Sold/Expired The Mako AAA Titanium Flashlight

Hello Everyone,

As the final chapter of the Mako AAA project comes to a close I wanted to take a moment and rewrite this post to detail in one place the project in full, and express once more what the objectives behind this design are so that you all know what to expect when you receive your light in the coming weeks.

The Mako AAA is my take on the backup light. The driving objectives were to create a small, unobtrusive torch that ran for a very long time off of a common cell, in a durable package, with some compelling features at an affordable price point. With two stages, 20 hours runtime on high mode and 60 hours on low, and 6AL4V Titanium construction, I feel that those objectives have been well satisfied.

For the project I sourced a new LED which had not yet found its use into flashlights; a 5mm LED from Cree, which had the best color of any of the 5mm LEDs I'd used to date. I designed a true current regulator to provide 6mA and 20mA to the LED on low and high mode, respectively, which provides a reasonable amount of output from the LED and keeps everything within the limits of the part so that you don't end up with a huge blue tint shift and the toasting your LED prematurely as will happen with all the lights pushing 3-4 times the rated maximum current into the parts.

I've now completed all the lights and tested them; their tints vary slightly from unit to unit as is common across all LED types, and these are a slightly cool to neutral white with decent color uniformity. The beam will not be perfect, as is the nature of 5mm LEDs, but at a distance of 10 feet or so, it's nice. The beam has a dim, incidental corona (somewhat similar in character to my old CR2 Ion XT) due to the LED not being 100% efficient in emitting its light within the 15 degrees it's rated at, and the presence of the main spot within the beam is variable from unit to unit. This could have been countered by sacrificing water resistance and blocking off all the sides of the LED except for the very tip, but the general practicality afforded by water resistance was not a sacrifice I was willing to make. Overall I am quite happy with the end result of the Mako and it suits the design parameters I had in mind, but I did want everyone to be aware in advance what the nature of the beast was, and understand that while these LEDs are the best I've tried in their class, they are still 5mm LEDs and still have some of the strengths and weaknesses thereof.

With regards to the brightness levels proper, the Mako can be viewed as having two distinct levels, but you should think of them more as full power, and power save mode. High mode is providing a fair amount of light more than low mode, but it's not as dramatic a difference as what some of you may be used to in my previous lights like the Aeon and Nautilus. Both of those lights have a 10:1 power ratio, whereas the Mako is roughly 4:1, and it's simply not possible to have that high of a ratio on a light with a maximum current of 20mA.

Moving from the driver to what batteries you should feed your Mako – Any standard AAA cell, as well as any properly manufactured rechargeable cell that charges to around 1.5V will work fine. For rechargeables, I'd highly recommend cells like the Sanyo Eneloop (which is what I will be using in my light), or lithium primaries, though. The Eneloops are a very low self discharge NiMH battery and are well suited to low current, long shelf life applications like the Mako. Lithium Primaries have less likelihood of leaking than alkaline batteries, and provide a slight boost in runtime. Each Mako comes equipped with a Duracell Alkaline AAA as standard, and if you choose to run such cells in it exclusively be sure to check on the light periodically to make sure that the cell is still intact and replace it if it goes past the expiration date on the label.

A summary of the light's features:
- AAA Based
- 13mm Diameter x 68mm Long
- 24,000mcd Cree 5mm LED
- Machined from 6AL4V Titanium, Bead Blasted
- 24K Gold Plated Contacts
- Dual Stage, Fully Regulated DC/DC Converter
- Water Resistant
- Equipped with a split ring and capable of tailstanding


Through the past several months the design has undergone some changes, finally arriving to the point where we're at today:






The finish of the parts and quality of machining has turned out quite nice, and I'm very happy with the final results. My thanks goes out to all of you who had the patience to stick with the project; The Mako took a little longer to come into being than originally anticipated, but I'm looking forward hearing your thoughts when you receive your lights soon.

The vast majority of all Makos have shipped out today, inclusive of international orders, and I suspect most of you will have them in hand by sometime next week.

In the meantime, if anyone has any questions or comments, please post here or send me an e-mail at [email protected]

Thanks folks!

-Enrique

In an effort to keep everything centralized I will post updates to this post when necessary so everyone can have ready access to all pertinent info without having to wade through several pages of discussion.

December 05:
The machining of the titanium parts of the Mako begins today. Pictures to come once the parts are completed and arrive here to me in a couple of weeks.

December 11:
Hello Everyone,

I spoke with the machine shop today and it turns out they had some problems with timely arrival of the material for machining. They were setup to start the job on Friday but didn't receive the material until early this week; they're setting up the machines again as this is being typed and expect to begin machining later this afternoon.

Looking at the calendar now I think it's going to be rather difficult to get everything out the door before the end of the year as originally anticipated. With the arrival of machined parts having been pushed back a week that means I likely won't receive the parts until after Christmas.

I will do what I can to try to expedite the process as much as possible without sacrificing quality, but chances are that these will be going out in early January instead of late December. If this is a point of concern for anyone please contact me privately at [email protected] and I'll do what I can for you.

As of this writing there are seven lights left available for purchase.

-Enrique

December 12:
All Makos are now claimed. Stay tuned here for continued news and updates over the next few weeks.

December 22:
Short update: Machining of the Mako heads has been completed and the cases are well on their way. I'm expecting that the parts will be fully completed and sent off to the bead blasters sometime next week.

I have received all electronic components and at this point I'm just waiting on the machined parts and PCBs. Both of those are scheduled to be arriving early next month and I'm reasonably confident that the lights will be in everyone's hands before the end of January.

December 24:
I had saved 10 of these to do some custom anodize work with sometime after the run, but given as it seems some people missed out on the run and I've received a few e-mails about it, I thought it better to just go ahead and offer these up to everyone in their standard finish.

There are 12 more lights available, the 10 mentioned above, and two from a customer who backed out of their commitment. here.

A small update: The PCBs are currently being manufactured and I expect to be seeing those arrive next week sometime. Assembly of the drivers will begin shortly thereafter to coincide with the arrival of the metal casings to make complete Makos.

January 05:
The PCBs arrived today and are going to the assembly house tomorrow morning to have all their components mounted and become completed drivers. I'm still waiting on the machined parts to arrive, and the latest I've been told by the shop is that they're hoping to ship those out this Friday - I'll let you all know once those are here. (Once they're here, it won't be much longer before Makos are at your doorstep)

January 22:
Hello Everyone.

I have some unpleasant news and I am extremely upset about it. Here is an e-mail, verbatim, received from the shop just now:

The Shop said:

Enrique.

The past 8 weeks has been uncommomly difficult for our company. The circumstances we have encountered have in some instances been too much for us to overcome. This include these parts made from titanium.
At this point I know you would better served by another company to manufacture and complete your parts.
We thought we could work thru this difficult time. Altough we had the best intent to complete you order and orders of others, circumstances have prevented us from doing so. We now know our company needs to review our business model and determine the course we will take.

Click to expand...

The shop has claimed several excuses over the past few weeks, ranging from broken machines to some nasty blizzards having pushed their schedules back a week or two. I have been told that the parts were nearly completed many times, and for the past 4 weeks I have been under the impression that the heads were completed and ready to ship and that most of the cases were done but the balance would be ready "in a week". Throughout January I have been given dates of guaranteed arrival of parts, four times now, and each date has come and gone with nothing having arrived. The latest date was supposed to be "parts in hand by the 23rd" (tomorrow). I placed the order for all this stuff in November, and have been dragged around with delivery assurances repeatedly; had I known this was going to happen, or simply been told the above a month ago, I would have sourced a new shop long ago and have avoided wasting an entire month for nothing.

So here's where we stand: Everything needed to build the Makos is in stock and sitting on my shelf awaiting final assembly. LEDs, Drivers, Foam Washers, Batteries, O-Rings, are all here waiting to be built, and the only thing missing are the machined parts. I have several shops in line to begin the machining process anew for these parts, and the project is proceeding ahead exactly as planned; the problem faced is only one of time, nothing else.

I expect now that a reasonable timeframe to expect delivery of the Makos is late February or March. Let there be absolutely no doubt that you will receive what you have paid for from me.

Folks, I am at the mercy of my suppliers when it comes to these projects and can't control what happens on things that aren't done in house, and while I've never had a shop bail out on me like this before, I generally avoid prepays to avoid people having to wait an excessively long time from payment to arrival of product. Ultimately, however, the buck stops here. I am completely sorry for what has transpired to date and will do whatever I can to expedite the process for those of you who stay on, and cheerfully refund the purchase to those of you who no longer wish to wait, just e-mail me and I'll get everything taken care of for you straight away.

On a slight positive note, to those who missed out on the initial offering of the Makos and have e-mailed me asking if I had any extras available, I will now be able to make a larger batch of machined parts to accommodate the demand. I will place a link to the ordering page in the first post a little while after this writing.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or otherwise, please do not hesitate to contact me here, via PM, or via e-mail at [email protected]. If there's anything I can do for you folks in the meantime, please do contact me.

Again, my sincerest apologies for the time it has taken to get this project out the door, but I am working as quick as I can to get these Makos in your hands as soon as possible.

January 27:
I will, be making a change to the design - there was originally a groove near the tail that was filled with O-Rings. I have removed it and shortened the light by 2mm. This was done to allow for a somewhat larger keyring cutout in the tail with thicker walls between the ring and the environment than what was there previously, and I also feel that the design now looks cleaner as a result. A render of the light is included below:



Let me know what you all think.

Enrique, titanium, "nice, white 5mm LED" and

Endeavour said:

Runtime comes out to be 21 hours on high mode, and 60 hours on low mode, off of a standard Duracell AAA Alkaline cell.

Click to expand...

DO. NOT. SLEEP. :thumbsup:

The runtime tests required some planning based on the estimated runtime numbers to allow me to actually be awake before the light went out. I did, in fact, sleep, though!

I finished up my runtime test and it ran for better than 26 hours on an Energizer lithium AAA. I also fell asleep after the 26th hour. I should have started it around 6:00 PM instead of 10:30 PM.

I am looking forward to getting mine:thumbsup:... my wife hates this stuff:naughty:

..more work and less chit-chat!!!


P.S.Trying hard to score an Aeon off the B/S/T.

Very nice !

One question; is this Mako twist head switch, or clicky switch?

Is there any way to get one that isn't bead blasted? I just hate that finish and would rather have plain titanium, even if there are some machine marks...

One for me Enrique!

PM incoming.

Armed_Forces: If you don't find one feel free to try here.

octaf: The Mako is a twisty.

loveit: Unfortunately, no, sorry.

PSM: Replied.

loveit said:

Is there any way to get one that isn't bead blasted? I just hate that finish and would rather have plain titanium, even if there are some machine marks...

Click to expand...

When you get it polish it to a nice shiny finish!

Enrique!! Looking forward to your latest creation. :thumbsup:

Enrique,

I've tried going through every post I could find but haven't found the answer so I thought I'd ask.

Does the wide/ish groove you added at the end opposite of the twist head serve a practical purpose or is it just an aesthetic design element?

I believe you have added two O-rings to this groove in the pictures posted. Are the O-rings spares for the twist head? Will you include the O-rings so that I/we don't have to source them ourselves? I ask this because I feel that the groove is a little large to be just an aesthetic element and this has my mind wondering if there's a practical reason for the size. Thanks.

The large groove is meant so that you can tie a lanyard around the light to make it easier to fish out of your pocket.

Any beamshots or a link to some?

djans1397 said:

Any beamshots or a link to some?

Click to expand...

Yes please.....I'd love to see even more info about this light.

djans1397 said:

Any beamshots or a link to some?

Click to expand...

I will work on some... I have never done them before but I will give it a shot.

Armed_Forces: In every single posted render and picture of the current design there is something in that groove, namely, rubber O-Rings. This aids somewhat with grip, and in my eyes, looks decent. Carrot's statement was incorrect; There's a reason there is a split ring attachment point on the light...

There are a little more than 10 of these flashlights left available for purchase, and once those are claimed, that's the lot of 'em.

-Enrique

My bad. I am the distributor of misinformation after all.

Armed_Forces,

You're way out of line here. Take a week off.