[FINISHED: 06 - 12 -2020] MascaratumB’s entry – Old Lumens Contest 2020/21 - Modified Light Category

Project finished! [06 - 12 –2020]

Name: WooDJewl :smiley:


TAKE 2! :partying_face: :nerd_face: :beer:

So, initially this was my thread for the Old Lumens Contest under the Hand Made Light Category.

Since I had misread the rules and for my build I had non-permitted item (aluminium pill), firstly I decided to quit the contest.

However, I kept my work going and made (as in started and finished) my the light yesterday.

After the replies given in the 8th OL Contest , I decided I would like to include it under the Modified Light Category. Although it is a bit awkward, I guess it is - eventualy - more fair to put it in that category.

Still, in case the organization and juris say that this doesn’t qualify for that category and this contest, I won’t be upset and this becomes just another flashlight build on BLF :wink:

This said, I will present the way I organized myself:

Post #1 - Introduction (how it started)

Post #5 - The whole work! (START is on top & FINISH in on the bottom)

Post #6 - The tools I used!

Post #7 - Reflection on the build!


This is my initial photo of the materials and a short description of what I was going to use. You’ll see the differences later on :wink:

AIM
Make a small rectangular light using a small battery, with a “joule thief” driver.

INITIAL MATERIALS

- 17mm Joule Thief Driver by gchart :face_with_monocle:

- XML2 U2-1A Led on an aluminium PCB (I could have chosen a better one, but I have 4 or 5 of these laying around, so :innocent: )

- Aluminium pill bought from KD store in AliExpress (I actually used it in my 2nd mod ever :o )

- 1.5V LR1 Panasonic battery - I ended up using an AA battery

- Battery and - contacts+ retreived from a destroyed flashlight

- Switch - well, I don’t know which one I will use, it will depend on they functioning or not :smiley:

- Window - I am not sure if I will use a glass or plastic lens or UV glue over the LED later on

- Wood - this will be the “host”, I am not sure how yet, but it will be :nerd_face:

- 20AWG wires - yeah, overkill, but I have only this one available ATM :stuck_out_tongue:

  • Other materials to be used, eventually: white silicone, UV glue, hot glue, adhesive tape, leather, wood pegs, GITD fob (by CRX ), and others that I will detail later

HOW IT STARTED

:+1: Good to see you enter!

Thank you MtnDon :wink:
That idea I had didn’t have a “go”, so I changed my mind! Let’s see how this one ends :wink:
Thanks for the inspiration too :wink:

But your light is beautiful. How about the machine made category?

On post #1 you can see how my work started: some pieces of wood that I wanted to modify into a flashlight, capable of using an AA battery, and a joule thief driver!

So, let’s see how this went on this modification :wink:


1st step: Soldering the driver to the aluminium pill with XML2 U2-1A Led + Remove the spring from the driver

This was the first thing I needed to do, becaus the pill location on the board would determine the rest of the build.

I needed to remove the spring from the driver to later solder the wires to it, as you’ll see later on.

Despite this is a low output flashlight, I also put a bit of thermal paste between pill and PCB.


2nd step: Soldering the wires to the driver/pill + Make a hole in the piece of wood to be the “window”

After the initial soldering, I picked up the + and - contacts for the battery (that I used from a dismantled light) and soldered them to the + and - wires.

Then, I solder the + wire to the center of the driver and the - wire to the edge of the driver/pill. This was important to keep the flashlight “thin” (in case I had the spring it would be much taller, considering the rest of the build).

With this done, I needed to locate the pill & wires in the wood plate. Then, I draw a circle that would serve as window for the light.

I used a Parkside dremmel (as seen later on the tools section) and drilled some small holes, that were widened later with a round sand paper, also with the dremmel.

I picked the other wood board and a wood pole so that I could calculate the inner distance and also unite both pieces when I started putting the light together.


3rd step: Putting some GITD tape on the pill and UV Glue to protect the LED

Next step was to put some GITD tape around the led to absorb some light and…glow in the dark after the light is lit up. Initially I used 4 pieces, but then I opted just for 2 of them.

After this was in place, I picked a round black piece of plastic that had the same diameter of the pill top and the PCB, put some UV glue into it and put the UV flashlight above it to cure the glue.

The plastic piece had a hole, so some glue was pouring out, what led me to add different “layers” of UV Glue. Despite this,a little bit of the LED dome is still inprotected. I may add some more UV glue later to protect it.

Then it was time to see it matched the wood hole and…voilá, it was all fitting well!


4th step: Start putting things in place inside

After checking several times the place of the internals, I started putting things in place and using hot glue, I started gluing stuff.

First it was the pill, then the switch (OMTEN, reverse clicky), then the + contact, then the - contact (the one with spring).

Initially I was thinking about using a LR1 1.5V battery, but later I decided to use an AA battery, which is longer and fatter than the small LR1. This raised some issues because the light now needed to be “larger” too. NO problem, the adjustments were made.

I thought about adding a piece of wood to make a small division there, and to hold the battery in place. It acts like a shelf. I needed to cut a bit of the tip to make it fit correctly between the pill and the battery. Space was scarce so I needed to be sure that the battery wouldn’t stick outside the housing when put in place.

After this, I made a small test just to check if everthing was working well, and…it was :smiley: So I proceeded with the installation.


5th step: Filling the inside and make the sandwich!

Everything was going well, the light was functioning correctly, so my next steps were pretty much continuing to fill the inside of the light with hit glue. And so I did.

After putting some more without the back, I then put the pole in the corner hole to unite both parts and keep them in place, always making sure that the AA battery has space to be put in and taken out. This was always a major concern so I was always looking to it and measuring and testing if the light worked well.

With an x-acto, I cut the excess of hot glue that poured through the sides and to them as flat as possible. Well, there were some small bumps and holes :smiley: Hot glue is messy :zipper_mouth_face:

All tested and working!

However, I noticed that there was one part of the wood that was getting displaced from the glue, so I needed to add a screw to keep it in place. This is the first one, and later one, I needed to put 5 more :FACEPLAM: I guess that the wood and hot glue and the wood were not sticking together, so the screws will hold them in place :wink:

Click the photos to see larger images from the process.

After all this, the light was essentially done and working! But some things were still missing as you’ll see below :wink:
Some things to do: test it, cut the pole!


6th step: Pirography!

Well, if you’ve seen my last OL Contest build, you probably noticed that I used wood and that I used pirography technique to mark one of my elements.

So…I guessed it could use it too in this flashlight, becoming some kind of “personal branding”!

I decided to use the same technique on this small ligh.

In the back I engraved my username and the OL Contest year for future remembering :wink: On the front the 4 circles which I also did in the 1st build. I like the number 4 :wink: After this, I used varnish in spray to give it an extra protection. With a piece of tape I covered the “window/led” so that it didn’t get sprayed.

This was also the time when I added the other screws, as I mentioned earlier!

Comparing it with the flashlight holder from the previous contest! :smiley:


7th step: The battery door!

Well, you might be wondering: “well, what will hold that battery in place so that it doesn’t fall?”

Here’s the answer for it :wink:

I picked a wood plate, similar to the ones used for the build, and cut it according to the thickness of the bottom. With a file I rounded the cut egdes, I picked a lighter and torched it a little bit, to make it resemble the rest of the light.

On the one side, profiting from the built-in hole I put a screw into the hot glue, allowing this door to “slide” to put/remove the battery in/from its’ place. On the other side, I did something similar, but with an opening on the wood, so that it could fit the under the screws’ head but without the need to screw in/out whenever the battery needs to be removed.

The door works perfectly and has not interference with the battery :wink:

And now, the lights is done! Or…is it? :smiley:


8th step: “Leathering”!

So, despite the light is complete and functioning, there is still something to address: cover the glue on the sides!

Also similarly to what I’ve done in the previous contest, I used leather to cover the sides. I thought about using wood, but that wouldn’t be good because as the shape of the corners is roundish, any unflexible material to do that would be mehhhh. So, I picked double sided adhesive tape and put the leather onto it :wink:

Simple and effective and the colour matches :smiley:


9th step: Comparison beamshots!!

Ahah, with everything done, it was time to take some comparison photos!
I picked my other “gchart’ed” lights to make some comparisons, but also my most recent Sofirn C01 light, with Sophia led, all “low output” lights.

The 17mm “joule thief” driver used in this light is programmed to be around 0.3-0.5 lumens, which is manifestly lower than other ones in comparison, specially the Sofirn CO1.

There is no PWM, and the tint is - of course - cool white, given the chosen led.

I expect this light to feed well on an almost depleted AA cell (alkaline or Ni-MH) given its’ properties.

VS Lights with gchart’s drivers: Modded light (0.3-0.5 lumens) >>> Amutorch S3 (0.3-0.5 lm) >>> Amutorch S3 (3-5 lm) >>> AloneFire X360 (3-5 lm)

VS Sofirn CO1 (Sophia led, 3400K)

A giant difference in illumination!


10th step: Naming and beauty photos

Well, pretty much done and complete!
Sorry I couldn’t take some outside beamshots, confinement here is f’d up at weekends so I can’t got out after 13h. This was from window :smiley:

Oh, what is missing? A name!

I will now call it: WooDJewl :smiley:

And that’s all folks :wink:

Hope you enjoyed :wink:


Done!

:beer: :partying_face: :nerd_face: :smiley: :+1:

These are the tools and materials I used for my mod!

Helping hands
Plastic Vice
Soldering wire
Soldering paste
Sponje
Steel wool
Metal tray
Soldering iron
Support
Metal Tweezers

Pliers
Cutting pliers
Screwdriver
Thermal paste
Torch
UV Flashlight
Drills + Drill with sandpaper
Spring Clamps
UV Glue
Parkside “dremmel”
X-Acto

Metal spatula
Hot glue gun + glue sticks
GITD tape
Varnish spray

Pirography iron + bits
Single sided adhesive tape
Double sided adhesive tape (not protrayed)
Mechanic Pencil
Rubber
File
Plastic stencils
Gloves

:+1:

Some reflection on this mod!

Well, the most difficult thing was to have an idea that would be feasible given the conditions (materials/tools/skills) I currently have!

After a while thinking of what could be done, from Friday to Saturday I had this idea and decided to give it a go!

Unfortunately I didn’t realize soon that the pill was not possible to use in the hand made category, but that didn’t demove me from doing it!

So I kept the project while seeing the replies on the competition thread.

The greatest difficulties I had, at least initially, was how to hold things together internally, as I didn’t want to and couldn’t use many screws, due to the wood thickness.
Then I realized hot glue could be a good solution. I even thought I would use silicone, but it doesn’t dry as fast as the glue!

It was still a messy job when pouring it into the “sandwich” but I managed to just burn the fingers for some occasions :stuck_out_tongue:

Another difficulty was when the battery contacts where moving and I needed to press them and melt some more glue, to make the heat reach further allowing to move them inwards again :slight_smile:

The bottom (door) of the flashlight was also somethin that was a bit mind blowing, before reaching the solution, I mean! I was thinking of putting leather, of a piece shapped of hot glue, but that wouldn’t work well :zipper_mouth_face: So, the solution I reached was a good compromise I guess. Too bad that this part is not “waterproof” but…the WooDJewl is made of wood, so… :smiley:

The most challening things I faced while conceiving it were related to the pill and the disposition of the cables, switch and pill. When I decided that I was going to use an AA battery instead of a LR1, that made my decisions more steady. I still feel that I could add something more inside, but this will to the job!

I also would like to put a lanyard on it, but that probably won’t happen once I won’t make more holes on the light! I could eventually add a hook on it or some magents but…it will stay this way :wink:

I had lot of fun, despite all the cursing I said, because this was the firts from scratch mod I did: I modded wood plates into a flashlight :smiley:

Despite being a small mod, if compared to many others on the forum, I feel proud for it :blush:

I wanna thank all the encouragement words and support on this :wink:

And to all the contestants, good luck and good work! It is always great to learn from you :wink:

:+1: :smiley: :student: :partying_face: :beer:

:+1:

Thanks MRsDNF :wink:

I guess now you’ll have more content to see above :smiley:

Good stuff! :+1:

Thanks MtnDon :wink:

Nice to see you are back in the contest, MascaratumB. :sunglasses:

Entered and finished in two days! Who can ever beat this? You are the fastest modder around! :smiley:

Very nice flashlight! I like the custom vintage look of the wood. You could set this up next to your build from last year and continue the series next year. :person_with_crown:

It is always good to have a flashlight on hand to drain Alkalines completely so that you can throw them away without having wasted a single percent.

Thanks Skylight!
Ahah, rain, cold, confinement and time managemente made me do it yesterday because I knew that it would not be good to drag it for days :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, next year, let’s see what comes in the way, but if I go back to my original idea for this year, that I abandoned, it will be woody too :wink: A bit more complex than this one, though :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah, havin these small lights feeding on the almost depleted cells is quite good, almost apocalyptical, though, but good!

Also, this one can be on my bedside for just a shy illumination before sleeping :wink:

Nice finish MascaratumB :+1:
Lots of pics and explanation showing your progress. I really like your finish color design and enthusiasm to bring the Old Lumens spirit of competition built into your light. That is why we are here, to have fun and enjoy each others input, help, and Friendship. :sunglasses:

Thanks CNCman :wink:

That is true, indeed ! I am not from the time of Old Lumens, unfortunately, but I feel like the contest is an awesome opportunity to learn and to goe a but beyond our comfort zone :wink:

This year I was not “able” to get others’ inputs during the build, given the time of finish, but I’ll be looking to get critiques or comments on that !

And I’ll keep an eye on your build too :wink:

Nice! I think i like this one better than your last years entry :+1: Good to see you did end up joining the comp :beer:

Great work, love the vintage look. Maybe not quite a Louis XIV, but at least a Louis XIII½.

Wow! Fantastic! Thanks for documenting it all for us to see.
Congrats, MascaratumB!! :beer:

Good job mate, it looks awesome nice and rustic :smiley:

Well woodjewlook at that. Great work.