… any week now.
…
… I hope.
Neal got what was supposed to be the final prototype, but he said something vague about having issues, and hasn’t really answered my questions about it. So if my guess is correct, he’s working out whatever-it-was with Lumintop.
Neal also sent some pictures, but they’re the same ones tatasal posted. I’ll put them up again in another comment.
That already happened, basically. Fritz designed the light and doesn’t really have any more tasks to do. I think he has just been too busy to stay involved, so I’ve been filling in. Most of what is left depends on Neal, me, and whoever is willing to help at TLF. But at the moment, every pending task depends on Neal.
Complaining about things which can be fixed is one thing. It’s arguably productive, especially when it comes in the form of a bug report with a patch. But complaining about things which can’t be fixed, or just tossing negativity into the ether, mostly just drags people down.
For example, it’s unhealthy to the community when someone spends more than a year posting an average of 2+ comments per day (and not much else) which all have more or less the same negative message:
Sir, I understand that it is your constitutional right to poop on the floor of a public forum every morning after coffee, but… could you not?
Yeah… sometimes I have to wait until I can set aside an entire afternoon. Far too often, BLF is like a job that I don’t get paid for. In the past, I’ve intentionally avoided running any projects like this, but when everyone else disappeared I kinda got stuck with it.
Well, yes. You’re completely correct. But communication has been the primary ongoing issue for this project. I would have set things up differently if it had been my project, but it’s way too late to restart the whole thing with more-communicative team members. So it’s going to continue to be difficult until the light is finally shipped. Maybe even after that too, depending on how much Neal invests into customer support services.
I understand that it’s frustrating, and it’s more frustrating for me than for most, but it’s not something which can be fixed so we all just have to deal with it until it’s over. And, unfortunately, complaining about unfixable issues only makes things worse. It makes life more unpleasant for everyone involved while adding nothing useful or insightful. Of course, that will happen anyway, but I really appreciate the people who refrain from doing so or who try to make things easier while we wait.
Thanks for clearing that up. It gets a little old fighting pessimistic speculation, unfounded claims, FUD, inflammatory posts, and other disinformation. So it’s really nice to have help.
There is no mystery. All the info is from this thread. We just need to read it.
I understand that not everyone has the time to read the thread, so I try to answer these repetitive type questions when I have time.
As above, thank you.
Perhaps future projects need to come with the following disclaimer: “No refunds on emotional investments!”
I may have to put that in the first post.
I just searched and had no luck. Someone, I think TK, mentioned different optics that could easily be switched in and out, for more throw, different beam patterns, or whatnot. Does anyone know where I can find this info?
Any standard Carclo triple optic of the right size should work, such as the ones sold at MtnElectronics. This includes 10507, 10511, 10508, 10509, and 10510. The 10507 optic makes the most throw, but also makes virtually every emitter look ugly. So the default is 10511 because it provides the most throw available without causing strong beam artifacts. It can also be polished to increase throw, while still producing a nicer-looking beam than 10507.