And Ive been sitting on an idea for a long time ...
You know those 50DVD stacks of blank discs , they come in a plastic case , its cheap its nasty , but it keeps the dust away from your new DVDs .
Well , how easy is it to make a lantern out of one ?
Control Shot ...
Around 17 Lumen
Around 80 Lumen
Around 160 Lumen
All I did was cut of the central stem that the DVDs go on , I took one of the clear plastic sleeves or dividers that come with the case of DVD's [ separate top and bottom ] and glue Aluminum foil to it , shinny side up ...
Put the disc with the alfoil on the bottom , foil up , put the cover on , and sit the light on top , now the idea would be to cut a hole [ tight fit ] for your light , but I have so many , and I wanted this one for home use [ in case of blackouts ] .
But as you can see , around 100 Lumen is plenty of light , for camping , in a tent - caravan - etc , or for when you just want to enjoy a quiet black out .
If you need more pictures ! just ask , its dark ATM so if needed - tomorrow .
Ps - The camera lies , the output to the naked eye is not quite that good ...
I've a few cd cases around I'll have to give it a try.
In a power outtage if you have a couple lights with a long running low mode, you can set up a few of these lanterns around the house for safety and well being of the family. Much safer than a bunch of candles with open flame everywhere.
Looks cool, but wouldn't most of the light in the hotspot be bounced back into the flashlight? May you need a half-ball to wrap foil around to spread it out?
Yes there is some bounce back , but this was the easy way of doing it .. + bounce back goes at the ceiling [ inside ] which is not bad , outdoors ? and I havent cut a hole , so the hotspot is filtered by the plastic and turned into spill , if you cut a hole , then yes .
If you wanted to you could make a cone , to push the light sideways , I did it the easiest way possible just to show how easy it is to make a lantern .
I have also used 35mm film canisters .
You could use a ping pong ball also if you had some . Especially with a tail standing light .
There is no end to items that could be used , as long as they are some what translucent .
And if you wanted , you could be very creative for a few dollars , and replicate a real lantern in what ever size you wanted ...
That might be the next thing I try .
I do like my Solarforce lantern heads , but they cost $ , and are not that much better than making your own , the more I sit here , the more ideas are getting into my head .
I got the el-cheap SF clone from KD, but the efficiency seems low. I only get at best 1/2 (and really around 1/3) the "IS" lumens compared to no lantern head. I'm going to try something like this sometime and see if it works better. Thanks.
I'd try sanding the inside of the pancake lid with fine grit paper to give it a frosted look. Can't help but think it would improve the appearance a bit.
I have a few small bottles like little shampoo bottles that work perfect for tank 703 sized lights about as tall as the light.2oz?
One of the simplest is a styro-foam cup with a lid or styro-foam bowls with lids.
regular pint containers in white or that same diffused / semi opaque plastic like you're using .
I also found a plastic water bottle for a bike worked perfect for the mcu-c88.same material .
What doesn"t work at all ........are the kai domain lantern adapters which were supposed to be for the 501B lights ..obviously they are for real ones or for fakes .I don't know ...I'm hoping mine are fake 501b's cuz they're junk imho.
I wonder if it's the material they use for the diffuser, I can't see any other place where it might be losing all the light. Must be too opaque.
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I just experimented and it seems the part that goes closest to the head block about 20% and the diffuser blocks half again. So really you're down to at best 40% of the original light.
But the best part is operating it sans diffuser. The beam is nasty, but really quite hilarious as you blind everyone around who looks at the head tip thing. Pretty efficient that way, too.
Ok, I like modding. But modding/making cool things that are usefull from nothing is downright awesome.
I take care of my older parents and with my mom on oxygen the open flame of candle during a power outage always scares me. Of course tail standing my flashlights work, But it isnt as efficient as it could be.
I have a few of these spindles and too much time on my hand so i will be working on this one.
Just an idea, But i wonder if a dome of foil thats only half as high as the top of the spindles lid would project out more than the flat surface? Ill probably have to make it as i cant ever explain anything right unless i have crayons handy.
and this 
