xqwerty151x's Machine Made Class, 9th Annual BLF/OL contest

Howdy, Sorry for such a delay with updates, I have been swarmed with school work and haven't been able to make free time to work on my light but I have some updates to share. The major update is I have changed the design of my light quite a bit. I had to redesign the light and eliminate parts due to limited availability of the CNCs for personal projects. The new design is much more manual machine friendly, with the only part needing to be CNCed is the tube, and that is only for the curve in it. Second I have decided to go off in a strange direction with the switch on this one. In an effort to make something unique I plan on using magnets to hold the button in place

Today I have started working on the machining of it. The first part I am working on is the head/pill as I want to make sure all of the components fit nicely before working on the other parts. I am making the body and head from 6061-T6 Aluminum and I plan to make the bezel, tailcap and switch from stainless steel. All materials that I am using are scraps from the shop, so I am not sure if I will have the right materials for everything, fingers crossed I will.

I found some crap 1 1/2" Aluminum round which is long enough for my part.

First I turned down a length of the the round to the correct OD

Then I turned down and cut the relief for the threading.

Unfortunately I have to stop for class for now, however later today I will be working on it more and post some updates and hopefully I can finish the head today.

Good to see what you have done!

It’s great to see the progression of your build xqwerty151x. I’m interested in seeing your magnetically retained button idea and glad you joined the comp :slight_smile:

As promised, another update.

Started out by drilling out a hole for the Driver by using two different endmills. I set up an indicator to get more accurate depth readings as the tailstock has quite a bit of play.

I added this ledge so the Driver can sit raised up and the components and wires won't be smashed together.

Next, I tried my hand at single-point threading, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I ended up using 1 1/8-20 threads. I probably could have gone with smaller threads and overall light but I decided to play it safe with this size.

Next, I parted off the part and turned it to length, and again drilled out a hole, except this time for the MCPCB. Since we did not have an endmill or drill the correct size I got out the boring bar and brought them to size.

Lastly, I turned down, cut relief, and then threaded the other side of the part, again in 1 1/8-20.

Started to get late so I ended up calling it for tonight. I have a date with the super seter tomorrow to drill the hole for the button.

More updates to come tomorrow!

You could cut that curve on a manual lathe by plotting points and using a tool with a large radius to perform the cut. Then smooth with a half-round file and finish with sandpaper.

Nice light kinda looks like a WUBEN C5 mini

Love someone else is using a lathe, nothing like my old 1900’s one lol!
I wish I was able to cut threads on mine but sadly it’s almost impossible and it holds me back a lot that I can’t do it, or even know how.
Something I wish to change in the future. Realy looking forward to seeing the finished article!

cool tools. product sounds promising.

Yeah, our school shop has almost every tool I could want to use, short of forging equipment. We have 6 manual lathes and mills, 2 CNC mills, 3- 2/3 axis CNC lathes, and one 7/11 axis CNC lathe (depends if you count the sub-spindle as extra axis), EDMs, waterjet, pneumatic threader, sandblasters, a whole woodworking shop with two CNC routers, two SawStop table saws, welding shop and a lot more. It is like a playground for me, and the best part is that engineering students don't have to pay (outside of tuition/fees).

Unfortunately, I have started to run out of time, with the shop being closed for Thanksgiving and exams looming I might not be able to finish my light. I submitted my files to get made on the CNC lathes but with senior design projects also finishing up, it might not be able to be made before the 8th. If it does get made I will definitely try to take a timelapse of the CNC doing its thing. Even then I still have to get the electronics all figured out.

Well, good luck on finding time. This is my weakness, for life! :).

I don’t know how long is left for the contest, but I’m about out of free time to spend working on it anyway. I am supposed to make pocket organizers for the kids (to hold victorinox knife, lumintop edc01, and rite in the rain plastic variant of Fischer bullet space pen) out of an old suede coat… If I can. Have to try.

I may be crazy but I think that if you know what you’re doing, you probably shouldn’t be doing it, :P. What’s to be learned?

That would be awesome to see, fingers crossed :smiley:

Countdown timer… is in the first post here.

For me, if I know what I am doing and am doing it again, it is because I derive enjoyment from it.

While it seems like I might know what I am doing I promise I don’t. This project was a combination with a school class for product design so most of the work went into the design so I hit all of the deliverables for the class, making the flashlight was just a happy byproduct of the class.
In terms of machining, I work at my school’s machine shop but I still have lots of things to learn about machining. For example, this was my first time doing single point threading and while the part turned out nicely, it also turned out as left-handed threads instead of right-handed threads. I also picked up tips along the way such as using the indicator on the tailstock for more precise drilling depth, little things like this that I can pass on to other students when they have similar parts.
The machining process is simple in theory, measure, turn, drill, measure again, realize you are .100” undersized because you read the caliper wrong, curse, repeat. I don’t care to admit how many mistakes I have made working on just those two parts but I also enjoy the process of taking an idea from my mind and then physically holding it in my hand and that makes up for all of the effort it took to get there.

Howdy, just an update and a few questions today. Unfortunately, I won't be able to finish the flashlight, since I don't have to finish the project for the class my job got pushed to the bottom of the list, maybe next semester I can finish it properly. But I'm not done yet, since I have all the electrical components I am working on hacking together a lantern, which was one of my other entry ideas. Once I get more photos and things done I will post an update, most likely Sunday or Monday. My question relates to the electronics and wiring of the driver/eswitch/MCPCB. I remember the driver (MTN-17DDm) came with a diagram but I lost it long ago.

First the battery should be connected to the driver in this orientation with the positive side on the driver and the negative is connected to the ring on the outside of the driver?

Second is the wiring between the MCPCB and Driver correct, does it matter which positive parallel pad I connect to? Also, the most confusing part is where do I put the E-switch in the circuit, I know one leg goes to one of the controller pins. The other lead goes to the negative lead if I recall correctly.

Close up image of the driver

Any help or resources would be greatly appreciated.

All correct, for the switch one wire goes to the OTC (not populated) pad connected to the MCU and the other one to GND, for example on the GND pad of the OTC, or on the 3 legs of the FET next to the vias.

re the e-switch This page indicates pin 2 and ground. (scroll down about 3/4 the way

I have not used that mcpcb but that does appear correct for parallel leds I looked at the sales page, here

Thanks for the quick responses, so if I understand the driver correctly the outside ring is a ground connection, so I should be able to solder to point 1 on the picture? Or do I need to solder to one of the other points I labeled? And if it is one of the pins on the 7135, does it matter which one it is?

Also, would 20 gauge wire be fine for all the power delivery circuitry? I saw that 22 gauge is offered to be added on at MTN Electronics, I just wanted to make sure I don't burn any wires.

Yes the ring is GND, and the one marked 2 as well, the legs of the FET connected to GND are these ones :

I mentionned it because they’re big and easy to solder on, but the ring works too if it’s not sitting on a shelf like it would in the flashlight.

That’s perfect :slight_smile: Exactly what I meant. If you know what you’re doing, you’re just doing. To learn, you have to not know.

I’m just getting bad at the SEEMS like I know what I’m doing part as I get older. I just say “I’m practicing for when I get Alzheimer’s. I need to be comfortable being confused and lost and letting these nice kids help me find my way back to wherever the food is.”

Unfortunately, it looks like I will not be able to complete my project, I ended up burning up the contact pad for the switch and then spent 4 hours trying to solder a wire to the #2 pin on the driver with no success. Almost everything else is finished but I won’t be able to get a replacement part in by the end of the competition, guess there is always next year to go big.
Thank you to everyone who gave advice on my light.