Would there be any interest in....

[Chop]

Hey guys,

I've been building some lights for use with POP sammies, and out of curiosity, I tried running one on a primary 123. I've run luxeons direct drive at 3v on my bench, but never in an actual light with the reflector and everything. Well, I have to tell you, this thing puts out lots of useable light. Almost too much.

In any case, I'm thinking of turning some small lights out of aluminum bronze and they will be built to accommodate a luxeon running in direct drive from a single 123. In other words, there won't be an circuity at all. This should help to make for a really small light. You could, of course, run the light on a single li-ion cell for real brightness.

What this is going to amount to is a simple, no non sense, straight forward, pocket light. I'd imagine that there are already some like this availalbe, but mine will be handmade out of aluminum bronze. I'd guesstimate the price at being in the neighborhood of $200, give or take a little more of less.

I just want to gauge interest. I'm considering these for my next project, when the interest in the sammie compatible lights dies down.

 

[attowatt]

Tony,

Any pics possible?

Jim

 

[Robban]

I would find it kinda hard to justify paying that kind of money for "just" (not meaning to disrespect the amount of work that goes into handmade lights here) a DD light even if it's in a nice material like that.

But that's me and I'm probably the exception /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Chop]

Well, the light would look kind of like this one in this thread, Sammie Light Body

Of course, it will be shorter, I hope. I have to devise a method of "planting" the luxeon and the needed contacts. If I can't make it small, then I'm going to abandon the whole idea, or turn it into a Cr2 project with a smaller reflector.

As for the price being too high, sorry, but I have to make something for my time investment; and at $200 it ain't much. One of the above posts did hit the nail on the head though. It is, after all, just a direct drive light. It's already sounding like a bad idea.

The thought of it just appealed to me because there would be absolutely nothing that could go wrong with this light, save the possibility of needing/wanting to replace the luxeon.

 

[Robban]

Oh please, PLEASE don't take my little post as an indication for the whole community. I'm just a newbie around here. Wait for some more input first /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Icebreak]

Tony -

What about a mini-run of between 5 and 10? I think it's possible that when folks saw it, built, polished up and running you could count on at least a few buyers.

I'm not really in a buying mode right now but I know many folks have a great affection for hand built lights. If this one was a little smaller than the last one you made it would have great appeal I think. That metal is beautiful. The light would be small, simple, solid, pretty and have no anodize to get scratched.

Also, you have excellent name recognition here. Must of us know that a Chop light is a fine light.

So, if 5 went in like 5 hours, the rate of sale might be used to gauge interest?

Just my spare change.

----------------

- Jeff

 

[Chop]

Jeff,

Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it. I think that I am going to make at least a couple, just for the heck of it. Once they are built and shown, the interest might develope.

 

[wquiles]

Just my two cents, but for a hand-built light such as this one, the price Tony is asking sounds reasonable, even without the circuitry, given the unique nature of the light.

Same is true for anything else worth having done by quality folks such as custom knifes, custom guns, etc..

Will

 

[tvodrd]

With a low Vf LED they can be surprisingly bright and will run for a very loong time! I have built several. And Tony, you will shortly receive another annoying PM. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif

Larry

 

[Icebreak]

[ QUOTE ]
Chop said:
Once they are built and shown, the interest might develope.

[/ QUOTE ]
This thread is young.

 

[bwaites]

I like the idea of DD, because of the simplicity. (Aren't all the hotwires DD except for the SF A2?)

The $200 price might put some off, even me, but I do recognize that these are handbuilt. I have some of Chops work and it is First Rate!

I love the material, and I'm considering it for a light I am working on.

Bill

 

[Chop]

Larry,

Annoying eh? It's amazing, I practically record everything that you say when it comes to making lights.

OK, for a beam shot. It's looking like going DD with a 123 light isn't going to be much smaller than a 123 light with a sammie in it, after the contacts and all are provided for. This project is probably going to be of a Cr2 variety and may even be sammie compatible, depending on how small I can get things if I forego the idea of sammie compatibility.

What ever this project turns out to be, the proposed collimator at this point is going to be an IMS 17mm reflector turned down to about 15mm. I just happen to have ordered some lenses in this size because I knew that I was going to be wanting to build something really small soon. it just so happens that 15mm is just about the diameter of a Cr2 cell, so everything is meshing.

Anyway, I took the reflector and sat a lens on top of it then set the whole thing down on my test LED, which is a rather ugly bin of Lux III. The shot was taken with the beam bouncing off of the ceiling in my shop. I think it's a 12 foot ceiling and I'm laying on the floor.

Here it is...

I have the luxeon being driven by my power supply at about 600mA, which is close to what a li-ion cell should deliver to a low Vf luxeon in DD. The beams nice. Nice for a small light anyway.

 

[this_is_nascar]

[ QUOTE ]
Robban said:
I would find it kinda hard to justify paying that kind of money for "just" (not meaning to disrespect the amount of work that goes into handmade lights here) a DD light even if it's in a nice material like that.

But that's me and I'm probably the exception /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Tony does awesome work, however I need to agree with you on this one. I understand the cost of startup, parts, labor and risks taken, however that's a bit steep for something that doesn't do much more than hold an LED and BATTERY together in a package.

 

[tvodrd]

Standing, bent-over, in front of a lathe usually results in hours/days of backache! (Been there, done that!) If the numbers get big enough, you hire a robot/CNC. I suspect the biggest issue would be getting sufficient quantities of low Vf LED's that aren't too green! 2-level is also a no-brainer! (I am torturing Tony on the side! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif )

Larry

 

[nemul]

[ QUOTE ]
Chop said:
this thing puts out lots of useable light. Almost too much.


[/ QUOTE ]
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/whoopin.gif
you can never have TOO MUCH light! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[NetMage]

Chop - love your work, but this is sounding something like an Orb RAW in a another material variation...

 

[Chop]

NetMage,

It may very well be, but I've never seen an Orb RAW.

OK, after taking some measurements, going with a DD 123 light is stupid. The post above is just another reason on the list. I'm gonna stick with sammie compatible 123 lights, just to keep things standard and flexible.

I've decided that the next project should be a Cr2 light. Now please, if it's been done already, let me know.

I have settled on a few things though. The lens is going to be a 14.9mm mineral glass. The reflector, as of now, is going to be an IMS 17mm reflector turned down to 14.9mm. The light will be sammie compatible, at this point, but there is a two stage switch that might make it to this light and if it does, I don't think I'll be able to retain sammie compatibility. We'll see.

I know that I have mod orders to fill, but a guy has to have some fun, right?

I ran out to the shop and cranked this out.

In front is the head that I just made. It's outer diameter is a tad bit over .75" in diameter.

Please don't pay attention to the "rough" shape of the head. I haven't put the finish on it yet. I just wanted to give you an idea of its size in terms of diameter.

 

[Chop]

Last minute decision here, I've decided to go with the thread pitch that I used in the head above. It resulted in the diameter being what it is, and the bore for the threads was larger than needed for the reflector. I've decided that I'm going to go with a bigger lens and take less of off the reflector. This won't affect the outside diameter as it is now.

I'm moving to a 15.7mm lens. This will allow me to continue using the 11/16-20 thread and keep the light in the 3/4" diameter neighborhood with good wall thickness and knurling.

As soon as I finish the lights that I have to make, I'm going to turn a few of these out.

 

[Bogus1]

Hi Tony,

I want one of these too. The Orb Raw doesn't have O-rings, the lens is exposed because there is almost no bezel lip, there is no sammie or 2 stage and there is no knurling with a twisty. There is virtually no heat sinking and yes it's in an easy to scratch up aluminum case. You could mod the Raw and have improvement, but I still think it's much too hot and doesn't have enough runtime on high with its J bin.

I don't want to put down the Raw, it's obviously popular, but it didn't work for me even with the great U bins. I also am willing to pay extra for a hand made light, especially if it looks like I'll be able to carry it without it showing excessive wear. Any chance of an UCL?

Thanks for making these.

 

[Sky]

Hi Tony, Please add me to your list. This is turning into one great little light....Sky