An update on my tail/LED brake/tail light/ blinkers - PICS

[Soul]

Well, the tail is coming long very well. Here is how I designed the LEDs on my tail:

That is what I did to kinda choose the direction I wanted to go. The curve on the left and right are the blinkers one third of the middle line on each side is blinkers (so they are like arrows??) they are nice orange colored LED's...well, they glow orange, they are pretty much clear. If that makes sense.
The top row and bottom row are tail lights and the middle two rows are brake lights, as well as 1/3 of the middle row (the very center).

Here is what it is like built on a board..This is just the blinkers and thenthe middle chunk of brake light. Currently the entire thing is built and soldered and almost ready to be put in a bike, but I dont have my camera with me, so here is an example of what is to come:


What I ended up doing with the tail is taking an old tail light, cutting just the lense out, so it was just a sheet of plastic with the curves on the side, taping it in and filling it in with epoxy to fill in the holes. After that dried I have covered it all with an epoxy and I plan on sanding and filing it down so it is very smooth.
Here is that:


I think the hardest part of it will be getting holes drilled for each of the LED's, considering there are almost 100 there. But, if I can get it to fit in there right it will look awesome.
Anyway, I will post more picks when I get my camera back..But, i am excited. It is looking awesome. I have all the LED's soldered in with voltage regulators and everything, so its almost ready to hit the bike.
What a nice weekend.

[kennie]

Looks like an interesting project, and I'd hate to be a pessimist (sp?), but I WILL!!! Drilling a hundred holes such that 100 LED's will fit using a flat breadboard against a curved 'lens' surface seems like an impossible task. It'll be extremely difficult to make the holes seem uniform. I'm sure you can get it close by mapping it out on a sheet of paper and gluing the paper right onto the tailpiece. You'd have a template to go by, but unless your LED's have a little play, i.e. being at least 8mm away from the breadboard, you'd have a hell of a time getting all 100 LED's to go in post drilling process.

In summary (sorry, I've been at work for 14 hours now):

1. Make a template on a piece of paper.
2. Glue template to the tail - at this point make sure everything looks even.
3. CAREFULLY drill out the holes for the LED's
4. Make sure that the LED's on the breadboard are far enough away such that they can move a little bit (up, down, left, right - possibly in and out) so that they can ALL find their right holes.
5. JB weld some standoffs for the breadboard to tail mount so you can screw the assembly on and off.
6. Assemble and wire
7. Test
8. Drink beer and have sex with gf/so

[Tusk]

Question Soul....

Have you considered flashing the brake light (al la BackOff Wig Wag) to get attention?

I've seen them constant flash or flash for about 3-5 seconds then go solid.

[Soul]

Kennie,
Yea, it is going to be a huge pain in the ass making it fit..But what you said is basically exactly what i was gunna do..Prolly tape a peice of paper over the bread board, turn all the lights on, dot each light on a paper, and then tape the paper down on the tail and take my time drilling holes.
I am not as terribly worried about the curve of the lense because on the outside it will be flat, and i can sand/dremel away the inside to make it pretty close..But, as long as it is pretty symetrical poking out or whatever on the tail (does that make sense?) then I wont mind.
I like your steps tho kennie, I think I will follow them precisely.

Tusk, I hadnt thought of that. I will ponder that, I could prolly make that in the lab we are working at..But, these things are pretty damn bright, I will prolly feel safer than I did with the stock setup..I will try to get accurate pictures of how bright they are.
I will ponder the flash thing, it is a damn good idea to grab drivers attention.
Anyway, there will be more pictures to come. The led's should be ready to be put into the bike tonite..Finish up all the lab testing and everything.

[kennie]

Kennie,
I like your steps tho kennie, I think I will follow them precisely.

Don't forget the final step - it is important. Since I was to the point of delirium yesterday, make sure there is some butt slapping and howling involved... This will make ANY modification work well.

I will ponder the flash thing, it is a damn good idea to grab drivers attention.

I think that a 555 timer triggering a relay would work great for this application. The entire circuit can fit in an empty film canister (you know, the ones that people use for weed.)

[bfizzle]

Don't forget the final step - it is important. Since I was to the point of delirium yesterday, make sure there is some butt slapping and howling involved... This will make ANY modification work well.

Damn it don't encourage that! I have to live with it.

[Soul]

haah yea, I guess I didnt mention bfizzle is my roommate. right down the hall. Thin walls....
Here are some more updates. The new tail peice is fully functional. We plugged er in and tested it out tonite...of course being the fawking amatuers that we are we were playing with shit while it was on so we blew the blinker fuse..anyone have an extra one?
Here are some more pics. Here are all the solders on the back, before I epoxy them and seal them off from the world..

Here are the brake lights on..

Lets see..I started filing down the epoxy on the tail area so i can get ready to drill it out..its all coming together nicely, I hope I dont piss it all away with a stupid screw up.

[kennie]

haah yea, I guess I didnt mention bfizzle is my roommate. right down the hall. Thin walls....

Oh, I knew it was either that, or brokeback mountain time. ops:

ANYWAYS the project looks good thus far. Take some pics of the sanded tail piece.

[Soul]

Oh, I knew it was either that, or brokeback mountain time. ops:

ANYWAYS the project looks good thus far. Take some pics of the sanded tail piece.

ahahah I need to watch that movie..But I have heard enough jokes to know what you're talking about..bastard..
I will get pics of the tail when it is all sanded down smooth for ya.

Also, on a happy note..I won a new skull on ebay. I am currently working on one, but i get the feeling it wasnt big enough...So, I got a new bigger skull on the way! woohoo!(for my headlights)

[Soul]

Also, are the turn signals fused? Something fried yesterday during play and I dont have turn signals anymore, would this be the relay that died or is it just a fuse??

Thanks.

[Tusk]

A skull for a headlight? Sounds like something the boys from Orange County have done!... BUT, They'd never try it on a Hawk!

Go for it! Make it your own as they say!

[Soul]

Here you go Kennie..Here is the brake light area sanded down with its first coat of primer on it. There are a few pits but I will sand them out. I will drill the holes soon for the lights and then sand the whole tail down. The corners are very smooth, a nice transition from plastic to epoxy.

[dagus]

Dave, you're actually DOING the skull idea!?!?! AWESOME!!!!

Anybody familiar with Pit Stop of NJ's WidowMaker bike? It was at the NYC moto show in January - the sportbiker's answer to OCC's Spider Bike. Dennis Vasquez was the same guy who built the HayaBEASTa. This one had a really cool skull upper fairing.

This LED tail takes the cake, man. Let's see some pictures of the two skulls, now!

Any ideas what kind of paint you're going to throw down?

[Soul]

ahah Yea i am doin the skull idea..I am hoping it will turn out bad ass. I will start a new thread soon with pics of the skulls..the one I am messing with now and the one that was shipped today.

I am not familiar with the widow maker bike, I googled it alittle but I didnt find anything in the minute i looked.
I have been looking at flat black..probably just rattle can it..But, I kinda like flat black with a clear coat over it..makes it a kind of model A glossy, yet not, black. I dunno.
If i dont like it i may take the bike somewhere to get painted professional..(wherever i know someone that can hook me up with a nice deal, in other words)
And to answer your questions in the email.
It has probably ran me about 30 dollars for everything. Not counting like the epoxy and sand paper. The lights were pretty cheap, like 16$ for 100 LED's..5 or 6$ shipping I think. Everything else can be had at radio shack for pretty cheap..voltage regulators are like 1.30$
And I dont know if I would build them for other people, maybe occasionally? I will havta see how mine turns out and I will get back to you. Its kinda a time consuming pain in the ass....and I still havent figured out exactly how I am going to mount them to make them look nice.
Thanks for the feed back...

[kennie]

The tailpiece looks like it might just work! INCONCEIVABLE!


Good job!