Do It Yourself LED Dental Headlamp – Less than $85

Posted by on Sep 27, 2009 in Headlines, Projects | 12 comments

I know this is a really pressing topic for a lot of you (:p NOT!), however if you are in the dental or hygiene profession, this is for you! As you know, LED dental headlamps cost quite a pretty penny, most of the time coming in at around $600-$1000. The trick is, getting one bright enough to use through magnification, and focused enough to not blind the patients and get the battery to last 8 hours at maximum intensity. Not an easy feat, even for LEDs. Orascoptic, Designs for Vision, Surgi-Tel, and High-Q are a few of the manufacturers out there making lamps for dentist, but I just couldn’t stomach the cost. So, thanks to a thread on Dentaltown.com, I found out some people were making LED lamps from a consumer light called the Lenser H7. It is very bright…brighter in fact than my current halogen light that tethers me to the light source box on the counter. The only problem is it only lasts 1-4hrs on the included AAA batteries. Rechargeables run out even faster. So, I decided to make my own battery back by buying a $1.99 AA battery holder from Radio Shack and in theory, increasing the run time considerably (850mAh to 2450mAh). I just finished my trial version and am testing it now… Below are the pictures:

The original version was powered by 3 AAA, so to get longer life, I added on a 4 AA pack. If you put 3 Alkaline batteries in the unit, the total voltage is 4.5volts, With rechargeables, the light output is reduced because NiMH rechargeable are only 1.2 volts each instead of 1.5, so the total voltage drops to 3.6v. To compensate, I added a forth battery in the series and brought the voltage up to 4.8v. So far at full power, it is certainly brighter, but runs HOT. Now, the original pack has a dimmer, so if I dial the dimmer down just a bit it seems to function just like the regular batteries with the same intensity and heat! Tomorrow is the big test as I will find out if it actually lasts a whole work day…

Composite light filter:

http://www.lumaspectra.com/order.html

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Snake!! Is it a copperhead?

Posted by on Sep 17, 2009 in Resources | 1 comment

We were tying up the dog tonight to keep him from messing up our new grass seed, and we almost stepped on this snake on the back porch! I looked around the internet to see if it was dangerous and low and behold, it looks like it may be a copperhead! What do you think?5401|1505404|150

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The president without a country

Posted by on Sep 6, 2009 in Politics | 0 comments

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The president without a country

By Pat Boone

-”We’re no longer a Christian nation.” – President Barack Obama, June 2007
-”America has been arrogant.” – President Barack Obama
-”After 9/11, America didn’t always live up to her ideals.”- President Barack Obama
-”You might say that America is a Muslim nation.”- President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009
Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president. I keep wondering what country he believes he’s president of?

In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale‘s “The Man without a Country,” a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War,

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