CNCman's entry to the 8th annual BLF/O-L contest [ Handmade - FINISHED - ]

awesome work! I love projects like these.

Here we finish the tail cap complete and mate it to the battery tube.
The gap had to be closed to maintain correct fit. Using JB Weld and closing it in a vice for 24 hrs worked.




Gluing the switch to it’s mounting plate.

Cutting the spring shorter for the 3rd time.

Gluing the switch inside the body.

Hand drilling 4 x .041 diameter holes unequally spaced for 4 x .040 diameter x .25 long pins.
I was concerned the glue would fail under the spring pressure after batteries were installed.



Glued and pined in place.


Mating the tail cap to the battery tube.
Drilling 3 holes with .063 diameter drill for tapping with a 2mm x .4mm tap.





Finished :+1: Learning as you go is a result doing projects like this.
You can only plan a path, doing it requires flexibility.



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Superb! :+1:

Very creative CNCman. I see a name change in your future if you keep using hand tools. :slight_smile:

Great work!

Ain’t that the truth :smiley:

Thanks guys :smiley: I started out a manual machinist many moons ago, so maybe the name is not accurate LOL.
Making the Head and the cooling is up next. I just found the right size Hot sauce bottle today for a mold, if it doesn’t break under the heat. :wink:

I do have a question about a “MTN 12mm Momentary Switch (for momentary / e.switch drivers)”

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The driver i’m using to hook it to is,

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I have and understand the instructions where the 2 wires go for controlling the driver.
I have the non-led switches in hand and just ordered some with led.
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:question: My question is, can a lighted switch be hooked up to this driver ? It will need power, I do not know where or the voltage to hook the leds too.
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This is for the build, so any help is awesome :smiley:

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Here are the options for the driver below.

FET Driver - 20mm model FET20-SS

  • Zener Mod?: Yes - ~6V LVP
  • Firmware: Electronic Switch CU…
  • Turbo Timer: 120 Seconds

Electronic Switch CUSTOM Firmware Options.

1. Number of light levels: 4

2. Approximate PWM levels of each mode: (1) 10% - (2) 30% - (3) 60% - (4) - 100%

Zener Mod: Yes - ~6V LVP
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Wow this is some fantastic work, the idea and the creation. Looking forward to the rest. Sorry I’m not much of an electronics guru so i can’t help with your lighted switch question. Maybe this bump will nudge someone else to help out :wink:

I wish I knew . Still in awe of the black magic myself . Your light is a really cool idea .

I have a bit of reading to do catching up on the build threads. This is a cool build :+1:

I think ground connection will be shared with the switch’s ground connection. The positive connection will likely get tied right to where the LED positive wire is (in the middle of the driver).

You’ll likely need a large resistor due to having 2 cells. MtnE says that a 36K resistor is included with the LED-outfitted switch. At 8.4 volts (full batteries) and a 2.8 volt drop across the switch LEDs, that’ll be around (8.4-2.8)/36000 = 0.15 mA draw. With depleted cells (5.6 volts) that’s around (5.6-2.8)/36000 = 0.06 mA. That’s a pretty decent range of indicator LED draw.

You could probably also hook up the Switch LED+ connection after the Zener diode (share the same pin a Pos to the MCU?) and you could use a smaller resistor and it’d give you a smaller range of current draw between full and depleted cells. I’d need to take another look if you want to do that.

Thank You gchart and JasonWW for your help with the switch wiring. You both said the same thing about the resistors and hookup. :+1: I will tackle this soon, with a pre-install test.

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But first an update on building the Head and some trouble I’m trying to work thru.
Materials for the stand to hold a Hot sauce bottle I’m trying out for a mold.

After cleaning off the label, I noticed the top of the bottle had to be removed in order to remove the Head from the bottle after molding it.

Scored it behind the cap lip with a diamond glass cutter.

And things began to fall apart.

But it was ok to use taped up.


I was going to cut this one in half and make another one but it did not pass inspection.


I tried a single strip about one inch wide here. Learning what does not work first, LOL :person_facepalming:




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So this did not go well, but we learned a few things.
Tomorrow will bring more attempts, never give up, never surrender. :wink:
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Cut glass with string

I have had some success, and some failure, cutting glass with a diamond blade and tile saw. Also with a rotary tool (Dremel) with diamond coated disc. Lots of water. Safety goggles. Cut resistant gloves. Go slow.

I have never had success cutting glass . I can’t wait to see how this works out .

Bugger. Just make sure its only the glass your cutting. :beer:

Finally getting time for the fun stuff :smiley:
After more failures, we got an understanding what can be done and do that.
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The length on the 1.85 diameter needed trimming down to 1.65 diameter, the bottle was for roughing it in only.
The final finishing in this area was free handed.


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After molding the 1.65 diameter to size, it was taped to hold it in place.

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Here the pipe is taped up to hold it in place on center while the 1.0 diameter is heated and molded, then trimmed and repeat several times until the 1.0 diameter is finished.

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Prepping for JB Weld epoxy in all seams.

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The holes are for air flow, it is air cooled.

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This is part one of 4 pieces of the Head.
Next up will be trimming to length and mounting the Driver and cooling fan inside, and continue working to forward end.
I drew this up on a free 2D cad program for reference only. I could not hold exact dimensions, hense the need for flexibility.
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Here is the link for free 2D CAD. Easy to learn the Solid Edge 2D Drafting, I have used it for many years.

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That’s impressive.

So I hadn’t checked this build thread yet. With my own build nearly complete, I need to catch up on all the other build threads.

I am blown away by this build so far, CNCman. I would never have thought to make a light like this, and I certainly don’t have the knowledge or skill to do these things! I found, in particular, your bending of the copper Battery- current path to be both beautiful and technically skillful. This flashlight is truly art :stuck_out_tongue:

Very impressed with this so far mate, really good work. :+1: