The BLF DIY Forum First Annual Scratch made light contest - CONTEST IS DONE - WINNERS are Announced! in the OP

Ja7 has the most artistic build and I think Texaspyro did the most professional job on a light designed to attract alien attention. Buckminster Fuller would be proud of the coke light. I guess it depends on whether you like apples, oranges, peaches, nectarines… No two are alike so how do you decide?

a huge shiny .50 bmg (Big Motherfudgin Gun) round that puts out a decent amount of light... i really like all the builds, but i am partial to militaria

the machined class was most difficult. i like the bare look and contrast of the different metals of DNF, but i am a stickler for good knurling too

Yup, it fries them big eyed little gomers to a crisp… that’ll teach ’em to keep them probes to themselves…

I was thinking it’s going to signal them to come. Think about the warp signature that thing is putting out! J)

Yup, lure them in with one of the beacon modes. Then crank up the volume to “11”…

And I’ll pick off the strays while DBCstm plays hide and seek out in the asteroid belt. Ja7 can pretend to be an asteroid. The tower of power would light up the dark side of the moon. Relic could be posing for glam shots and when the visitors stop at the coke machine, they’d get a big surprise.

The winners have been announced, in the OP.

Congrats to all the winners for your well deserved victories!! I can't begin to say how inspired and awed I am by your ingenuity and patience. You are all winners in my book!

I will add that as good as they all were, I fully agree with the final decision and placings for the winners. Just like I'd have picked 'em. :bigsmile: :beer:

Build your own light , the wise old man said

With your own two hands and the smarts in your head


Heat up the iron ‘till it glows cherry red


Many’s the hour that you’ll spend in your shed


Nurture the foal to a grand Thoroughbred


Give it your best and your legend will spread


And the Gods will be pleased when your life’s story’s read

I knew that ray gun with both flashlight and laser was a sure winner, simply too ingenious and well implemented to not come in 1st in a landslide. Nice wins everybody, and thanks so much to the sponsors, WooHoo! Bounty! :slight_smile:

Seriously, I really do appreciate the compliments on the GDB 50BMG. My first flashlight build and it was a smashing success, loved doing it and super loved the expression on my cousins face while he soaked it in when I gave it to him! I’m already doing things I was scared to try before, so it’s opened doors to me (I’m sure I’ll destroy some things as well, but it’s not like that’s never happened before!)

I have a 25mm build in store, just about have the necessary parts to get started. It will sport a custom made triple xp-g2 at 5.4A from Australia. :slight_smile: This one is massive, the empty case literally swallows the entire 50 BMG!!! :slight_smile:

More news at 11. :wink:

Thanks again, very very much appreciated!

Congrats to everyone who took part! It was awesome watching these builds! Personally I took a liking to ruffles build.

-Garry

Awesome! I won something! Sweet! Paydirt! Well, I’m still $60 in the hole, but I have a decent light and green fingernails :smiley:

RBD deservedly gets the top prize! That was an amazing build. :face_with_monocle:

Congrats to all contestants, everyone walks away with something, especially the experience of building your own light :slight_smile:
Until next year (maybe not right in northern hemi summer though :wink: sorry Aussies )

I had the Green Fingernail Syndrome as well, that bright green copper tarnish…kinda cool and freaky at the same time. lol

Any time will be bad for someone, but I think next year it should be posted in April and started in May and closed the end of June. That would give a month to enter and two months to finish the build.

It's all a learning experiment. I would love to get a china seller to offer a couple dozen of the same light and have contestants each do their thing with the same light, just to see the results...

Woohoo! I agree Garry only I liked them all. What I find incredible is the variety. No two were even similar so the judges must have had a hard time deciding. I never considered it a sure thing but thought it was a good idea and proceeded to make the best MTM raygun I could using the tools and time allowed. If you’ve read through the build thread you’ve seen what it took to transform, reshape, solder, and stich this thing into it’s present form. Thank you Justin for putting on a fun challenging contest. Thanks also to the sponsors for pitching in to make this happen. And a big group hug with all the other contestants in the a first annual BLF DIY Forum Scratch Made Light Contest. It may be years before I recover enough to enter another. Would it be inappropriate to yell YABBA DABBA DOO?

Many Thanks to all people involved! The organizer, the judges, the sponsors and the fellow contestants!
I may repeat myself, but that was the most fun time I had in a forum for a looong time! :slight_smile:
Was so great to watch all the ideas grow to real lights, and the own building was fun of course!

I think it would be an adequate reaction.
Give it a try, might be a quite rewarding/liberating experience! :wink:

What a contest - what a thread!
Thanks for organizing this 8)

Congrats to RBD for taking a well-deserved top place, & congrats to all of the other builders for taking the time & effort to share with us all. :beer: :beer:

Thanks to OL for arranging the comp & initial prize money, & thanks to Illumination Supply & LightsCastle for kicking in with all of the gift certificates!

It will be interesting to see where all of the builds end up in time-to-come.

I’m looking forward to next time. :beer:

A huge thanks to OL for making this contest happen, and to the sponsors (members and sellers) as well! THANK YOU!

It was a joy to see what everybody came up with!

:beer:

congratulations everyone! and thanks to the sponsors too!