Bike Lighting 2013

My original bike lighting page gives the 25 year history of how I arrived at my present configuration.

I'm starting this one at the point where, the configuration having been pretty stable for several years, I'm giving my lights some much needed attention.

Making a handlebar switch from a 99p "dinger" bell from Wilkos

These seem made for the job - they aren't much cop as bells, but they combine a handlebar clamp, a near-perfect seat for the threaded portion of the switch, and in principle the ability to change the position at will - though in practice the rotational adjustment is too easy, so I've had to drill it out and fit a locking wire.

1. carefully drill out the aluminium locking pin - use a vice, or gaffer-tape it to something solid. Sometimes these are just plastic. start off by making a dent, and then use a pilot drill, before using a larger one.

(This is sort of operation that can see a person spending an afternoon in casualty getting a hole through their finger looked at - though in my case it was the boss's coffee maker and the 4mm drill managed to avoid the bone and tendons - the blood made me nearly faint though.)

2. Carefully remove the pinger and spring.

3. build up the protrusion with heatshrink tubing or tape at a pinch. I found I could cram on 5 layers -shrinking each one as I went.

4. The switches I used have 3 contact blades - in the case of the one in the photo, the third contact is a -ve for the built-in LED. I found that they bend easily so they sit snugly around the central pin.

Incidentally, I highly recommend a 50 watt iron and additional electronic flux for this sort of job. I suspect that the tin I have is pretty much the same as the LA-CO plumber's flux I've used in the past.

5. Once you've established the correct orientation for the switch (you might choose to bend a different pair of contacts), a single cable tie around the threaded portion is sufficient to clamp it - though that convenient central spigot is just demanding that I should make up a cover / clamp that extends right over the threaded bit and finishes with a rubber water seal.

The void may well end up getting a good squirt of silicone sealant.