Broken drill turned into a torch!

protein_man · Aug 8, 2007

Hello everyone, our work drill motor burnt out and was cast into the bin, I saw it and thought I might be able to use the sub c cells in the battery for something. Well after sitting on my bench for a few months I decided to gut the drill and turn it into a flashlight.

I took all the inards out and cut the housing down a bit then I added a 50 watt mr16 60 degree bulb fixture. I just ran this thing straight off the charger and the bulb held up nicely..... talk about bright!!!! This thing is in spotlight territory for lumen's however its more of a flood beam until I can hunt down a 6 degree mr16. Lights up my backyard like a floodlight would!

I have no idea of runtime of this thing, I have 2 battery packs and this thing wasn't built for runtime, it was built for fun and in the end it didnt cost me anything to build except time.

I've attempted to take some photos, please forgive the poor quality.

LuxLuthor · Aug 8, 2007

Very clever.....Nice job !!

VidPro · Aug 8, 2007

does it go in reverse too

Hodsta · Aug 8, 2007

:thumbsup:

Long John · Aug 8, 2007

:twothumbs Very nice, I like recycling mods :goodjob:

Best regards

____
Tom

protein_man · Aug 8, 2007

An added bonus is that the drill had a battery gauge built into it, I can get a pretty good idea of how much juice I have left by looking at that!

With these drills its amazing that for $100 you can buy a drill + 2 battery's and a charger. If I wanted to buy another battery they are around $50 on their own! Its defiantly heaps cheaper to recycle.

I've mainly been into the leds however after this little mod I'm craving more light.... might have to go down the multi emitter road or go for high power incans!

TigerhawkT3 · Aug 8, 2007

VidPro said:
does it go in reverse too

Wow, that totally caught me off guard. :crackup:

Fantastic.

half-watt · Aug 8, 2007

protein_man said:
Hello everyone, our work drill motor burnt out and was cast into the bin, I saw it and thought I might be able to use the sub c cells in the battery for something. Well after sitting on my bench for a few months I decided to gut the drill and turn it into a flashlight.

I took all the inards out and cut the housing down a bit then I added a 50 watt mr16 60 degree bulb fixture. I just ran this thing straight off the charger and the bulb held up nicely..... talk about bright!!!! This thing is in spotlight territory for lumen's however its more of a flood beam until I can hunt down a 6 degree mr16. Lights up my backyard like a floodlight would!

I have no idea of runtime of this thing, I have 2 battery packs and this thing wasn't built for runtime, it was built for fun and in the end it didnt cost me anything to build except time.

I've attempted to take some photos, please forgive the poor quality.

VERY CLEVER indeed!!! good thinking.

lctorana · Aug 8, 2007

Well done. I'm VERY impressed.

I just noticed it's an 18v battery - no wonder it's bright!

That MR16 is overdriven to blazes!

Is it direct drive, because I'm surprised it didn't :poof:

protein_man · Aug 8, 2007

Well the beauty of the drill switch is that it "soft starts" the bulb a bit when you pull the trigger in, a nice benefit there! Well she runs very hot, after about a minute I can smell the plastic housing burning, not really burning just a "plasticy" smell.

I think I might downgrade the bulb down to a 35 watt model just so it runs that much cooler. I love this light but my wife hates it..... its "too bright" she says. I guess shes not truly enlightened!:twothumbs

Next time I'm at the dump I'll keep a look out for old cordless drills! To top this whole project off, I bought 4 Phillips mr16s for $1.76, bargain!

Has anybody got any ideas for a good reflector that I can attach to this thing?

bombelman · Aug 8, 2007

DUDE, consider this... :devil:

lctorana · Aug 8, 2007

Great thread.

And one answer is to trawl around at the next car swap meet in your area. Bound to be an old headlight reflector going cheap somewhere...

LuxLuthor · Aug 9, 2007

bombelman said:
DUDE, consider this... :devil:

ROFL! I love that picture....he has such a serious look on his face while holding a space shuttle size reflector! :crackup:

greenlight · Aug 9, 2007

pretty cool, did you get the charger, too?

protein_man · Aug 9, 2007

Yep got the charger too, an absolute bargain for zero dollars!

wquiles · Aug 12, 2007

Great idea :twothumbs

Will

jch79 · Aug 12, 2007

What they said - neat! There's nothing like makin' use of something that would otherwise end up in a landfill! :green:

Cool idea and execution. :thumbsup:

protein_man · Aug 15, 2007

Did a runtime test, I can get 13 minutes of insanely bright light with the 50 watt, mr16 bulb!

uk_caver · Aug 15, 2007

Is there room in your drill case for a small fan? That might make more difference in terms of cooling than just lowering the bulb power.

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