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

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:

Not all of us… :wink:


6 AA Eneloops and 3 XM-Ls work quite nicely in terms of output! :wink:
It wont do 7+ for that many seconds but it will do 6A for a long time! J)

Awesome job putting together this contest Old Lumens.

It was really amazing seeing what everyone came up with. Amazing work all around. :party:

My favorite is Rufusbduck’s retro laser pistol light.

-I would say Rufusbduck have the best light in terms of originality. For that type of light, I would say execution is on a top level! Maybe Rufusbduck is an alien, most humans would not dare to even try to build such a light. And now he even have his own space-gun… Any similarities? Possible alien, space gun? He is obviously from another planet. Normal humans would never be able to pull of that build! :wink: I bow in the dust of all the hand made pieces…

-Relic38 seems to have a very well built constructed light. Not only a show-room light, but a light I would love to use. Its kinda like a SRK, only way more copper, and
even more compact. And who does not like that combination when its extremely bright,with nice tint, nice modes and good looking? It makes me drool a bit… :wink:
Its just a very nice light that has been nicely built! Highly desirable!

-Im a sucker for clean looking builds. DBCstm made one clean looking light and with great output too! Very original! Whats not to like??

Those are my top 3 favorites!
Lots of other great builds too! All are great, in their own way!

those are my top 3 also... been over it in my head over and over, and really my 1st, 2nd 3rd are hard to pick.

ja7 also needs a mention. his pill is a work of art

Ja7 has the most artistic build and I think Texaspyro did the most professional job on a light designed to attract alien attention. Buckminster Fuller would be proud of the coke light. I guess it depends on whether you like apples, oranges, peaches, nectarines… No two are alike so how do you decide?

a huge shiny .50 bmg (Big Motherfudgin Gun) round that puts out a decent amount of light... i really like all the builds, but i am partial to militaria

the machined class was most difficult. i like the bare look and contrast of the different metals of DNF, but i am a stickler for good knurling too

Yup, it fries them big eyed little gomers to a crisp… that’ll teach ’em to keep them probes to themselves…

I was thinking it’s going to signal them to come. Think about the warp signature that thing is putting out! J)

Yup, lure them in with one of the beacon modes. Then crank up the volume to “11”…

And I’ll pick off the strays while DBCstm plays hide and seek out in the asteroid belt. Ja7 can pretend to be an asteroid. The tower of power would light up the dark side of the moon. Relic could be posing for glam shots and when the visitors stop at the coke machine, they’d get a big surprise.

The winners have been announced, in the OP.

Congrats to all the winners for your well deserved victories!! I can't begin to say how inspired and awed I am by your ingenuity and patience. You are all winners in my book!

I will add that as good as they all were, I fully agree with the final decision and placings for the winners. Just like I'd have picked 'em. :bigsmile: :beer:

Build your own light , the wise old man said

With your own two hands and the smarts in your head


Heat up the iron ‘till it glows cherry red


Many’s the hour that you’ll spend in your shed


Nurture the foal to a grand Thoroughbred


Give it your best and your legend will spread


And the Gods will be pleased when your life’s story’s read

I knew that ray gun with both flashlight and laser was a sure winner, simply too ingenious and well implemented to not come in 1st in a landslide. Nice wins everybody, and thanks so much to the sponsors, WooHoo! Bounty! :slight_smile:

Seriously, I really do appreciate the compliments on the GDB 50BMG. My first flashlight build and it was a smashing success, loved doing it and super loved the expression on my cousins face while he soaked it in when I gave it to him! I’m already doing things I was scared to try before, so it’s opened doors to me (I’m sure I’ll destroy some things as well, but it’s not like that’s never happened before!)

I have a 25mm build in store, just about have the necessary parts to get started. It will sport a custom made triple xp-g2 at 5.4A from Australia. :slight_smile: This one is massive, the empty case literally swallows the entire 50 BMG!!! :slight_smile:

More news at 11. :wink:

Thanks again, very very much appreciated!

Congrats to everyone who took part! It was awesome watching these builds! Personally I took a liking to ruffles build.

-Garry

Awesome! I won something! Sweet! Paydirt! Well, I’m still $60 in the hole, but I have a decent light and green fingernails :smiley:

RBD deservedly gets the top prize! That was an amazing build. :face_with_monocle:

Congrats to all contestants, everyone walks away with something, especially the experience of building your own light :slight_smile:
Until next year (maybe not right in northern hemi summer though :wink: sorry Aussies )

I had the Green Fingernail Syndrome as well, that bright green copper tarnish…kinda cool and freaky at the same time. lol

Any time will be bad for someone, but I think next year it should be posted in April and started in May and closed the end of June. That would give a month to enter and two months to finish the build.

It's all a learning experiment. I would love to get a china seller to offer a couple dozen of the same light and have contestants each do their thing with the same light, just to see the results...

Woohoo! I agree Garry only I liked them all. What I find incredible is the variety. No two were even similar so the judges must have had a hard time deciding. I never considered it a sure thing but thought it was a good idea and proceeded to make the best MTM raygun I could using the tools and time allowed. If you’ve read through the build thread you’ve seen what it took to transform, reshape, solder, and stich this thing into it’s present form. Thank you Justin for putting on a fun challenging contest. Thanks also to the sponsors for pitching in to make this happen. And a big group hug with all the other contestants in the a first annual BLF DIY Forum Scratch Made Light Contest. It may be years before I recover enough to enter another. Would it be inappropriate to yell YABBA DABBA DOO?