LED Project, Please Help!

Community Projects
1

Hello All,

My good friend is in dental school on his own dime and he is looking to save some money. They are required to have a specific type of glasses that has built in lenses called loupes. See the following link for a better description:

http://surgitel.com/loupes

It is highly recommended that they use a specific type of these glasses that have lights attached. The kind with lights attached are several hundred dollars more. See the following link for a better description:

http://lumadent.com/

As you can see there is an LED lamp that attaches to the glasses with a wire that runs down the frame of the glasses and down to a control and power box that is usually clipped to a belt or kept in the pocket of their coat.

Does anyone have advice on boards or dev kits that include battery clips, LED drivers, maybe some nice connectors (I imagine using a mini-jack would be the easiest), power switch, maybe a lens, and some kind of housing?

I assume someone knows of a very quick and dirty way of doing this so that it will last through his schooling years. Your help is greatly appreciated.

2

The hardest part is going to be the light itself because it has to be small, light and durable. I posted [this about an LED fixture I made using 1/2" PVC tubing. Total cost was probably about $0.75. Something similar could be made with gray conduit or black PVC or other plastic. Black anodized aluminum would also work well.

However, it depends on what tools you have available to do this kind of work. You’ll want it to look nice since the average patient (even at a dental school) isn’t going to feel too confident if you’re looking at them with something that looks “hacky.”

The actual LED control is pretty simple to build and you can get lots of help on that here. Since this part can be hidden away in a pocket, making it look good is less critical.

[edit]

The site you linked to mentions that students can do group buys to save money.](Cheap Watertight Enclosure Help - SparkFun Electronics Forum)