply.  Mounted it to the top cover.  Didn't have any 10-24 nuts, so I made a couple out of hex stock.  It's actually nice that they are large, as it makes it easy to handle and attach in low light conditions.  Drilled a hole in the side of the plastic housing to feed the power to the 36W power supply.  


The magnets in the front and back of the ring make a nice positive mounting for lights.


Drilled a second hole to mount the switch for the lights, only to find out that there was a feature in the housing  that would prevent proper mounting of the switch.  Darn!  I'll have to plug the hole somehow.  Found some rubber grommets without holes that could plug this.  The other side of the housing was flat inside, so I drilled a hole on the other side to mount the switch.  Crimped an extender to the low voltage wires, as they were about 3 inches short.  Wired it all up, and flipped the switch.  Woohoo, there was light!


Need to dress the wires a bit, maybe find some split loom to protect the  wires.  But the project is essentially complete!  The 36W LED power supply doesn't get warm at all.  The little black constant current modules do get warm after 20 minutes, but not hot. Later, I may move them and figure out how to heat sink them.

Now my other projects will be a little easier to do.  It helps to be able to see.


----------



## WobblyHand (May 11, 2020)

double post


----------



## Suzuki4evr (May 12, 2020)

Now........does it come with dim and bright.......   . Nice job


----------

