Techjunkie
Enlightened
Today I felt like sharing the product of being really, REALLY cheap, while at the same time having an addiction for this DIY hobby to the point of compulsion.
This is by no means a "my way is better" kind of post. I'm about as ashamed of the pains I've gone through here to avoid paying top dollar for some of the more finely crafted products available in the custom B/S/T section as I am proud of the fact that it actually works. For most of you, I offer the following, mainly for your amusement. For those of you as cheap (not possible) and as burdened with flashlight addiction as I, who might look at this and think, "there's a good idea", you have my sympathy.
The goal: Build a Mag35W / Mag61 as cheaply as possible, use stuff I already have lying around whenever possible (goes hand-in-hand)
Requirements: Low-Self-Discharge NiMH cells capable of high discharge rate, low resistance construction within flashlight. I'm very weary of short circuiting or over discharging any sort of Lithium battery, and wanted the flashlight to be available for immediate use. The LSD NiMH also had the appeal of working with chargers I already own.
I decided to go with a 2p6s battery configuration to increase runtime and reduce the discharge rate on each battery, and opted to do that with 12AA in a 3D body. That meant that cheap plastic battery carriers like KD's 3AA-D were out. Besides, those little springs are pretty high resistance.
Parts & Price list:
Mag 3D with 2AA combo from Home Depot, $20. I should point out here that I also purchased a brake cylinder hone from Amazon for $8 to hone out the body, but then discovered that the batteries I chose fit 4 across in the body just fine without need for honing (or expensive boring).
Batteries: Duracell Pre-Charged. Eneloops were either extremely scarce or extremely expensive during the components collection phase. I picked up 16AA from eBay for $30 (a few $ less than what I had paid at Walmart previously after missing out on the Walgreens deal). From what I've read, these are either as good as the Sanyo Eneloops, or might even be Sanyo Eneloops. Other LSD batteries available from brick & mortar stores like ROV Hybrid and Kodak Pre-Charged were tested in a CPF battery thread and didn't provide the same performance under high discharge (high amperage) conditions.
Pretty parts: I decided to bite the bullet and pony up a bit for some of the pieces, but not too much:
Glass lens from DX $1.21
MOP reflector (15mm opening) from KD $15 (could have ground my own from something else for less, but not much less)
G4 bi-pin to PR brass socket from KD $10
Philips 5761 bulb $6.
I could have saved six dollars by going ROP with the Pelican bulbs, but the socket allows me to try many other bulbs that only cost a few dollars each.
Metal stock to use as rods in the "carrier": $1.99 for a 3 ft. piece from a local hardware store. (One piece is all you need for four 18.4 cm sections)
Clipboard made of masonite or similar: $1.99 from same hardware store. I cut discs from this using a 1.5" hole saw, then sanded them to fit.
Sheet metal for making contacts: $? I honestly don't recall. I had this stuff laying around from a custom air conditioner duct project I did about 8 years ago. (I want to say $4, but I could be way off.) I could probably have used a tuna can and achieved the same results. I drew the contacts freehand and cut thenm out using sheet metal shears. The negative contact ring for the switch took a few tries.
Aluminum rivets: $? I had these lying around too from the same project as the sheet metal. Screws and nuts from the junk box would have worked just as well. I think a box of 20 is about $3.
The rest is litterally junk that had in a baby wipe box that I refer to as my junk box. Before purchasing the clipboard, I experimented with using plastic cut from a cable spool I had laying around, but it was a messy, smelly afair. (See "tailspring" in pics below).
And now for the pics (hosted on tinypic for free):
Battery config:
Batteries fit in tube without honing, how nice:
Some raw materials purchased for the battery compartment:
The "pretty" parts:
Switch mods:
The rest:
The final Result (on top - next project is underneath):
Total cost was about $56 on flashlight and $24 on 12 AA batteries that could be used elsewhere. I have a Dorcy 3M CP searchlight and a Lowe's Task Force 1M CP spotlight that I paid $15 and $10 each for, respectivley. They were a lot more torch per dollar, but not nearly as satisfying as building this one myself. I smile every time I turn it on.
This is by no means a "my way is better" kind of post. I'm about as ashamed of the pains I've gone through here to avoid paying top dollar for some of the more finely crafted products available in the custom B/S/T section as I am proud of the fact that it actually works. For most of you, I offer the following, mainly for your amusement. For those of you as cheap (not possible) and as burdened with flashlight addiction as I, who might look at this and think, "there's a good idea", you have my sympathy.
The goal: Build a Mag35W / Mag61 as cheaply as possible, use stuff I already have lying around whenever possible (goes hand-in-hand)
Requirements: Low-Self-Discharge NiMH cells capable of high discharge rate, low resistance construction within flashlight. I'm very weary of short circuiting or over discharging any sort of Lithium battery, and wanted the flashlight to be available for immediate use. The LSD NiMH also had the appeal of working with chargers I already own.
I decided to go with a 2p6s battery configuration to increase runtime and reduce the discharge rate on each battery, and opted to do that with 12AA in a 3D body. That meant that cheap plastic battery carriers like KD's 3AA-D were out. Besides, those little springs are pretty high resistance.
Parts & Price list:
Mag 3D with 2AA combo from Home Depot, $20. I should point out here that I also purchased a brake cylinder hone from Amazon for $8 to hone out the body, but then discovered that the batteries I chose fit 4 across in the body just fine without need for honing (or expensive boring).
Batteries: Duracell Pre-Charged. Eneloops were either extremely scarce or extremely expensive during the components collection phase. I picked up 16AA from eBay for $30 (a few $ less than what I had paid at Walmart previously after missing out on the Walgreens deal). From what I've read, these are either as good as the Sanyo Eneloops, or might even be Sanyo Eneloops. Other LSD batteries available from brick & mortar stores like ROV Hybrid and Kodak Pre-Charged were tested in a CPF battery thread and didn't provide the same performance under high discharge (high amperage) conditions.
Pretty parts: I decided to bite the bullet and pony up a bit for some of the pieces, but not too much:
Glass lens from DX $1.21
MOP reflector (15mm opening) from KD $15 (could have ground my own from something else for less, but not much less)
G4 bi-pin to PR brass socket from KD $10
Philips 5761 bulb $6.
I could have saved six dollars by going ROP with the Pelican bulbs, but the socket allows me to try many other bulbs that only cost a few dollars each.
Metal stock to use as rods in the "carrier": $1.99 for a 3 ft. piece from a local hardware store. (One piece is all you need for four 18.4 cm sections)
Clipboard made of masonite or similar: $1.99 from same hardware store. I cut discs from this using a 1.5" hole saw, then sanded them to fit.
Sheet metal for making contacts: $? I honestly don't recall. I had this stuff laying around from a custom air conditioner duct project I did about 8 years ago. (I want to say $4, but I could be way off.) I could probably have used a tuna can and achieved the same results. I drew the contacts freehand and cut thenm out using sheet metal shears. The negative contact ring for the switch took a few tries.
Aluminum rivets: $? I had these lying around too from the same project as the sheet metal. Screws and nuts from the junk box would have worked just as well. I think a box of 20 is about $3.
The rest is litterally junk that had in a baby wipe box that I refer to as my junk box. Before purchasing the clipboard, I experimented with using plastic cut from a cable spool I had laying around, but it was a messy, smelly afair. (See "tailspring" in pics below).
And now for the pics (hosted on tinypic for free):
Battery config:
Batteries fit in tube without honing, how nice:
Some raw materials purchased for the battery compartment:
The "pretty" parts:
Switch mods:
The rest:
The final Result (on top - next project is underneath):
Total cost was about $56 on flashlight and $24 on 12 AA batteries that could be used elsewhere. I have a Dorcy 3M CP searchlight and a Lowe's Task Force 1M CP spotlight that I paid $15 and $10 each for, respectivley. They were a lot more torch per dollar, but not nearly as satisfying as building this one myself. I smile every time I turn it on.
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