Edit to add: I would like to thank Old-Lumens for being so awesome as to create this event and all that he’s done to build this community. And kudos to the sponsors for their support and for taking all my money.
So I was trying to think of what to do for this contest and I did what I always do.
Went for a snack.
While raiding the cupboard, I noticed a box of my wife’s Crystal Light.
I figured I could fit a couple 18650s in that box, line it with copper, mount the LEDs directly to the top.
And then I realised that was a terrible idea cause the cardboard would likely burn since it was wrapped around the heat sink.
That’s when I realised that the key to odd lights is thermal management.
There are going to be four distinct challenges to me finishing this light.
First is the crystal. To be clear, I’m putting the light in a crystal.
However drilling into this crystal is slow going. Been trying to figure out which bit works best.
Turns out that it’s not this one.
Also of note, machine steel bits and carbide bits don’t cut into it much. Got some diamond bits I’m gonna try on it later. Main issue is keeping it cool while drilling. Might have to do it immersed in water.
Second challenge is the light to insert in the light.
I’m still waiting on some parts for this, but since the interior of the crystal will be visible from the outside, I’m trying to make it something that looks cool.
With the diameter of the crystal being my upper limit, and wanting to leave it fairly thick, this is a 10440 build. I’ve got some of the BLF 10mm driver boards (thanks again Rufusbduck!) but I haven’t gotten one full put together yet.
Third challenge, is once that’s assembled, there’s the switching issue. When the light is in a crystal, it will be pointing LED down to the base, with the battery extending up inside the crystal. To activate it I intend to use a magnetic control ring and a reed switch. The reed switches I got now are too large for this build so some smaller ones are on order. Some testing is going to have to be done to figure out how that’ll work with the BLF10mm driver, unless anyone can advise me on that front.
Fourth challenge is finding the time to work on this. This is the busy season at my work, so time maybe in short supply.
Whelp, it’s a fail. Never managed my time well enough to get this done. I tried to switch gears at the last minute and do a resin cast, but I didn’t know enough about resins to even really try it. I had a buddy of mine 3D print some crystal-like plastics to try to get some larger molds made but ran out of time. Here’s some random pics of the end state of affairs.
This is one of the crystals with a XP-G2 under it to show what it would have looked like.
And after the camera balanced out the light.
This is the plastic crystal my pal printed.
This is a larger 16mm XP-G2 pill I made screwed into part of the crystal with a 502b body for the switch function.
For anyone wondering how I was going to do the reed switch, I had planned to use the mosfet style switch depicited on this CPF thead
I’m going to keep working on this idea, and refine the needed techniques for making this kind of thing, and try again next year I think. I’d like to thank all the people who help me with this idea. Maybe next year.
Budget tip, if looking for quartz crystals, look for smelt quartz. Means they melted cheap quartz sand in a mold to make the crystals instead of finding them whole in the dirt. WAY cheaper.
Maybe you could make a mold of a rock that would be big enough to have those crystals inside of it like a weird geode. But make the rock out of Portland cement and diamond grit. That should have better thermal property than cardboard and kinda go with the theme. Lapidary synthetic diamond like this
I had actually considered building a cement light along those lines.
Maybe next year
This one should be prettier though. Need to get my bench reassembled first, and still waiting on parts though.
I cant help with drilling crystal. It appears that most builds so far are pushing the builders to their limits. What sort of drill are you using and at what speed is it turning?
I hope it was not a glass table. Good luck on the slow speed. Just out of curiosity I wonder if something like toothpaste would work with the masonry drill at a reasonable speed as toothpaste is a very fine abrasive?
Good luck. Definitely use lubrication on the carbide bit. Maybe wrap the crystal with some tape and put it in a stationary vise to get your hands away from the business end. Really cool idea. I’ve wondered about using crystals for chandelier lamps so I’m curious about how this comes out.
on the carbide bit. Maybe wrap the crystal with some tape and put it in a stationary vise to get your hands away from the business end. Really cool idea. I’ve wondered about using crystals for chandelier lamps so I’m curious about how this comes out.