This Thread should be closed now. Use the Contest Thread for questions and comments please.

2nd. Annual BLF Scratch Made Light Contest

Contestant Sign up Thread

Hello everyone,

It's time to get with the program 

First things first, I need to do a little advertising. As you already know, all of the prizes this year are coming from Dealers who are well known in this forum. Here they are:

This is the thread where you sign up as contestants.

Any member of BLF can sign up as a contestant. 

Here are the Contest Rules:

Hand Made Category:

• Must be made from scratch. Cannot use a pre-existing light.
• Must be a hand held light loosely classed as a flashlight.
• All hand tools are acceptable, as well as these power tools: Soldering gun/station, Electric Drill, Drill Press, Dremel style Rotary tool, Cutoff saw including band saw, Disc or belt sander. No lathes, End Mills, or automated machines.
• Single or multiple emitter, driver and battery configurations are allowed.
• You may use manufactured components such as; reflectors, P60 drop-ins, drivers, LEDs, “O”-Rings, switches or lenses.
• You may not use manufactured flashlight parts such as: a bezel, body, tail cap or head.

Machine Made Category:

• Must be made from scratch.
• Must be a hand held light loosely classed as a flashlight.
• Can be made using machines such as a Lathe or End Mill, or what I would consider machines found in a machine shop, or any other tools listed in the hand made category.
• Single or multiple emitter, driver and battery configurations are allowed.
• You may use manufactured components, such as: reflectors, P60 drop-ins, drivers, LEDs, “O”-Rings, switches or lenses.
• You may not use manufactured flashlight parts such as: a bezel, body, tail cap or head.

Rules for All Contestants:

• You must make a build thread and you must be able to show clearly legible photos of the progress of the build. The better your thread, the better your chances, since we can only judge on what you show us in your thread.
• No outside services allowed. You cannot send your parts or light out for someone else to work on it, or to Anodize it or plate it. All work must be done by you.
• You may enter in only One Category, Machine made OR Hand Made.

Just post in this thread that you want to be a contestant.  

The Contest will start on April 1^st. 2014 and it will run until June 30^th. 2014. I will make a NEW THREAD for the Contest. When the contest starts, you need to make a thread for your build and make it here in the contest forum. Also you need to PM me with a link to it, so I can post all the build threads in the Contest Thread. It’s so much easier to go there and see the links to everyone’s threads.

A panel of judges composed of current members of BLF, from all walks of life and from different countries, will judge the winners of the competition. I will be one of the judges as well.

What do we judge the contestants on?

• Uniqueness/Inventiveness of the build. - Is it a one of a kind? Different? Using New methods?
• Skill level of the finished build. - Does it look like one of my hack jobs? Or were the finished parts/assemblies done with skill and care?
• Thoroughness of the build thread. - Did the builder do a good job of showing and explaining to the forum, how he did the steps in the build?
• Follow the guidelines. - Did the builder follow the rules and guidelines written in the contest thread?

 My personal feelings are that I started this contest for the sole reason of promoting "hand made". I feel we have lost our self-pride when it comes to making anything ourselves. We have "lost the art", so to speak and I was hoping to bring some of that back out in others. I realize that is kind of a minus, because for everyone not able or not willing to do that, it would seem like I was trying to keep them out of the contest. That was never my intention, but stuff happens. This year I have added the use of some power tools into the hand made category, to see what happens to the overall results. Personally, I will still be judging mostly on how well contestants do, by how much they stuck to hand tools and how good the results are, but there are many judges, with a mix of interests and feelings here, so that will balance out the judging of the contestants.

OK, everyone, get signed up! Let’s get this Party Started!

  Wait a Minute! Wait just a Darned Minute!! 

WHAT ABOUT THE PRIZES? HUH??

OH, I completely forgot.

“Hand Made” category Prizes:

1^st. Place Prize – Thrunite TN32 provided by Illumination Supply

AND  it will be Modded by vinh. He will be making a build thread on it, so everyone can see what he has in store for it.

2^nd. Place Prize –BTU Shocker provided by CN Quality Goods

AND  it will be Modded by Tom E. He will also be doing a build thread on his mod for it.

3^rd. Place Prize – Solarstorm SP03 provided by Wallbuys

AND  it will be Modded by some old guy and he will be doing a mod thread on it.

4^th. Place Prize – $50 gift certificate provided by Tmart

5^th. Place Prize -  $40 gift certificate provided by Lightscastle

6^th. Place Prize - $20 gift certificate provided by Mountain Electronics

7^th. – 10^th Place Prize - $20 gift certificate provided by E2 Field Gear

“Machine Made” Category Prizes:

1^st. Place Prize - $100 gift certificate provided by Illumination Supply

2^nd. – 3^rd. Place Prizes - $50 gift certificates provided by Tmart

Last year there were only two entries in the machine made category. I hope more of you will jump in this year and take part in the 2014 contest.

Many thanks to vinh and Tom E for there willingness to mod lights for prizes in this contest. They were both very willing and helpful with this.

Now, let’s Get This Party Started!