Progress Shots: Aleph Modifications (Finished)

Hey Folks,

I've been working on a few Aleph mods over the weekend, and will be hopefully finishing them up by the end of this week if the convertors from the shoppe arrive soon. The lights aren't quite done yet though, and I'll be doing a bit more detailing on the surface in the coming days. (I'll post pictures along the way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif)





Please let me know what you think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

3/2/05:
I finally had a chance last night to do the final surface finishing on the parts. The bead blasted (completely) one with the FT cap was a special mod a friend commissioned me to do.

The other two that are partially blasted were an idea I decided to try, and I think they turned out pretty nice. Let me know what you think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Enrique




(Sorry for the bad pictures - it's raining. [Incandescents don't make for good photos])

3/05/05:
Finally was able to finish up all of these lights. And of course, it was indeed raining when it came time to take pictures after my headache passed. Thankfully I didn't need the sun this time around.

Anyway, without further adieu, here are the pictures:









All of these lights sport NG1000 light engines with a TW0J LED, except one with a Royal Blue LED. (The RB one is fun to shine around outside and see what fluoresces under it)

Let me know what you all think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Enrique

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

What are you modding on the lights?

I love the Aleph 2 it looks awesome! and in that finish it looks great

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

shiney /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drool.gif

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Awesome, I have a "bare" Aleph 1, modded by Chop and it's my "fav". Let us know the specs, when you're finished!!


jeffb

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

What battery are these...cr123 or cr2?

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

wow! How do you achieve such a high polish? I'm trying to do the same with an Infinity, but I can't get rid of all the scratches (very fine, but observable).

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Beauty!

Enrique, that's just gorgeous. The only things that would make that truly irresistable for me would be:

1. sand/bead blast
2. body for Pila 150A cell
3. electroless nickel (you know I had to say that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
4. matching bald tailcap modified for clickie

Yup, a man can dream. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Wilkey

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

[ QUOTE ]
Ginseng said:
The only things that would make that truly irresistable for me would be:

1. sand/bead blast
...


[/ QUOTE ]

Master Ginseng! Thou has revealed my plans to yonder masses! What ever shall I do to correct this?! Thou speaks sooth, I shall bead blast the Alephs shown here, but not fully!

(Enough bad old English)

Tylerdurden got the gears in my head turning with he mentioned a build with chromed and bead blasted parts. Working off this idea, I decided to strip some parts, and polish everything I had up, then bead blast the knurled areas to contrast with the polished ones. I expect to have time to set everything up and do this in the coming days. Hopefully it'll turn out as nice as I'm expecting it to.

As for how I polished them: I recently bought a lathe, so I used it this time. I just chucked the parts on, let them spin against some steel wool at high speeds, and then polished away with some aluminum polishing compound. Other times I've done it by hand, but that takes many hours, unfortunately.

As for some of your ideas, Wilkey - aside from the EN plating, which unfortunately I'm not setup to do personally, I can probably work up into something as per earlier conversations. If you get enough people interested I'll look for a shop to get some parts plated up nicely, but it won't be until after April 5th when McGizmo returns that it will be close to happening.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'll post pictures of the finished parts when they're done.

-Enrique
(Oh, as to specs on the lights, they're 1x123 and will be powering an NG1000 [runs in safemode at 750mA] and TW0J Luxeon III.)

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Endeavour. Where do you get the bare bodies from?
For me this is the only way I would want to own an Aleph II.
Just polished aluminium.

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Angle,

I bought a few bare aluminum parts from McGizmo, but he's out of town until next month. The parts I couldn't get in bare Al, I had to strip the anodizing layer off with a concentrated lye solution and then clean up the resulting white mess left on the parts from the caustic bath. After everything was set I polished them up as mentioned earlier.

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Thanks, Enrique. I was hoping for a low-tech solution. I've logged several hours of hand turning by now... I'll keep going. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Added a few more pictures. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

On a side note, logicnerd411 uses his iPod often and had scuffed up the back something awful, and asked me to try and fix it for him. Here are the results: iPod

That was probably the thing that took the longest to do last night - the lights were easy because I didn't have to worry about blasting off the text.

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wow.gif those partial bead blasted aleph looks great.

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Sweet!

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Thanks Pokk, Wilkey. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Just waiting on some NG1000 convertors from the shoppe to build up a couple of LEs for these. Should turn out pretty nice.

I'll take some pictures of the LEs, and better photos of the finished lights when the sun comes back, and everything is built. Of course, the two factors are generally mutually exclusive of one another.

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

What about doing reverse of what the first ones in the pick are like? blast everything but the small recessed bands, keep those shiney. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Enrique......how can I missed this Thread !!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif
Very nice work indeed........and if you want my opinion..I like very much the completely bead blasted one with FT switch /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif
Your pictures are not bad even if it's raining /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I am very envious of the future owner of this fabulous flashlight /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I think that if you put these lights in B/S/T forum, they will be sold in just a minute /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

Enrique, as usual you have worked the CPF crowd into a frenzy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Your work is just beautiful. I'm proud to be one of your many satisfied clients. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

Re: Progress Shots: A Few Aleph Modifications

[ QUOTE ]
IsaacHayes said:
What about doing reverse of what the first ones in the pick are like? blast everything but the small recessed bands, keep those shiney. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Read my mind! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Endeavour, they all look great! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif That being said, I'll have to stay AWAY from this thread! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif