Rob M
Newly Enlightened
I hope you like it, I machined it out of solid brass on my old (sixty-five year old!) lathe that I got last year.
It uses little 1/2 AA batteries, I know possibly not the best for flashlight use but I got a load of very high quality lithium 3.0v and 3.6v cells from a Gov't Surplus dealer with the intention of making a tiny flashlight for me to use around the house.
The chip is from an Inova Microlight, which gives two brightness levels (dimming is via PWM) and a strobe.
The clear mount for the button and the button itself are turned by me out of clear acrylic bar, the button incorporates a cavity in the centre filled with high quality 12-hour glow in the dark powder. The back of the 10mm LED is painted with GID powder in clear medium, then a layer of reflective white paint, which seems to make the glow slightly brighter. The LED is just a very bright 10mm white. Unfortunately the clear varnish used to seal around the front of the LED seems to have distorted the beam slightly resulting in the slightly darker patch in the centre of the beam. Before I did this, the beam was a lovely flat smooth disc of white light.
Around the front of the light are three 2mm holes, these had some GID paint put in, then small bits of 2mm clear acrylic on top, fixed in with superglue, then smoothed and polished. These are dual-purpose, you can see if the light is on even if it is stood on its front, plus the GID powder is visible from almost any angle. I may add a spot of GID powder in a recess in the base of the light if I think it needs it, we'll see.
The lanyard is also made of Glow Cord, it's not as bright as the GID powder round the LED but it may help one day, you never know.
Please bear in mind this light is my EDC and has unfortunately borne a couple of knocks in the couple of months since I made it.
I'm really pleased with it, it is fine for around-the-house use, bright enough to read a book by, and the dim mode is good for checking on the kids last thing at night without disturbing them. It has been in daily use, sometimes for up to about an hour a day, but is still on the first battery! I may make a longer version of this light, if I had wanted to make it an inch longer it could have been much brighter, running on 2X 3V batteries rather than a single 3.6v battery.
Anyway, I would have posted before but I have been very busy lately and have had to learn how to use picture hosting etc. I really enjoyed making this light! I would have liked to make the two halves of the light screw together, but unfortunately, one of the reasons I was able to afford the lathe was the screwcutting gears are mostly missing! I am a beginner with the lathe anyway, and am pretty inexperienced and wouldn't know how to screwcut at the moment.
http://img243.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bild1657pi7.jpg
I hope you like this light! Hopefully it is the first of many different lights I hope to make, I love working with metal and wood but it's a learning process for me!
It uses little 1/2 AA batteries, I know possibly not the best for flashlight use but I got a load of very high quality lithium 3.0v and 3.6v cells from a Gov't Surplus dealer with the intention of making a tiny flashlight for me to use around the house.
The chip is from an Inova Microlight, which gives two brightness levels (dimming is via PWM) and a strobe.
The clear mount for the button and the button itself are turned by me out of clear acrylic bar, the button incorporates a cavity in the centre filled with high quality 12-hour glow in the dark powder. The back of the 10mm LED is painted with GID powder in clear medium, then a layer of reflective white paint, which seems to make the glow slightly brighter. The LED is just a very bright 10mm white. Unfortunately the clear varnish used to seal around the front of the LED seems to have distorted the beam slightly resulting in the slightly darker patch in the centre of the beam. Before I did this, the beam was a lovely flat smooth disc of white light.
Around the front of the light are three 2mm holes, these had some GID paint put in, then small bits of 2mm clear acrylic on top, fixed in with superglue, then smoothed and polished. These are dual-purpose, you can see if the light is on even if it is stood on its front, plus the GID powder is visible from almost any angle. I may add a spot of GID powder in a recess in the base of the light if I think it needs it, we'll see.
The lanyard is also made of Glow Cord, it's not as bright as the GID powder round the LED but it may help one day, you never know.
Please bear in mind this light is my EDC and has unfortunately borne a couple of knocks in the couple of months since I made it.
I'm really pleased with it, it is fine for around-the-house use, bright enough to read a book by, and the dim mode is good for checking on the kids last thing at night without disturbing them. It has been in daily use, sometimes for up to about an hour a day, but is still on the first battery! I may make a longer version of this light, if I had wanted to make it an inch longer it could have been much brighter, running on 2X 3V batteries rather than a single 3.6v battery.
Anyway, I would have posted before but I have been very busy lately and have had to learn how to use picture hosting etc. I really enjoyed making this light! I would have liked to make the two halves of the light screw together, but unfortunately, one of the reasons I was able to afford the lathe was the screwcutting gears are mostly missing! I am a beginner with the lathe anyway, and am pretty inexperienced and wouldn't know how to screwcut at the moment.
http://img243.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bild1657pi7.jpg
I hope you like this light! Hopefully it is the first of many different lights I hope to make, I love working with metal and wood but it's a learning process for me!
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