There’s several Mfg’s of that two part epoxy stick. I fixed two cracks in garage door panels with that stuff and it has held for three years now. I just spread it on over the crack and pushed it flat. Good stuff.
Yeah, fitting the pieces correctly will be hard to do. Maybe draw it out on paper first, and then glue it to the copper cap and use it as a guide?
The 3 pieces of 1/2” might just fit in a 1 1/4” x 1” reducer…
Yep, they would fit in that. I just didn’t want to sink another $10 bucks into it.
I have tried this idea before and never came up with a solution, that I could live with. I am finding that out all over again. It’s a lot of figuring, to come up with plates, to make the 3 batts into series, without touching the copper anywhere, but still hold them in place and it’s a challenge to put in a switch and driver too. If the inside was hollow, like all other lights, it would be simple, but with those interior walls due to three tubes together, it’s much more difficult. I think this is one of those projects that will sit idle, till I get a brainstorm on it. Too many issues with too few solutions. It would be so much eaiser with a lathe and mill, LOL.
Do you have to use the 1/2”? Will the batteries fit in the 1” coupler which you could use as a mold to cast a battery holder. I made a 5 x AA nimh “center post” this way using wax and some dead cells to form the positive. The mold materials and casting epoxy will set you back more than the copper though. Oh well, I hope you find your inspiration. I’d love to see a genuine OL copper wand complete with rings.
I’m very interested in knowing what O-L comes up with. I’m a true “putter-pants” as well, although I’ve never ventured into the flashlight arena (YET). I’ve been reading Old Lumens, and Match’s build posts (and I’m sure I’ll get into some other’s users creativity in the near future) and all I can say is, “wow”. I’ve got a hankerin’ to build but need to educate my self more on drivers, LEDs, etc. as this is all fairly green to me still. Good stuff, boys!
Well, I've been mulling this thing over for a while and have tried some approaches, but due to the fact that I'm trying to use three tubes, instead of one tube, it does present some issues (many issues). Anyhow, the best way I see is to be totally different, by making it into a 3AA battery pack instead of trying to have contact plates at both ends, just wire the three batteries, in the tubes, into a pack and use a charging port.
I can cut the slots for the wires to lay down in place and solder the pack together. I can wire the port and a side switch in the head. That way, the tail cap could be made to the shape of the three tubes (as a flat plate) and spot soldered in place. Then I can also make a flat plate to go over the front and solder the head to that.
Of course, that means it's a rechargeable light and you can't change out the batteries, but it's a shelf queen anyhow (or it's supposed to be) and a new set of eneloops should take 500+ charges. The only thing is, that the owner would need a hobby charger or universal charger, to charge it.
Worse come to worse, since the back plate will be spot soldered, it could be removed if necessary.
Sounds like a plan. Can hardly wait to see the build. I ended up using a barrel connector as a charge port to accommodate the wall warts I have.
More photos in the first post. Working on the head now.
Does anyone have a 28mm glass lens?? Anyone? I need one, or I have to make a plastic one again. 28mm, 27mm, or 26.5mm would work
PM sent.
Couple new photos today, gotta go....
Oh well, back to the drawing board. I'm not going to say any more. I did manage to perform a first ever for me and that was when the NiMHs sizzled. Kind of like bacon in a frying pan.
So, the light for the giveaway will be a 3AAA Copper Smoothie with an XM-L in it, but driven at probably 1.4a or 1.75a. It will look like some of the ones I have done before. 3AA in a holder with the P60 pill and reflector and a clicky in the tail cap. I start on it tomorrow (after I air out the garage). :Sp
I think, from now on, I will stop doing the teasers and wait till something is finished, to avoid all these whoopsies in public.
There are no failures mate, you just figured out another way that didn’t work 
I wouldn’t change a thing IMO…I thank you for allowing us to learn with you and maybe we won’t make certain mistakes ourselves because of it (although sizzling batteries does sound entertaining). We’re all better off learning together. THANKS!
I agree with ntg, I love seeing the teasers even if it doesn't always turn out right.
get Rolling glasscutter like that DX link
And make glass lens yourself… :bigsmile:
what caused the sizzle? All in the interests of science of course 
We learn more from our failures than our successes and learning from other peoples’ failures is far cheaper than learning from your own, so keep on posting!
Heat.
I put the batteries in and tack soldered the thing. Now the top section worked great, most likely because there was a lot of "meat" in that thick coupling, to absorb the heat. Well the bottom was thin and it all went to the batteries, I'm sure.
It's one of those risks you just have to take, even though common sense and better judgement try to prevail, the yankee, redneck, hilbilly hacker has to take over sometimes and watch it burn, burn baby burn!
4 most famous last words, "Hey y'all watch this!"
ah, so it was heat from the light, not something to do with charging. Interesting info!
Interesting that the heat went to the battery tubes. Because they are thinner I guess they heat up quicker. I would have expected them to stay cooler, having more surface area. Now I think about it, the heat would radiate in all directions equally, but the parts with greatest thermal mass can absorb and store more, making them take longer to heat up. Bit like the relationship between a car engine and radiator. Or a pc heatsink.