Making a 12-Up out of Mini-Mags and Nichias. It's Finished and BEAM SHOTS are up now!!

It looks pretty damn cool to me and I’m sure something could ease the battery changes, maybe a screwdriver slot in each cap with a bit of your file work to dress it up. I have 2 efest 14500’s and could order two more, charge the bunch and ship them. They’d be ok for testing/beamshots but I would be reluctant to use them as a set for run time testing even though the two I already have have only been cycled a few times.

Thanks, but don’t go buy anything. I would feel bad about that. I have to figure out something with the tail end, that’s for sure. If I don’t buy batteries, I will most likely come up with a way to use 12 eneloops for testing and beam shots.

I like the screwdriver slot idea!! The tail caps aren't really that bad, but it's the fact that the bodies can "wiggle" and misalign that is the real problem. I think that the copper plate needs to actually fit around each body, so that it does not move at all. That is what I am going to look at. I will also look at some kind of a slot.

Well, if r-sales can charge them for me, I will get four of their Efest batteries. If not, I will use eneloops somehow. I tore down the light tonight to make changes to the copper end plate. I am making it so the bodies are captured in the plate so they can't shift. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday I will have revision 1 done.

Badass and elegant, fantastic.

O-L

Great job. Another one-of-a-kind O-L specialty! You HAVE to give us more glamor shots of that beauty. So much time and effort put into it, let's see that bad boy (or girl?) from every possible angle.

Congrats!!

As always, love following your projects!
This one was very unique and original. Well done!
:slight_smile:

She must be a female, since she’s fought me every step of the way. Tongue Out

I guess I will have to take a few more shots of her, including beam shots. I am ordering the batteries today, so sometime next week for the beam shots and the glamour (sales thread shots) too.Wink

Old-Lumens, this looks fantastic! Bravo. I’m sure you can work out the kinks.

Hopefully someone can charge those 14500s for you. Heck I’d be more than happy to charge them for you. It might be a good opportunity for you to try out Li-Ion and see what you think, especially since IMR/LMR cells aren’t made from explodium like the more-common LiCo cells :stuck_out_tongue:

As you know, I’m only a couple of hours away. I can easily send you a charger to use, wish I had 4 cells I could then just bring em over. I have to drive up to Cleburne tomorrow anyway. I only have AAA Efests though. Could you make those work for testing purposes? I’ve got 4 of em that all came together.

The efest 10440’s I bought only pushed 2.4 A direct drive through an xre. I don’t think they can supply 3A each which is about 8C. An AW AAA might.

Well, hell. I just bought 4 of them and the Nitecore I2 charger. Guess they will have to do for now.

Nope, I don't plan on keeping them. I will sell them after the testing and beam shots. I can't check amps, so what I get, is what I get.

Probably Wednesday of next week when the stuff comes in.

Ok, Glamour Shots in Post #1.

Beam shots next week when the batteries come in.

Thanks everyone for watching this thread. It's been an interesting light to make.

Hey Justin, Rbd was talking about 10440’s, not the 14500’s you ordered.

The 10440 is fully capable of pulling over 3A…they just don’t hold up for very long at all when pushed that hard as you might can imagine.
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Efest%20IMR10440%20V1%20350mAh%20(Black)%20UK.html

The 14500’s should give plenty of amperage to run this bad boy, don’t know if there’s anything else out there that will pull as hard as the small Efest cells. And I’ll buy those off of you Justin when you’re done testing.

Just let me know if you need a charger, I can send you one in a day most likely if you need it.

Welcome to the Lithium side of the Force, Old One.

Yes its me again. Dont shoot me. Just a thought that may gain a little rigidity. On the tailcap end how hard would it be to peen the copper over so it wraps around the battery tube. I’m not sure if you’d gain much, just thinking out aloud.

Sorry, didn’t mean to confuse things, just wanted to prevent a delay from using an inadequate cell. I had read that 8-10C was near the limit for good imr’s and that efest cells were not as good as some others at very high current draws. They do seem very good for the price which is why I use them and my experience was that 3A was too much to ask from the efest 10440. Way better than protected TF 10440 but not as good as AW.

I can’t believe you said that. I hide my hammers when I’m modding lights. Lol. Good idea though as long as you don’t miss. Oops!

I would trust Mr Lumens skill with a hammer any day. For the work off the devil or an angel. There is no other that has this special talent with hand tools. :slight_smile: Well there maybe, but OL is good.

I see that the Efest claim 6C, but that's asking a lot. I don't expect to get the full amperage with them, but I would not fork over the bucks for AW cells. Maybe if I was a Li guy, but it hurt just to buy these.

If I had done the lights as 3AA they would get 3 amps off the Eneloops with no problems at all.

That's why I added the copper collars. Now the tubes are held in place. I've never shot a Moose and my days of that kind of thing are long gone. I might still bite your leg though, or at least growl a little.Wink