Tundraotto, it has to do with the fact that some people have been waiting a lot longer than you. While perhaps nothing is owed to them, a bit of frustration is understandable, given the silence.
It could not be further from āengineering purityā, or what was first promised.
But if these photos are of something real, that might one-day actually get made, rather than just a play around with different anodisation dyes, that is of interest. So tatasal, spill the beans please, and explain whatās going on.
Oh, and quickly send a few out to the designers, development testers and respected reviewers first, before expecting the rest of us to stump up our $30, delivered. (Never going to hit that price IMO, nor should it be compromised in trying to do so).
Indeed, Fritz and whoever else is MIA or AWOL regarding this project should empathize with the 1000+ who are hoping and waiting for this project to take off.
Look, the point that nobody owes anything has already been made, and nobody disagrees with that.
But thereās reason for disappointment too, which you can read in the comments.
Always funny how people feel the need to complain about people who complainā¦
Usually I donāt agree with much you say, nothing personal and Iām sure youāre a good person IRL but we just seem to about always have differing opinions on most things however in this case I couldnāt agree more!
Iāve been in love with the clear or even no ano design goal since I heard about this project but Iād still be willing to accept a normal light gray, if whatās shown in that pic is what I receive Iāll be in my shop removing the ano before I even load a battery in the thingā¦
I just searched and had no luck. Someone, I think TK, mentioned different optics that could easily be switched in and out, for more throw, different beam patterns, or whatnot. Does anyone know where I can find this info?
Neal got what was supposed to be the final prototype, but he said something vague about having issues, and hasnāt really answered my questions about it. So if my guess is correct, heās working out whatever-it-was with Lumintop.
Neal also sent some pictures, but theyāre the same ones tatasal posted. Iāll put them up again in another comment.
That already happened, basically. Fritz designed the light and doesnāt really have any more tasks to do. I think he has just been too busy to stay involved, so Iāve been filling in. Most of what is left depends on Neal, me, and whoever is willing to help at TLF. But at the moment, every pending task depends on Neal.
Complaining about things which can be fixed is one thing. Itās arguably productive, especially when it comes in the form of a bug report with a patch. But complaining about things which canāt be fixed, or just tossing negativity into the ether, mostly just drags people down.
For example, itās unhealthy to the community when someone spends more than a year posting an average of 2+ comments per day (and not much else) which all have more or less the same negative message:
Sir, I understand that it is your constitutional right to poop on the floor of a public forum every morning after coffee, butā¦ could you not?
Yeahā¦ sometimes I have to wait until I can set aside an entire afternoon. Far too often, BLF is like a job that I donāt get paid for. In the past, Iāve intentionally avoided running any projects like this, but when everyone else disappeared I kinda got stuck with it.
Well, yes. Youāre completely correct. But communication has been the primary ongoing issue for this project. I would have set things up differently if it had been my project, but itās way too late to restart the whole thing with more-communicative team members. So itās going to continue to be difficult until the light is finally shipped. Maybe even after that too, depending on how much Neal invests into customer support services.
I understand that itās frustrating, and itās more frustrating for me than for most, but itās not something which can be fixed so we all just have to deal with it until itās over. And, unfortunately, complaining about unfixable issues only makes things worse. It makes life more unpleasant for everyone involved while adding nothing useful or insightful. Of course, that will happen anyway, but I really appreciate the people who refrain from doing so or who try to make things easier while we wait.
Thanks for clearing that up. It gets a little old fighting pessimistic speculation, unfounded claims, FUD, inflammatory posts, and other disinformation. So itās really nice to have help.
As above, thank you.
I may have to put that in the first post.
Any standard Carclo triple optic of the right size should work, such as the ones sold at MtnElectronics. This includes 10507, 10511, 10508, 10509, and 10510. The 10507 optic makes the most throw, but also makes virtually every emitter look ugly. So the default is 10511 because it provides the most throw available without causing strong beam artifacts. It can also be polished to increase throw, while still producing a nicer-looking beam than 10507.
So, Neal sent me pictures of proto4. It was meant to be the final prototype, but he said something vague about it not working right and is presumably trying to work that out with Lumintop. Iāll probably also send another firmware update, in case thereās still time to use itā¦ but I donāt know if itās too late or not.