I could ask if you want to Hi-beam. But id guess they are steel casings too.
I cant compete with you guys when it comes to machine work so Im glad you guys like the concept of the build. :) There wont be much machine made on this light. But since I used a lathe to open up the handle/battery tube, pill have been made on the lathe too (coming in a chapter in few days). Still several obstacles to pass. Im working on the light every day now. Just finished something for the upcoming chapters. I actually started on the light and did the stuff shown in OP early on.. Then I started to do things slower and slower and now time is limited. The build is now on the top of my to-do-list. Hopefully I wont stumble across too many more issues and failures (more about those are coming).
About the switch. I have played with many concepts and various different switches. This being one of them.
I considered various side switch solution and rear switch solutions. And even a combination. It would be cool having something to pull, (load it up with ultrafires and see it blow up) but at the end of the day. I need to easily have control over two driver circuits. This will hopefully become a useable light that will replace my friends Led Lenser X21R for use in bunkers and such. The place where his X21R is mostly used.
I wanted the light to be usable without having to unscrew the tailcap in order to get to a switch. That would be too much hassle the way the light will be used. He wanted it pretty much stock looking, so no switch or drilling through the tailcap. So im going for two side switches mounted on the side of the light. One to each driver circuit. About the same wiring as seen in chapter four.
There are several differences between our replicas. Especially the tailcap. How to do the battery tube and tail will be my main issue. Its work in progress. But it wont be anywhere as nice as the machine made stuff done on that laser build.
I dont have the right drill size (only have one 20mm drill) or tools to make an insert tube like he have. And if I had, I probably would not dare. The middle section of my handle is only 28,5mm. I consider inner tube diameter to fit the fat protected 18650 to be 18,6-19mm). If the wall size if the insert tube is about 2,5mm. that would be 19+2,5+2,5=24mm. With the outer wood diameter of 28,5mm that would mean the wood wall on my light would only be 2,25mm thick in the middle section. I would not have been comfortable making it that thin or making a super thin aluminium tube. Im way to good at breaking stuff and not used to working with wood. Not much used to working on a lathe either. 0:)
Hopefully ill compensate with some uniqueness not seen in other flashlights.
Just joshin with ya. Looks good. You have kept me amused with all the woops going on. I'm glad I was not there when this was going on. Progress is looking good though.