RCL03 - my latest EDC Flashlight -> Making Of Report

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts Featured Mods
1

hi guys,

in the parallel thread ( https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/68439 ) i am showing the progress from the beginning to now - but since its a long way, i want to show you my latest project seperate in more detail.

lets start. two years ago i build a small amount of EDC Flashlights with 16340 Battery. I use them very often, but they are limited in brightness and endurance. So i decided to start from a white piece of paper and develope a bright, very strong flashlight with handsome proportions with bigger batteries.

that was my first draft:

two variants, one for 18350, one for 18500 batteries. good enough to give it a try. But before starting with the production, there is some addional planning required. one of the issues producing this kind of parts is the clamping of the parts. for that i need some tools. furthermore i need some master threads, so that every single part i will produce on my conventional machines will fit to every other part.

thats the result: a master thread for every part and at the same time a clamping tool for outside machining:

some hours later:

after that i could start machining the flashlight parts itself:

here as an example the battery tube on the lathe:

some moments later the same part is on the milling machine with the clamping tools, i showed some pictures above.

and here the heatsink, first meassuring, than milling:

and here it is, the first prototype:

after using it for some days, its my favourite flashlight. But i realised, that it is not perfect. Two things are disturbing me. The position for the clip is not feasible. If i would set threads in the battery tube in the planned position, the light would be water resistant anymore. and i have no possibility to add a lanyard. So i updated my first draft:

i moved the clip to the back and added some holes in the rear for fixing a lanyard:

a little challange was the production of the "tailring". its a really small part with some turning and milling operations on it.

but maybe you ask you, how the hell can i screw that ring into the tail of the light ? i had the same question But luckily i have a CNC Mill, so i could produce a small tool for that:

after having all parts finished machining, lets make some group photos:

these 3 lights are now finished with machining. In the next step i will put them into a thumbler, a rotationg barrel with some grinding stones in it to round up the sharp edges. After that, i will polish one light, the other one will get sandblasted. Then i will have them coated with a DLC (Diamond like Carbon)

i never did that before, so i am very excited, how that will look like.

thats from my side for today, i hope you like my work and i will update that thread soon.

see you

Michael

2

RCL has mad skillz!

3

Sweet light. I’d like to see the 16340 size you made.

4

Holy cow RCL —— GREAT JOB!!! :heart_eyes: :sunglasses: :+1:

Just one question…. WHERE’S THE GROUP BUY? :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :stuck_out_tongue:

5

Amazing work, only one recommendation. Battery sizes. 18650, 21700 and 26650 seem to be the universally enjoyed sizes.

You have the potential for a good business if that is the route you plan on taking, otherwise thanks for letting us also enjoy your work.

6

Yep, I prefer 1x18650 and 1x21700 flashlights, though I doubt I could afford one of your custom flashlights.

7

Looks great. 18650 and smaller (18350, 14500, 16340) are the most popular for EDC. 21700/26650 can be tough to get in a pocket, and 26650 in particular seems to be falling by the wayside.

Are you interested in doing production runs of your light designs - whether they be small runs in the style of the “custom” flashlight market, or large runs shopped out to a manufacturer?

What are the specs of the internals?

8

Good work, and thanks for sharing so many pictures of your project. It looks wonderful.

9

Digitally designed and rendered. Good quality photos. It all looks very professional :+1:

… oh its a good looking light too :beer:

10

Awesome build!
I wish I had tools and skills as yours.

11

thank you all. the choise of the battery size is of course an important topic. But for me means an EDC light, that you can carry it every day. and you will take a small light more often than i bigger light. That is my experience, thats the reason, why a 18350 size is the best compromise for me. i calculated 1800 Lumens output right now.

as you will see in the parallel thread, i built a lot of 18650 lights. but they are in my oponion too big to carry every day in a pocket.

but of course i plan some bigger lights.

kind regards,
Michael

12

Cool stuff you do Michael :wink: Really nice!

I’d still like to see a short/thin triple 16340 flashlight w/ tail clicky (forward) switch.
That’s been my quest for a while. Although you are probably more on the “custom” side of the spectrum, I guess you’d have the skills to accomplish that !

Really nice work :sunglasses:

13

hi guys, a short update,

i prepared the lights for the DLC Coating.

For testing purpose, a good friend of mine plated on light, the other light was polished by me. So stay tuned, i will show the result soon.

14

Any chance you could do a post or video describing your amazing lathe and CNC setup. I know many people would be interested to spend their money on a lathe but have no idea what makes a good quality machine or what features to look for corresponding to making flashlights.

15

hi,

of course, maybe i can do a workshop tour in a separate thread. But reagarding the lathe - its a very cheap one from chinese production, now 12 years old and costs around 1400€. and i worked a really long time with really cheap tools on it. you can do crazy things on it, but its really time consuming. the more money i spent on high quality tools, the quicker was the time i needed for the parts. but the possibilitys itself stayed the same. so you do not need spend too much money, you need the experience or you have to want get experienced. that is the most important thing. and please forgot the CNC Setup :smiley: this is a milling machine for wood. no help for the light production itself. i can only build tools out of plastic like shown on it.

but if you are really interessted, i can start a workshop tour.

cheers, Michael

16

now i am jealous.
you have done
things i cannot.
congratulations!

17

Very nice!

18

hi guys,

yesterday i recieved a shipment with the two prototypes. they are now coated with a DLC coating, which looks increadible in real. now i start the endurance test, how resistant that stuff is on Aluminium.

cheers,

Michael

19

Wow it does look great!

20

Phenomenal. That’s about as simple and elegant as it gets. Brilliant work, sir.