Ti Triple L -- a little, long light

[PhotonFanatic]

Thinking of making one or two of these, in Ti, of course:



Would be 120mm long and 21mm diameter--using an AW14670 rechargeable and a McClicky tail switch.

Comments welcome.

Added 7/14/10 -- second version of rendering:



Finished the light on July 25:



Please see post #17 for more photos of the finished light, and the specs.

BTW, the light is sold.

[csshih]

man, that thing would look good even without the colors.. I love the design.

[taewoopa]

IMO , Design is cool , but , color coordination is questionable.

Can I have the estimated price of it ?

[PhotonFanatic]

Ti anodized colors are pretty limited, but predictable. A rendering really does no justice to the actual colors, however.

Even with no anodizing, the light would look fine, I think.

I would expect to sell this for around $800-$900 dollars. While it looks pretty basic, and easy to make, the drilling on the interior, long and skinny, isn't the easiest to achieve--it just takes time and patience.

[PhotonFanatic]

Cleaned up the design and changed the colors a bit--I think the simpler design is better.

[CrowdGather]

That is beautiful! I actually like the original more, but they are both gorgeous! Reminds me a bit of the colors on the light that went to India...

[wquiles]

I think the simpler design is better.

+1

Beautiful design Fred

[jch79]

This thing is awesome.

john

[taewoopa]

Personally speaking, 2nd is much better .

One of my motto is " Simple design is the best design ."

Anyway.. awesome works of Art .

[PhotonFanatic]

Might as well make this a WIP thread, too.

Although after that nice rendering, these photos probably won't be as attractive.

So far, I've bored out the battery tube enough to accept the 14680 battery, but I haven't done the McClicky switch bore and threading yet. The threading was done on both the top of the battery tube and the head, so the pieces do fit together:



The discs have been cut on the battery tube, but not the grooves, since the discs will be anodized in gold, at a higher voltage than the blue colored grooves.

The head, on which only the discs will be anodized, had both the discs and axial grooves cut at the same time. The axial grooves will be masked off when the discs are being anodized.



The bevel will be machined after the battery tube is completely done--in order to match up the diameter of the battery tube with the diameter of the narrower portion of the head bevel.

[SHEBOP]

This thread is getting good!
Nothing better than a WIP!

[jch79]

WANT!

[PhotonFanatic]

Since this is a spec light, not one promised to a customer, I can take my time on this one.

Today, I did find a little time to work on it, though. I decided to anodize the discs, so all I had to do was to mask off the one groove that I had cut near the tail of the light and crank up the voltage in the anodizing electrolyte, until I got the gold color I wanted:



Once the discs were anodized, I just cut the grooves, which, while they look as though they could already be anodized blue, are really just the bare Ti.

The grooves will be anodized next in blue.

For now, this is a pic of the two pieces together:



In case you are wondering what happens to the gold on the surface of the light--that will be further machined--just take a skim coat off to reveal the bare Ti once again.

[PhotonFanatic]

A little more work today. First I masked off the flutes on the head, in preparation for anodizing the discs blue, which would be done simultaneously with the anodizing of the thin grooves on the battery tube.

Here's what they looked like after anodizing and the removal of the masking:



Not very pretty yet, eh?

Next operation was to cut the flutes in the tail area:



Once the flutes were cut, I skimmed the gold anodizing off the battery tube, and then screwed the pieces together:



If you look closely, you'll see a boo-boo on the fluted tail end--evidently I was in a bit of a rush to get the piece off the collet and to clean it up, but I managed instead to put a good gauge in it.

Fortunately, there's enough metal there to turn it down and clean it up.

And here's a close-up of the battery tube's discs and grooves:



Still a little masking compound lurking in the discs--they will be cleanly thoroughly later.

[PhotonFanatic]

Today's work consisted of working on the head of the light--putting in the bevel that joins to the battery tube was the first task. Job done:



Then I needed to remove the stub at the top of the head and put the bevel in, too:



Finally, I cleaned up the scratch that I accidentally made and the two pieces are done:



This felt pretty light in my hand, no pun intended, so I put them on the scale--only 1.9 ounces; and the battery weighs 1 ounce by itself.

Next up--make the light engine, install the McClicky, etc., and call jch79 to see if he really wants this, or not.

[taewoopa]

I am back up for this ! If the price is not going to too higher than expected..

[PhotonFanatic]

OK, she's done! And I decided to give it a name--the Ti Triple L, i.e., a little, long light.





Some final specs:

• Battery--AW14670, 3.7V rechargeable Lithium-Ion
• McClicky switch
• Seoul P4 emitter, bin U3SVNH
• Mini FluPIC driver, three output levels with memory
• Khatod 17mm stippled reflector
• 2mm thick mineral glass lens
• O-ring sealed
• Dimensions: 21mm diameter, 120mm long
• Weight: 3.4 ounces
• Material: Quad 2 Titanium
• Anodized discs and grooves
• Lumen output estimated at 140 lumens on high

And one photo that didn't come out as expected, but I like it:



BTW, the light is sold.

[ninemm]

Looks beautiful Fred! That last pic is pretty sweet.

[don.gwapo]

. This thing is beauty and work of art not to mention one of a kind. .

[PhotonFanatic]

. This thing is beauty and work of art not to mention one of a kind. .

I do plan to make another one, but I'll change the colors, so each will remain a one-of-a-kind.

[taewoopa]

I do plan to make another one, but I'll change the colors, so each will remain a one-of-a-kind.

Then , Can I reserve another one for me ??

[taewoopa]

And, I've never heard of 14680 batteries..

Please give me a link to buy them ..

[fyrstormer]

Geez Fred, could you at least try to mess up from time to time? All this perfection gets old after a while.

[kaichu dento]

He did try to mess up with the lathe, but couldn't help himself and just had to fix it!

[DM51]

And, I've never heard of 14680 batteries..

Please give me a link to buy them ..

AW sells them. They are actually 14670, i.e. AA diameter but as long as 18650. 1100mAh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@ Fred - this light is another real beauty from you - great work!

[taewoopa]

AW sells them. They are actually 14670, i.e. AA diameter but as long as 18650. 1100mAh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@ Fred - this light is another real beauty from you - great work!

Ah ..ha , 14670 !!

Thank you so much , moderator !

[PhotonFanatic]

I stand corrected on the battery--it just measures 68mm. It is, in fact, an AW14670 battery--thanks DM51.

J.J.: Yes, you can have the next one.

fyrstormer: There are always mistakes made--but at least for this light, it was very well hidden--on the inside near the McClicky switch--I had a little chatter going on when I was cutting the O-ring groove.

[jch79]

I think a mistake to Fred is a "holy cow, that came out perfectly" for the rest of the world.

[cheesy]Fred, the Triple L is Triple Awesome![/cheesy]

I love the WIP pics of the anodizing - I've always wondered what that process looked like. It's great how it goes from messy to BEAUTIFUL.

[fyrstormer]

I think a mistake to Fred is a "holy cow, that came out perfectly" for the rest of the world.

Reminds me of a line from Star Trek 4: "Spock, I think the captain means he trusts your educated guess more than most people's certain fact."

[gollum]

thanks for showing Fred

another masterpiece

very sci-fi looking