My First Light Build

So I decided I would start building my first light. Being a broke college student I am starting small and will eventually work my way up to a larger light.

Here is what I am thinking.

EMITTER: (1) CREE Q5 WC (235 LM?)

CELL: (1) 16340 3.7v

OPTICS/REFLECTOR: No idea yet...

Here are some pictures of what I have machined so far. This is what I got done in a couple of hours in the shop. I still have to machine the tail cap, finish machining the head, and a few other parts. I want to have all the parts that I need to finish the light in hand before I machine anything else.







I will be ordering my parts within the next few days. I know I need to do a lot more research before I step up to bigger lights.

I do have one question for anyone that wants to spread some knowledge.

Is the Cree Q5 an OK choice for this type of flashlight?

Since I will only be running one 16340 cell at around 550 mAh capacity, I figure it should have a run time of about 30 minutes, although probably more like 20 in the real world.

My intent with this light is have something small and fairly cheap that I could build right now.

Let me know what all your thoughts are.

Thanks

More to come soon.

Well I finally finished my flashlight. It has kind of been one of those last minute things when I have time. I have been busy with school and my senior project, so not too much time for other things. I ended up using basically a P60 drop-in with the emitter that I mentioned above. I am direct driving this emitter with one 16340 cell. I will do a run time analysis on it once I have more time. I just finished the light today so I have not played with it too much. I am using an aluminum spacer to fill the dead space in the body of the light.

Seems to work good for my first light.

Here are some pictures, enjoy:

My only progress picture, machining the head


Finished light










The only beam shot I have at this time. This is at about 20 feet. Seems to be bright enough for a light sub $15.00...

Congrats on your first build. Looks great.
I am a stage just behind you. I have a 3hp Lathe which I am desperate to get started making my own flashlight and night hunting lamp modifications too.
I have all the required metal at hand. My problem right now is, I need to read up on the use of drivers when using more than one battery.
The more posts I read on here, the bigger my wish list becomes.
I thought your build looked pretty long for having only one battery. Does the battery take up all the space in the handle or is there a spacer fitted to give you extra length to grip.

Excellent! I like the clicky placement.