I don’t want to come across as being overly negative, but my concerns are primarily about the mechanical design, which was the whole point of this “special elegant … flashlight” in the first place.
Putting the e-switch in the tailcap, with the co-axial inner tube for signalling, will require great precision and consistency in manufacture. Long-term reliability of this arrangement will depend on this. Even the design of the tail switch concerns me, if it is to be a bespoke assembly, rather than using a known-good component. Making reliable switches is not easy, though they appear superficially simple.
I have no idea how the design has progressed since the first rendering was shown in the first post. But the original concept may have become diluted:
“For a lot of us mere mortals, seeing the cool things machinists make on their lathe is just a dream.
Hence the finish of the FW3A will be clear anodizing, no sanding/beadblasting before anodization.
The idea is to give all the chance to have a light looking like it came of a lathe with the protection of anodizing.
(surface finish details are still being worked out though)”
I have confidence that DEL’s driver will be good, and admire the x1, xn 7135, plus FET, architecture. I’d like to see more of this sort of thing.
As I have confidence that TK’s firmware will deliver, preferably fine-tuned to the characteristics of the production LEDs.
Both have been ready for a long time.
It is however disappointing how long this has dragged on, the gestation period of an elephant, or two humans. So far.
In business this just won’t do, workers have to work and be paid, and bring up their families, factories have to keep their machinery running profitably, production slots booked, workers trained, test procedures and equipment in place, marketeers have to market, distributors have to commit to buying stock and be prepared to service warranties, supply chains have to be ready, long-lead and critical components procured, commodity items checked, in case the buyers need special instructions to make sure they get the right ones, Bills Of Materials signed off, firmware committed so the MCUs can be factory-flashed before delivery (mucking about with clips or even pogo pins at the last minute is not an efficient option, except maybe for first-batch)
Designers have to be competent, productive, and motivated to sign off each project, on-time (that means having a plan), with confidence (or be prepared to can them, if it isn’t going to work), then look forward to moving on to the next one.
Otherwise it looks more like a hobby, perhaps where the process, and finessing, is more interesting than the end result.
Meanwhile time moves on, and other interesting things appear, for example the latest Fireflies torch is piquing my interest.
I have been informed that Lumintop are ready to go, just waiting on TLF people and intermediaries to validate the design. Which is a serious decision, not to be rushed.
Fingers crossed that all is well.