Rdubya’s OL contest entry Finished 12 -07-2020

That is very cool to have

Bummer. Happens to all of us.

Those old-fashioned carpenters tools look great.

Good luck with your build. May it proceed well from now on. :person_with_crown:

Too bad with the “oops”. Hope your stock comes in soon and you can get back up and going.

And that’s a REALLY cool trunk of tools.

As I was reading some of the build threads , I saw a comment about thinking out of the box . I realized I have a lathe and don’t have to cut standard threads . I can make my own ! Sat down , did some math , and bingo ! Back in business.

Cut the internal lens cap threads…

Cut the body threads and thought I was good to go . I then discovered my pill wouldn’t fit . It 4 thousands over. So back to the collet chuck. This thing is only 3/4 long , so even with a collet chuck, it’s hard to set up.

The nice thing is , after turning the part around to finish , it concentric.

So it all fit together like I was hoping and is starting to look like a flashlight. Now on to the other end .

In case anyone may be interested, here’s a pic of the cutting tools I had to make for internal threads and to cut the small shelves .

Its handy being able to make your non standard threads. Love the home made tools. :beer:

very cool….

Starting to take shape and lookin’ good!

Started end cap for switch

Switch in cap

Test fit rubber boot before final dimensions

Made the retaining ring for switch by threading a piece and cutting to size

A look at driver in place

The shelf the pill sits on

Threaded

Body cut to length

Drilled and bored body

Here’s the finished light

I’m having a hard time configuring this driver , forgot how hard it is to “quickly tap 8 times “ Right now I only have 4 modes , but that’s 3 more than I started with .
I’ll try some beam shots , but I don’t think my I-pad is gonna do much with that .

Once again I wish I had a metal turning lathe and skills to use it….

yeah, I’ve begun mentioning how great it would be to have a lathe (and perhaps a small CNC) to my wife so that in maybe 20 or 30 years it might actually happen :wink:

Nice work :+1:

Thanks , that means a lot from such talented people :beer:

I have wanted a lathe for years . I bought that as my Christmas present last year with the intention of making flashlights. This is my first one . Internal threading to a blind shoulder was making me apprehensive.
This competition to honor Old Lumens , was the kick in the butt I needed to just go for it . I had fun , and I learnt a lot . I would like to say thanks to this forum , and all the great mates that hang out here .
Randy

Very impressive Randy! You made all of that look easy :wink:

What lathe did you decide on?

Orsm work on your first machined torch Rdubya18. Love your work. :beer:

I bought a Smithy 3 in one , mostly due to limited spaced . ( 2 car garage the cars still gotta fit in ) It’s actually been a really good machine for the money . For a hobby use machine it’s been able to handle what I’ve been doing . Because of backlash , threading into a blind hole is a bit of a challenge, but obtainable with diligence.

Yeah , but those kinda came back to haunt me . I only added .08 to thread , but then the pill didn’t fit so I had to resize it . Then I dug up a bolt to check threads on an end cap , forgetting the cap is no longer compatible , until I actually went to thread it in :person_facepalming: