Good evening all! I’m sorry to join up and immediately hit you all up with such a big question. I searched around here and though there are threads with the similar question asked, they still are further along than myself. Here is the deal…i have the machine shop/equipment to build a titanium edc flashlight. I know mostly what i want it to do, but shopping for the guts is impossible for my knowledge level! If i give you the list of wants, can you guys help me with ordering the parts? I appreciate any helpnyou can offer.
Thanks, “Burn”
Welcome to the forum Hr2burn.
We all have to start somewhere, I only signed up few days back as well.
Anyway, here is a good place to look for parts that I learned about today thanks to BlueSwordM.
Here is a tread worth looking into as well.
Thanks Aguass. I think one thread was about springs and the other was a place that sold pieces/ parts (pretty much dont know what I’m looking at)
Drivers? FET? Firmware/programing? Appropriate batteries?
I know i want 6000k LED capable of up to 1000lm
Different modes but preferably programmable via the switch.
What parts make this up? What parts work together? I really dig mountain electronics but am not sold as to where to order from. I guess help with my parts list would be awesome.
I'm sure there are plenty of people here to help you .
Welcome to BLF
If you know what you want it to do can you list those specs? It might help others point you to specific products.
Welcome 
Machining lights is very interesting to me. Please keep us in loop of your progress.
Geeze thanks. I’m trying to get sum sleep already. 
Thanks guys!
So I am just writing down exactly as printed….Its probably too much info, but here it is…
17mm Dr Jones H17fx driver w/lucidrv2 7135+FET
CREE xp G2 s4 2b leds on noctigon 3xp copper mcpcb pre bridged
2 questions, there are different kinds of switches, to program this (I dont what to have to use a computer to do it) do I need a certain switch?
Battery, I was looking at a 3500 mah…I
Hopefully this is all you guys need. I am not set to any of this, I just saw light spectrum, lumens and programmability and I put it in my list.
Thank you all!
Welcome, and i think that’s a great first question - straight in, no messing!
When you say you can build your own flashlight do you mean you can constuct one out of ready made parts or do you intend to machine your own design out of titanium?
There are some superbly knowledgable people on here (of which i am not one which i why i read rather than write) but specific answers also come down to personal preference as well as technical knowledge.
I do have some knowledge to impart though
With your 1000 lumen, 6000K specification you have already narrowed down your choice of LED, but understanding the beam pattern you would like would help narrow it down further still. Do you want distance, width, or a good combination of the two? Explaining what the intended usage of the torch (i’m English! :D) will be will help with that, walking requires a different pattern to working on things at close range, which are both different to spotting buoys out at sea. EDC implies a balance of throw and flood, but that depends on what you get up to each day 
The XP-G2 S4 gets it’s reputation for producing the most throw under quite extreme conditions, but it does so at the expense of things such as brightness, beam quality, and efficiency compared to other LEDs. That you are looking at 3 LEDS on a board means you will not be optimised for throw and thus it is unnecessary to sacrifice these other things for this LED. Plus, i do believe it is no longer available. There is a version of the XP-G2 S4 available but it is not the one that is heralded on this site, with that heralding i assume being the reason you have chosen it. (At around the time when the XP-G2 S4 was introduced Cree changed the way the XP-G2 was manufactured which directly affected it’s throw capabilities, so while both the original and updated XP-G2 S4s have similar specifications they are not the same in this respect.)
If you want throw then the Osram white flats (officially named Osram KW CSLNM1.TG & Osram KW CSLPM1.TG) are new LEDs that are proving to be exceptional throwers, and the Cree XP-L2 and even XP-G3 will be brighter and more efficient while producing a floodier beam. The Nichia 219C sort of sits in the middle and is worth a look if you value tint quality as, i believe, is the Samsung LH351D, although i am not familiar with this LED so others can (and most likely will ) advise better on this, as well as the many other LEDs that are available, especially if you are looking at multi-LED configuration.
Battery wise you would be looking more for a battery that can supply the power you need rather than just overall capacity, such as a Samsung 30Q or a Sony VTC6, which will both hold their voltage better than most at the current you’re looking to run the torch at. Lesser batteries, even if they have more overall capacity, will simply be unable to hold enough voltage to produce this current. Again there will be someone with more knowledge of batteries that will be able to provide a more specific answer.
I hope this helps further your knowedge a little
Thank you Marc and all joining in.
I will be machining the the flashlight inside. I have titainum, bronze and stainless set aside for the job. I’m a fabricator….pretty anything in metal, i love to work with. I am obsessed with EDC and attempted to by one of the high end, hand made beauties, but its nearly impossible. I am taking a break from building my motorcycle to do something different, this is it!
I really hadn’t really considered if i want distance or flood…therefore i would lean towards both?
I am not sold on any LED or any part of this build. If one led can hand what 3 can do, I’m good with one then. Reading through the internet is where i came up with the DR Jones setup…but to be clear, I know nothing about any of this. I need to get the parts ordered so i may take some measurements and start the casing machining.
As far as battery, I’d really like to keep it to a size that works with the size Torch (thats my dogs name…and he carries around a flashlight/laser ALL THE TIME) I am picturing. About 25mm OD and up to 70mm long (just the battery compartment) I have some flex on this, but overall length would be 3.5 to 4.5 inches.
I feel like you guys are already getting me on a firmer/better path! Thank you!
Here is a mod I did with the H17F driver.
Beast of a clicky switch driver.
What lights do you own now??
Umm, wrong Mila? :laughing:
Ti isn’t a very good conductor of heat, so you might want to go mode conservatively at first.
17mm drivers are a good place to start.
Should say whether you want more of a thrower or flooder. Reflectors are nice, but fixed. You can swap TIR lenses for a variety of angles (narrower for throw, wider for flood).
6000K? Eww. But yeah, okay.
Ie, need more info. Need to know whether you want to bake a chocolate cake, angel-food, coconut, etc., before you go shopping for the ingredients.
I see nothing wrong with that Mila
Then go for TIR lenses, typically “standard” 20mm ones. They’re shorter than reflectors and let you build a shorter light, don’t have nearly as many artifacts or tint-shift as reflectors, and you can swap ’em in’n’out to suit the mission.
As for an emitter, go for a LH351D for efficiency and a nice color. You’ll thank me later.
Me neither. Nice change of pace. :laughing:
Coming at this from a different direction: would it be worth buying a decent budget EDC as a baseline? Something like a Convoy S2+?
If you like the way it works, you can transplant the parts into your machined casing. If not, you’ll have somewhere to start in describing how you’d prefer your light to work.
My S2+ with 5000K XPL-HI U6 3A LED and 7135x8 does 750lm - 800lm in real light out the front (the LED is rated for more, but there are optical losses in any real flashlight).
NB. my link is to Convoy in China, so delivery time would be a few weeks, but there must be US sellers who could get one to you faster.
Light bringer…first of all, Mila J over Mila K anyday!
When you say “go mode conservative” I’m not sure i follow .
I lean towards throw over flood.
As far as reflector…can you use a thrower led with an orange peel reflector? What is “TIR”?
I lean towards the cooler spectrum, i could drop to upper 4k…nothing is in stone.
I carry an Olight S1 Baton….so I’m pretty flexible. Again daily carry, not for a profession or any specific hobby.
Anything specific i can answer? Really, i assume people around here know far more the pros/cons over myself of a general carry. This really is to admire the art that ALSO functions as a light.
Hi Hr2burn! Welcome to BLF 
Your idea seems to be close to Mahilini flashlights, don’t they?
So, seen that you want a Dr. Jones driver/firmware, so here it is (from MTN Electronics, in the USA): 17mm DrJones H17Fx Driver w/ lucidrv2 - 7135 + FET
It is configurable via the switch so you don’t need to use instruments on your computer to modify the User Interface or the levels…
In that page you have the way how to configure it!
You may also want to take a look at other driver/Firmware (17DD FET Driver, with guppy3drv FW): FET + 7135 Driver - 17mm - MTN-17DDm
You can use forward clicky switches (if you want momentary ON features) or reverse clicky switches (Turns on and further half presses change modes) on these drivers.
About the LEDs, XP-G2 S4-3D has great colour and produces a nice beam! It is not 6000K, it is more on a “Neutral White” (4750-5000K) side.
But maybe you can chose XPL-HI Leds and instead of using a Carclo 10507 optics, you may opt to use 10508 or 10511 optics (this on mixes throw with flood)!
Batteries for High Drain devices:
on the 18650s: Sanyo VTC6, Sanyo VTC5A, Samsung 30Q
on the 18350s (if you decide to go for a short flashlight): the Aspire / Vapcell 1100mAh IMR will be the best choices !
I guess that the warning about heat conduction in Titanium must be taken into account so you need to make a nice pill to create good heat path!
Hope this has helped in some way and let us see your creation
EDIT: I thought that you were going for a triple flashlight, hence my LED and optics suggestions! Feel free to ignore them if you go for single LED option
Being able to fabricate your own stuff is fantastic, i’d get quite lost in creative heaven if i could do it! But it also complicates things if you don’t know specifically what you need want to achieve with regards to making specific decisions, such as sizing.
Do you have experience of any torches around the size you want to make yours? If you have it would good to reference against them, if not it might be an idea to get something to give you more of an idea of what you like and what you don’t like. A very common torch around the size i’m infering from your above post is the Convoy S2/S2+, and this would be a good starting point to understand what you’re trying to achieve.
I don’t know how much you know about torches but here is some info you may find useful:
It is common for flashaholics to buy a host (which contains the body, switch, pill or built in shelf for mounting the electronics, lens and optic), a driver, and an LED on a metal board, and put them together to get the torch they want. This works because the drivers and LED boards are offered in (unofficial) standard sizes.
A very common driver board which i expect you’ll use is 17mm. LED boards are either 16mm or 20mm, and you would want DTP boards for best heat transfer.
18650 batteries are very common, 18 being the diameter in mm, 650 being the length, but 21700 batteries seem to be gaining a foothold and may be how things go, so it’s worth noting you can fit an 18650 in a 21700 housing with a sleeve, but you can’t do it the other way round.
So if you build for a 17mm driver board and either a 16mm or 20mm LED you can easily change them out if you decide you want something different. As important as the LED is the optic as they work together for the beam, and is these aren’t really standard sizes this is a more restrictive decision. The main decision is whether to go for a reflector or a TIR optic, for size i’d suggest a TIR. And for flexibility i would suggest one that takes the XP size of LED.
Something else, which other fabricators will know more about, is ensuring an adequate path for the transfer of heat from the LED to the atmosphere. Copper is great for this, titanium not so much, and 1000 lumens in a 4.5 inch by 26mm package will get very hot very quickly, too hot to hold, potentially damaging the electronics, and a fire hazard if turned on by accident and left unattended.
Edit: Ok, cross posted so i can see some of my post is irrelevant Your S1 uses a TIR optic in it though. How do you find it for beam pattern, colour and brightness? And how did Torch both end up with his name, and end up with his own EDC??
Those Mahilini’s are pretty damn nice….that’s in the family of the type I’m doing…but I’m a Steel Flame style.
WHAT IS A “PILL”? Where does it go? What should it be made of? I’m not sold on Ti, would AS be a better case material…it so close, no big difference?
For me, as long as it puts out the lumens, i don’t care if it’s 1,2 or 3 led.
No one here is going to offend me, i know nothing about flashlight design. I want a nice flashlight and IF I COULD EVEN FIND ONE AVAILABLE, IT WOULD BE 2 to $3,000. No joke. I’ve got nothing but a bit of time and a few dollars to lose.
Thanks much!