TranquillityBase
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2005
- Messages
- 3,741
I gave it the old college try, but no go for the TL-A3
Too drastic of a change to the light pattern. Kinda looks like three flowers when I point it at the wall.
The good news is, it works very nice with the standard A3 reflector and a Lux III LE. It reduces the perimeter of the corona by about 6 inches.
I think if I crenelate it, the pattern might be crappy, even for the standard reflector?
I could make one half as tall, but it wanted a robust look.
This stuff is not hard to work with, but if you make a mistake, you'll be breaking more than the tips of inserts.
I used a standard HSS center drill to start, then a 1/2" cobalt drill, followed by a 3/8" boring bar, then I finished with a 1/2" boring bar. The only waste, other than the obvious, was one parting cut. If you're able to hack out the I.D., without breaking any tools, the rest will be no problem. I took .050" per pass, anymore and heat is an issue.
What worked well for me is, a reduction in spindle speed, about 25%, and doubling the feed rate, from .005" per rev. to .010" About 10 cuts from final I.D., I lowered the spindle speed from 300 to 170 rpm. It's pretty easy to judge if you're off with spindle speed or feed rate. If both are correct, the chips will be hot, but not screamin hot, and the sound will be a nice even hiss.
Do not let chips build-up in the bore, if you do you will snap the shank of your boring bar. Never mind the inserts, this stuff will break tool holders.
Enjoy my crappy photos.
TB
The good news is, it works very nice with the standard A3 reflector and a Lux III LE. It reduces the perimeter of the corona by about 6 inches.
I think if I crenelate it, the pattern might be crappy, even for the standard reflector?
I could make one half as tall, but it wanted a robust look.
This stuff is not hard to work with, but if you make a mistake, you'll be breaking more than the tips of inserts.
I used a standard HSS center drill to start, then a 1/2" cobalt drill, followed by a 3/8" boring bar, then I finished with a 1/2" boring bar. The only waste, other than the obvious, was one parting cut. If you're able to hack out the I.D., without breaking any tools, the rest will be no problem. I took .050" per pass, anymore and heat is an issue.
What worked well for me is, a reduction in spindle speed, about 25%, and doubling the feed rate, from .005" per rev. to .010" About 10 cuts from final I.D., I lowered the spindle speed from 300 to 170 rpm. It's pretty easy to judge if you're off with spindle speed or feed rate. If both are correct, the chips will be hot, but not screamin hot, and the sound will be a nice even hiss.
Do not let chips build-up in the bore, if you do you will snap the shank of your boring bar. Never mind the inserts, this stuff will break tool holders.
Enjoy my crappy photos.
TB
Last edited:
:twothumbs
