I too have recently had issues fitting Ti threads together. I left it really tight though, then put polishing compound on the threads and ran the two pieces together repeatedly until the compound cleaned it up and allowed it to work smoothly. This allowed for a nice wiggle free fit of the threads without bind. Mine were standard V threads though at 28 tpi.
Itās great when you have a large enough piece to take some length off and start over. If the materials were figured too closely it can become much more of a pita to deal with a little miscalculation.
Iām also finding that as the part heats up, being Titanium, you can gauge the heat level by what color the cuttings turn. Barely turning a straw or wheaten color (gold) isnāt a concern, but if they start going blue or purple then somethings about to get messed up, a tool will probably break. I donāt have the means to use a coolant so Iām using cutting oil, which does indeed smoke away! (and kind of stinks)
Learningā¦ a fresh sharp carbide insert is a key to having nice smooth clean cuts in Titanium. I need new inserts for my boring bar.
One of the things I like seeing in builds is challenging oneself to the point of failure rather than always relying on known skills. Thereās a time for playing it safe but this isnāt it. We all want to see how someone else digs their way out of a hole.
Itās enlightening to not only see whatās done but read the thought process behind it though I expect you probably see more and get more from this than I. Take heart Dale, like any skill set machining must have to be grown. You seem to be doing ok.
I just bought a new carbide insert for my boring bar. It was a daunting task! Getting the size right, the chip method, the degree of rake and all that, then sorting whether or not to buy the cheap $4 one from Grizzly or a Kennametal one for $20, whatās the difference? lol
I bought a Seco at $14.71 for one single tiny little indexable carbide cutting insert. Ugh.
Yeah Scott, Iām managing, but itās with zero background in machining and Iām essentially using the lathe as a lay down drill press or something. Mostly of course, I simply donāt know what Iām doing. lol Learning though, slowly but surely. Probably forgetting faster than Iām learning but Iām getting the take-a-gallon-of-water-out-to-the-shop-when-machining thing down pat.
Wish I had that set-up on the tool holder, man that looks sweet! I just bought a new bed for my compound slide, wasnāt even drilled and tapped to mount the end piece with the lead screw, had to do that myself. Always somethingā¦. now the screw is really tight and difficult to turn by hand, probably messed up somehow. What do I know about drilling and tapping cast iron anyway? lol
What I had in mind to machine for this contest is not even in the same County as what Fritz is doing here. :person_facepalming:
I havenāt had time to read any build threads lately. They take time to really read and appreciate. A skim of this one sure shows some serious thought and work in action. The build is already gorgeous.
Look forward to really reading this thread when I get a chance.
Dale, thank you for the advice. The polishing paste is a good idea Thatās especially good for tailcap or bezel threads, where it doesnāt matter if they have a little bit of a tight fit.
Yeah, I calculated one messed up part in. So if I would have messed up the head completely then there would have been just enough left to do the head again. But here it was fine luckily, I just lost 10 millimetres of titanium.
Haha, I know the struggle with the Carbid inserts. They are crazily expensive but also have kind of an eternal life if you just use them for aluminium, brass and copper. A few years back I scored a deal on a sort of German craigslist and paid around 120 Euros for like 50 Carbid inserts. That should do for a long time :+1:
Thanks RBD, thatās the word I was looking for. Itās just hard to find all of those terms, also the translator obviously fails when I try to type in āmitlaufende Kƶrnerspitzeā :person_facepalming:
Well, I donāt know if failing is a good thing yet I have never made such a construction with putting a wire through the body so I just hope itāll work.
You are totally right regarding the skill of machining. It takes some time to learn and as long as you are carefull (keep track of all your fingers, donāt use cloth with your fingers on the lathe and so onā¦) you are well of with ālearning by doingā - thatās how I learned as well. But I agree with RBD, looking at your amazing DB-02/ 04 light you seems to be doing very fine :+1:
I am looking very much forwards to your build as well Dale.
Also, I donāt know how you cut the threads into your slide, for stuff like that, I always use the thread-cutters which consist of three pieces. Basically one for starting, one to get it to the right size and the last cutter finished the thread. And again, add rapeseed oil or something for lubrication.
Time to finish the head. :+1: Just the thread for the bezel was missing and space for the reflector needed to be created.
So I just turned the material down to the right diameter and created the space for the thread:
Unfortunately, my indexable threading tool did not fit:
So I adjusted and old HSS tool:
It fitted:
After adjusting the belts for a thread with 0.75 millimetres thread pitch:
I sharpened the HSS steel and started on the threads:
After having been done with the threads it was time to part off the head:
Usually, if there isnāt a hole in the middle I donāt part the workpiece completely off but saw the rest:
Next the head had to go back on the lathe so I could create the space for the reflector. First I checked if the head was sufficiently centred in the chuck:
0.03 millimetres are within tolerance but not more. Since I didnāt have time to grind out my chuck yet (so many things I want to doā¦) it sometimes takes some time to get the part centred.
Again, just drilled a hole:
and widened it with the boring tool:
After adding chamfers and taking off some of the threads off I was done with the head:
So, nearly done, just the bezel missing :
Thatās it for today, thanks for reading and following me so far Enough with flashlights for now, I have to repair something else:
Can anyone guess what thatās for?
Thanks! Just like the water flushes in a different direction, flashlight heads are made the other way round here
So slowly I also have to start working on the driver. It will probably feature 7 AMC7135 380mA ICs, together with an Attiny 45V or 85V. But I could use some help there, since I havenāt done that before. I also kind of already designed a board for the switch and just hope itāll work. I will see. Maybe I will open a new topic in the modding area to ask for help there.
At least I got my sewing machine pedal repaired
I ordered another poti and a more sturdy gear:
The parts needed:
And assembled and working
So, enough boring stuff - later I will continue with the bezel!
Time for the last part, the bezel. First I wrapped the up the rest of the light in tape so it didnāt get any scratches:
Next I got what was left of the titanium down to the right diameter for the bezel:
The outside of the bezel was basically done I continued like usual with the inside:
Everything was ready for threading:
Remember to take good care of your tools and add oil/ grease from time to time:
The finished thread:
I test fitted the thread to see if it worked:
After adding some chamfers the bezel was ready to be parted off:
If you put a small brass rod or something into your drill chuck you prevent the part from falling down and scratching:
The parted off bezel:
And I finished the day with some delicious dinner :
It was a nice butterfly But I have to be grateful towards my girlfriend since she made that. Right now, my girlfriend and I are in Germany at my parents place for a few days since we were travelling around in Germany anyway (seeing some mountains since Denmark is as flat as a pancake, haha). However, we made a deal that sheād make dinner while I do flashlight-stuff, if I make her a flashlight as well So I am actually making two flashlights right now.
I came to like the ULCp lenses from flashlight lens. These transmit 97% of the light and are more sturdy than glass lenses. The downside is that they scratch a little easier, but I havenāt had to exchange one yet, also I rather have a scratched lens than a broken one. Another advantage of these plastic lenses is that you can just turn them down to the desired diameter on the lathe, so I donāt need to think about whether there is somewhere a lens out there which has the diameter I need but just make my own lens.
Really amazing to watch all the steps to make a light. Mind boggling for some of us.
I am very glad that I let my lathe go. I know a lot of people would never understand, but once I tried to use it, I saw that there was no way I would ever be able to comprehend any of what you guys do. I never got past basic 2+2=4 math and I just could not even cut a piece of stock, to any controlled size, let alone cut a thread. It took me getting one and almost ruining it, before I could understand that and I am so sorry about that, sorry for everyone here, but now, with things the way they are, it would have had to go anyhow and the result would be the same. Sorry for being off track here. I felt I had to mention it.
So good to see you machinists here, making stuff most of us can never hope to do. It is inspiring to watch all of the builds here. I do have to say, I would die for, (sorry, pun not intended), some of those meals. Your girlfriend is a great cook!
Thank you OL for the nice words towards all of us! Not everyone can do anything and thatās no problem. Man, if I tried the same stuff as people do in the handmade category Iād either break my tools or my fingers :person_facepalming:
What I want to add is that while it is not easy to make a flashlight or to use a lathe and not everyone can do it I also hope people get inspired by this contest, to try out new things and see that it is not magic but a long and steady process to make a light. You donāt just start with a chunk of metal and suddenly end up with a light, there are many small steps one has to go until a light or anything else for this matter is done. While it takes time and patience to learn how to use a lathe or any other skill I also want to encourage and show what is possible.
Thanks, she is an amazing cook and I think I made a pretty good deal by trading a light for her making dinner
I resized the pictures to 1200 x 900, I hope the page will load a little faster now.
I got some more stuff done and finished the bezel.
Here the parted off bezel:
Like every other part I left a few tenth of a millimetre extra, so I had to measure how long it was and take away the excess material:
Before changing something I measured the roundness on the lathe:
After that I turned the bezel down to the right length:
And added some chamfers:
I wanted to have some indents so I could see if the light is on when I put it down with the head facing downwards. Also I like how it looks:
And the bezel is done:
Thatās it for today. I will work a little on the body either later today or tomorrow since the groove for the wire isnāt big enough. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Youāre right, many small steps added together to make something and always different for each of us. Thats what makes it so entertaining, not knowing what someone elseās next thing will be. how they will do it, or how it will look. It grows before our eyes piece by piece. Thanks for resizing, it loaded so quickly I did a double take to see if I was in the right thread. :+1:
Like I mentioned the groove on the body was not deep enough for the cable. When I tried to insert a battery into the tube it got stuck, so I had to make it a little bit deeper. What happened was that the tool I made got pressed away after a few millimetres into the material (I suspect that my lathe wasnāt sturdy enough there). Well, after wondering how to best to it I decided to use my milling machine/ drill press to deepen the groove. First put the head together with the body into my rotary table. I also measured the deviation in the x and y direction:
To my surprise it was less then 0.01 millimetres right from the start (my rotary table isnāt very good. That was kind of a bad deal I made there), which was fine:
Next I noticed that I didnāt turn the grooving/ threading tool down to a specific diameter, since it didnāt fit in any of my collets. So I turned the diameter down to 16 millimetres:
Now it fitted in the collet:
I used the fence, so I didnāt hammer into the head and in the worst case break the blade:
Turns out that it worked very nicely:
I should have done it that way right from the start that would have saved me some time. But well, as long as it turned out fine.
Thatās it for today, thanks for reading. Soon I will be done with the mechanical stuff, then I have to go on with the driver, the switch and the firmware
I have never made such a construction with putting a wire through the body so I just hope itāll work.
