mr_magoo's hand-made entry in the 7th annual BLF/ Old- Lumens scratch made light contest

Ok, starting this build thread today to get me motivated to start.

My spare time is very limited, and I dont have access to many tools anymore (used to be a machinist and weldor- now I work on a ranch with a tiny uninsulated ā€˜shopā€™) so I hope this doesnā€™t turn out to look like too much of a hack-job. Iā€™ve seen CRXā€™s entries in the hand-made category and, well, Iā€™m nowhere near that skilled. So Iā€™m not trying to win, just want a light that fits my needs better than whatā€™s out there. And I like the way people jump in with and share ideas / info here on blfā€¦if someone wants to take any of my ideas and run with them, all the better for all of us.

I am also not well versed in electronics or programming. If I can get help with an e- switch driver that fits and has a u/I that I like, that would be awesome. Otherwise Iā€™ll probably be using a MTN driver with a simple u/Iā€¦

Or, if I could snag one from an existing cheap light, thatā€™s fine too.

Now on to my reason for this build:

Will edit in a few.

Reservedā€¦

Cool, welcome aboard :+1:

Hey, CRX posting in my thread :slight_smile: Always enjoy seeing your builds, theyā€™ve been inspirational to me. Very fine craftsmanship and ingenuity.

Glad to see youā€™ve got a build thread going :+1:

In the main contest thread, you mentioned looking for a 12mm or 14mm e-switch driver. Iā€™m not familiar with any 12mm ones, but 14mm could be had by carefully filing down a 15mm driver, such as this one at Mountain Electronics. Taking it down 1mm shouldnā€™t be a problem. For a relatively simple ramping e-switch interface, Iā€™d recommend selecting the D4 V2 UI

If you really need something one-off, I might be able to help out. I donā€™t want to get into the ā€œdriver design for hireā€ gig, but for the sake of the Old Lumens contest, I might be able to lend a hand. Iā€™ve recently designed a few linear (using AMC7135, CN5710, or QX7138-controlled FET) and FET+1 driver as driver replacements for various flashlights (example1 example2 example3). For e-switch lights, Iā€™ve really taken a liking to that D4 UI V2 (ā€œRampingIOSā€) for nicely featured control without the blinkies.

Iā€™ve made a 12mm driver, but it was ATtiny13, so no advanced firmware is really possible. Iā€™m not sure if 12mm with ATtiny85 is possible, but it would be interesting to see if it can be made to fit. That is what Anduril and Narsil run on currently. Some of the more modern chips are very capable, and also very tiny, but we still donā€™t have working firmware for those.

Edit: Just saw your post in the other thread. I could be wrong, but I think ATtiny85 could be made to fit on a 14mm driver. If so, Anduril and Narsil are both possible.

Best wishes for the contest! :+1: :+1:

Man, thanks for the input! After I saw your post this morning, I went over ther and looked through his drivers and saw that the 15mm one could be had with the aTtiny 85 and ramping IOS. Itā€™s a great ui as far as I can tell. I think Iā€™ll order a few and give it a go.

I havent 100% solidified my plans, and just might have some aux leds since I saw some of MTNā€™s electeonic switches can come with aux leds. Though driving them is going to be hard for me to figure out how to do.

If you donā€™t care about controlling them (battery level signaling and such), you can wire the aux LED wire right to Batt+ (somewhere on the driver) and they will just be lit 100% of the time. Pretty simple if simple is what you want.

I love a hack job. :heart_eyes:

Thatā€™s the original BLF spirit at work, right DNF? :wink:

Woohoo, another entry. Good luck magoo

The original and still the best. :slight_smile:

subscribed! :+1:

Canā€™t wait to see your ideas! keep us posted! :beer:

Thanks for the support guys, I had a couple ideas i wanted to pursueā€¦and still doā€¦ but DBSARā€™s got my brain going again about a dual purpose flashlight/lantern combo which is something Iā€™ve also been yearning for that isnā€™t out there. Iā€™ve had some ideas come and go, but never acted on them. Maybe this is the direction I should go.

It will definitely be challenging to fit what i want into a package size I want but I like a challebge. Iā€™m thinking Iā€™d definitely need some help with software/ driver(s) on this.

Hmmm. Iā€™ll just toss some of my thoughts out here to get them wrote down, and see what sticks:

Micro-mini thrower/ lantern combo, no longer than the fwa1, but even smaller would be cool. Distance and broad area lighting in one light.

Might also be able to be used as a headlamp if glare can be controlled and it isnā€™t to bulky/ heavyā€¦maybe, dunno. Just had a very loose idea for how to implement this rolling around in my brain using sliding or rotating clear vs. Semi- translucent diffusersā€¦Iā€™ll have to loose some sleep on this one to hatch it better.

The premise is that the whole handle (or most of it anyway) will be a diffuser, with one area that is not frosted that can be rotated into position in front of the leds on one side of the handle while used in 180 degree mode, to avoid having glare come back into your eyes. Might have to do something special with black paint, or a mini optic installed or cast into the plastic to further reduce glare.

Dual button interface just to make it simple to use-One controls the lantern, the other controls the flashlight.

21700? 18650 will make it skinnier and allow for more/ larger diameter diffuser.

Fold out stabilizers.

Electronic tail clicky for the flashlight.

Selectable 180 or 360 degree lantern modes via an easily felt, but bezel protected switch on the side of the body. Maybe one on each side, corresponding to which side you want light on. Damn. That means 3 drivers, or one very complicated one.

Magnetic pocket clip that the body can rotate in, so the lantern can shine anywhere you want when stuck to the hood of a car. Similar to how I modded my (now missing) acebeam h10 headlamp, by heat shrinking a few small bar magnets the pocket clip.

A clip that also allows the light to be fastened to the brim of a hat. This has been another of the things Iā€™ve wanted out of a headlamp pocket clip for a long time.

USB charging would be nice, but my skill and knowledge level may prohibit a size- efficient implementation of that.

Iā€™ve been thinking about what Iā€™d like for a u/I in a edc flashlight for quite a while, so might as well write it down even though that may not happen with this one. I will more than likely have to rely on someone elseā€™s help to achieve that, unless I somehow miraculously lean how to write code.

DREAM U/I: details coming tomorrow.

This sounds like an ambitious build. Good luck :+1:

If you havenā€™t started already you might want to get stuck into it mate. Less than 6 weeks left :beer: