Another little update in the OP. I’m still trying to decide on a driver (or driverless) configuration, but I had other things to keep me occupied for a little while, so I kept moving forward. Pretty soon, I’m gonna run out of things to fiddle with, and I’ll have to do something about powering this thing up.
To hold the magnets in line while the epoxy sets put a plastic bag between them and a straight piece of steel. To make the driver a tight press fit roll a piece of copper wire into a ring just larger than the tube, solder it to the driver, and sand it until you like the fit, should only need it on one side.
To anneal copper or brass it needs to get red hot(glowing) before it softens and then it hardens again as its bent and shaped, sometimes needing annealing again to continue. Simply loading it with weight probably won’t flatten it, it needs to be rolled like dough with a large, smooth, heavy pipe. I use a section of brass pipe with another longer one inside as a rolling pin.
Figures… I did it all wrong! :person_facepalming:
Well, POO-POO! I don’t have any loose 7135’s laying around. I thought I might, but I don’t. I don’t even have any extra linear drivers from which to rob a few (By which I mean that I have a couple linear drivers here, but one is already slated for a future project, so it can’t be robbed, and the other has already been robbed of most of its 7135 chips, so I don’t want to rob it any more). I guess the driver situation is on hold until I get a clue. :weary:
I’ve got more than I can use if you want some. Not long ago I didn’t know squat about annealing either. Google is my friend.
One subject I find has not been addressed by the rules of the competition - spinning metal. This method is used to create objects using a wood lathe to create objects from sheet metal. It is in many ways inferior to using a metal lathe. Is spinning handmade or machine made? In my case I would use it for the driver housing.
I think they just list tools rather than worry over how they’re used.
Yeah, that’d be great! Thanks!
Yeah, there was a bit of a discussion about it last year. The consensus was that the tool is the tool. If you’re able to use a spinning tool as a lathe which isn’t a lathe, that’s a skill! However, it has also been stated that more weight would be given to builds which use more manual means (for the Hand Made category). So, while using a hand drill clamped in a vise works as a lathe, it is acceptable for use in the Hand Made category. You just won’t get as much credit as someone who doesn’t use a drill as a lathe and gets similar results. Anyway, that’s how I understood it.
I agree. I’m not going to sweat it either way. If there’s a rule then somebody’s going to bend it. I’m just trying to show what can be done with the tools I have that were allowed. Even with a wood lathe the cutting tool is held in the hand or adjusted by hand. A metal lathe has the cutter controlled in x, y, z by highly accurate gears with calibrated travel indicators. Mimicing the motion doesn’t give the same results or the repeat-ability of a machine tool.
Okay, I’m facing a conundrum. I’m trying to decide how much power I want this thing to have, and how to get it. I was planning on limiting it to an amp or so because less can definitely be more when it comes to an accessory light. This light is mostly for small-area lighting, such as in a small room, or under a car hood. It isn’t for path-way lighting or distance-spotting like most flashlights. If I make it too bright, it might do more harm than good in many scenarios.
But the other side of this is that I like bright lights, and I like it even more when a little light is surprisingly bright! I don’t want this light to end up with underwhelming performance. My household has several lights that max out over 1000 lumens, and one now that reaches 2500 lumens on turbo (Thanks again Olight!) I don’t want to look at this light when I’m done and think of it as a disappointment.
What do you guys think? Help me out here. I’m stuck between wanting it to be enough, yet not too much, and neither of those ends of the spectrum are well defined right now. I really just don’t know enough about this stuff I guess. 
The way I’ll do it is that my light will have a Burst mode which provides 3150mA to the led and then turns down to a more sustainable 700mA - 1000mA. Maybe you could do something similar?
One way to look at it is that you can always use the lower modes and save the uber bright for special times. But if you don’t have the uber bright available, well you can’t use it ever. I like the custom firmware option on many of RMM’s drivers. You can choose up to 6 custom levels and IIRC some also have moonlight available as a 7th level.
But then OTOH, my light that gets carried the most, my usual carry, has a maximum output of 280 lumens. 4 levels incl ML.
I you’re outsourcing the 7135’s or fet then you don’t need much of a board for the driver mcu so you can take a nanjg board with just the diode, voltage divider, and capacitor and cut away all if the 7135 positions leaving a much smaller pcb. If you have an old pcb you can order just the parts kit from RMM, maybe with fet +1 firmware. Then you could have your cake and eat it too.
Well, according to Cree PCT, I can get around 500 lumens by splitting 1.14A (3x 380mA chips) among six XP-E2 R3 emitters. That’s roughly equivalent to an incan 45W bulb, or my old Olight S20-L2 Baton on high. Or, I could get a high of just under 350 lumens from 760mA (two 380mA chips) and six of those emitters.
Ah, Don’t mind me. I’m just thinking out loud.
I’m probably gonna go with 3x AMC7135 here. I can’t see needing more output than that from this kind of light.
I didn’t think about physically cutting up the driver board. That’s a cool thought…
The AAA minimag I made for Dale had a driver chopped down to 12mm. Mattaus kicked things off with the tiny10 driver.
Waw,looks amazing.