CRX Stratis Lumina - 2017 5th BLF Scratch Made Light Contest Winner

Too Cool!!!

Started work on the driver and wiring today.

I made a driver housing from two brass 18mm extension rings with holes filed out.

The battery compartment is lined with 1mm thick felt to give some clearance from the copper mid layer heatsink.

A test of the main driver wired up to my test LED and showing the cyan GITD backed red LED's :THUMBS-UP:

Charger board and red LED test.

Reds connected to mercury switch so when the light is held face down or thereabouts the reds illuminate automatically.

Still some tweaking to do on the switch positioning but it works :THUMBS-UP:

Today's Tune:

www.youtube.com/embed/PkuwIWxxHyg

Looking at all the wiring has just made me hungry. I wonder why?

Spaghetti junction :slight_smile:

Hey, I'm back! Did you miss me? :))

I took a little break from this build after a problem with some wiring, this is what 28AWG silicone wire and a mercury tilt switch looks like after 20 or 30 Amps go through it :FACEPALM:

It is a very scary moment indeed when your build decides to spontaneously combust when you're not expecting it and don't have tools near to cut the battery wires :))

This was after I had it potted, there was an intermittent fault somewhere in the red LED circuit so I ripped it all out and rewired it a bit better this time :THUMBS-UP:

www.youtube.com/embed/oM6Rb8z2ugk

This was really demoralizing and I didn't seem to have my usual motivation for it so I decided I needed a rest from building the main light and got to thinking about the spare pieces of wood & copper.

You know how I like to make lights in sets... ;)

So I decided to make a companion mini version, introducing the Mini SL, this will also give you an insight into what the Stratis Lumina will eventually be like :-)

I did not take build pictures as I just wanted to get it finished & working in a few hours but I basically used the same techniques as shown previously.

The Mini SL is powered by a 200mAh lipo cell, has a TP5000 charger board set to 100mA charge current and triple XP-G2 S4 3D front emitters on a Noctigon MCPCB and two red 3mm emitters on the bottom with two momentary switches on top.

Showing the cyan GITD behind the switches & bottom LED's.

Size comparison to it's big brother approximately 69%, it measures 59mm x 38mm x 12mm.

In hand.

Compared to some other stuff.

Can't really see it too well here, but showing the red charging indicator light, turns green when done.

Operational.

I hope you enjoyed this wee shiny update :THUMBS-UP:

Today's Tune:

www.youtube.com/embed/bjS-dGRmugU

Of cause we missed your daily posting from our favorite CRX.

Love the current testing on the tilt switch. I always wanted to know the current handling ability on these switches. Now we know. :stuck_out_tongue:

Knocked this up in a few hours? As only you can. :slight_smile: :beer:

Away for a week, & I miss all this action :partying_face:

This is looking very sweet indeed! :beer:

Nice work CRX. Love the smaller size of the miniSL.

LOL you’re insane !
“Yeaa well I wasn’t in the mood to work on my main project so I just made a smaller version of it to occuy my hands :partying_face:
Man, I love tht one, like really ! Really well done :+1:

Love the mini.

I don’t quite get it, but it’s beautiful!

You have many friends in the same boat. :partying_face:

Hey guys, a bit more magic done on this today ;)

First I rounded off the front plate window as good as I could get it by hand then sanded and polished the front & back copper face plates. Note to self - Don't mark the lines so deep next time :FACEPALM: :TIRED:

Next up I had to take 0.5mm off the bottom of the quad MCPCB and optic legs so they fit under the glass nice n snug when assembled. I used 600 grit wet & dry silicone carbide sandpaper to first sand down the board using an old optic on top, continually checking the depth in the light. Once I was happy with that I put the optic I will be using into the MCPCB and gently sanded down the protruding legs then finally flipped the sandpaper over, put on some metal polish and shined it up some.

I got the switches installed and the wiring in place for the quad and UV array. I measured out the position for the quad then flowed the emitters & jumpers onto the board using a butane jet lighter and long nosed pliers to hold the board while heating then fixed in place, soldered the wires & gave it a quick test :THUMBS-UP:

I then wired up the UV array which is potted now with cyan GITD tape on top, although it is not fixed in place yet and gave all systems a preliminary test :THUMBS-UP:

Today's Tune:

www.youtube.com/embed/3WNmQNt2k7A

Cool!! :+1: A lot going on in a small package

I agree Don. There would be no hope at all of me making something like this work. My thumbs are to big. :slight_smile:

That is one crazy little light-maker! :+1:

The build, that is, not the builder… maybe both?? I don’t know… :wink: :person_facepalming:

Both for sure :smiley:

Got the 34mm x 2mm ARC front glass installed with some B7000 glue and attached the front and back plates with felt and kapton tape in the appropriate places on the covers.

Still waiting on some brass screws and have some sanding & tidying up to do but we're getting closer now :-)

The bottom centre picture shows the lights next to a credit sized card.

Today's Tune:

www.youtube.com/embed/ae5fLRE3Rlw

If you submit both lights to the competition, I’ll vote for the smaller. Cuuuute! :slight_smile:

If anyone wants to be dazzled open the images up in new tabs and have a look at them in their original size. The finish and detail is amazing especially for the size of these lights. The whole build is simply orsm from start to finish. Well done CRX. :slight_smile: