building my own edc light

Ok I just added a light to my edc gear a few months ago I have a streamlight protac 2aa and love it I don't need anything fancy. But I broke the lens a few days ago and found a website that has flashlight parts. So I ordered a new lens and a bunch of other parts. I figured I'd try to turn a flashlight all the pens I carry I have turned myself so why not try to turn a flashlight.



Ok I'm a have access to mills and lathes and any material I'd ever need.
I will be useing 2 aa batterys to power the light
I ordered
18 mm lens
XM-L T6 910LM LED White Light Emitter with 18mm Base(2.9~3.5V)
18.5 mm reflector
17mm Replacement Clicky Switch Module for Flashlight (DC 3.7~4.2V)
Silicone Tailcaps for Flashlights (14mm Black / 10-Pack)

Did I miss anything and is the switch compatible with the bulb I ordered

You may want to add a driver. Two AAs will quickly drop below the voltage where they can drive the LED to produce much light.

^^ look for a driver compatible with ur voltage range of 2 AA.
And ur switch should be fine since it should be a low current draw, if u get a driver.

Make sure you post photos of the progress. It would be nice to see. Welcome to the forum.

Will this work ?


http://www.dx.com/p/3-mode-2800ma-l...ashlight-dc-2-7-4-2v-2pcs-162788#.VSnPi6dOnFo

So AA batterys are 1.5 v so 2 AA batterys would be 3v right ?


And I will post pictures it Will be a while before anything gets done it's going to take 5-7 days just to ship so I'm thinking 2 weeks till I even see any parts

No, I don't think that one will help, just make it worse. You need one that says it's a "boost" or "buck-boost" driver. It should have an input range down to at least 2.0V.

I also think you don't want to shoot for driving the XM-L anywhere near full power, for two reasons. One is that two AA cells can't provide that kind of power for more than a brief period if at all (alkalines probably can't at all). The other is that a power level that high will overheat a small light pretty quickly.

So what bulb and driver would you recommend for a 2aa power source

I use this for my 2AA P60 host & so far it has worked out fine for me.
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1127402

Thanks dellsuperman I'll try that

Ok just to be clear the driver gets wired to the bulb

Answered my last question my self

I can't find any 18mm driver pillers so I'm going to machine one do I have to make it out of brass or can I make it out of aluminum

As far as electrical conductivity. brass and aluminum are close enough to be a wash.

Brass is much heavier than aluminum, but I have found it does machine a bit easier.

sunny_nites said:

As far as electrical conductivity. brass and aluminum are close enough to be a wash.

Brass is much heavier than aluminum, but I have found it does machine a bit easier.

Click to expand...

True, but it's nearly impossible to solder to aluminum.

And if it's part of a heatsink, the thermal conductivity of aluminum is around 4 times that of brass, though that varies some depending on which alloy you are looking at.

As far as machinability, that also varies with alloy, in both aluminum and brass. I generally find aluminum is easier, but maybe that's because I use almost exclusively 6061 aluminum and unknown brass alloys.

I absolutely agree with you that aluminum is very difficult to solder. I don't even like to solder to aluminum wire, let alone a heat sink or anything with a substantial surface area.

All things being equal though, go with a copper heat sink. Copper moves heat like crazy and you can solder to it with relative ease.

But back to machine ability, copper is very difficult to machine.

If you plan on machining your own heat sink etc, try them all and let us know how it works and what you decide to go with!!

I just have gobs of short aluminum round. But would have to look for brass or copper round. I'll see if I can find any brass or copper and I don't have any luck I'll just use aluminum

Thanks for all the help hopefully I'll get some parts soon so I can get some pictures posted

Just for shits and grins it's not a light but this it what I'm working on right now the cap still has some finishing touches but for the most part it's done

Ordered a different reflector some gold plated springs and a driver

That's always the frustrating part, waiting for the postman

Just got the first package in. Time to draw up some plans and I'll try toget something turned tomrow

Ok this is my progress so far. I only get 30 min a day to work on thi sence I'm useing the lathe at work.






I know it's not pritty but I still have lots to do. I'll be adding some fluteing that's why it's so thick

I got some more done. The pillar is half done and so is the body. I have my tail cap assembly complete. I will get some pictures later.