MascaratumB’s entry – Old Lumens Contest 2019 - Modified Light Category [FINISHED on 8th February 2020]

[MascaratumB]

During the last days I made some more “woodwork!!! This isn’t complete yet!
For those wondering what this will ”eventually” be, it will be a flashlight support that I intend to use in 2 different ways!
When it is done, I will join check if it is indeed viable to use it and I will shown its purpose in the overal mod

Not having proper tools, this is what I’ve done using what I have and that is show in the photos.
Filing, drilling, escavating the wood.
In the last photos you’ll see that the woodpiece has a whole. Well, there was a “knot” there that I ‘had to’ escavate to avoid some aesthetic malfunction and it was also in purpose to use the wood for my second purpose that I will show later;)

This is it’s current state! My aim is now to drill/file the bigger hole and make it even! That will be a “light window”

Stay tunned

[CRX]

[MascaratumB]

@CRX

:+1:

:nerd_face: :sunglasses:

[MRsDNF]

I see a pipe.

[MtnDon (Don Miller)]

This info may not be of use right now, but seeing what you were doing with the dremel and sanding sleeve reminded me of these. Kutzall makes some super burrs for removing wood, carving with wood. There are different shapes and degrees of coarseness. When they fill up with wood dust use a torch and burn them clean and work again. 1/8 and 1/4” shafts available. They do have sales every so often. Also good are their discs for angle grinders and their hand rasps.

[MascaratumB]

@MRsDNF

I see a pipe. :+1:

Ahah, maybe a pipelight
That would be a nice idea, yes :student: And with an hot rod like,it would be….smokin :smiling_imp:

@MtnDon

This info may not be of use right now, but seeing what you were doing with the dremel and sanding sleeve reminded me of these. Kutzall makes some super burrs for removing wood, carving with wood. There are different shapes and degrees of coarseness. When they fill up with wood dust use a torch and burn them clean and work again. 1/8 and 1/4” shafts available. They do have sales every so often. Also good are their discs for angle grinders and their hand rasps.

Thats MtnDon! Those seem quite nice tools! Unfortunately I don’t even have “dremel” (as in the good ones!).
This is my tool that you see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZhzatfIFKs
It’s a cheap one, and I try the best I can with the bits it has (and some others I was offered last year).
Those bits (burrs?) the Kutzal has would be handy in this case! Thanks for pointing them

[MascaratumB]

I had some time tonight and made a little bit of the flashlight mod! The first and most insignificat part

I replaced the rubber cap!
The original was a black one, and I put an orange one. I had to cut some pieces of the orange rubber cap to make it fit above the switch and white spacer.

Below you find the photos of how the light is composed in the tailcap.

Also, a justification of my options: Due to the “architecture” of the tailcap, shaped for a tall and fat forward clicky switch, and due to the diameter of the PCB, I will not use a Reverse Clicky Switch (lighted or not) in this flashlight . You can compare how different they are below. Also, I will not bypass the spring. The 4 Samsung or Luxeon will already drain a lot of juice from the cell, so I will avoid more power drain!

For those wondering about the wood piece, here’s a glimpse of what I want
BTW, the clip used in the flashlight is not the one I will use for the final mod.

And here is part of the reason why I will want the wood support !
The rubber tailcap doesn’t allow the flashlight to tailstand correctly, so, putting it into a “hole” will help to maintain it in “candle” position when needed!
Also, I will use a white cap from a liquid yoghurt to make a diffuser when I want to put the flashlight into the wood structure uspside down It will act like a “lantern” instead of a candle.

[NeutralFan]

Keep up the good work MascaratumB! I like your creativity and all the pictures you post.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

Cool. A wooden holder for candlelight mode. That’s inventive.

[MRsDNF]

Peace pipe?

[MascaratumB]

@NeutralFan

Keep up the good work MascaratumB! I like your creativity and all the pictures you post. :+1:

Thanks for your words NeutralFan! It is not very creative, specially if we look to other mods and builds, but…it may be something useful for this light

@pinkpanda3310

Cool. A wooden holder for candlelight mode. That’s inventive. :+1:

It was inspired in something I am using for my “bedside” flashlight, an Sofirn SP32. I am using a piece of foam from an old perfume box. It works, but foam loses its shape and the flashlight starts to inclinate. So I thought about a more “rigid” structure. From then on…that’s what you’re seeing

@MRsDNF

:+1: Peace pipe?

Ahaha, I guess some “peace makers” would need a pipe and a light to guide them through the way!
I just hope this ends up well to make it work No smoke!

_

BTW folks, I need some help here, please!
I want to put a tritium vial in the tailcap, in the lanyard hole. On the one side I will put the Pocket Clip, and on the other, a trit.
This is the shape of the lanyard hole.

My questions are:
1) what shall I use to glue it there? (ex: epoxy? UV glue?)
2) what techniques to you recommend so that I don’t damage the rest of the host while the glue dries?

I never used/placed tritium, nor epoxy, nor uv glue, so I don’t know the best procedure for this!

Any help is appreciated and thank you in advance

[CRX]

I use a piece of clear tape stuck to the inside of the loop backed with some blutak pressed against it to create a well with a very slightly convex floor then carefully place the vial into the lanyard hole onto the tape and adjust position with a toothpick.
It’s tricky.

Then once I’ve got the vial in place, level, making sure no vial parts (especially tube ends) are protruding past the light body etc I apply some UV glue with a toothpick by slowly dripping in small drops until there is a layer filling the bottom of the well & surrounding the vial.
To help eliminate bubbles you can apply tiny amounts of glue into the vial ends first before placing as there are small pockets on each end which often like to expel tiny air bubbles at just the wrong moment.

Set with UV light making sure no bubbles are hiding, then slowly apply more glue to fill the well some more and harden again.
Fill to a level that covers the vial and is as flush as possible with the body of the light, again tricky due to the curvature.
Then you can remove the tape, give the inside a clean with cottonbud & ISP etc and apply another thin layer to the backside to help protect the vial some.
Hope that gives you some ideas

[MascaratumB]

@CRX

I use a piece of clear tape stuck to the inside of the loop backed with some blutak pressed against it to create a well with a very slightly convex floor then carefully place the vial into the lanyard hole onto the tape and adjust position with a toothpick.
It’s tricky.

Then once I’ve got the vial in place, level, making sure no vial parts (especially tube ends) are protruding past the light body etc I apply some UV glue with a toothpick by slowly dripping in small drops until there is a layer filling the bottom of the well & surrounding the vial.
To help eliminate bubbles you can apply tiny amounts of glue into the vial ends first before placing as there are small pockets on each end which often like to expel tiny air bubbles at just the wrong moment.

Set with UV light making sure no bubbles are hiding, then slowly apply more glue to fill the well some more and harden again.
Fill to a level that covers the vial and is as flush as possible with the body of the light, again tricky due to the curvature.
Then you can remove the tape, give the inside a clean with cottonbud & ISP etc and apply another thin layer to the backside to help protect the vial some.
Hope that gives you some ideas :+1:

Mate, you’re a life saver
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and also the link for the UV glue!
The process I had in mind was more or less similar to what you described, but those tips will help, as I never manipulated those materials! Specially to check the bubbles part!

I guess I will be able to do that according to these guidelines!
If it was a hole prepared for tritium, it would be easier but this can be tricky!

BTW, do I need to make any special preparation of that hole (besides cleaning it well before starting the process)?

Thanks again for your reply mate

And… those lights :heart_eyes:

[CRX]

Just make sure it’s all clean, the tape has no leaks etc.
The hardest part is lining up the vial and air bubbles. I put the glue onto a flat plastic container lid and apply from there with a dropper implement, not straight from the bottle.
Still don’t think I’ve managed to do this perfectly but I’ve tried a few times

Try a practice run or two by making little wells in blutak, another practice light or something similar and small cuttings of wire etc to mimic the tritium vial to get a feel for it.

You can dissolve the glue slowly with acetone or blast it with a jet lighter to soften and remove, but hopefully you wont need those

[NeutralFan]

Great info CRX! Looking forward to see how it works out for you MascaratumB.

[MascaratumB]

@CRX

Just make sure it’s all clean, the tape has no leaks etc.
The hardest part is lining up the vial and air bubbles. I put the glue onto a flat plastic container lid and apply from there with a dropper implement, not straight from the bottle.
Still don’t think I’ve managed to do this perfectly but I’ve tried a few times

Try a practice run or two by making little wells in blutak, another practice light or something similar and small cuttings of wire etc to mimic the tritium vial to get a feel for it.

You can dissolve the glue slowly with acetone or blast it with a jet lighter to soften and remove, but hopefully you wont need those

Thanks again for the tips mate Well, if I create a buble trit, would it count some more points as double mod? Eheh!

I guess I will do as you say, try and practice in other flashlights to see how it is done and then I get back to the VG10! I don’t wanna ruin it before it’s done

I am thinking about putting the tape in the outer part and drop the glue and trit from the inside of the tailcap (with the rubber cap removed of course!). Let’s see how it works

And thanks again

@NeutralFan

Great info CRX! Looking forward to see how it works out for you MascaratumB.

:+1:

[MascaratumB]

So, no work these few weeks, but I ordered some stuff I needed, namely: UV glue, tritium Vial, pocket clip.
Despite I initially put a “titanium” clip as aim, I opted for a Stainless Steel one!

I also got notice from kiriba-ru that my package with the pill, optics and Noctigon MCPCB were already shipped!
Despite this and despite I like the Samsung LH351D A LOT, is is probable that I will order Luxeon V Leds from Led4power… Yet to be decided

I also updated the tables on post #1 with the prices and the aims of this mod.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

Nothing wrong with stainless clips. There’s a reason the market is full of them

[MascaratumB]

@pinkpanda3310

Nothing wrong with stainless clips. There’s a reason the market is full of them

Yup true I opted for that for a matter of budget and because the Ti clip wouldn’t add an “extra” to the mod, aside the look and the final value.
So I went to AliExpress and searched for a SS one! I just hope it fits well
Maybe I can give it a personalized touch when it arrives

[MascaratumB]

This week I received another component for this mod: the DRIVER!

This is a 22mm driver, double sided from Lexel, with Bistro OTSM Firmware.
As I still don’t have the pill, the optics nor the LEDs to complete the MOD, I just experimented the Driver to check if it worked fine, specially due to the differences in diameter and “architecture” if compared to the original driver.

Some photos below of this experience.

1st, the original elements of the flaslight

2nd, the driver to be installed for this mod

3rd, the structure of the flashlight that I will probably will have to mod to make the wires pass throught the shelf

4th, the new driver experimentation
a) How it fits and how it will look (without the spring)

b) Installing the spring and wire in the driver (tinned the bottom and the spring with some solder and then installed)

c) How does it look in a provisory way

d) There shall be light

So far, so good!
My biggest concern with a double sided driver was the possibility of the 7135 chips get in contact of get smashed when the battery tube attached to the head. However, the diameter of the whole bunch of chips is smaller than the battery tube inner diameter, so they fit well

Now, my biggest concern will be…how to keep the driver in place, once its’ diameter is smaller than the head hole. Maybe some solder? Epoxy? Any thing ti “press-fit it?

Any clue in this is appreciatted!

Some more info:
The pill and optic are already on the way (status: in Portugal)!
I decided that I will use Luxeon V 4000K Leds on this mod (status: ordered from led4power this week).
The UV glue and the tritium have shipped, as did the pocket clip!