So full disclosure, I was very close to dropping out last night.
Nothing is as easy as it seems with this build.
I’m having multiple issues, and the broken lens is just icing on the cake.
After some encouraging words from some of y’all and my wife, I’m back at it!
I ordered some more brass fittings this morning and I just drove an hour and 40 minutes(one way) to pickup a new Rotary tool.
Wish me luck!
Good Luck!!
It would be a shame to throw away all of the effort you have already expended… Hang in there!!
I wish you the best of luck despite the setbacks! 
Please don’t give up, I’ll just keep going even though not everything went according to plan… 
That’s a bummer about the lens!
Looking really good though. I like your creativity!
Keep at it! Or take a little break. Plenty of time left either way!
Very disappointing after spending time and effort to sand the lens 
Welp, that’s why you need a layer of rubber or silicone around the glass and metal retainer. Else a knock will do that to the glass.
There are a lot of variables in this sort of equation: different types of glass, glass thickness, edge conditions, press fit tolerance, circularity, bezel material and wall thickness, and so on. Maybe a press fit interface with borosilicate glass would not be particularly susceptible to breakage from the shock that occurs from a drop. Eventually I’ll test this sort of thing because I like the idea of press fit glass interfaces, which could eliminate the need for an o-ring and allow for maximum optic size within a given diameter.
With my new Rotary Tool, I carved out the the bottom of the pill for the driver.
Here’s a before picture:
That’s some decent looking rotary tool work there Ken.
Can you use optics instead of glass?
I’ve been pretty busy with life the past month and haven’t made much progress on my build.
The tailcap I had was NPT threaded which is tapered so it didn’t screw on far enough.
I found a BSP threaded cap on AE and figured it was worth a look.
It works great because it’s not a tapered thread.
In my opinion it doesn’t look as good but I have to go with function over form on this one.
Picture of the light with the original tailcap:
Picture of the light with the new tailcap:
I needed the tailcap to screw all the way on because the battery tube is 76.5mm long and with the original tailcap the battery wouldn’t contact the springs:
The plan for today was to drill out the hole for the button/switch but I just realized a few minutes ago the battery doesn’t fit into the battery tube 
You can cut the threads down it will still tighten up, I just seen the first photos you already done that for the head. Maybe try a 18650 that is a lot of material to remove.
I’d need to purchase a shorter battery tube to be able to use an 18650.
Plus, I already started sanding out the battery tube:
Wow. That is a lot of sanding. By hand and finger?
I’ve used dowels with a slot cut in from one end. Slip sandpaper into the slot and spin the dowel with a drill motor.
No, I used a 1/2in dremel style sanding drum with 60grit. Once I’m done with the bulk of it, I may try your dowel trick to finish it off.
Something has come up in my personal life and I won’t be able to complete this build any time soon.
I still plan to complete the build and will likely update this thread as it progresses.
Thanks again @The_OL_Contest and BLF for organizing this!
I’ve been wanting to build a Pipe Light for years and this gave me the kick I needed to get started.
Stuff happens. Hope it all works out okay.
