Jerommel's Hand Job 2018 - 6th annual BLF / Old Lumen Scratch Made Light Contest

DavidEF · 2018-11-04T00:38:30.000Z

Is it the top of the 20700 cell casing that stops the USB plug from being inserted all the way, or the opening in the copper tube? If it’s the latter, then maybe the first build isn’t completely hopeless. You could make your contest light using build number two, to get the best results, but still continue to make number one into a less-than-perfect version with a larger opening for the charge port and a small metal or plastic extension for the button on the switch that’s too far back.

Jerommel · 2018-11-04T00:48:07.000Z

DavidEF:

Is it the top of the 20700 cell casing that stops the USB plug from being inserted all the way, or the opening in the copper tube? If it’s the latter, then maybe the first build isn’t completely hopeless. You could make your contest light using build number two, to get the best results, but still continue to make number one into a less-than-perfect version with a larger opening for the charge port and a small metal or plastic extension for the button on the switch that’s too far back.

Yeah, the copper pipe is in the way with #1
The mechanical electrical problem with the switch kinda sucks too…
We’ll see.

NeutralFan · 2018-11-04T01:31:33.000Z

Looking good Jerommel! Keep up the good work. :+1:

RotorHead64 · 2018-11-04T03:25:12.000Z

Nice work!

MRsDNF · 2018-11-04T09:20:45.000Z

Wow. This looks real interesting. Good on ya for entering.

Jerommel · 2018-11-07T08:22:14.000Z

Progress has been slow, and i planned on getting to a working light today, but i have to wait for glue to dry now.

Pics and text:

I made a hole for the charging indicator lights.
Drilled a hole, put some Scotch ‘magic’ tape on the inside and filled the cavity with Kafuter UV curing glue.
The tape is frosted, acting as a diffuser.
Nice idea, but didn’t last…

I have an average to short micro USB plug in the charging port, and still some room to spare.

And then it was time to do some epoxy sculpting.

Switch button boxed in by epoxy, because i want to make this light as waterproof as possible.

A switch boot will fit over the button, shutting it off from water.

And also the USB port is surrounded by epoxy now.
The port itself is set in super glue and epoxy, so any water can’t really go through the port because all is sealed form the rear.

This was a bit dumb:

Had to make a new pair of holes for the LED board screws, in order to align the optics with the switch.
Why didn’t i think of that before?? :confounded:

Screws with rather large heads, but the right length.
Had to scrape some of the traces on the LED board out of the way to prevent causing short circuit.
Used a black marker to mask the mayhem…

Meanwhile, i ground some 1.5mm off the head length, also getting rid of the damages.

…needless to say, i dropped it AGAIN after that…
But after some cussing, hammering, squeezing and sanding it all ‘buffed out’ fairly nicely.

But this is the problem with this build…
The copper is actually too soft to make a light out of.
It would be okay if it was thicker, but it’s just 1 mm wall thickness…
So i’m looking for another tube, maybe aluminium, maybe brass, to slide over the light, to add some strength, particularly for the head.
But i’ll build it like this first, then we’ll see what we can find, or not…

Time to glue the assembly in place in the tube !

Kafuter is really handy stuff.
I put some in a syringe and filled the gaps between the epoxy and the copper.
Used a Singfire 324 with 395nm LED, shining around inside the cavity.

Also glued the battery in the tube the same way.

And the USB port.

It’s pretty strong stuff when cured.
And very thin so it creeps where ever it can.

So what about the Scotch tape?
Well, it damaged when i had to do some filing inside the tube after opening the USB hole a bit more to the right to get better alignment.
So in stead of the tape a put a bit of Kafuter there in stead, and made that surface frosted with a diamond powder coated file.
That was okay, although not as even as the tape…
But somehow either the Kafuter or some of the final addition of super glue got onto it, so it’s not entirely frosted anymore…
In fact, it looks quite messy now… :weary:
I think some particles got stuck in there too…
Too bad, but oh well…

So after pouring in some super glue, intended to creep between battery and copper tube, i added some more epoxy between driver and shelf, all just to make sure the insides aren’t going anywhere.

So now it hangs in my bathing room against the air intake, in order to suck away the fumes of the drying super glue.
I’ll leave it hanging there to tomorrow afternoon.
After that, i can put in the LED board and optic.
If i don’t wait for the super glue to shed its fumes, it might well deposit a white haze on the optics, so i’m not taking the risk.

To be continued…

MtnDon · 2018-11-06T23:12:15.000Z

MRsDNF · 2018-11-07T19:15:10.000Z

What sort of epoxy glue did you use?

Jerommel · 2018-11-07T19:40:45.000Z

This one:

Jerommel · 2018-11-07T22:45:40.000Z

^ Does not contain metal, by the way.

Update:

No pics, just some reporting on the disasters of building this light…

I dropped the damn thing AGAIN !!

Big dent in the head….

BUT, i managed to un-dent it AGAIN ! :+1:

And then i put in the triple LED board, and somehow (i suspect how it happened though…) i have a short circuit, probably in one of the LEDS.

I’ve had it for today… :weary:

I did glue a switch boot over the button, or rather, over the cylinder in which the button sits.
That went quite well. Drying now, should be cured tomorrow.

To be continued……………

vwpieces · 2018-11-08T01:41:00.000Z

Persistence man… keep at it.
Will be a really nice light when done.
Great work so far.

FmC · 2018-11-08T01:51:34.000Z

Good thing you didn’t entomb everything together before finding out it had a short… :zipper_mouth_face:

BlueSwordM · 2018-11-08T01:53:22.000Z

Yeah. Shorting to that thick copper wall would have been bad for the 18650. Like venting.

It wouldn’t be too much of a problem(except for electrolyte smoking+leaking), but since you have an enclosed cell, well, it’s like with lithium ion pouches, but worse.

DBSAR · 2018-11-08T03:57:08.000Z

Nice work!

Jerommel · 2018-11-08T11:11:43.000Z

FmC:

Good thing you didn’t entomb everything together before finding out it had a short… :zipper_mouth_face:

The short was not in the entombed (lol) parts.
They just slided in the tube and are fine.
I think i cracked one of the LEDs on the LED board…
See, those thin KD triple are not flat, so i tried to flatten it a little when the LEDs were already soldered on it…
That was dumb, in hind sight… :person_facepalming:
The LED board is fixed with screws, so i could take it out again.

Jerommel · 2018-11-08T11:13:01.000Z

BlueSwordM:

Yeah. Shorting to that thick copper wall would have been bad for the 18650. Like venting.

It wouldn’t be too much of a problem(except for electrolyte smoking+leaking), but since you have an enclosed cell, well, it’s like with lithium ion pouches, but worse.

It’s not a short to the copper tube. :+1:

Jerommel · 2018-11-08T11:19:03.000Z

vwpieces:

Persistence man… keep at it.
Will be a really nice light when done.
Great work so far.

A true glue feast, is what it is…
Of course i won’t give up.
Close to finishing a working light now.
Learned a lot too.
I should do this more often.

To be continued…

Flashy_Mike · 2018-11-08T11:23:42.000Z

Yeah, this thin KD triple boards are crap. I ordered a couple of them way back with 219C mounted since they were pretty cheap but after mounting one of them into a S2+and the first LED dying quickly I never used them again.

Jerommel · 2018-11-08T12:43:56.000Z

Well, i should have flattened the board BEFORE i soldered the LEDs on to it, of course… :person_facepalming:
So i can only blame myself for this.
I knew they are not flat…

pinkpanda3310 · 2018-11-11T02:27:51.000Z

Kudos for your persistence. Also nice job lining up and cutting out a slot for the USB port :+1: