In the proud tradition of McGizmo, Lambda and DSpeck, I proudly present this fully built, fully operational, one-off custom light creation. It is quite possibly the most unique mod ever made. It is also probably one of the most "ghetto" flashlights that actually works. I hope that this project gives some hope to you guys out there who are like me...no lathe, no drill presses, no fancy materials or machinery of any kind. There's nothing elite or exclusive about this mod. Anyone can build a torch like this or maybe one that's even more...
Anyway, here are the details:
1. The lamp assembly: I took a spare 2-cell PR bulb and a Mag reflector which was originally cut down for use with an LS mod. I potted the bulb using white tub-and-tile acrylic caulk. Since the bead was pretty thick. I stuck it in the toaster oven to accelerate the cure and drying. I used scotch tape to keep the caulk from oozing out the back of the reflector hole.
2. The head/bezel: I found that a plastic Stonyfield drinkable yogurt bottle could be cut down to fit the barrel of my light and also provide a perfect mounting surface for the salvaged Mag reflector. I cut it down until the lip of the reflector fit snugly against the cut edge. For the lens, I had some plastic clamshell packaging from a Sony camcorder battery so I cut a disk out of a flat area using the reflector as a template. I then used some wide clear plastic tape to stick the lens to the bezel.
3. The body tube: Even a wrecked spare Mag tube would be too classy for this mod. Instead, luckily, I ran out of Reynolds aluminum foil this week so I used the heavy cardboard tube as the body. No need for a lathe to mill or thread this sucker. An X-Acto knife would be all I needed. Also, bulked up C-cells fit pretty well so I guess this would be a C-cell torch. A plastic film can would plug up the back and keep dirt out.
4. The electronics: Hmm, since I had just decimated my spare Mag switch, that was out. However, wandering around my garage, I found a light switch that was left over after I had done a few conversions to rotary dimmers throughout the house. It had plenty of voltage and current capacity, no worries there. For wiring, I pulled some wires off of a scavenged crossover from a dead pair of Infinity speakers I'd had since college. I soldered a wire to the body of the PR base of the bulb and ran it to one pole of the switch. I ran another length of wire from the second pole to a Mag D spring. I isolated the negative battery contact from the switch by using a trimmed cap from a plastic film can. The batteries would get dropped into the tube, contact the Mag spring on one end and the tip of the bulb base on the other end, thus completing the circuit.
5. Assembly: I cut a hole in the side of the cardboard tube so I could shove the light switch through. I fastened it to the tube by using four spare screws I found at the bottom of my tool box. I completed the look of the torch by spraying it with a leftover can of high temperature semi-gloss black paint. Voila! Done.
The nice thing is, the head comes right off (although tethered to the switch by the wire soldered to the bulb) to accommodate battery changes.
And of course, the obligatory beamshot:
With this mod, I issue a challenge. Is anyone up to building a torch that is even more amazing, freakish and ghetto than my creation? Why go in search of excellence when you can go in search of the grotesque? It's so much cheaper and just as challenging in its own way.
Wilkey
Anyway, here are the details:
1. The lamp assembly: I took a spare 2-cell PR bulb and a Mag reflector which was originally cut down for use with an LS mod. I potted the bulb using white tub-and-tile acrylic caulk. Since the bead was pretty thick. I stuck it in the toaster oven to accelerate the cure and drying. I used scotch tape to keep the caulk from oozing out the back of the reflector hole.
2. The head/bezel: I found that a plastic Stonyfield drinkable yogurt bottle could be cut down to fit the barrel of my light and also provide a perfect mounting surface for the salvaged Mag reflector. I cut it down until the lip of the reflector fit snugly against the cut edge. For the lens, I had some plastic clamshell packaging from a Sony camcorder battery so I cut a disk out of a flat area using the reflector as a template. I then used some wide clear plastic tape to stick the lens to the bezel.
3. The body tube: Even a wrecked spare Mag tube would be too classy for this mod. Instead, luckily, I ran out of Reynolds aluminum foil this week so I used the heavy cardboard tube as the body. No need for a lathe to mill or thread this sucker. An X-Acto knife would be all I needed. Also, bulked up C-cells fit pretty well so I guess this would be a C-cell torch. A plastic film can would plug up the back and keep dirt out.
4. The electronics: Hmm, since I had just decimated my spare Mag switch, that was out. However, wandering around my garage, I found a light switch that was left over after I had done a few conversions to rotary dimmers throughout the house. It had plenty of voltage and current capacity, no worries there. For wiring, I pulled some wires off of a scavenged crossover from a dead pair of Infinity speakers I'd had since college. I soldered a wire to the body of the PR base of the bulb and ran it to one pole of the switch. I ran another length of wire from the second pole to a Mag D spring. I isolated the negative battery contact from the switch by using a trimmed cap from a plastic film can. The batteries would get dropped into the tube, contact the Mag spring on one end and the tip of the bulb base on the other end, thus completing the circuit.
5. Assembly: I cut a hole in the side of the cardboard tube so I could shove the light switch through. I fastened it to the tube by using four spare screws I found at the bottom of my tool box. I completed the look of the torch by spraying it with a leftover can of high temperature semi-gloss black paint. Voila! Done.
The nice thing is, the head comes right off (although tethered to the switch by the wire soldered to the bulb) to accommodate battery changes.
And of course, the obligatory beamshot:
With this mod, I issue a challenge. Is anyone up to building a torch that is even more amazing, freakish and ghetto than my creation? Why go in search of excellence when you can go in search of the grotesque? It's so much cheaper and just as challenging in its own way.
Wilkey
