Match's Mods: Make your own custom flashlight (no lathe!)

Great torch Match, It is uncredible you found out how to do it with such common materials.

That is pretty genius, form follows function.

I don't like the orange button though.

just saw this thanks to old lumens linking it. ingenious build.

i think it'd look super cool knurled (technically, you don't HAVE to use a lathe...but you could probably buy a lathe off craigslist for the cost of a hand knurling tool lol). I can just imagine what full knurling would look like after weeks of edc - sort of multicolor probably...

nice job

Hi I want to say that I enjoyed this post so much that I’m planning on starting my own version of this project.

With plans to sell the resulting product, I know there’s no patent or anything but I wanted to let you know.

And thank you for the Idea !

> pill assembly/dropin slide down each time the battery is replaced

You can solve that by finding a little rubber ring that will fit snugly behind the pill inside the tube — that was the solution for the same problem with M@g AA dropins sliding back out.

Wow what a beauty! I love it!

I’ve always wanted to build a flashlight, but don’t (yet?) own a lathe…
Now, my first build will probably look like this (minus the perfection, plus some beginner mistakes)! :slight_smile:

ever thought about making a few and selling it to your fellow BFLers?

I’m late to the party, but this is a gorgeous light! Might just try one my ownself, my last build of a triple impressed my aunt so much with it’s output she wanted one really bad, and she loves copper. So sometimes certain things just kind of go “click” and that’s that! :slight_smile:

Thanks Match, another great build even if it’s been in the woodwork for a while. :wink:

Match is Mr amazing in more ways than one.

Definitely another to add to my list to do asap!

I like the set screw, but I think it needs a thread able tail cap … Surely there is a tap and die set somewhere around this house…

What do you use to prevent corrosion?

Match has built some amazing lights and this light I believe was to show what you could do without any type of tools that the normal person would not have. He has inspired more people than me to give light building ago with his simple matter of fact way of putting things across.
Here is a link to his posts.
http://budgetlightforum.com/user/313/cmf

If the oxidation bothers you, you can seal the copper with a wax product or a lacquer but then you lose some of coppers greatest traits. Copper naturally kills viruses and bacteria. Copper even kills MRSA and some other antibiotic resistant bacteria. To remove the oxidation you can soak it in lemon juice or a rub down with a jewelers cloth.

I’ve been reading quite a bit and doing a bit of modding thanks to what I’ve found on this board over the last month or two. This thread inspired me to come up with a hardware store build, and I thought I’d share the outcome. The head is a modified SK98 lens setup, although the only reason I went that route is a lack of thread cutting ability with my lathe. I could have had a less elegant, but more DIY solution, but decided I just wanted to get it up and running.

So, here it is. All copper body and pill, brass 3/4” MNPT cap turned into the tail cap, zoomie function works great. Running the QLite driver with 11 of the 7135 chips. Dedomed XML-T6 U3. Single Panasonic 3400mah battery runs 3.6 amps at the tail cap, with a droop to 3.5 amps when it’s fully heated up. The part you can’t see is a copper shim around the inside of the battery tube to keep the battery from rattling in the 3/4” copper pipe.

I’m pleased, this was the first time I’ve ever soldered together copper tubes, and even with lead free solder for the structural connections it all worked out well (besides the 6 destroyed fittings from the building process, thin walled copper tube is my new most hated material to turn on my lathe).

The best part was finding the 3/4” to 1/2” flush adapters, and realizing I just found easy to source copper pills, and even better, realizing a 1/4” copper washer is a perfect fit for the ID. I made some press fit double layer solid copper pads to sit on a single washer for this light.

That is one neat build. Give yourself a pat on the back. If Match is watching I'm sure he'd be proud that this thread is still inspiring people.

Edit. Welcome by the way. Nice entrance.

Awesome! I see the set screw is to hold the clicky in the back of the light so you can replace the battery

Very very very cool buld man! Excellent as always

What is the interference tolerance of the TIR ring at the front…did it take a press to seat it or just a hammer and a good whack?

Thanks, it was fun, and I got to do a few things I’ve never tried before. Match is a great inspiration, I’m trying hard not to build an IS for the meter that’s coming in the mail. I’m already contemplating a copper 2 cell, with a 75mm aspheric, zoomie, and an xp-g2 running at 4-5 amps.

I need to get some knives done though, so nothing will probably happen till January. Drat.

Kloepper and Match - great ideas. Thanks for posting.

John.

Nice build Kloepper Knife Works!

Thanks, call me Henry, I’m not here to sell anything. :slight_smile:

I just wanted to give back a bit to say thanks for the great forum. I’ve been modding some lights for Christmas presents this year. SK98’s, Uniquefire T20’s, and my favorite a Jax Z1 with a dedomed XP-G2(my present to myself). After doing a dozen modified lights this thread inspired me to do something more interesting. I just wish copper fittings were cheaper at my local hardware store. This definitely isn’t a “budget” build, as it ran about $35-40 for all the parts.