FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

[JasonWW]

@mattadores

I recently made a meme that depicts my BLF experience. It relates to your assertion.

You read it top to bottom? I started left to right. Maybe there is a way to make it clear?

[djozz]

Thanks for the meme mattadores, it does show my BLF experience if played in a never-ending loop

[P220C]

@djozz

Thanks for the meme mattadores, it does show my BLF experience if played in a never-ending loop :person_facepalming:

Ditto

[teacher]

@P220C

@djozz

Thanks for the meme mattadores, it does show my BLF experience if played in a never-ending loop :person_facepalming:

Ditto

+1 . Great post mattadores!! :+1:
And soooo true…. :person_facepalming: … :money_mouth_face:

[Poguche]

This might be the best meme I have ever seen…
So true…

[teacher]

@teacher

@teacher

@cabfrank

Do let us know what you think when you get it, teacher. I think it is quite tempting, even at around fifteen bucks.

I certainly will my friend. :+1:
Also, I just checked; the $10.99 Coupon Code for the Convoy S2+ SST20 4000K 95CRI is still active. Get the details HERE …

I ordered 18 February & I am still waiting. My order still says “Processing”. But I figure what the heck, it’s only $10.99 & a good deal. It’ll come sooner or later.
I’m thinking about ordering another to use as a host.

Concerning the Convoy S2+ SST20 4000K 95CRI we discussed several posts ago.
I got notification that it “Shipped” today. Hopefully it really did…… …

[cabfrank]

Good news.

[ToyKeeper]

@wheelgunwordslinger

love the idea of lights that are actually produced based on what the community wants. If only we could get other industries to work with us like this. Seems like most industries insist on pushing features we don’t want, and not listening to what we actually do want.

In the free software world, it’s pretty normal for things to be created based on what the community wants. Frequently, the community just makes its own stuff, scratching its own itches. BLF has a similar “make what you want” culture, but it involves physical goods instead of just data, and physical goods can’t yet be copied over the internet. So several of us have been trying to get manufacturers to participate in this process, in order to make cool things available to anyone who wants them.

[bleomycin]

Please put me down for 1 as well.

[Ristafas]

I’d like 2 please.

[hank]

several of us have been trying to get manufacturers to participate in this process, in order to make cool things available to anyone who wants them.

Someone at the New Yorker or Vanity Fair ought to write about how this is working.
It’s a new age ….

[Ilumenati]

Reminds me somewhat of the cooperative Alt culture described in Cory Doctorow’s “Walkaway”

[ToyKeeper]

@Ilumenati

Reminds me somewhat of the cooperative Alt culture described in Cory Doctorow’s “Walkaway”

Cory Doctorow based some of his main writing themes on free software culture. It’s a major plot element in his “Little Brother” book, and is applied to a hardware context in “Makers”, and is applied to artistic works in “Pirate Cinema”. He’s pretty into this stuff.

He writes about it as sci-fi, usually, but… it’s not fiction. It has been an ongoing and growing movement since the mid-1900s, and is now the code foundation for the majority of the internet.

[JSNTNG123]

I’m brand new to this forum too. But put me in for one please!
Love the design and the idea behind it. Thanks!

[sochi111]

Please add me to the list

[Tubercle]

Please include me, I’d like 1.

[idleprocess]

Realize I’m a few weeks behind here, but this caught my eye:

@BlueSwordM

See, the thing is with BLF group buys, the advantage is that most of the R&D is done here, and most the parts used are “commonly available” compared to say keyboards.
[…]
3. The design of the light and specifications have been done by BLF members.

Having done mechanical design in a past career where we outsourced most production and and concept-design-production workflows with relatively simple CNC (laser cutters) as a hobbyist I feel like point 3 is a bit simplified.

There’s appreciable effort that goes into the design itself, for sure. Someone that produces their own finished product will have some experience with what’s feasible to produce and bake that into the design document.

But having a good design - a production-ready design - isn’t the same thing as having production plans.

Whenever I design a tabbed box for laser cutting, translating the design file into a work file takes appreciable time - layout for material efficiency and optimizing geometry for cutting efficiency being the key tasks.

When dealing with machining metal parts the design to work document process may well be more involved. Tool choices, speed/feed considerations far more involved than laser cutter power/feed, material selection, jigs/workholding, production sequencing (since intermediate parts may be needed between workstations/schedules), QC processes, production scheduling concerns, negotiating slight dimensional changes that could make/break the concept for your capabilities and/or the client’s needs, etc.

@BlueSwordM

Also, the parts/design can be used on other lights, like with the BLF Q8 spawning the Sofirn Q8, Sofirn SP36, Sofirn C8F 18650/21700, Lumintop GT/GT Mini/GT Micro.

Suspect that the prospect for future sales of a design that’s expected to be successful beyond the initial discounted batches - and presumably without encumbrances - is the true carrot.

[Blu3iris]

I’ll take one. Thanks.

[charwinger21]

With the discussion of potentially switching to the 95 CRI SST-20, I just want to double down on the LH351D.

The SST-20 is slightly higher CRI, but at 700 lm the LH351D is around 45% more efficient at the same colour temperature from what I’m seeing, and at 300 lm the LH351D is around 25% more efficient at the same colour temperature.

That’s a big difference in battery drain and heat for the same output.

edit: this is based on maukka’s tests of the SST-20 and the LH351C (my understanding is that the LH351D is slightly more efficient than the LH351D at 1000 lm, although you lose a bit of efficiency by going from 5000k to 4000k)

edit 2: actually, that’s got me thinking, after reading through the pre-production review fully, do we possibly want to look at the LH351C? If we’re expecting the light to be 900 lumens or lower (300 lumens per emitter) most of the time, then I think we’ll be sitting right in the LH351C’s target current. Yeah, we’d lose a bit of maximum lumens in turbo (all 20 seconds of it), but the better efficiency in regular use would help the light work better in regular use, and we might be able to source them more quickly.

[djozz]

^ with the SST-20 you loose efficiency/output but you gain a brighter hotspot (and a somewhat higher CRI). And a bit of the 25% efficiency loss is gained back because the smaller die SST-20 gives less optical losses in the TIR.