SECTION 5: SPECIAL MATERIALS
Firstly yes i do think titanium is a special material and my Ti Dive torch should really be here rather than Section 2.
Even so i've got a few other exotic materials in mind for various lights......
Future Projects....
Magnesium UV Torch.
This is my planned magnesium bodied torch which will use an LED Engin 365nm chip run at 700mA and will be powered by an AW Protected 18500.
the lens is a visible light filtering lens and allows only UV light to pass through. The GITD o-ring is to help identify if the torch is on and working.
The purple coloured parts will be anodised aluminium. They were originally planned to be titanium but since that would seriously offset the weight saving advantage of the magnesium i changed my mind. The reason for these non-magnesium parts was to avoid excessive wearing of the rather soft magnesium, especially on the threads used to gain access to the battery.
I actually have everything i need to start this project, including far more magnesium than i need and it will be my next major build.
The only thing i'm unsure of is how to anodise the magnesium, i got hold of a MIL document that explains the process to some extent but it's either going to be whole lot of trial and error or i get lucky and find someone with that kind of experience, fingers crossed.
Original concept thread on Multitool.org
Tungsten Torch.
Now this one's just silly, i admit it, but i'm still going to try and make it.
I've wanted to work with tungsten for quite a while now, probably just because of it's reputation. Just like titanium i suspect tungsten just needs a considered approach and the right tools.
The basic design of the light is quite similar to some of my two 16340 brass torches with the difference being that there will not be a solid core but rather a copper drop-in that screws down into the body. The LED will hopefully be a high CRI 3000k XM-L2 driven at 3A and using the good old 20mm 10003 Carclo TIR optic.
Since tungsten is so hard i've tried to design all the components to be similarly rugged; the lens is rubber mounted above, below and round it's circumference, the drop-in and optic are secured in place with locking rings, the battery is secured in place with o-rings and plastic collars and is not supported by springs, all joints are double o-ringed and the tail switch boot is shrouded. All in all it should be pretty sturdy. When it gets dropped onto a paving slab, it's the slab that will come off worse.
The anti-roll ring is a separate piece and will hopefully be made from titanium, anodised blue to add a touch of colour to what will be quite a somber piece.
All that's left to do is find some 1" bloody tungsten rod.
Wooden Clad Stainless Steel Torch.
This light is supposed to be a homage to the early Surefire weaponlight heads (Z32) and is designed to hold a P60 module.
The P60 module is planned to be a custom unit with a 26.5mm Carclo optic, an XP-C mounted to a Noctigon copper PCPCB, driven hard with a silver plated copper heat-sink.
The type of wood i've chosen for this torch is Bog Oak from the Fens.
I chose it rather than Irish bog oak because i wanted to have clearer grain definition than just the black against black of some of the more ancient bog woods.
The grain will run from top to bottom on the light rather than around as shown in the renders. The wood will be oiled but not varnished or stained as it doesn't need to be.
The torch body is made up of seven pieces not including the wood, and is all screwed together allowing the wooden pieces to be installed as single pieces rather than half that need to be glued together.
There are a few other lights that use special materials in the planning stages which will hopefully make an appearance eventually.
Updates will continue until morale improves.
