The BLF DIY Forum First Annual Scratch made light contest - CONTEST IS DONE - WINNERS are Announced! in the OP

I haven’t slept the last two nights and worked both yesterday and today. No time left for such frivolities. Soldering the connections in the handle required me to solder a gordian knot and then slip a screw through it. I’ll post pics along with beamshots tonight( you are quite correct to be dubious but I hope to have the very last laugh) . I burned through two 3A IS 105C drivers before spending the rest if the night making an entire new pill and using my only spare BLF A8 driver. It went together very well but is not tested at all.

It is in the OP as well.

Crawling to the finish. One day and 7 hours or thereabouts to go.

We can do it. Go, go, go. A little more coffee and a little more solder.

My light is up and running… although not properly finished (sorry)… Maybe there will be a part 2 some day… Hope its not disqualified for the contest.
With all the other nice lights Im not expecting to be anywhere near the top with my “half finished” light, but it was fun working on it. :slight_smile: Thinking inside the Coke box…

Im just amazed to see the work several of the members here have come up with. Building from scratch is just so much more demanding and time consuming compared to modding existing lights… Also requires a lot of though…

My thread here.

Coke light! :slight_smile:

and must say I agree. For taking the time to make your own is so much better you see! When spending the time on a factory light the results can look much the same, but by creating your own design built from scratch it can help you build up your name! That end result is purely from you and doesn’t carry with it a brand, so when you touch fire to the LED within it’s music from your own band. For me the reward of building such lights is not the polish and shine, but when you hear people ooh and say Ah and can answer “Who makes it?” with “That’s mine”.

Half a day left and I’m done. Now what? Oh yeah, catch up on sleep.

This little clock was a killer idea. Really gets your adrenaline going. Only 10 minutes to go !!!!!!!!!!!

Almost as good as an eBay auction.

Indeed. :wink:
That was a lot of fun!
I hope I can take a look at all the lights tomorrow. I better get to bed now, its 3 in the morning here. :smiley:

Nickleflipper, my mapp torch failed recently but I’d like to replace it and upgrade my brazing skills. It would make these layered builds more foolproof in assembly.

Rufusbduck,

How so on the brazing, because of the higher melt temperatures? It has been a long time since I tried brazing. If my memory serves me correctly, brazing was used for dissimilar metals, or difficult metals like cast iron. One thing that entered my mind, if given enough forethought, would be to use lead free solder on the innermost or most critical parts, then finish off with 60/40 for the outer or cosmetic stuff.

If you want brazing or wire welding or even silver soldering done I’d be more than happy to offer. Just don’t get me to solder anything for you. :smiley:

The melt temp for brazing is much higher than for any solder by several hundred degrees though still not as high as welding. You can’t even braze with a normal propane torch so it allows you to build things without previous joints failing if you braze some and then solder others. It’s also stronger than a solder joint with a harder surface. Some high stress joints like the brass pin connections would be better done brazed. Like anything it takes practice which I’ve fallen out of. I was never good to begin with but now I have reason to improve.

The Contest is Done! I will have the winners results in a few days. Once the judges all contact me, I will tabulate the results and let you all know.

I sincerely want to thank the contestants for making their builds. I know sometimes it's hard to reach out and try something new and also it can be hard to be in the limelight sometimes, for risk of failure. None of you failed. You all exceeded any expectations with the fabulous builds and the great threads you made. I am deeply indebted to you all for making this such a great contest!

To the sponsors, (both BLF members and sellers), I thank you for giving me the ability to give prizes out to our contestants.

The the rest of the forum, I thank you for supporting our contestants during the competition.

YEEHAW!!!

I think that about sums up how I feel.Smile

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Hear Hear. Thanks to all for the enjoyment you have all given me in your builds. Without going on, all contestants have blown me away with there abilities, creativity and effort put in. Thanks also to the members for there support and comments. To the Sponsors thanks. To OL, YEEHAW!!!, its over. Cheers guys. :beer:

Well said MRsDNF, and well done! Thank you O-L for putting us up to this. Loved seeing the different approaches and techniques. I’ve already implemented a few of those, and stand in awe at others! :wink:

Thanks to all for your support in this Challenge, and the prizes…icing on the cake! I’m with Steve on this one, very glad I’m not a judge!

Because I wanted a way to see them all in one spot :smiley:
In order listed in O-L’s second post.
Hand Built
relic38:

Rufusbduck:

ruffles:

RaceR86

DBCstm:

FmC:

dave_:

nickelflipper:

texaspyro:

Hopback (concept shot):

JA7:

Pulsar (concept shot):

Machine Built

MRsDNF:

vestureofblood:

Great work everyone! :beer:

+1. My feelings exactly!

if my vote counts...

Hand built:

1st: DBCstm

2nd: Rufusbduck

3rd: relic38

Machine built:

1st: MRsDNF

2nd: vestureofblood

I wish there was more to pick from in the machined category... but say do i have in that, i also did not finish lol