fabricating a light from scratch on the lathe... *pics*

heres my first large piece of aluminum stock i made myself, its on the lathe…

here it is, in my hand… for scale…

here in my hand again… with a protected 26650 sitting in my bore job. easy slip fit, no rattle. note the beefiness of the walls.

reserved

it is to be noted…

this was originally just a “dry run”, but… i like where its going, so, i’m gonna try to finish it. I still need a tailcap and switch on it, obviously… the other end will take the head/pill…

i still havent decided on driver/pill, but… as you can tell from the “beef” i am putting on it? i can pretty much put whatever i want in it, theres plenty of meat and the whole light will be thick solid machined aluminum, a giant heat sink.

this is actually one of my worst pieces of metal i first made… i have fluxing down much better now, and my next stock i cast and machine up, will be very much more pretty. still, i like where i “am now”, and am considering all kind sof thngs for the light emitter wise.

i might even put a small COB i have on it? because the 26650 would run it “probably all week”, lol… useful flood-light with long run time… or? i might go “big and hot” for emitter, the 26650 and the meatiness of the light will handle a lot.

just having fun, winging it for this “dry run”….

Watching with interest. All the best for the build. :+1:

Hope it turns out great :+1:

the machined casting looks good ,looking forward to the rest of the build…

well, a few things i was worried about originally? that i now know are fine…

for one? i was worried that “casting” a piece of stock? would make for a chunk of rod that looked like… a piece of cheap casting when it breaks, you know, looks like silver sand in it?

this stuff isnt. its “real metal” after you skim off several thou. the mix of the “melt”? is surprisingly similar to some of the high-dollar stock metal mixes… the only thing my stock lacks? is the long and expensive heat treating, which i am finding out, doesnt make it into “butter metal”, its fine.

if you look CAREFULLY at the first photo? i wasnt “hiding” the inclusion near the surface, i left it out in the open to show it. Its only about 10 thou deep or so, and will come rightoff wheni do the finish skim to tidy it all up.

there are no big bubbles, or pieces of slag floating around, none of the “scare stories” people told me.

for the purposes of making heat sinks custom, and whole light bodies… and machining it? no issues. and keep in mind? this isnt my “bast case” to show off? this is my worst case, i am handicapping myself, lol…

i am about to call this an unqualified complete success.

now, if my machining is just up to the task, but, like i said… what i lack in master machinist skills? i intened to make up for, with “beef” and basic shaping. I want to “go big or go home”.

Nice! Unreal to know that this was a pile of soda cans that you converted into bar stock yourself!
Following the build!!

Isn’t the aluminium too soft? Any idea what the rough mechanical properties are, and perhaps be cautious with machining thin structures?

It doesn’t sound like he has any intention of machining thin structures or thin anything. :+1:

Hmm… I thought he was going to make a light out of it according to the title of this thread, requiring further machining… I don’t know…

okay… that was the first decent size piece of stock i made… previously, they were just decent size heat sink size chunks of aluminum.

that one, i wanted to try to pour a “soda can” size chunk of aluminum, but, rather ended up with more of, erm… “a can of tomato paste size” chunk of aluminum, lol… mainly because, i suppose, thats what i poured the molten aluminum into… one of those small tomato paste cans? ha ha

i’m not going to lie, what would the point be? I honestly have no freaking idea what the $%^& i am “doing”, actually and truthfully. LMAO. I honetly have no idea how to now machine up a “tail cap” and put a clicky in it? never did this before. I was thinking of taking an existing tailcap from some other unloved light? and maybe machining it down smooth, so i could tight press fit it into a chunk of aluminum to make the tail cap. I havent started cutting threads yet, so, i would have to go for a loose press fit, then drill and tap.

now i am looking at it? this piece is longer than the 26650 by a little bit… smart thing now MIGHT be to just open up the bore from the “head” side, make this thing just be the whole body tube, i guess. then i can worry about pouring two smaller pieces to make the tailcap and head out of.

i am figuring everything should be “beefy” and thick? mainly just so its ultra sturdy and theres a lot of mass for heat sinking. I can always machine down the outside later on, to make it thinner, lighter, or for shape. would be hard to put metal back ON IT though, lol… so for now i go thick.

okay, without any better ideas or suggestions? i talked myself into boring out the rest thru the head side, turn this into the 1x26650 body tube.

You have to start somewhere and indeed you have.
To make life easier for me when I build a light I make the head and tailcap. When these are assembled you can hold a battery between the two and measure the gap. That gives you the length of the tailcap minus threads.

This is interesting. So, are you using a mini lathe? Any pics of your casting setup? Really curious to see how you go about doing that. And I recognize that protected Radio Shack 26550 in there.

hey, good eye on the RAT shack 26650! yeah, the boys on here had a thread on rat shack clearance? i bought a de-world 2-bay charger, and several lith’s… i bought the pair of 26650’s, not even owning a light that took them yet, LMAO… i just always thought 26650s were “neato”… good excuse to buy my first 26650 light, eh? ha ha… I guess, i might be a flashaholic if… i bought batteries i didnt yet own a light that fit them, ha ha.

yes, i am using a mini lathe. Its your typical “central machinery” chinese lathe, the little harbor freight 7x10. do i wish i had bought a larger one? of course! but, when i pulled the trigger on buying one? money was tight, and i had a coupon and it was on sale, and the money i saved i plowed into some basic tooling so i could start playing as soon as i got home from the toy store (hf toy store, lol)

you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had… this does what i need. somewhere between 3” and 3.5” of turning stock? the tool post is in the way, thats my limit on turning size. for length? no, i cant chuck up a 4D maglight body and get the tail stock on and the live center on it… too short. BUT, if i had waited until i felt the money was comfortable to get the 9x19 grizzly or the 9x21 i was thinking was perfect? i would still be waiting to own one, lol… now i have some experience running one and making useful stuff. If (when, actually) I buy the bigger grizzly? i prolly wont get rid of this little one…

as long as i concentrate on what i CAN do with it? instead of cry about not turning 4” stock? or chucking up a 6D maglite?? i am continually impressed by what the bottom of the barrel lathe does accomplish.

finish and accuracy? seem to be more determined by my ability to handle a lathe, not the quality of the unit.

=

okay, tea time gabbing is over… i got done with stage 2… time to post another pic…

Hi sedstar. You are truly making a flashlight from the very beginning! I wish I had the facilities and skills to do what you are doing. Looks like a lot of fun. I too am following your efforts with great interest.

bored in from the other side, and met up the bores. 1x26650 smoothly fits in and can go thru now. this pic shows that… also took off the larger radius that was on the “chucked” side once it was out to be played with.

heres the pill or heatsink i made earlier? sitting on top of this battery tube… its a hair bigger, i can fix that later, but, this could be the pill/head of the light. clearly, the only constant design criteria so far? is “beef”.

heres both in my hand, hold them together, pretending its a light, to see how the hand size is…

for my next trick? uhm… i am open to suggestions how i make a tailcap “work” with a clicky, i mean, i dont know what to make. otherwise, i am going to machine down an existing tailcap for a tight press fit into another chunk that will become the tailcap.

since i dont do threads yet? any joining will have to be a loose press fit, then drill and tap a few times around the circumference. that would fit in with the overal “machined beef” theme of this… lol

starting to think, with the thick walls of the battery tube, and the big solid pill top… it would be a crying SHAME not to go with something equally “beefy” for a driver and emitter… a little COB i was thinking of using for run time? would be just a waste of all this potential sinking… i mean, we have some “mass” here… but, holding it all in my hand? its notlike its a ten pound light, and its a nice hand size. so, I havent managed to screw it up yet. I do want to be careful though, its always possible to snatch defeat from the jaws of vistory, this i know.

Flood or throw? Either way a DD driver or maybe DD no driver. Triple XPL + cute-3, dedomed xpg-2 or XPL hi w/C8 reflector. Maybe even a quad w/SRK reflector.

oh rufus… yeah, now we’re talking. i never did DD before, course i never machined my own castings either… so what the hell.

i guess a triple “something” with one of those cutie-three’d everyone is modding, thats an option… i was thinking maybe a single something with a high quality zoomie lens, but “fixed” at neither flood nor throw… like a handheld stage light.

course now you mention reflector… i guess i could cast and machine out a head for a reflector.

well, i gots to make a clicky tailcap now… if only to give me time to figure out my next move. hummmmm. a cigarette gives a wise man time to think, and a fool something to stick in his mouth… fortunately if i keep my mouth shut while smoking? onlookers cant tell which it is, ha ha.

is it hard to put one of the clickies everyone replaces them in other lights with? hard to use it? i never did it before… am i just machining a pocket?