How to Improve Lighting on Headband Magnifier

[Sagebrush Steve]

I do most of my fossil prep work under a stereomicroscope at 6X or 12X magnification, but there are times when it would be more convenient to use a headband magnifier at 2X or 3X power.  But I don't need it often enough to invest in a $50 OptiVisor, so I looked around for alternatives.  I found that Harbor Freight has a similar one for only $4.99: https://www.harborfreight.com/magnifier-head-strap-with-lights-38896.html

 

 

The reviews were okay for the magnifier itself, but everyone said the lights were useless.  When I tried them I had to agree.  They are easy enough to remove by taking out two screws, so I figured I would throw away the lights and just use the magnifier.  But then fate intervened.  Harbor Freight often has coupons for free items when you buy something, so when I went to the local store, I bought the magnifier (using a 20% discount coupon) and used a coupon to get a free portable flashlight: https://www.harborfreight.com/ultra-bright-led-portable-worklightflashlight-63601.html

 

 

I’ve picked up these flashlights for free in the past, but I noticed this one was different.  The old ones had 27 individual LED lights, but this one had a narrow strip of LEDs right down the center of the light.  That got me to thinking.  Why not cut the battery pack and LED strip light out of the flashlight and mount them to the top of the magnifier?  The flashlight was free, so there was no harm in trying.  It turned out to be very easy (as long as you know how to solder!).  I started by disassembling the flashlight, which is only held together by a few screws.  I then removed the LED strip light from the reflector by clipping off the two posts that hold it in place.  Here’s what it looks like after disassembly but before I removed the LED strip light form the reflector.

 

 

Next, I cut out the battery pack from the rest of the housing.  I used a cut-off wheel in my Dremel tool to do this, but you can also use a saw.  The switch that comes with the flashlight is a large 3-position switch that isn’t optimum for what I wanted to do, so I cut the wires from it and left it in the part of the housing I didn’t need.  That meant I needed a new switch, which Harbor Freight conveniently provided on the useless lights that came with the magnifier (it's on the right side in the photo below).  Again, I used my Dremel tool to cut this switch out from its original housing, then I unsoldered the wires at the switch.  I then used epoxy to glue the switch onto the battery pack I had just cut out from the flashlight.

 

 

After epoxying switch to the battery pack:

 

Then it was time to solder the wires together.  I won’t go into a lot of detail here, I will just point out that there is a 10-ohm resistor next to the 3-position switch on the flashlight.  You need to make sure you remove that resistor and solder it in series with the wires to the battery pack.  Here is how I did it:

 

 

Next, I glued the back of the LED strip onto the side of the battery pack and used silicone compound to hold the wires in place.  To hold the battery pack to the top of the magnifier I just used some Velcro tape I had laying around.  That way I can easily remove the entire LED assembly or reposition it for better lighting.  Right now I don't have a cover over the batteries, but I will probably figure out something here soon.  I’ve been happy with how it works and thank Harbor Freight for letting me do the upgrade for free!

 

With light turned on:

[caldigger]

Not trying to be critical, doesn't the weight tend to want to pull it off your face?

[Sagebrush Steve]

25 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Not trying to be critical, doesn't the weight tend to want to pull it off your face?

 

I was afraid of that too, but nope, it's not even noticeable.  The battery pack weighs all of 1 ounce with batteries.

[KimTexan]

Leave it to the engineer.  I put an LED rechargeable head lamp on over my visor

when I’m using it. The light is pretty pathetic on the visor.

[Sagebrush Steve]

2 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

Leave it to the engineer. 

Well, it's nice to know I'm earning a return on my educational investment!

[caldigger]

The glove compartment door on a '57 Desoto ought to work on that battery box just fine. 

[digit]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

Thanks for the concept and the tutorial on the construction.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Ptychodus04]

Great ingenuity @Sagebrush Steve. I used to put on a headlamp as @KimTexan mentioned until I bought a dual goose-neck LED light on sale from Amscope. This gives bright focused light on the specimen and it uses line voltage so no batteries needed. 

 

I always found the headlamp to be rather cumbersome on top of the visor.

[Walt]

My wife bought an Ott lamp for her needlework, and it is great.  Gives off a light that is close to daylight. 

They are expensive through the website, but it is almost constantly on sale at Michael's, Jo Anne's or other craft stores.

https://www.ottlite.com/

 

[Sagebrush Steve]

48 minutes ago, Walt said:

My wife bought an Ott lamp for her needlework, and it is great.  Gives off a light that is close to daylight. 

They are expensive through the website, but it is almost constantly on sale at Michael's, Jo Anne's or other craft stores.

https://www.ottlite.com/

 

My wife has two Ott lights that she rarely uses but she won’t let me use either of them.   They are very nice, though.

[Walt]

2 minutes ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

My wife has two Ott lights that she rarely uses but she won’t let me use either of them.   They are very nice, though.

Well that's mean.  I could understand if it was my wife, because I am liable to break it or forget to give it back.  But I sense you are much more careful than that.....

[Fossildude19]

Great  "DIY How To", Steve !

Thanks for sharing your ingenuity with us!  

 

Harbor Freight runs specials where they give away the flashlights with any purchase, if you have a coupon from their flyer. 

[xraymom7]

What an awesome Hack!! I love it!!