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

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

Relic, posting all of the pictures in one place like that was a perfect idea. The size of the pictures is good too. The smaller size makes it far easier to compare them.

well done everyone, the bar has been set well and truly in the stratosphere! I’ve enjoyed reading about every single build and I’m only glad that I’m not the one that has to pick a winner as they’re all as good as each other, just in different ways. Great job on the sponsors too, that’s just the icing on the cake.

I’m sorry I couldn’t take part, work and travel (and family to some extent) ate up too much of my time and energy for the last 6 weeks. Still, at least I won’t be embarrassing anyone with my awesome 1in.sq. alu tube build :slight_smile:

mattthemuppet,

Built in anti roll feature :slight_smile: . “It’s hip to be square” Huey Lewis. I place as much value on what’s on the inside than the outward appearance. If you can find the time, follow up on the idea and share.

I just HAVE to know how to make a square reflector to match the de-domed emitter! :slight_smile:

Wow, some awesome builds here and some very very useable lights. Small to large, tight spot to mega flood, the only thing truly in common is we all are making the Li-ion battery suppliers very very happy! lol

he he he, yep, I’m so out of fashion I’m in fashion. By wearing the same type of clothes my whole life, I’m in fashion approximately every 10 years :slight_smile:

it’ll definitely get built, in fact it’s pretty much the next thing on the list now that I’ve built a lipo battery pack for my power tools (doing some trail clearance tonight and didn’t fancy carrying 4 18V NiCd batteries up a 4 mile climb!). I’ve given myself extra incentive by giving my old headlamp to a friend and having my old car have something else that needs fixing. I had about a week before the contest started when I had time to build it (built an LED work lamp instead), then it’s just been nuts. Things have calmed down a bit now though!

well, you may jest, but 1in.sq. alu tubing is just perfect for Ledil’s 20mm square optics :wink: