The tortoise is checking back in. I am amazed at the ingenuity of the handbuilds presented thus far, not to mention the fine workmanship. Well done!
The zoomie function of a flashlight has made for more thinking and less doing. I hope I have a grip on it. Lots of parts to make.
Added a few pics. One shows my rethinking of the pill. I’ve incorporated a 3/4” pipe “pill extender”. The extender serves as the inner tube of the zoomie, and will serve as the fixed part anchored to the flasklite body. As a byproduct, the extender should give some heatsinking too.
You could say that I have a new-found respect for ALL the modders out there. I hope I haven’t bit off more than I can chew on this project.
Got to hammering the copper skin, and I have to say that the depth of relief is not quite what I had hoped for. Maybe with oxidation, and highlighting with some steel wool will help out?
Made a switch tower on top of one of the tubes, because there is no real room to recess. Thought about between the tubes, but it did not feel right. Pics show a Judco switch fastened to the tube inside the 1/2” tower, and a cobbled together faceplate with a small Fastech boot. Need to get some small brass screws, on next trip to the hobby store.
It’s going to be close on the deadline……I think I can, I think I can. A few more pics added.
One thing I noticed in testing is that the color mixing isn’t so hot in the flood mode. I know it’s not going to happen on spot mode. That’s probably why you don’t see the Intl Outdoor driver trying to do it? Or, maybe there is no call for it?
I’m going to try some yellow, orange, cyan, purple etc. for some beam shots if possible. The cyan comes out perfect, as is. Ordered a fenix AD03 diffuser ($3 free shipping at the fenix store) and see if that helps with the other colors. Backup plan is using a WF501B lens with some d-c-fix film. This will be more of an experiment, as opposed to something permanently attached to the flashlight.
The stress of this past week was intense not knowing if it would be finished in time or if it would work and knowing there’s no time left to fix it. I certainly appreciate your efforts on this build and am glad you went for it. Bravo!
Quote nickelflipper, ‘’Hope to finish up in the next week or so, and will share a beauty shot, possibly more beam shots. In retrospect, should have tried grafting some 3/4” hose threads for the battery caps rather than try the homemade threads. The light could have benefited by using a more mechanical attachments, as opposed the layer upon layer of soldering steps.’’
Thanks for sharing what you got done and the beamshots. It sounds like what you have learnt here, as we all have, will put you in good stead for next year. Give yourself a pat on the back. cheers.