How small are you? 3- mode Solitaire, some beam shots

Pics?

Age, pain killers, and pics. Yup, nope, and definitely but hard to take pics of an idea. Going home tonight where a board or two will pay the ultimate price for my delusions.

No pain killers. Just some good wine and I’m on my way.

I got started this evening by first removing the led wires and then the 7135 chips(I clamp the board down, place a line of solder across all three pins, when that melts I slide the chip off the board).

With the chips removed and before I do any more I wanted to check which IC pins go where as well as the resistor and capacitor connections. With those noted its time to cut. >)

The cutting took only a few minutes but carefully sanding the board down to a circle took about an hour. I used a bit of brass tubing as a guage.

And here it is cut And filed along with some other bits for scale.

And the bottom cleared for action.

That’s all for now.

Wow. You've got my interest again even though I only think I know what you are doing. Keep that wine going so we can see some more. Cheers.

It is too small to fit and too small to even see what you are doing, subscribed !

You have probably have a great way to get the 7135's in the light (and who am I to mind your business) but this simple driver (from dx) has three of them nice closely packed on a 15mm board that could be sanded down and might fit inside a solitaire:

Thanks, that’s a nice small driver but even sanded its still too big for a solitaire. I make a stack and use them without the board stuffed up into the narrow section formerly occupied by the “switch”. With just a little sanding it would fit a AA Minmag though.

ah, a stack sure beats this, you can't get smaller than that. Good luck and keep making pictures!

I think you missed your profession as a microbiologist rufusbduck :slight_smile: This obsession with small things will ruin your eyesight!

You need to start hanging out with TGWNN:

(post #1483, a bit down the page)

Here are the two bits I need to join, the chips soldered to the contact plate and what’s left of the brains.

After I stuck the two parts together with Fujik I needed to solder 3 spots on the brain board to the contact plate, the resistor, the capacitor, and the two pins of the IC that I had previously shorted together. Here is a crummy pic of the resistor connection.

Once all three had been soldered I filled the voids and buttered the edge with Fujik. Like a six year old with a very small layer cake.

Then I wrapped it in plastic and pushed it into my guage tube to cure.

We’ll see what it looks like later. I have to run off to the post office and won’t be able to play with this for a few days. I’m leaning toward a black solitaire with some brass like this one

What do you think?

Really impressive, a work of art!! I like the look of the brass collar.

I did a couple of soli mods with smt components…never again, just too fiddly for my sausage-like fingers :slight_smile:

Here it is unwrapped.

And again with an 18650, a solitaire host, how it started (left), an lr44 button cell (right), and the reworked driver (center).

The more observant among you may have noticed only 2 chips where I stated in th op I would be using 3. Space condiderations aside I felt it would be a sort of flashlight hubris to run a solitaire at one full amp. It would work but in this instance my conservative side would not be denied so 700mA it is.

Plans changed so I got to stay home and play. I dug out my stash of brass tubing and cut up and soldered some things together.

The shorter one on the left is for Mum’s pinky and the longer one along with the stepped piece is for this mod. Why longer? Why the extra piece? Because I cut the head of the solitaire in two of course!

Well, “What for?” you might ask. So I can make it long enough to focus a zoomie, that’s why.

Tomorrow they will go out to my high tech lathe set up(not) and have some fins cut. Stay tuned. :open_mouth:

I'm running out of things to say rufusbduck. The driver there aganst the ruler must just be over 3/8 of an inch. Thats so tiny. Dumb question. You still have modes?

That was the idea. 3 modes, last mode memory, low voltage warning. I could probably do this with a Dr J Lux drive if I had one. Wouldn’t that be special.

Why is there a fast tech ad overwriting your avatar?

If your talking about my avatar I see a mongrel looking Moose. I had to ask about the modes as I thought that this was the idea of the mods. How many more of the current chips would you be game to put on these drivers?

Functionally, it’s no different from before so the drive current depends on the ability of the host to radiate heat and the physical space available. For example a AAA Minimag has a larger head for more fins and a longer tube for more chips. There may be enough room in a solitaire for 3 where I currently put them but without lengthening the battery tube or using a smaller battery, that’s the limit. 1A would likely heat up fast and since there is not enough space for a decent sink might not be good for the led.

I made a few more parts for the light.

Actually, it’s just the zoomie bits I wanted to show. The led fits inside the tube with the copper bottom which slides up and down in the other piece which is the extension for the head. It is long enough so that with the head screwed down, the lens pushed down on the end breaking the circuit(as with the original).

Still more to come.