Brass lined wood battery tubes?

Yuk, yuk.

I’ve considered doing it without the sleeve and using an old style wire handle wrap to carry the current but haven’t tried that yet.

If all goes well I’ll soon be able to do better than just sharing . Currently waiting for the first opportunity to pick up a wood lathe given to me by a friend. Her cisplatin treatments take priority. My only handy example of ALV is the handle for a cane I made. Hickory and quilted pacific bigleaf maple. Strong enough I could lay it between two cinder blocks and stand on it.

Look forward to it. I’m looking for interesting figure in the grain along with other more mundane qualities. I tried some lacewood which is interesting but the dried sap pockets create some interesting challenges. I also need to replace my 14650 Micromag and have some oak for that or maybe walnut. One of the local yards has an ok selection of interesting species to choose from though not all are available in 5/4 thickness needed for 18650 tubes. For example the Lacewood, Walnut and Sapele are only 3/4 while Purple Heart, Cherry, Poplar, VG Fir, Oak, and some others can be had in 8/4. I forget what size the Zebra Wood is. I haven’t checked some of the other yards either and the small amounts needed might be available online.

If I tried to make one I know it woodn't work. How about if I give you some dimensions and I could glue it on my own built battery tube? How is your checkering skills to make it look like its knurled.

Hey RBD, I have quite a bit of heavily figured maple if you’d like some. I also have walnut, mahogany and even some curly oak. The maple is in whatever thickness you could want. The others are 4/4 and 8/4. I’d be happy to stuff a flat rate box full of whatever you could use if interested. No charge of course. Let me know

A tube to spec is a fine notion but I haven’t tried checkering. Bead blasting seems more appropriate since it enhances the existing grain texture. Know anyone that can do that? I wonder how much a setup for that costs. What wood are you thinking of?

That would be sweet. 18650 and smaller need minimum 4/4 square blanks and larger things like 26650 or Mag D tubes 8/4. I’ll send a pm, thanks.

I have no idea about what type of wood. Is there a list?

That looks beautiful. I wish I had a light that wasn’t black that wood match these.

Common softwoods are pine, cedar, redwood.
Semisoft are vg fir, poplar, mahogany, alder
Hardwoods are oak, ash, maple, teak, cherry, walnut, most fruit woods.
There are some exotic woods available like sapele, zebra wood, and Purple Heart though some of them aren’t around in anything over 3/4 stock(~20mm) so not good for 18650 tubes. The cherry in the op has just a natural oil stain and lacquer clear coat.

mhanlen, black ano can be baked to change the color to a brown-bronze-copper depending on the temp it reaches.

Might be doable. I’d have to see one.

What! You know how to use glue???? TL

Beautiful Rufus! I hadn't forgotten the first image of that you posted... now you just have to do it again don't ya! Beautiful work!!

TL

@TL. I may have gummed a few things up, sometimes successfully.

@RBD. If hardwood was used what sort of thickness would the wood be? Say if the tube was 25mm what would the OD of the wood be?

Yeah... I have seen some of that gummed up BEAUTIFUL work... now we know your secret!! Have a happy USA Thanksgiving Holiday down there. TL.

I saw one of these in person. They are absolutely beautiful, and I highly recommend them.

Thanks TL and back at our US friends here.

Minimum wall thickness of wood maybe 1-1.5mm. Brass sleeve and epoxy add another .5 mm so 1.5-2mm each side or 3-4mm total + starting battery tube dimension. For example I just measured a Solarforce extension tube at 19mm ID and 25.4mm OD for 3.2mm wall thickness. I could easily match that. With my DIY set up concentricity won’t be nearly as accurate as on a machine lathe though. Probably no better that .1mm at best.

I ordered a couple shorty tubes I thought for the A6 but they only fit my X6. I might be mistaken as I was waiting on the shorty A6 tubes.

Edit- turns out I ordered one of each which figures as it allows me to get woody dimensions on each.

Sorry Steve, to answer your question a tube starting at 25mm with no sleeve would end up at 28mm minimum. Bead blasting might require a slightly thicker wall so add another .5mm for that, actual cuts even more.