I think the steel wool is good… but remember…. if it is a copper part that you are going to patina, don’t use the steel wool. Boy did I get in trouble with that one time!! Whew! I did a copper light for a customer and he wanted a patina on the copper… an ugly green mess in my opinion…. but I had used some steel wool for a fine satin look first. I have always thought the steel left a coating of some kind on the copper… the patina was blotchy and a real mess. Even after being in a sonic cleaner and then steam cleaned. When I re-finished the copper with a scrubbie, the problem went away. That only cost me a full day!! :confounded:
I have almost all of the pieces for the tail cap ready. I have some stuff coming that inhibits the flow of brazing alloy which will hopefully prevent it from wicking into the threads beyond where I want it as it did on MkII. Until that arrives a copper shelf for the pill and a step for the driver would be next along with more work on the switch module. With the pill finished I could make it up with the led and driver. Head assembly could occur at any time now as well.
I think the steel wool will work on a lot of metals. I use it on copper and aluminum…. even on some stainless steel, just not where I might want to patina or anodize.
TL
The pill will get a dab of thermal grease which is dark grey anyway but the tail cap piece is both more used and more visible and gets a dab of clear silicon which will inhibit patina.
More pill pics starting with 1.8 mm copper sheet. Brazed to 21/32” brass tube After a hot bath Drill, filed, and sanded And brazed into the threaded portion Now the tail cap. It has a brass sheet bottom piece with another centering washer, a section of threaded copper, and a short piece(2.75 mm) of internal threaded brass. The white stuff is the braze stop mask. This is where the small wood piece goes, there’s another part similar to the pill above that will give it a recess for the spring on the inside and a bit of bling on the outside Yup, works here too. Failed retainer ring
Wow. Just lots & Lots of nice work!!! If I need something brazed I know who to call!!! I sure enjoy every image and watching the process!!
Thanks Rufus!!! TL
Weird, images aren’t loading properly. The other day I thought it was because my post was too big but this is only one picture loaded the same way I’ve done a hundred times before.
Photobucket has been screwy for awhile. I reckon they did an update and things went backwards. For awhile it would take 5 minutes to upload a small picture and I had to do one at a time otherwise it would just hang. And thats with a paid account. :person_facepalming:
I can get it to work fine anywhere but in that post so I deleted it since MtnDon has it up. Even worked in this post as well. Maybe I’ll try adding it to #185.
Edit - worked everywhere but in one post, exceedingly strange.
The generic scotch brite sponge I tried pretty much disintegrated on contact with the rough copper threads with little effect so instead I tried the quick loc Dremel sanding/buffing wheels that are made from similar but tougher stuff and that worked better. Thanks for the tip TL, it pointed me in the right direction.
You’re welcome Rufus. Thank you for all the sharing of your work. It takes a lot of time to do all of the images and posting. I am happy to send you some of those pads if you like. Thanks again for all your beautiful work. TL.
Tried to make a retainer ring with a brass disc and a section of the threaded copper. I also cut the pill to size and milled a driver pocket for it. Unfortunately the copper part is too soft and poorly threaded to work reliably so I’ll have to use a brass threaded piece instead. More switch pill and head assembly
Ouch! It hurts to put that much work into a part and have it go south. Looking nice though Rufus!! Hang in there…. there is an end to every project….although sometimes we wonder WHERE!!! TL
Brazed to 21/32” brass tube 
After a hot bath 
Drill, filed, and sanded 
And brazed into the threaded portion 
Now the tail cap. It has a brass sheet bottom piece with another centering washer, a section of threaded copper, and a short piece(2.75 mm) of internal threaded brass. The white stuff is the braze stop mask. 
This is where the small wood piece goes, there’s another part similar to the pill above that will give it a recess for the spring on the inside and a bit of bling on the outside 
Yup, works here too.
I also cut the pill to size and milled a driver pocket for it. 
Unfortunately the copper part is too soft and poorly threaded to work reliably so I’ll have to use a brass threaded piece instead.