Scallywag's 9th Annual Old Lumens Challenge - Modified Light Category

Drill holes through thin copper by sandwiching and clamping the copper between 2 boards. Drill through one board to copper to other board.

I may try something else using your technique, I have two spare discs assuming I don’t mess any up making the cell carrier. That should be easier, since it’s three very small holes and shaving down the diameter slightly. Not sure, possibly just drill several holes through the disc to fit the driver? I’ll definitely use it for the small holes for the cell carrier pieces. If I don’t end up happy with the driver ring, worst case I have some sheet copper and snips.

Anyway, today’s progress.

I started by tracing the inside diameter of the light’s head onto the copper piece I’m planning to use for the additional heatsinking in the head.

Next, I cut off the protrusions on the inside of the end-caps to the cell carrier. I’m planning to reuse these for insulation and fitment reasons; every other piece of the cell carrier will be rebuilt by me and will accomodate three (3) 18650s.

It’s tough to see here, but the copper discs as received from Bopper are shown here set atop the cell carrier ends. In both cases, the discs are slightly oversized to fit. I’ll have to shave them down, probably with my Dremel. (I didn’t do that today. Also, I took several pictures, and this was the best one I managed…)

Same deal with the size for the driver disc; at least this picture shows it better. It needs to sit down in the rim, not atop it.

So I started cutting the large copper piece. All I’ve got is a hacksaw - though I’m not sure what else I’d even be allowed to use. I can’t remember, does modified light category allow milling? I don’t have one anyway.

This is going to be a while.
So, to preserve my sanity, I alternated between sawing and doing other things. Like drilling the main large hole for the driver adapter ring. It… Well, see for yourself.

It’s not pretty. The driver fits it well enough that I could solder to it, and I got it mostly flat-enough-to-work, but… I may re-do this piece. We’ll see.
(I thought I had a picture after I’d “flattened” it, sanded it some, and dremeled some of the awful inside edge, but I’ve been having an issue where about half the pictures I take without unlocking my phone fail to save. I’ll have to take another picture the next time I’m out there.)
I also had to flatten the topside of the stock driver-shelf, to mount the new copper heatsink to it. I started by, as best I was able, flush-cutting the protruding features with a hacksaw. Progress pic:

It was not perfect, but I didn’t expect it to be. I got the big bits, ground down the major leftover high points, and then sanded it some. Good enough for me:

Some heatsink progress pics:



And that’s as far as I got today.

Hole saws never seem to leave as smooth a cut as I would like. :frowning: I do find that drilling a large hole in thin copper works pretty good in soft stock using a carbide bit with a drill press and a wood sandwich. However, the sandwich method makes it difficult to pinpoint the hole center. And I have never tried it in thicker stock like 1/2”. The heat might kill the drill bit.

Man, you get TWO A’s for Effort here!! I’m really impressed with the copper deposition…that’s neat! And what a job for a hacksaw…with a fine-tooth blade to boot. Pick up a 14t blade sometime (or 10t if you can find one) because the rest of that hunk of copper will appreciate it on the next job. :slight_smile:

Drilling copper is a whole subject in itself, with a chapter just for thin gauge sheet metals. That’s almost a double whammy there. Rigid workholding and a drill press is best so you can control feed pressure/rate, rather than a hand drill where you’re wobbly and can’t control as well, but the sandwich method works well sometimes. Good quality bit, sharp, is a must, and you can “dub” it slightly with a honing stone to help. If the bits you need are small and will fit in a dremel multi-chuck or something, that can do fine as long as you can keep it steady. Copper is one time that going fast and not using a lot of pressure can be the best choice (that’s a good way to ruin bits in steel, though). Drilling lead is just about as challenging.

I, um, may have warped the frame on my hacksaw today. So I might grab a new one anyway, and a 14T or 10T blade could be involved in that equation (thanks for the tip).

My impression of the copper is that it wants to grab. I don’t have a drill press (and I don’t know anyone with one to visit, either) so a handheld 12v Bosch is the entire equation here. Unfortunately. The hole saw is also… cheap. From a cheap multi-pack. I have a few regrets, but fewer dollars. My conventional drill bits are better but nothing special. Thanks again for the advice.

Grabby…yes. Depends a little on the particular copper alloy and state of hardness, and all the rest. Copper is a great way to break your old bits and buy those brand new ones you’ve been wanting for awhile. lol. Lots of ways to skin a cat but they all bleed the same way and are just about as much work. :slight_smile: Enjoying the crafting on your project here!

My friend said I need a band saw and a bench (disc?) sander. He’s probably right but that’s out of my price range lmao. I put off the heatsink today to focus on the cell carrier, and procrastinate until the new hacksaw and blades show up. Like I said, I bent the frame on the current one. So, update to come tonight when I get time to sit down and write it and go through the photos. I will say I flashed Anduril to the ATTiny85 from my phone, and I don’t have pictures of that because the phone is the camera, but it was way easier than using windows.

Okay, so like I said I set out today to work on the cell carrier, since I didn’t really touch it last time.
I began by using a dremel to reduce the diameter of the copper discs that would go into each end of the cell carrier. The inner diameter of each plastic endcap was 40mm, and the discs were a bit over that.

Progress was slow. But I eventually got them to fit. The first one:

And the second. The hand-made nature is pretty obvious in these. I also sanded them due to edge burrs.

I had some ideas about marking out where to drill the holes but things didn’t really pan out very well as you’ll see later.

My drill bit was up to the task, though. Went pretty easy. I applied WD-40 to each hole on a whim. I tried to go fast with low pressure, and it did fine. I also countersunk the holes.

To match the pattern for the second disc - by this time, having realized my patterns were not nearly as good as I’d hoped - I simply clamped to drill the first hole, then put the screw right down into that hole to keep the discs aligned. Worked great.

Next I cut my plastic rods to length with my hacksaw, which was still up to this task at least. I was able to hand-drill holes in… okay, near the center? In the ends, without breaking out of the sides, anyway. It’s fine. I promise it’s fine! I tested the first rod.

I’m going to need to countersink more…

In the process of assembling the carrier, on the third rod I kept breaking a screw on one end. This happened twice before I moved to a larger screw size (and had to make bigger holes) for this last rod.

I needed to make a small “button” of some sort for the positive contacts, since this carrier wouldn’t be long enough for springs on both ends.

Enter copper sheet and snips. Easy peasy.

Cuts like butter. Then I figured, if I’m gonna reflow the springs and buttons on the hot plate, I may as well do the driver, right?

All pasted up and ready to go. This is how I lay out my drivers, by the way:

My favorite stage of reflow is when the paste looks like this:

Alright, everything has flowed. Who can spot the issues?

The problems are circled in red at this link. And fixed.
So I had to trim down the external diameter of the driver ring I cut previously. I decided to try the snips…

I should’ve done the cell carrier discs this way! It fits:

And I marked where to drill for the screws with a pencil (but I did not get to drill them today).

And finally, I glued the end caps on the cell carrier. I test-fit a 30Q and it’s kind of tight (it nicked the outer wrapping on the head), so I will probably basically permanently install the VTC6s I ordered in this light.

Big update today, lots of progress. I’m quite pleased. The cell carrier is glued with E6000 and will cure for 72 hours. Hopefully that holds, otherwise I have to buy some 2-part epoxy (JB-weld or equivalent) and even worse, smell the stuff when I use it.

UCLp and three VTC6 showed up so now I actually have every piece of the light. It’s just up to me to finish it.

It is nice to be able to see progress and feel good about it. Oh, I hear you on the epoxy smell! I dislike using epoxy this time of year as the smell seems to hand around for days. Too cold to leave the shop doors open to air out. Too cold to work outside.

So yesterday I did some more work, but then I went to bed early before I got to post about it. So I’m posting it now!
I drilled the holes in the driver adapter ring.

As you can see, I had a casualty. Oh well.
I then reflowed the adapter ring onto the driver. I used my hotplate, and forgot to take a picture.
But, here’s a picture from when I reflowed the 7135s and spring onto the other side of the driver. For this, I had let things cool, then just flipped it over and used hot air.

Another angle.

Then I added LED wires. The positive also bypasses the spring, as the design of this driver requires.

I need to do the switch wires, but I stopped, because they can’t be fully installed without assembling the light. I’ll have to attach them to the driver, install the driver, and then attach them to the switch after routing them. This also reminded me that there will have to be a notch of some sort where the handle mounts to accommodate the ends of the mounting screws (which protrude into the head of the light) as well as the switch wires. I’ll deal with it when I get there.

Looking good so far, I don’t envy you hand cutting copper, it is a bitch to work with even on a lathe! My old lathe does not like parting off copper and it took me a full half hour to part off a 20mm part for my pill, any quicker and it just messes up and flies out the chuck, or at least ioff centre.
No way I’d want to cut it all by hand!

That does look like a lot of work. Sounds like it will be quite an impressive light when you’re done though. Still more tools and techniques I’ve not used or learned yet.

So, I’ve been slowly making progress on the spacer.
This is where I finished* (more on that later) cutting the spacer.


After a sheet of 80-grit, four sheets of 50-grit, and completely dulling a brand new file:


I used another file to make a notch for the switch wires:



And then I realized the LED +/- wires had to go somewhere
So I cut a notch.

And I soldered the MCPCB to it.


I decided I can’t attach the MCPCB+shelf with screws because I’ll never be able to drill adequate holes without a drill press and expensive bits. Maybe next year?
To do:

  • Attach MCPCB to driver-shelf (and possibly inside of head) with either thermally-conductive epoxy or arctic silver alumina
  • Run and solder switch wires and LED +/- wires
  • Focusing
  • Either drill holes into the spacer to accommodate, or (more likely) cut with hacksaw, the screws that hold the driver to the shelf (currently they extend several millimeters above the shelf)

Yes, I know it’s going to be fantastic fun to solder the LED wires to the MCPCB now that it’s on like 0.75lbs of copper

Is the file really dull or actually just in need of a good cleaning? Files clog, especially when used on soft metals. There is a tool called a file card.

The short, fine, stiff steel bristles are used to clean the metal bits that stick in the cut file face.

Available in many online stores and well-stocked hardware stores/departments. Indispensable!

That is such a HUNK of beautiful copper! lol. Impressive.

I was thinking the same about the file…probably just pinned and loaded, not dull. Even the cheapest files these days from China are of a rockwell hardness that is far higher than any copper or bronze…heck, even the “soft” jeweler’s wax files are plenty hard enough not to dull even if misused by stroking backwards. I don’t know if a file card would be enough for copper pinning (it’s generally not for aluminum) so you might need to spend time with a stout needle or sharp pick to clean up the grooves. Alternatively, you could flatten a short piece of copper pipe and run it down the length of the cut grooves in the file, like if you were pushing a wood chisel forward…so it moves across the flat of the file (on an angle with the grooves) rather than top to bottom as the travel would be when actually filing. That’s a quick way to clear up a file and usually the copper won’t leave bits behind when used in that fashion. Sometimes chalking a file before use will help prevent this or at least limit it a bunch.

Don……pleased to see a link to Falcon! Seems like hardly anyone has heard of them anymore but they’re still plugging along. They make great stones!

I have an assortment of their points, small diamond files and other stuff including an old air grinder. Still better than most of the no-brand name items.

Substantial effort!

I would be nervous about the centering of the MCPCB in your situation. I wonder how you made that work. The de-lens might have been safer to perform after the reflow, to avoid flux spatter or whatever, but it looks like it made it through clean.

I didn’t get a picture, but:

I screwed the driver-shelf into the head and set it over the copper spacer while it was on the hot plate. The driver-shelf has a centered hole in it already, which I used to position the MCPCB while the solder was liquid. The emitter is just large enough that I’m hoping this will be “good enough”.

The light is done and working, I’ll get this thread updated tonight or tomorrow night.

LED is slightly off-center. I should still have peak throw in the center, since the SBT90.2 is large enough that part of it is still in the focal point, but the beam is sub-optimal. Sure is bright, though.

Maybe my next mod is to cram 6 SBT90.2 into a EC06? Wait, that’s like $200 just in emitters.