Announced: The 4th annual BLF / Old-Lumens scratch made light contest

Each time Iā€™ve been a part of it Iā€™ve learned a lot of new things, mostly from figuring out how to overcome an unforeseen challenge or from watching others do the same. The ā€œborrowed threadsā€ Dale used in the .50 cal is a staple of my home made builds now but there are other ways to skin the cat as well if you just look around and notice how things are put together.

To save the looking up time, I cut brass pipe fittings to steal the threaded ends off of them, both male and female, to rejoin the .50 cal shell after cutting it to get the flashlight parts inside. I didnā€™t have a way to do threads, the shell case wasnā€™t thick enough to cut threads if I had the tools, so I soldered in/epoxied in these ā€œborrowedā€ threads. I used epoxy on one so it would be locked out from ground, enabling a twisty action. :wink:

Necessity is the mother of invention. Thatā€™s the fun part. Getting the idea what you want to do, then finding the necessary bits and pieces to bring it to fruition. The big difference between thinking you can and knowing you can is this bit of priceless experience that gives confidence.

I will warn though, itā€™s highly addictive! :smiley:

Compression fitting come in machine threaded instead of tapered pipe thread and lots of different sizes that work for 10440, 14500, and 18650. You can even get bits with knurling.

And brass cuts easy.

Nice pic of my son! :stuck_out_tongue:

But what if a machinist decides too enter hand-made?

Awesome! Thanks so much to _the_ for carrying the torch :stuck_out_tongue: for this epic contest!

For what it's Worth, which is less than 2 centavos any more, I would keep the classes separate, because definitely anyone in the machine category has a big advantage over a lay person who has no knowledge. I think it would be unfair due to the skills a machine made person has, (or should have, you have to believe they do, even if they say they don't). Machine made people have the common sense, the basic skills, plus a whole set of advanced skills, even for hand tools. It is just not fair to the newbies who might or will not enter, due to the inequality of skill sets.

I hope more people enter this year.

Iā€™m in. Handmade category please :slight_smile:

I might come up with a little something this year.

Nice. Iā€™m sponsoring the contest with some copper s2+ triple pills. :smiley:

I will probably enter this year as well.
Last year it seemed that the most powerful builds were the most popular ones, so i have been thinking about if i should try building something with XHP70.
I havenā€™t been able to come up with any good ideas though, so i will probably try something else Iā€™ve been thinking about for a while :slight_smile:

Iā€™ll be in but am waiting for the rules and category info to be posted.

Wauw this promises o become good! Thanks the!

The best builds seem to be the ones with the most personality invested in them so do what suits you. The only way you will be able to push past the difficult spots is if you really like the idea and want to see it finished and finished well.

i wished had time to let my ideas become reality :(

but i will follow closely to be blown away (as every year... ;))

Wondering if it might be possible to bore out and use a piece of Texas Pink Granite to make a flashlight? :smiley:

With your abilities Dale Iā€™d say you could pull this of with ease. :slight_smile: