DIY Headlamp

 

Sometimes I try my crazy ideas and they sort of work. Today I have a project for you that is super easy and works perfectly. I got this idea from watching a Nutnfancy video on YouTube. He was wearing a headlamp band from Fenix that hold a flashlight. I thought what a great idea. Instead of using a separate headlamp (which I own a few of) you could use you nice EDC flashlight. I have a Streamlight that gives off 190 lumens, way brighter than any of my headlamps and with more features. The Fenix one looks nice with plastic and adjustments, it also looks heavy. I decided to make one that way simple and light

I walked around the fabric dept at Walmart looking for what would work. I deiced on the following items:

• 1 in Non Roll Elastic $1.44
• 1 Parachute Buckle (Fastek Buckle) $1.97
• Velcro “One Wrap” Orange $2.57

I had some Velcro at home otherwise you would have to pick up some. Total cost for mine less than $6. The One Wraps come in packs of ten buying the other two items I could make five for the price of the Fenix one. I spent less then thirty minutes making this.

The first step I did was to put the buckle on the elactic band. I run one side of the elastic through until it fit properly. And cut the rest off so I didn’t have a bunch of extra material.

On the male end of the buckle I stitched the elastic on. The other end I left it loose to be able to adjust it. Being that I measured for my head I didn’t leave much play  just the ability to slightly tighten and loosen.

Next I tried on the band and figured out where I wanted to put on a patch of hook Velcro to mount the flashlight. I used a fabric pen to mark the spot. I laid the band over top of my Velcro piece and marked then to cut it with a pen. Once It was cut and matched up I removed the strip on the back and stuck it on the “X”.

I didn’t trust the adhesive along and stitched all around the Velcro patch.

I went with a bright orange Velcro strap figuring it would help if dropped or laid down. To get the flashlight to be stable I had to use two One Wraps. One Wraps are basically a Velcro zip tie. The tab the feed the lower end through is a square shaped area that made a good point to attach to the hook patch on the band. With both tabs firmly on the patch the light was secure and didn’t move.

I really lied how well this felt and worked. I would call this a prototype and encourage all of you to make and improve on  this. I have given it some testing and am impressed so far. I prefer to mount it parallel with the band and my head. So It points in my direction I’m looking. You can adjust it either by twisting it or mounting it an an angle. I had to really shake the crap out of it to get it go come off. So possibly if you were all out running in the dark with it you light might come off. I generally avoid running fast in the dark in the woods. If you didn’t want to adjust it you could sew on the wraps so they could not come off the band. Personally I like being able to mount and un-mount it easily.

I have more testing to do but I’m stamping this a huge success. I even tried a much bigger light and it basically worked. It was much heavier and sagged a bit but would not come off. The best part is you can customize it to suit your light. For six bucks and a few minutes or work this project is a no-brainier.

How does your headlamp compare? Like this idea? Let me know in the comments

 

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