18650 CF Twisty

[riflemanuno]

made a change to the groove pattern. One of the grooves now terminates the handle, which will serve two purposes. 1. eliminate unnecessary tolerance issue as far as not having a gap between body and head. 2. there will be no "gap" when twisty is in off position, groove will simply bee a few thousandths wider.

By riflemanuno at 2010-07-26

By riflemanuno at 2010-07-26

 

[riflemanuno]

Things have been moving very slowly recently. the plans are layed and ready to go, but the lathe I was going to use kinda fell through. I'm currently considering buying a lathe, but am faced with space issues as I am in an appartment. Thus I'd have to borrow space in a friend's garage or similar. Thanks for the interest so far. I probably won't be continuing this thread until acquire a lathe. However, I'll certainly follow it up if there are more developments. Also in the work are a clicky version of the same light, as well as a larger "tactical" style light.

 

[PCC]

I don't know how I missed this thread all these months. I like seeing the progression of the design of your light.

Some criticism: Looking at the last cutaway rendering I see that you have the batteries loading from the rear but the light is a twisty. Most (all?) twisties load by removing the head and dropping a cell in. By loading from the tail you are, possibly, unnecessarily increasing the length of the light but you also open up the possibility of having different tail caps, one for twisty action and the other with a clickie.
I was going to suggest cutting a matching groove at the juncture of the head and body to eliminate the need for super tight tolerances there.
Also, since the body tube is threaded on both ends why not design a symmetrical body tube and have the clip installed directly to it? That will allow someone to just flip the tube if they want bezel up or bezel down carry.
Copper, though pricier and harder to work with, would make a better heatsink material than either brass or aluminum. Since your heatsink is relatively small a material with better thermal conductvity would work better. As an ME you should know that :)

 

[Energie]

Very nice lathe!
Seems to be a CNC modified Wabeco 6000 E.

OT, I know,
but I´d like to see some additional pics. :)

 

[saltytri]

Sharp eyes! Yes, it is a Wabeco 6000 but not full CNC. It is modified with a kit made by the US distributor, MDA Precision, to use this controller:

http://www.putnamengineering.com/

This allows programmed autofeeding on both axes and programmed threading in metric or imperial units. Without ball screws, it probably wouldn't be an outstanding CNC machine but the regular lead screws are fine with the Auto Turn controller because all functions move a single direction so backlash isn't an issue.

I would be glad to send you more photos but, at the moment, I am 3000 miles from the machine!

 

[DarkOrange]

Riflemanuno, love the photos of your Wabeco! I'm considering a D4000E myself, I wondered, did you ever get around to posting some more pictures of the lathe ?