fritz15 - Machine Made - Last UPDATE 10/31

Welcome to my entry in the 4th annual BLF/ Old Lumens Scratch Made Light Contest in the machine made category.

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Here you find the latest update.

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The second post contains a table of contents of the progress so far.

In the third post is a summary of the progress so far in case you haven't looked in here yet and don't want to read through all the replies.

I also want to thank the organiser of this contest and wish all the other contestants the best of luck. Additionally, I am very happy to be part of this contest and excited to see all the finished lights.

Furthermore, I am looking forwards to creating my first titanium light during this contest and at the same time being challenged, failing, and gaining new skill and knowledge.

And as always, I am fond of every comment, remark or criticism.

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The light will be made out of aircraft grade titanium and it will feature square threads between the head and the body. It will be powered by a single 18350 battery and tactile switch will be installed, together with my implementation of a user interface designed for an electrical switch, to control the light. Additionally, one XP-L led will be used driven by a custom led driver, which I will develop during this contest (probably based on 7135 linear drivers together with an Attiny85V).

If you already want a preview of how the light will look, I uploaded the CAD files here. The file formarts are .par and .asm. You are welcome to use these files on a not commercial basis.

Cheers,

Fritz

  1. Getting started
    1. First parts arriving
    2. My lathe setup
  2. Machining the tailcap
    1. Shaping the outside
    2. Machining the inside
  3. Making the body
    1. Cutting the thread for the tailcap and shaping the body
    2. Cutting the square thread for the head
    3. Boring the body and grooving it
    4. Slotting body and tailcap on the outside
  4. Creating the head
    1. Machining the outside
    2. Boring out the head
    3. Cutting the square threads (fail included)
    4. Cutting the threads for the bezel
  5. Making the bezel
    1. Shaping the outside and cutting the thread for the head
    2. Adding indents to the bezel
  6. Finishing the mechanical parts
    1. Deepening the groove through the body
    2. Making a POM isolator and a brass ring
  7. Designing the PCBs
    1. Switchboard-fail
    2. A first driver design
    3. The final Switchboard layout
  8. Finishing the Light
    1. Soldering the driver
    2. Installing the LED
  9. The finished flashlight

07/19/2016:

This is my entry in the 4th annual BLF/ Old Lumens Scratch Made Light Contest in the machine made category.
After watching everyone create amazing lights for the previous contests, I am joining this year. I wondered for a while which kind of light to make, and decided to create a small one which will house a single 18650 or 18350 battery.
Well, I don’t have wood either, but a few months back I got my hands on something else:

I am looking forwards to creating my first titanium light during this contest and at the same time being challenged, failing, and gaining new skill and knowledge. I wish everyone luck, I’m exited to see all the lights and to be part of this contest.

07/23/2016

Since this is my first time here I thought I’d say a few words about my lathe with which I will make the light.
It is a Wabeco D2400 . Not incredibly good or heavy and nearly 25 years old now (I have not owned it for that long), but I take good care of it:

A few years back I hand scraped the dovetails, readjusted the bearings and also made a proper attachment for my tool changer. Unfortunately it doesn’t have gears, so I have to switch the belts every time I want to cut threads:

07/25/2016

At this point I was pretty curious about how my lathe and the titanium would perform. As it turns out, it isn’t a big problem. There seems to be a lot of respect for titanium, and I have to admit that I can’t take off too much material at once, but with a little bit of patience, good lubrication and very sharp carbide cutting plates, it works great.
So, I began shaving off material to reach the right outer diameter:

Next, I measured and controlled the diameter. I always measure stuff like that, so prepare for a lot of measuring :wink:

24.99 Millimetres, where 25.00 Millimetres was desired - that’s a very good fit and I am satisfied. Actually it’s just a flashlight and not a normed engineering fit (can I say that?) so I wouldn’t need to be that precise and could just measure with a caliper, but whatever, why not be that precise? (Apart from wasting my life time haha)

07/26/2016

After shaping the outside of the tailcap I started with the inside. Everything is ready for threading the tailcap:

So, after threading the tailcap is nearly done and ready to be parted off. I just added a chamfer to the inside of the tailcap as well as to the threads. Always add chamfers to everything :smiley: There will be no sharp edges and it feel and look very smooth and well made:

And the tailcap is parted off:

Now I started with the body

07/28/2016

After the body had the right diameter I could prepare cutting the threads for the tailcap:

Using an indexable threading tool I cut the threads on the body:

It’s time for a test fitting. As you see, it fits very nicely and here it also pays off that I have been that precise - you can’t see the transition between tailcap and body:

The tailcap is done:

I continued by shaping the body:

Looks already very flashlight like:

07/28/2016

Now it’s time to cut the square threads, so things are getting exciting. I ground a parting blade which I needed to be able to cut the square threads:

And here we go, it’s working:

“(I made a gif of the threading process)”:http://i.imgur.com/JQjbngq.gifv
When I was done with the threads, I added chamfers to the thread pitch:

07/31/2016

After the threads are done it’s time to bore out the body. Since I decided to use a tactile switch, I faced the problem of how to transfer the switch signal to the driver. I could have just used a normal switch and avoided this problem but I really like the possibilities and the flexibility of such a tactile switch. For instance, you can implement a high mode which is always accessible, a beacon which flashes when the light is turned off, and many more fun things. The reliability is a strong factor as well. Anyway, NovaTac uses a spring which connects tailcap and body. This isn’t perfect since it scrapes against the anodized body and takes up a lot of space. HDS uses a thin wire, I like that better but the indent still makes the wall thickness unnecessarily thin at one point. So to avoid this, I decided to bore the hole for the battery 0.5 millimetres out of the centre and then make a groove for the wire. Let’s see how that works out!
So I just started boring out the body as usual and when I reached around 16.5 millimetres I added a sheet of metal under one of the three jaws:

Because the sheet is 0.50 millimetres high, it moved the body approximately 0.5 millimetres out of the centre. I continued widening the diameter of the body. Here you can see the eccentric hole for the battery:

After making sure that the diameter was right, it was time to create the groove on the thick side of the tailcap to insert the wire later. That part was a little tricky as well. First, I made a tool out of a piece of metal which could take an 8 millimetre HSS rod. I bored in a hole and widened it with a reamer:

And slotted it with a homemade slotting tool (I like making tools… :slight_smile: ):

To create the actual groove I ground a piece of HSS rod and put it in my toolholder which usually hosts my centering tool:

Before putting everything on the lathe I had to make sure that the spindle wouldn’t turn away. Since I didn’t get to build something proper I had to improvise a little. I found an old nut and tightened it around the gear in the back of the lathe, making sure that the spindle couldn’t turn:

It seems to be working:

08/01/2016

I wanted to have horizontal indents/ grooves on the tailcap and the body. To achieve that, I used my rotary table on the milling machine. I started by grooving the tailcap with one slit every 20° resulting in a total of 18 slits:

After having done that I continued with the body. I wanted 12 slits on the body, one every 30°:

Now, this is the point where I messed up :person_facepalming: Forgetting to think, I continued to make two slits with 20° between them. Luckily I noticed my fail after the two first slits, before I could mess up too much, but still - I couldn’t do it every 30° degrees like I planned. I also didn’t want 18 slits, so I tried to save it by making 14 slits in total, one every 20° and then the next one at 31.43°:

I was really lucky since I actually really like the pattern now, but my fail goes to show that you always have to be 100% focused.
Then I put the body right back on the lathe to make an indent for a brass ring, which will carry the switch signal:

And here we go, the body is finally done:

08/02/2016

It is a good idea to wrap up the parts, which are done, in some sort of tape to avoid scratching them:

With a new and sharp Carbid insert I turned the rod down to the right diameter for the head:

To create vertical grooves I went 5 millimetres forwards and 0.25 millimetres in radial direction. Having done that four times I was basically done with the outside of the head:

08/03/2016

After working on the outside of the head I drilled a hole:

I widened it to 20 millimetres, so plenty of space for the driver I will design later:

Everything was ready for threading the head:

Since there need to be square threads I had to do some preparation work. I could use the tool I already made here , but I needed to grind a new cutting blade:

It was working:

Unfortunately, it didn’t fit right from the start and messed up again. In the end the thread was way to wobbly and didn’t really fit anyway. This time there was unfortunately no way to save it. So I just took 10 millimetres away and started all over again. First, adding two more indents to the outside of the head and then the rest all over again. The second time, it didn’t quite fit from the start either, but this time I was a little bit more careful. I managed to cut the thread right - not too tight, so they don’t get blocked by vevery bit of dirt and of course not too loose either:

Now everything fits nicely and the thread is very smooth:

08/06/2016

Time to finish the head. Just the thread for the bezel was missing and space for the reflector needed to be created.
I sharpened an HSS steel and started on the threads:

After having been done with the threads it was time to part off the head:

Next the head had to go back on the lathe so I could create the space for the reflector.:

After adding chamfers and taking off some of the threads off I was done with the head:

08/07/2016

Time for the last part, the bezel. I got what was left of the titanium down to the right diameter for the bezel:

And I continued like usual with the inside:

The finished thread:

After adding some chamfers the bezel was ready to be parted off:

08/09/2016

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:

08/10/2016

The groove on the body was not deep enough for the cable carrying the switch signal, so I had to make it a little bit deeper. I also measured the deviation in the x and y direction:

I used the grooving/ threading tool I made:

Turns out that it worked very nicely:

08/10/2016

Remember the indent in the body ? There is room for a plastic isolator as well as a brass ring which will transmit the switch signal to the driver. I started by making the black plastic isolator out of black POM:

Next, the brass ring:

Here the brass ring as well as the plastic isolator are in place:

For the construction to work, I still needed to make a groove in the brass ring as well as in the POM isolator:

I drilled two holes for the wires leading to the LED as well as one hole to screw on the driver (I hope that will work…), which had to be threaded:

So, the mechanical parts are done just in time since I will go back to Denmark in a few days. Here is a picture of the progress so far:

Thanks for following my progress so far :slight_smile:

13/08/2016

Since the mechanical part was done I continued with the PCBs. I need one for the switch and I also will design my own driver. I started with the switchboard and failed miserably by not connecting the two grounds. After the I redid the design a little bit and here is the latest version:

And the bottom:

31/10/2016

I decided to just use the small spring plate inside the switch instead of the whole switch:

Also the boards arrived:

The driver was quite a challenge. I did not have my usual equipment, just a huge soldering iron and the tweezers of a swiss army knife :smiley: :

After seeing how tiny the schottky diode was I honestly doubted that I would manage to solder the stuff on… Anyway, I used an old crocodile clamp to keep the part in place and then tried to carefully add solder and heat:

And it kind of worked:

Not pretty, but at least the hardest part was done:

Finally, my first homemade driver:

So unfortunately the IC-connectors I intended to use had a different diameter than specified in the datasheet, so I could not use those. I ordered some for replacement but they did not arrive in time.

Here the LED together with the programmed driver:

I ended up using a XP-L for maximal output and a nice floody beam.

Two silicone wires soldered to the led as well as some heat paste and a thin protector for the LED:

And now …

… I failed miserably.

Who can see it?

Exactly, there is a huge gap between bezel and the head due to a wrong drawing. Well, no precision in the world can help when I am unable to draw the correct dimensions :person_facepalming:
Anyway, now thinking about it, I don’t know if I mind that much since it could be a great way to install a clip. But yeah, you also see, the driver is soldered in place.

Here a shot from the front:

And the inside with the positive battery contact:

Well, now I am officially done so here are a few shots of the light:

All the best for the build fritz. I hope you get your drawing checked by Heiki, Engineer and Manager. :wink:

Now that’s a nice chunk of Ti.

Titanium is such a nice metal! Super strong and oh so pretty when heat treated!

This years contest looks to be a good one(like the others weren’t, hah!) with several new members joining the fray. Machine made has been under represented, glad to see that changing. Good luck!

Good luck with your build, Fritz! :slight_smile:

Thanks guys. Well, to explain the appearance of the name ‘Heike’ on the pictured sheet of paper - I am visiting my parents in Germany at the moment and used my mother’s laptop for the CAD model.
Yeah, the more contestants the better. I especially hope more people join the machine-made category to even out the difference.

I won’t be heat treating or anodizing the flashlight, that’s too colourful for me. But I am presently wondering whether or not I should bead blast the light. What do you think?

The switch arrived today:

I will use one of these long life tactile switches with a life span of approximately 1000000 switch cycles to control the flashlight. It wasn’t easy to find one with such a long life span, since I didn’t want the ordinary ones with just 100000 cycles.

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time right know, I will have a closer look at all the other topics within the next few days, though. Right now I am busy getting started on the light, because I will return to Denmark for my studies soon.

Good news everyone! My drawings have been approved by my engineer and manager (girlfriend :smiley: ) so I can get started tomorrow :+1: :

Since this is my first time here I thought I’d say a few words about my lathe with which I will make the light.
It is a Wabeco D2400 . Not incredibly good or heavy and nearly 25 years old now (I have not owned it for that long), but I take good care of it:

A few years back I hand scraped the dovetails, readjusted the bearings and also made a proper attachment for my tool changer:

Unfortunately it doesn’t have gears, so I have to switch the belts every time I want to cut threads:

Well, I hope I can beat the titanium with this lathe, but we will see tomorrow :slight_smile:

Oh and does anyone know how I can create a list in a list like here ?

Is your manager and engineer also your financier? The lathe looks real nice especially for the age. Looking forward to the update.

Thanks for the background on you lathe. Pretty neat set up. Best wishes on mastering that hunk of titanium.

So, here is the overdue update:

I finally found some time to get started on the tail cap.

The lathe is still all nice and clean:

Now let’s make some titanium shavings!
The titanium rod has a diameter of 30 millimetres on the outside and my three jaw chuck has an inner diameter of 30 millimetres as well. Since I want the part I am working on to be as close to the chuck as possible in order to avoid rattling, the diameter needed to be decreased a few tenths of a millimetre. At this point I was pretty curious about how my lathe and the titanium would perform. As it turns out, it isn’t a big problem. There seems to be a lot of respect for titanium, and I have to admit that I can’t take off too much material at once, but with a little bit of patience, good lubrication and very sharp carbide cutting plates, it works great.

Now the chunk of titanium fits nicely in the chuck:

So, I began shaving off material to reach the right outer diameter:

Next, I measured and controlled the diameter. I always measure stuff like that, so prepare for a lot of measuring :wink:

24.99 Millimetres, where 25.00 Millimetres was desired - that’s a very good fit and I am satisfied. Actually it’s just a flashlight and not a normed engineering fit (can I say that?) so I wouldn’t need to be that precise and could just measure with a caliper, but whatever, why not be that precise? (Apart from wasting my life time haha)
Having gotten the right diameter, I started shaping the outside of the tailcap:

So that’s it for today, thanks for reading and tomorrow I’ll continue with the inside of the tailcap.

Thanks for the great pictures. Good luck with the build!

Thank you, I am glad you like the pictures.

Haha, well she certainly is the one I will have to convince of the usefullness of every bigger purchase for this hobby :smiley:

:open_mouth:
You must be Joking! What do you do for a living?
‘hand scraping’ isnt something you see a lot nowadays. And I know it ain’t easy. I can’t do it (actually never tried it…) but my colleague does it.

That is a really nice lathe. I would love to have one similar in size in my shop at home. Thanks for sharing,it doesn’t look as old as you say it is. Very well taken care of. Best of luck on your light.

Thanks! I am studying right now, but nothing related to machines. And well, it is something completely different if someone professional does it or I am just scraping around a little in my free time. Hand scraping is kind of an art in itself and I would never dare to say that I only remotely mastered it. But doing it on a hobby like level isn’t that hard. You just need a lot of patience. Are you working in this direction? Müller Nick has many videos about hand scraping on his channel. I especially like his video about how the Chinese spotting technique :smiley: (certainly applicable to my Chinese milling machine haha)
@ Andybibbville: I like it a lot and it is very light and handy with just 65 kilograms (around 140 pounds) which is unfortunately also it’s biggest downside. It just isn’t as sturdy as a heavier one.

After shaping the outside of the tailcap I started with the inside:

Again, measuring, this time the inside:

Everything is ready for threading the tailcap:

Here I used a tool holder with a Carbid cutting plate:

So, the tailcap is nearly done and ready to be parted off. I just added a chamfer to the inside of the tailcap as well as to the threads. Always add chamfers to everything :smiley: There will be no sharp edges and it feel and look very smooth and well made:

And the tailcap is parted off:

A picture of the inside (you see a chamfer at every edge):

After the exhausting process of making the tailcap my manager and engineer made some lovely lasagna for dinner :slight_smile: :

And after that I was strengthened enough to start on the body:

More measuring, but the diameter was still a little too big:

So I turned it down until the diameter was right, and I then measured again, just to be sure:

That’s it for today, thanks for reading and more tomorrow!

Is there a reason you’re posting everything twice? (including all the pictures!)