gadget_lover
Flashaholic
Well, I finally finished my first scratch light. My previous attempt was a piece by piece replacement of a Dorcy that I named "slim". This one was made from my own design. I've named it Slim 2.
My objective was a short, thin, light weight EDC with a clickie that could be set on end. It had to run at least an hour and be as bright as my ARC LSH-P. It had to be modular so that as I screwed up each piece I could make a new one.
The light was created from 2011-T3 aluminum. The primary tool used to create it was a Harbor Freight 7x10 lathe. I also did some very minor machining with files and a harbor Freight micro-mill and, of course, I used a soldering iron.
The light is made of 5 machined parts, bezel, head, heat sink, body and tail cap. The electronics were taken from a Dorcy 1AA 3 LED light. The switch and LED were taken from a Costco 2AA luxeon. The LED is a QWOK. The optic is changeble by simply unscrewing the bezel. Right now it's an NX05.
The light draws 475ma on a fresh battery, for a computed 2+ hours on a single CR123A. It weighs in at .8 oz (22g) without battery.
I need to learn how to temper it to T8, which is a nice hard temper.
Here's the light, sitting in front of an ARC LSH. Notice the flush pushbutton.
Here's Slim2 next to the ARC LSH with twisty tailcap.
And here's Slim2 with his predecessor, Slim. Slim is on the left.
This picture shows that I made my objective. It's almost as thin as the ARC AA on the right and is shorter than the ARC LSH with TSP on the left.
And last, some other lights for perspective. Left to right; Dorcy 1AA modded to the max, Stock Dorcy 1AA, Slim, ARC LSH-P w/TSP, SLim2, ARC AA, ARC LSH w/twisty.
This is a one of a kind light. I will not be building more for sale. I just wanted to show others what can be done with fairly cheap tools and fairly poor skills.
Daniel
My objective was a short, thin, light weight EDC with a clickie that could be set on end. It had to run at least an hour and be as bright as my ARC LSH-P. It had to be modular so that as I screwed up each piece I could make a new one.
The light was created from 2011-T3 aluminum. The primary tool used to create it was a Harbor Freight 7x10 lathe. I also did some very minor machining with files and a harbor Freight micro-mill and, of course, I used a soldering iron.
The light is made of 5 machined parts, bezel, head, heat sink, body and tail cap. The electronics were taken from a Dorcy 1AA 3 LED light. The switch and LED were taken from a Costco 2AA luxeon. The LED is a QWOK. The optic is changeble by simply unscrewing the bezel. Right now it's an NX05.
The light draws 475ma on a fresh battery, for a computed 2+ hours on a single CR123A. It weighs in at .8 oz (22g) without battery.
I need to learn how to temper it to T8, which is a nice hard temper.
Here's the light, sitting in front of an ARC LSH. Notice the flush pushbutton.
Here's Slim2 next to the ARC LSH with twisty tailcap.
And here's Slim2 with his predecessor, Slim. Slim is on the left.
This picture shows that I made my objective. It's almost as thin as the ARC AA on the right and is shorter than the ARC LSH with TSP on the left.
And last, some other lights for perspective. Left to right; Dorcy 1AA modded to the max, Stock Dorcy 1AA, Slim, ARC LSH-P w/TSP, SLim2, ARC AA, ARC LSH w/twisty.
This is a one of a kind light. I will not be building more for sale. I just wanted to show others what can be done with fairly cheap tools and fairly poor skills.
Daniel
