Look what i found out in the attic...my *first* flashlight....

I was rooting around in the attic tonight, as i vagueley remembered we had a millitary anglehead out there, and i thought it would be a fun restoration/hack project...

sadly, the anglehead seems to have dissapeared, but i *did* find an old freind, the first flashlight i ever owned, sitting sad and dejectedly in a corner....

an old 1970's vintage red Eveready Commander lantern, a little beat up, sporting well-earned battle scars, and minus a bulb, but mechanically sound, and the switch still works well, nice positive clicking action






the lens assembly and contact plate are metal, so looks like it'd be good at dissapating heat from a "hotter" bulb, however, the lens is cheap plastic, so if i was to hack together a "sleeper" lantern, i'd need a better lens material

any hints on turning my old freind into a monster light, i think it needs a new lease on life....

I bought a light exactly like that one in Galveston, TX in about 1983 or 1984.

Traded it the same year for a Queen pocket knife that I still own.

My dad had one of those too back in the 70's.

MacTech,

I would restore it as close to original condition as possible (get a bulb that is close to the stock bulb).

Beamshots expected upon completion.

I didn't have that light, but I do remember it!
Nice Pics!

We had the exact same one in my family. Great to see it again!

Wow, we had one of those in the toolbox of every tractor on the farm (all 3 of them) when I was growing up. Back in the day it was the most badass "flashlight tag" light in the neighborhood!!!

That sure brought back some happy memories!

You would be surprised, plastic can tolerate substantial amounts of heat for a while.

Is it a PR base? If it's a PR base I'd find a way to put six NiMH cells in it, plus my ROP bulb - the Pelican #3854, low output 11W bulb since you are concerned about the plastic's heat tolerances.

Alternatively, you could find a nice 20W MR11 or MR16 dichroic bulb with the 'cool' beam - many of these MR11/MR16 bulbs are designed so that the heat radiates out of the rear of the lamp, instead of out through the beam, thus enabling you to run higher wattages without damaging the plastic. Overdrive this heavily with 11-12 NiMH AA cells and it should be quite a lot of fun.

Good luck and tread carefully especially with plastic around. I usually work with aluminium hosts for my super-incan mods.

If you want to go LED, get an EverLED Lambertian Luxeon drop-in for it.
go here: www.ledsupply.com/lamb-everled.html

Very easy to use and very good quality drop-in.

Why is this lantern spoken of in past tense? The stores are full of them over here. Not that same model but lantern lights are still quite popular around these parts. Or maybe that's because I live in a town surrounded by sugar farms. If they are popular on farms that might explain it.

They are not too bad bog standard and a lantern battery goes a long way.

This thread inspired me to buy this Rayovac 6V lantern today on sale at Menard's, $2.95 including the battery. This is my first CPF beamshot! It's a spot with a REALLY wide spill beam, pretty poor pattern but not bad for $3. The lamp in the beamshot is about a foot from the ceiling and the beam is easily 30" wide already. It has a Phillips KPR113 bulb, which is labelled for 4.5V so it's being overdriven a bit. This will be my first light to mod I think, maybe one of the TerraLUX drop ins.

Further testing shows that this $3 light with a fresh battery has total output about equal to my SureFire G2. The G2 hotspot is a little brighter and the beam qualities are not comparable, but total light output is similar. The G2 might have a slight edge.

Lanterns have to be the best bang for your buck I reckon.

My brother was cleaning out a closet recently and added a couple of similar plastic lights to the "dump" pile. The lenses were worn and very yellow, but I "rescued" them anyway, dreaming of someday modifying them to keep their stock look, but with amazing performance! Alas, I have no skills or knowledge, so they will probably remain in their sorry state.

sputter the reflector on that rayovac lantern! you'll be pleasantly surprised

I keep three as my "house incans" (with the 3-cell bulbs)

Here's mine. Technically, it probably belongs to my dad. Although, I'm pretty darn sure I've logged more play time as kid on this than my dad has usage time on it. This was one of the two super bright flashlights we had in my house. I used to get a kick out of it everytime I turned it on. I can remember showing it to my friends and also to my grandma, always saying, "It's bright, huh?". Although everybody always agreed, I was never satisfied at my friends' reactions. I always thought that they should have been a little more overwhelmed!

I'm not sure if it's from the 60's or 70's, probably the 70's. It's made in the USA. It's called a Teledyne Big Beam ("Turns Darkness Into Daylight"). It still works, though the battery is pretty dead. The bulb, lens and reflector are all one piece and is replaceable. The only thing different about it is that it used to have a rubber kroll type switch cover (over the switch).

That's got to be a collectors item.

That thing is way kewl. Now that I'm a total flashlight geek I'm gonna start looking for old ones like that.

notrefined: how do I sputter the reflector? Sounds like a good first mod...

Do a search....

but basically, get some clear acrylic spraypaint, and spray the reflector with the shortest burst you can manage (less than a second) from about a foot away. This will leave a pattern of fine (clear) paint droplets on the reflector. Let those dry for 15 mins (or whatever the "between coats" time is for your particular can of paint), then do the same thing again. After several "spritzes," you'll have a nicely textured reflector that produces a much improved beam. You'll get a slightly less bright hotspot, and a much brighter spill, while removing most of the artifacts. Not quite surefire, but better than most stock incandescents by a long shot.

i was looking through the threads on the Sears Worklight 3AAA Lux, and it was noted that it uses a standard PR body bulb....

would that LED bulb work in the lantern, it appears to use a 6V "cube" battery (the ones with the spring terminals), so it would be *slightly* overdriven (the lamp would expect 4.5V and end up getting 6), does that Lux bulb tolerate being overdriven?

upon further inspection, the reflector *is* plastic, but the PR bulb socket and battery contact plate is metal