Closed: 3rd Annual BLF Scratch Made Light Contest

3rd Annual BLF Scratch Made Light Contest

is Now Officially Open

Hello everyone,

The contest officially starts as of this posting and it runs (longer than last year!): until September 30th at Midnight (UTC).

http://free.timeanddate.com/countdown/i47vbc67/cf12/cm0/cu4/ct0/cs0/ca0/cr0/ss0/cac000/cpc000/pcfff/tcfff/fs100/szw320/szh135/tatTime%20left%20to%20build/tac000/tptTime%20since%20Event%20finished/tpc000/mac000/mpc000/iso2015-10-01T00:00:00

Here are the Contest Rules:

Common 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 (read: All work must be done by you!)
  • Must be made from scratch = Cannot use a pre-existing light
  • Must be a hand held and battery operated light (Read: Loosely classed as a flashlight. Lanterns and similar are ok. Loosely classified as battery: Also other portable energy sources are allowed)
  • Single or multiple emitter, driver and battery configurations are allowed
  • You may use some 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
  • You may enter with only one build, in only One Category: Machine Made OR Hand Made


Hand Made Category:

  • 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 and Table Saw
    • Disc or Belt sander
  • No other power tools, for example:
    • Lathes
    • End Mills
    • or automated machines

Machine Made Category:

  • 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

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/Innovativeness of the build: Is it a one of a kind? Different? Using New methods?
  • Skill level of the finished build: Does it look like a hack job? 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?
  • *NEW* Documenting also the failures & obstacles: How did the builder solve the inevitable problems? Documenting the obstacles and using the power of the BLF community to solve them is seen as a big plus!
  • Following the guidelines: Did the builder follow the rules and guidelines written in the contest thread?

Contestants: Please remember to PM me with a link to your Build Thread.

POST your Build Threads HERE PLEASE

I will keep all of the links in Post #1, so people can easily find all the builds.

Thank you.

PRIZES:

Prizes will include at least the following:
- A replica of last year's winner (provided by DBSAR - see post #109 in this thread)
- BLF Custom Ti light (Unique and stylish light by WWEFANS, provided by WWEFANS & yours truly)
- Custom made copper light (provided by Ric-CN / www.edc-light.com - if it gets ready in time - to be confirmed)
- Manker Godmes (Bluetooth app controlled light, provided by Banggood)
- K40t (Modded searchlight with 1200m of throw, provided by hc-lights.fi)
- Olight S30 Ti (Very nice Titanium light, provided by Gearbest)
- Shadow JM35 (Small, one cell MTG2 light, provided by Gearbest)
- Gift certificates ($100 + 2 x $20 provided by Mountain Electronics)
- Sinner Custom Copper Triple EDC (provided by Sinner's Custom Host Designs)
- Fully modded 502B with copper fins and LD-2 driver (provided by Rufusbduck)
- Mystery 502B, modded by the master himself (provided by Old-Lumens)
+ something nice from MRsDNF? ;)

I'd like to thank the sponsors for their generosity, and would like to see all BLFers supporting their business: Please look to them when purchasing quality lights and accessories.

Prize distribution will be announced after we know the approximate number of participants in each category.


“Hand Made” category Prizes:

- To be announced

“Machine Made” Category Prizes:

- To be announced

Hand Made category:

Machine Made category:

Looking forward to this. :bigsmile:

Those are some incredible prizes! I really look forward to seeing what the entrants come up with this year. I hope a lot of you enter. :D

i will enter!

Awesome prizes. Looking forward to the builds! :slight_smile:

I need to think of something to build. Is a really hot fire allowed in the handmade category?

How many can we build? I want to do 3 hand built lights!!!

I am acquiring the parts needed to build the replica Steam pipe light. I have some parts on order and should receive them in a week or two.

Can’t wait to see the contestants’ arts!

Can we have multiple entries in 1 category?

if i enter a new light build of my own (separate of the replica prize light i’m offering) it will likely be in the hand-made category again.

subscribed !

No. Only one entry per contestant. You have to choose only the best one. :)

Really hot fire, like melting & pouring metal? Yes.

Really hot fire, like gas (oxy-fuel) welding? Yes.

Really hot fire, like exploding two parts together? Yes. (and would give you some extra points! )

Really hot fire, like plasma cutter? No. (OTOH, a hand held plasma cutting might be acceptable?)

Wait, doesn’t the light have to be portable? An apparatus for melting and pouring metal wouldn’t be portable, would it? Doesn’t the light have to also be AC-mains free?

Maybe I misunderstood what was requested.. I meant that melting & pouring is allowed for building the light.

The light itself must be battery operated and hand held.

I was thinking molten metal as part of the build process. And not just safe low temp stuff like solder.

The first annual contest had an entry that was forged so I’d say yes. That would be worth seeing.

I’ll need to make more charcoal, and make some casting flasks, and make or buy some greensand, and I really should build a permanent furnace to replace the stack of bricks I used last time, and I still need to come up with an idea for what I should make.