mini pendant light V2 now with xml+tritium+aspheric+qtc whohooo !

Runs at 1.4 A on full. Super bright with good throw (runtime on high not so long The heat sink works quite well. Much more useful on lower settings though, it will run for days on low. Thanks to CPF for all the inspiration, this is a fun hobby and it gets me on the lathe and milling machine to practice.

Wow!! That is just sweet!!

Does your circuit give you a low battery warning or do you just monitor it on your own? I know those unprotected LiOn cells aren't very forgiving

Will you be making any for.sale?
love the aspheric lens.

You milling just bare Al? It's sweet looking. A neat little sidekick. I'd buy into one!


Alex

sunny nites
I wanted to make the light as small as possible so opted for making it direct drive. Instead of a circuit I used the QTC pill to vary the brightness of the light as it only makes the light about 1.5mm longer. The light is only 13mm dia x35mm long so there is no room for a circuit and nothing is built in the 10180's. Basically i just keep an eye on it, and charge it after I use it for any length of time. I have been using a version of this light mainly on my jacket zipper for over a year now and only killed one battery when it turned on in my pocket. I added the external o ring to prevent that from happening on this version. Plus the batteries are only $5 so even if you kill one or two a year its still way cheaper than primaries, and worth it to be able to carry a 400 lumen burst on a necklace.

I like the way you think; those batteries are a great bargain at $5.00 and well worth the price to be able to have a rocket attached to your zipper :naughty:.

mohanjude,
Not planning to sell any, but will be making a few more for some family and friends. Its a bit too close to lummi's wii to be able to call it my idea, but I actually could not find much to improve on his design (except my heat sink, the QTC pill and the aspheric lens of course ) If you want to take a bit of a gamble you could try and order one of his XML units and mod it pretty easily.

climberkidd,
The heat sink is bare aluminium with a copper battery terminal. The tube and cap in the photo is made from a metal called Nickel -Silver, it is ungodly expensive, but is very nice to look at, is very smooth and dose not tarnish. A lot of high end musical instruments use nickel-silver for the keys. I have also made one out of brass which looks great when its polished to a high shine. I have a small piece of titanium, but I'm kind of afraid to try and turn it, I'm told its really difficult and hard on the tools.

Great little torch Bribo.
You mentioned trying to machine titanium, in my experience in turning, drilling and milling titanium is that it's not really any harder to cut that 300 series stainless steel in most cases.
It can be drilled with reasonably high quality HSS drill bits so long as it's not allowed to overheat and swarf is cleared every few mm, a few drips of bottled cutting fluid helps.
The same with HSS mill bits, so long as their sharp and cuts are firm but not excessive (0.1mm pass) it will cut well, again use cutting fluid.
If you have indexable carbide tools turning titanium is no trouble at all, in fact it's good fun. Steel cutters will work but they must be very sharp, don't forget the fluid (carbide bits don't seem to need it really)
Parting is the hardest task but do-able, again easier with carbide tools.
Don't be afraid to give it a go.

Thanks for the tips Tofty, Ill give it a try next weekend and let you know how its turns out.

that is awesome!

Bribo said:

....The light is only 13mm dia x35mm long so there is no room for a circuit and nothing is built in the 10180's....

Click to expand...

hi, it is possible to add a driver into your flashlight. i made a mod for a wee with also with a aspheric lens and a selfprogrammed driver (cheap dx driver reprogrammed for my request):

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...Mode-with-XP-G-and-Aspherical-Lens&highlight=

i will add some more pictures with details.

markus

deleted double post

hi bribo,

your work is really sweet! i think 1.4 amps is a little high for the battery and the sink, but you can regulate with the qtc. if you need a driver i can make one for you, but i need a body to customize the driver. me wife is quite happy with the 3 mode driver. the xp-g gets at max 700mA, more then enought for this litte beast.

markus