MtnDon's Entry, 2017 (5th Annual) BLF Old Lumens Contest, Handmade Category

I’m sure that color contrast will look perfectly planned when all is finished! :wink:

Back on track tonight. :slight_smile:

I trimmed off the glued on ‘brown’ wood. I made an “O” into a “U”. :wink: I removed a portion of the wall that encompassed the large diameter hole using the table saw, then a file and a sanding block. The block edges will be radiused next.

Here’s the side with the glued in ‘brown’ wood.

The removable access plate that I refer to as the back.

I tend to hang onto things. The 8-32 screws that secure the back are aluminum chassis screws from way back when we raced 1/10 and 1/12 scale cars. The screws are from my box of left over Associated RC10 parts. The heads are a little rough on those; final assembly will be with “brand new” 33 year old screws.

Looks really good Don. I only see a C though, no flashlight.
Did you get the better halves towel put away before she knew what you were doing with it? :stuck_out_tongue:

Hmmm. Where U perceive a C, I C a U. :person_facepalming: Funny how we look at the same thing and see something different. My head must be on sideways to see a U. :laughing:

Towel ; That is a genuine “shop towel”! A hand me down, so I am totally safe with whatever I do with it. :+1: It is a little worse for the shop wear though,… I should have looked for a cleaner one for a photo backdrop.

I will turn it into a light soon…. :slight_smile:

_

Must be a hand held and battery operated light (Read: Loosely classed as a flashlight. Lanterns and similar are ok.”_

Moving on. I filed down one side of a pair of pre ’82, real copper, pennies to make two contact plates for the cell. Both have a spring soldered to one side and a wire soldered in place as well. I neglected to take pictures of one of them before I installed it in the cell hole. :person_facepalming: I did photograph the other though. I’m planning on using a flat top Panasonic 18650B cell. The springs will also allow a button top to be used. The driver that is planned has LVP so I’m not thinking of a protected cell at all.

The disc below has the wire through a hole from one side.

The side with the spring in place. Yes, black = negative.

The first disc I made I glued in place before thinking of the camera. Darn. The red arrow points to the contact disc with the spring in place. Kinda hard to get a photo shooting down the cell hole.

This image from the bottom access hole view shows the edge of the copper disc with the + wire. The darkened spot is the result of the CA glue.

The switch is a small Omten 1288 reverse clicky. It needs to be mounted on the end of a dowel rod (wood) that the first item I made (the copper cap drilled for a switch boot) will fit over. The Omten 1288 is just a little smaller than the dowel rod. I needed to drill holes through the dowel to run the wiring. Some holes at an angle…

Here’s looking at the upper end with a tweezer through one hole…

This is the view of the bottom end. The slot on the circumference is a keyway that will slide over the protruding edge of the copper disc, in the access hole.

Here’s a couple of pre assembly shots showing the switch mount with wires running through the inner holes. That will slip into the hole in the body of the light.

Also note the rounded edges of the block. Those were done with a 3/8” roundover bit in the router. I sanded the block and gave it a couple of coats of clear acrylic finish. The final finish coats will be applied when it is complete.Right now I simply wanted to keep the wood clean and keep the orange color from wood dust from getting on me.

Lastly for today, another shot showing the + end copper disc. A little easier to see than in the other shots.

I could here my words echoing looking down the battery hole. :slight_smile:
The finish on your wood on the last picture looks so smooth.

Thanks. I have a wide variety of abrasives that I use. I like the acrylic clear coat. (Minwax Polycrylic) Dries quickly, even more so in the low humidity of our desert. Makes a smooth finish that responds wellto the 280, 320 and 400 grits I’ll use between the final coats. Padauk though, has some rather large pores. Very obvious in the end grain and a little less so when cut with grain, but visible on most surfaces on this. Not objectionable on most things I’ve madewith it.

Starting to look pretty slick - I wish I had used wood again this time.

Good update, wood’s looking great :+1:

It’s raining cats ‘n’ dogs. Too wet to be outside and do what I am supposed to be doing. :slight_smile:

A little more work on this light. I have to come up with a name for it, something catchy? :laughing:

I soldered the switch wires.

Switch mounted to the top of the dowel insert with a dab of instant grab Loctite construction adhesive

The upper section of the dowel rod was filed and sanded to reduce the diamter a little. You’ll see why next.

The copper pipe cap with the switch boot slips over the dowel top and switch. Being conductive copper there is a need to insulate the soldered switch wires from that copper cap. I achieved that with self fusing silicone tape. The dowel diameter needed reducing to allow a couple of tape layers and still let the copper cap fit over. Here’s the wrapped switch.

I checked the switch operation and that the wires/connections were electrically isolated. All good!

Here’s what the switch looks like with the dowel rod inserted into the body of the light, but without the copper cap and the switch boot. That will go on later as it is a tight fit over the silicone tape. I’d rather install it and leave it at the end.

Here’s a shot of the underside with the switch wires looped in the access bay.

What am I up to now, with the cheap Chinese copy of a Dremel cutting wheel?

Yes, cutting a narrow slot! But for what? …an action shot…

After cutting the perimeter slots, a 7/8” forstner bit cleans out most of the cavity. (The drill press light is much more yellow than the general shop lighting.)

After cleaning out the corners with a chisel, here is what we have.

With that recess cut it is time for a recess. :person_facepalming: That’s it for today. I put the project away in the cupboard with a Q8 for good company along with the someday-to-be-completed SRK-clone camping lantern.

A little more wore work tonight. Using a Dremel cutting burr I made some grooves and drilled some more holes to carry wires from here to there. When it’s all done hopefully it will be more pretty than it is now.

I drilled a total of 5 holes tonight. The three illuminated above only go part way through to the wire gallery that will be covered by the bolt on back slab. Two other holes go from that rectangular recess right through to the other side. Hereare the two exit points.

The two holes that pass right through are difficult to see in the shot. The start on the right side of the recess, about a1/4 inch from the lower right recess corner. They look like a black ink mark, but are blacker than the marker lines. From this side they diverge slightly to emerge slightly further apart than on this side. Drilling through wood close together often results in the holes bending towards each other. I shimmed the block to intentionally try to keep some distance bewteen the holes on the far side. It worked.

Tomorrow I hope to review the wiring plan, then connect up some parts.

Thanks for looking.

Ooops. I take back what I said about tomorrow and wiring. I still need to drill / carve two more holes or access ports. :person_facepalming: Getting excited as I get close to completion.

Thats a good sign you getting excited. :slight_smile:
I to can C your getting to the pointy end. :stuck_out_tongue:

I had meant to drill this access port before I set the switch mount in place. :frowning: So I had to use the dremel with a couple of different cutting burrs. The tape was a guide for placement. This is to allow wiring the LED.

Light from a flashlight aimed in the intersecting hole…

0.025” (0.76 mm) thick copper sheet that has been around the shop for decades. The stock piece keeps getting smaller… Polished up. There are a couple pit marks but this won’t be on a direct easy to see line of sight.

The emitter (XT-E) will be mounted to this copper plate.

More to come a little later today/tonight.

I’m back sooner than I thought I would be. Now to some hitherto undisclosed details. There will be an integral charger, a TP4056 board. That is what the previously shown rectangular cutout in the side is for. However the USB socket is mounted remotely…

This is for the USB inlet port. The grooves adjacent to the left is where I was first going to place it. But I changed my mind.

The TP4056

Thanks for looking.

Looking good MD. Its good to see an item stashed years ago with the thought it will get used one day actually get used. :+1:

Getting there :+1:

More parts. One is store bought and was retrieved from my box of miscellaneous metal odds ‘n’ ends. Stuff that was intended for some other previous project or just “collected” because it was cool. That one is about 1 x 1.5 inches and from 0.040” (1 mm) copper sheet. I needed one a little larger so traced the store bought onto my 0.025” copper.

I cut it out with av snips.

Then, clamped between wood blocks, I filed it to refine the shape and smooth the edges.

Store bought on the left, my handcrafted one on the right. I’ll press that oops out.

Originally my plan was to use the larger one by itself. However, stacking the two is more attractive to my eye.

Holes drilled for mounting… #2 x 1/2” brass screws.

That’s all for today. Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with more progress. Thanks for looking.

Everyday is looking better :wink: Good work :+1: