This idea came to me out of the blue. About a year ago I decided to try making an octagon cylinder, using glued-up wood segments. I made a test using some cedar boards I had laying around for some time. The stock was about 5/16 inches thick. That test went well. I made that project out of hardwood. I never completed it; the parts are in a box waiting for inspiration to strike.
The test octagon cylinder languished on a shelf; too nice to toss but there was no idea of what to do with it. Until one day not too long ago I thought of checking to see if the LT1 would fit inside the octagon. To my surprise, it was a very good fit. The LT1 battery tube section slipped inside the wood octagon very nicely with just a small amount of clearance. Maybe a 1/8 inch of free space.
I then made another octagon cylinder using a different cedar board for an upper portion. After some thought, I decided to laminate some pau rosa hardwood to make a piece that could be used to join the two octagons. I used some medium cyanoacrylate adhesive and accelerator.
A small piece of pine was cut and glued into the lower end of the lower section. A short 1/4” machine screw with a wingnut added for a finger grip allows securing the LT1 inside the octagon sleeve. I used a little silicone adhesive on the upper surface of the pine block to provide a non-slip mating surface between the LT1 and the wood mount. That helps to keep the LT1 from rotating. A second hole was drilled and tapped to provide a place to store the retainer screw when the LT1 was not inserted into the cedar octagon.
I drilled and filed an opening for the USB plug. A coping saw with a 28 TPI blade was used to cut a slot on the opposite side to make switch access possible. The cedar was also thinned with the saw as can be seen.
I used a clear spray lacquer to finish the wood. No stains were used. The pau rosa wood was a reasonably close color match to the orange o-ring that came with the LT1. FYI, I used a tiny amount of very thin ca glue to fix the orange o-ring stay in place.
The last image shows the LT1 with the plastic bowl shade I made for this soon after I got this LT1 a few years ago. This is a batch one light.
Thanks for all the kind words. It was a surprise discovering the test octagon for a different project fit the LT1 and then fun making this work. It is ear-marked for a Christmas gift for someone I gave an LT1 to a while back.
A shade.
Wood of course.
That’s a mixture of cedar (the lighter colored wood), redwood (the darker wood) and peroba rosa (the orangy colored wood). Clear coated with laquer.
Just in case anyone wondered if the shade affected the cooling much I ran a test. I charged the cells and left it plugged in during the test. The light was run on high for 30 minutes without the shade, then the head temperature was measured with an IR thermometer.
The top of the aluminum registered 115 F (46 C). The ambient temperature was 78 F (26 C)
The shade was then placed on the head and the light left on high.
After 30 additional minutes the aluminum head registered 129 F (34 C) and the wood top registered 89 F (31 C).
After 20 more minutes the aluminum head had reached 134 F (57 C) and the wood top was at 92 F (33 C).
The temperatures remained at those levels for an additional 40 minutes, then I terminated the test.
