New build. C8 AA or is it a bottle jack?

My fascination with AA battery flashlights continues. My last build was a AA P60, this one has stepped up the ladder one rung to a AA C8. Its only got a temporary pill in it at the moment as the driver planned for it has not turned up yet. It will be the driver out off the BLF mini. If anyone thinks this will not be suitable please chime in. The idea is that it will run on any AA sized battery from NiMH to lithium Ion. LED will be an XP-G2. As the old saying goes a pictures worth a thousand words.

The first few pictures are fabrication shots. Apart from the tailcap and lens retainer the light is made from 1 solid piece off aluminium.

First time out of the lathe.

This was an absolute pain to machine as there was nothing to hang onto. The lens retainer is screwed in to stop the end from squashing in. The masking tape is to stop the alloy from being damaged. The jaws have only about 6mm to grip the head. The pencil mark was the finished length. When possible a live center was used in the end.

The tailcap half finished.

All the machined parts after a quick polish and most off the components used.

The body along with the reflector used.

Reflector end view. Its not real clear but the step in the middle is a thread to screw the pill into.

The inside looks a little rough but it has been machined to suit the outside profile of the reflector (with flats).

The tailcap before assembly. The threads are 2mm. The picture after is a shot with a match head to give you an idea how small the cap screws and threads are.

The reflector assembled into the body. The three holes in the lens retainer are 1/16'' and are there so the retainer can be be screwed in and out. I did have some 2mm grub screws to use in the holes but there is not enough metal left for the threads.

From the front to the rear.

Mini AAA, C8 AA, C8

And for now the last shot until the driver turns up. Thanks for reading.

Wow, gorgeous build. Nice machining!

wow… gotta say, thats one of the nicest custom builds i have seen yet. amazing work

Amazing work as always!

Wow, excellent work.

That is some gorgeous machining!

-Garry

Excellent machining! Great job!

It's beautiful!!

You out do yourself every time. WOW!!!

Cool! What kind of output are you hoping for off a NIMH AA cell?

Thanks Guys. What am I expecting out off a AA? To be honest something that throws 400 meters. Seriously just an all round light that will take any AA battery. I have heaps of AA hotrod lights, so this is just something different. I have standardized my pills for these lights so there pretty easy to change anyway. They have a 20mm x 1mm pitch thread and are all 1/2''long. Cheers.

^ What he said.

Very nice !

I hardly believe that it can be done without CNC. Great work! But what is the purpose of the screws in the tail? Anti-rolling mechanism?

Yep. They're there for tailstanding and to stop the flashlight rolling.

Wow! I love this little firecracker the design is really cool and well executed.Great work,I think some blue GITD rings would look killer on this one.

Really nice. Until you held it in your hand it looked much bigger. Hmm, that sounds a bit iffy. Oh well, can’t wait for 400 meter beamshots.

Say is good work, is an understatement, really is Amazing !!!
Thanks for sharing :smiley:

Awesome, I love your lights mrsdnf 8)

wow, that really is stunning, well done! With that size reflector and an XP-G2, it should throw amazingly well even if you can only get 500mA or so to the emitter.

Do you have a link to the driver? I can’t remember where the one you used before was from and I’m pretty lazy :slight_smile: Also - did you machine the reflector yourself or is it a standard C8 part?

The reflector is a standard C8. At the moment its running a KD 7135 V2 driver and a dodgy XP-G2 which throws pretty good. Its not that different to a Q5. Hopefully the BLF mini driver will arrive soon.