Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
I did the drawing during a boring saturday, it was intended as a suggestion more than a full design.
I was thinking while I drawed it of glueing the top and bottom to the acrylic tube, because acrilic will quickly degrade due to the differences of hardness if threaded.
and regarding the allen screws Im sure it can be sealed in a way or another.
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
I am still not getting how this button works. How is it different to a regular stub. I twist the back until it touches the battery. Why would I need the yellos -extra-button?
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
yes, you're right, but with this one the battery does not rattle [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] a foam does the same trick with less work... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif[/img]
group thinking is better [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
I see. I am currently designing a lid in the back which allows to unscrew tha back to remove the battery. An extra ORing seals off the back (getting rid of corrosion and makes it easy to remove a battery). Now the problem is how do I incorporate a waterproof switch. I thought an extra screw thread shoud work, however I would have to find a way to waterseal a screw, which stays sealed when it is twisted. Any ideas?
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
Here this is the design so far - imagine it threaded. There will be an oring in between the battery-lid and the battery. Now I want to make another hole in the back of this battery lid, maybe with a thumb screw or any other way to make a contact into the water sealed zone of the battery contact. Are there any screws that stay water proof while they are operated? Or any other ideas?
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
Pablo, well with the new design and the extra ORing all the contacts are sealed, so not exposed anymore. The only thing that is exposed is the plastic wrap outside of the battery. The electronics isnt exposed neither, battery seals it off on one end, and the optics squeezing against another ORing on top seals is off.
Oh I am finally getting it dah, thats how the Arc and other lights do it. Thanks for the ilustration!!
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
I know, all the ORings are held in place by either an inner ring or outer ring 2/3 the O-Rings height (which is equal to what they should be compressed maximally). The design is pretty much done, I should be able to post pics in a couple of days. Negative contact is now water sealed, as well as the switch. I designed it the way you suggested. I am very happy with the result.
Something I am thinking about is using detached rods to screw in (kind of like in your design mod). However I need to find out whether and if so by how much this would decrease costs. Also how do you thread it so that when you turn it the distance between the opposite ends gets less...
I will post pics later.
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
This may not be useful, but.....
If the rods were externally threaded (in increasing diameters) in the three places where they meet the disc 'bridges", and the disc 'bridges' holes were threaded to correspond with them...(reverse threads in the middle and rear 'bridges' if necessary)
The screws could be eliminated, you would have much greater torsional rigidity, and changing length (for a 2 x 123 version) would just be a matter of different rods.
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
Dr. Joe, thanks for your feedback. I think I might change the rods like you suggested - it seems an fairly simple change. I am still working on the switch... it's quite some work to get the threading and parts right... I'll be on vacation now for 2 weeks... which means either more time or less time for this... (I guess my wife decideds which one it will be :-)
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
Ok changed the design now that:
-to change the battery - only the back lid (orange/pink colored part)needs to be unscrewed (no more fumbling with the screws)
-Changed the switch design, so that the minus contact is water sealed, which should solve the corrosion problem. Also the switch is now a "thumb wheel" type rotary switch (white part) - with an extra O-Ring which should resolve the concerns regarding bending/breaking the switch - while still having a water sealed switch.
Here is a rendering of the new section cut of the new design. I still need to run a couple of tests to see whether everything works fine.
Here is what the light looks like from the back - with the switch
Now the question is what finish would you like to see on this flashlight? HA / Gold plated / Silver plated / dark grey - titanium / black.... any suggestions...
I am kind of excited... this is going to be one small cool looking water proof flashlight...
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
Colors: Gold and Black Titanium Nitride!
Maybe gold rods and black rings.... is there a chance that this might actually be made? Do you work in a CNC shop?
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
Well I don't work in a CNC shop. However I designed the light within a 2.5D mill/taping machine specs. Once the design is finalized I want a prototype produced, then if it all works as designed have it produced. This light is too unique with a very clean design to just leave it a design study.
Yesterday I rendered a green/titanium oxide picture - looks cool but very different. Next I render a tianium oxide / gold version. I try to post the renderings tonight - gotta go to work now.
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
wow blue led illumination - what a cool idea.. need to keep that one in mind. Probably hard to implement here unless the rods would be acrylic, or parts of it... However I would see that with a multiple brightness level version...
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
I just want one in the color of the rendering, yeah the glow logo on the back sounds good, as does the internal blue illumination, wouldnt need acrylic hopefully, just as long as some blue light leaks out from around the rods...Be even better if the blue turned on when the light was off, as a way to find it in a dark room, and to just look really cool..I can already picture a little bit of blue glowing out from behind the rods!
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
You said that you planned to use aircraft aluminum for the body and copper screws. First of all, copper screws don't have the tensile strength of steel screws, and since your design depends on the screws being under tension to keep the O-rings under compression, that's a weak point. A bigger problem is your combination of materials.
Ever heard of Igor Sikorski? Before he went into helicopter design, he built a number of amphibions (not a spelling error - that's the spelling he used) that had aluminum structures and used brass fasteners. It didn't take too long for corrosion to set in. You're looking at the same problem.
I'd advise using stainless steel screws - much stronger than copper, and (according to some trailer plans I have) stainless steel and aluminum don't pose a corrosion problem.
At last, a fresh, new idea in flashlight design! It is totally unique - I like it! I really like the simple-complexity of the rods and plates. Contrasting dark plates and "gold-like" rods (or the other way around) would be beautiful.
Of course, it is much thicker than any other light in its class, and to some, this would make it impractical, but I think it looks great. If I could get the right combination of anodized and polished metals I would just have to have one. (Please make the screw heads either torx or female-hex heads; not slotted or philips.)
As far as the galvanic corrosion issue, I understand that some people would have a concern here, but it wouldn't matter to me, because I would never have it in water. This may have been covered already, but aluminum boats have the same galvanic problem. That's why they do not use the body of the boat to carry either side of the current. Each connection to every electrical device on the boat has its own positive and negative wire. I'm sure you could do the same with this light somehow. (I don't know - make one of the rods hollow with the negative wire running through it.)
You could offer different combinations of metals - one for the people who want to use it under water, and another combination for those that don't.
I haven't read much of this thread yet. Is there a list started yet?
Ok last days of my vacation - finally some internet access again. I have rendered some examples of which parts to gold plate and which parts to HA black or some dark grey color. Here is what this would look like. I like 1 and 2 the best.
However this requires me to change the design where the rods are seperate. The cool thing would be everyone can then decide themselves whether to use gold/or grey rods or any other combination.... However the design change would involve an other extra rod missing on the back, since the center sandwich holes for the rods would be too close to each other. I would have to change the design where the holes are open towards each other. Which requires to leave out another rod. Regarding naming, lets call it the gattling light... I think that is most appropriate.
Let me know whether you would like a gold/dark grey-black HA combination, or whether uni color is prefered.
Then some answers to questions:
rwolff Thanks for the corrosion issue of copper screws. I guess I'll then have to go with what you suggested. Need to find out how this changes the look.
lightchucker The corrosion issue in the back has been resolved by redesigning the back and adding an extra ORing. I don't think the light is much thicker then other lights in its class (3W @ 1000mAh. It is 1 inch thick which is about the thickness of an Arc LS2. I think the later Arc models were a bit thinner. I havent started an official list yet. If you post your interest in this thread, you will be contacted when I will be taking orders.
Re: Introducing: The Flashlight Reinvented (Design
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