That thing looks awesome, nice work!
Nice work, Dale. I’m thinking you might be hanging up a “machinist for hire” shingle soon.
Of course then it wouldn’t be so much fun.
Aah yes, that makes sense. I should have realized taking a reading would have different connections and resistance. It’s a good thing you made it a decent size, that thing is a power house.
Those pesky details… I always use Kester solder and solder paste, but I ran out! So I had this old MG paste I bought from Richard a year or more ago and I used it to reflow the emitters and the Noctigon onto the copper pill. The flux from this is sticky, gummy. I didn’t clean it off, some was in the holes for the legs and I figured it’d kind of stick the optic in place. And that’s exactly what happened. The optic is deep enough into the head that I used Duct tape to pull it out, 2 legs let go, one didn’t, and it must’ve tilted, breaking off that leg. This has never happened to me before and I’ve used the CUTE-3 a LOT.
So, I wanted this one finished and after fitting the pill deeper the optic retaining ring was about a 1/4” down into the threads, showing exposed threads. Went out to address that and messed up the retaining ring. And didn’t have anything big enough to make another one. So I looked around, saw a 3/4” thick plate of G-10 I’ve had for some 17 years, grabbed a hole saw and cut out a 2 1/8” hole, turned it on the lathe and made a new ring. lol So now I have a tapered G-10 retaining ring. I think I’ve actually got a tighter beam profile as well. Go figure.
(Back Story… the 3/4” plate of G-10 I had was from a gunsmith friend that went to work in a medical machine shop that made titanium transplant parts for knees and hips. This plate was supposed to be used as the mount base of the machine that cuts the bone in the knee to fit the implant to, it has to be very rigid and stable hence the G-10. Somebody messed up a mount hole and so the plate was scrapped. That’s how I ended up with it. I also have several 2” thick x 12” circle pieces of the same G-10, very very dense, and heavy!)
Nice
Thanks Dale, thinking that might be kinda nice for my EE triple.
So tell me, anybody, does the G10 work as a retaining ring for the optic or do I need to be thinking about getting a piece of brass to make a new one?
I hope you’re not serious…a light that beautiful with a fiberglass retaining ring?
Whatever works, I didn’t have anything in metal to fix it, well, except for a huge piece of SS. (Which I totally forgot about at the time… huge, 3” x 36”)
Wow Dale…. 2 scratch built lights in just a week. Amazing…. Please check for ‘Que Pasa’ PM
You’re probably right Dale. Just thinking about drops or less than perfect soldering of the spring.
People tell me I sometimes get a bit belt-and-braces. 
Make sure you solder perfectly and don’t drop it, no worries! 
The spring is a short thick beryllium spring from Intl-Outdoor, and it has a thick 18ga wire inside it. With a flat copper disc soldered on top for a good positive contact. With some pressure on it, there just isn’t a drop scenario available that could move the spring. Not gonna happen. You’re forgetting that when the tail cap is screwed on, the spring is compressed. With the flat disc making such a broad contact with the cell, this compression makes it virtually impossible for the spring to get deflected to one side. Any force strong enough to do such a thing would kill the light (and you) regardless.
Obviously, less-than-perfect soldering of ANY spring could seriously lead to issues. Small weak light or whatever. That’s why I put the spring bypass on the inside of the spring, just in case… at least then if somehow it comes loose it’s in a cage.
And another poor helpless soul bites the dust! Most… All the folks on this forum are somewhat addicts. Those of us that build lights from scratch on machines are …ummmm well….ummm …… Anyway, welcome to the dark side! 
TL
Obsessed?
Great light Dale!
Only while I’m awake Frank, only while I’m awake.
That, or frustrated wannabe’s. I’ve spent a lot of time documenting how to get by without a lathe along with other more talented getbyers like Comfychair and one by one they are opting for the lathe. Tells me something. No idea what as I’m unusually dense but I’m sure there’s a message there somewhere. Offhand I’d say I’m cheap and lazy, too cheap to buy a lathe and too lazy to do it entirely by hand. And too addicted to stop.
Sometimes I still use the old techniques, it’s easier than going out to the shop, uncovering the lathe, setting everything up, for a small job that could already be finished by hand.
I did that with this light, the copper pill was jamming and not sitting all the way down onto the shelf I cut for it. Sure, I could have taken the pill out to the lathe and turned it down a bit, or opened up the area above the shelf, but I chose to file the pill by hand and fit it instead. The risks were far less.
It’s true…I just couldn’t take it any longer. He’s already checking with a few of his retired buddies and is pretty sure there are several unused lathes (lathen, laxen? what’s the plural for lathe anyway) in barns and garages with my name on them.
Lathy? Lathi? Migraine?
FWIW, I ordered 2 different materials for replacing the G10 Optic retaining ring. Should I start a poll? lol
Brass or 7075?
Came so very close to paying $44 for a piece of Beryllium Copper plate in full hard, reputed to be as hard as a tool steel while having the electrical and thermal properties of copper. Thought about making a full cap for the business end of this material, holding in the optic and dressing the output end at the same time. But dang! $44 plus shipping for the end cap? I don’t think there’s $50 worth of stuff in the entire rest of the light! (all told it all comes to ~$44 in materials, then some 26 hours of tinkering.)
Moldmax Hh Beryllium Cu Rod as copied from onlinemetals.com
MOLDMAX HH BERYLLIUM COPPER ROD
MoldMAX HH (High Hard) is the premier copper mold alloy. This alloy has a hardness and strength comparable with standard tool steels but its thermal conductivity is four to six times higher.
MoldMAX HH is used for injection mold cores and cavities and blow mold pinch-offs.
Due to the unique combination of thermal conductivity and strength available in these copper mold alloys, you gain advantages like:
Shorter cycle time
Improved plastic part dimensional control
Better parting line maintenance
Excellent corrosion resistance
The high hardness of MoldMAX HH provides durability in applications where other high conductivity copper alloys fail. The alloy resists galling against other mold alloys, including itself.