made my oown copper pad... cost me one penny, lol

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

i save copper US pennies… they are worth TWO cents, but… every once in a while i need a piece of copper?

i have some crap lights, and i was seeing that the star hole on the pill? was bigger than i needed. What to do? Order a specific coupler and wait? no way…

this is budget light forum, copper is copper, and i remember back before copper sink pads became easily available? i saw a guy use copper pennies to make a heat sink…

but how to enlarge a penny? answer… while we exxploit the properties of conducting heat and electricity of copper? it is also MALLEABLE… i tapped it with a rounded hammer gently, and quickly spread it out some. When it went spread out in one part too much? i gently tapped it back in on its side, and continued on.

when it got a little dished? i flattened it in the vise… did not take very long at all.

i cleaned it up some by rubbing it on a piece of abrasive roll cloth… and was rewarded with a custom press fit.

the last time i used a penny to make a star fit? the penny was too BIG. so i filed the edges… when i was done? i was amazed, the light that never got hot? with no change in driver started to get slightly warm on high… the copper was doing its thing.

i realize this kind of fabrication is not needed… copper sinkpads are common, but, i just want to get more used to fabrication.

but… i figured this is definitely in the “spirit” of budget light forum, i thought! lol…

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2

Good job!

I sand down both sides…then drill a teeny hole in the middle and mount it on a rotary tool cutoff wheel adapter, spin it up and use a file to turn it down to size.

I even took a copper sinkpad with a bit of solder paste between them and heat them together and watch as they solder themselves together :slight_smile:

3

I am not a coin expert, but I believe you should use 1964 and prior for max copper content.

4

Actually it’s 1982 when they switched to copper plated zinc.

1946–1962: bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc)
1962–1981: brass (95% copper, 5% zinc)
1982 varies: brass (95% copper, 5% zinc) or copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) mass 3.11g or 2.5g
1983–now: junk 97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper (core: 99.2% zinc, 0.8% copper; plating: pure copper) mass 2.5g

You’re probably thinking of the 90% silver coins which were available through 1964 for general circulation. Everything went to copper clad except the Kennedy half dollar which went to 40% silver through 1969 and then no silver in general circulation.

5

i can usually pretty much pick them out in change just by the patina…

i just started saving them years ago.

the ZINC melts easy and you can cast them easily at a low enough temperature, plus the zinc goes up and down in cost, you never know… just made a few ingots, not like i CAST anything useful (would like to though)

and the copper is a semi precious “boullion” now, lol… plus? i use a couple pennies now and then for contacts electrically, this is the first 2 times i have exploited their heat sinking, and this is the first time i think i ever exploited a copper pennies malleability.

==

i have been consistently “playing” with craptastic budget lights from TRACTOR SUPPLY.

theres been three….

one is the tiny 3-AAA zoomie, a unprotected 18650 JUST fits in, and gives around 800ma on high (low and blinky too). fairly short focal length plastic aspherical. i have gotten a little fond of it, and am gonna play with a few more, they are only 9.99

two is the bigger brother to that one, its a small 2-C body, same design as the little zoomie. longer focal length on the aspherical makes it more desireable, as does the slightly wider diameter of the lens. I run it on two 18500 LiFePO4 i picked up for solar lights at the home improvement store.

its almost the perfect size… small 2C body, side clicky is great, as the world has too many BIG “tactical” lights with the awkward tailcap switch… and the crap driver gives up almost 2A with teh 2 lifepo4.

the last tractor supply light? they have a clearance on a 3-D zoomie. wider diameter plastic aspherical yet, and longer focal length too. At 9.99 clearance? I have 3 already, and plan to pick a few more up for later.

none of the 3 seem t be GREAT at heat sinking? but, they arent too bad… i plan on not going over 3A on high when i finally buy real drivers. The 3D zoomies? driven at reasonable levels (no overclocking, lol) thre D cells should give a really good run time,plus, i cant trust giving a li-ion light to a non-flashaholic.

the little 3-aaa that just takes an unprotected 18650? its okay, and i realize i could prolly get better for teh same money on line, but something about buying “in your hand” at the store… the 2C body? i actually really like… you just dont SEE 2-C bodies a lot in zoomie… small size, good handfeel, side clicky… and when i get a real driver, it should be a great light.

the 3Ds on clearance? you just dont SEE budget 3D zoomies… not for 10 bux anyways, even online. i’ll prolly pick one up a week, till they are all gone… and put them in a box, for later…

===

they might not be the BEST CHOICE to try to make a 99 amp monster out of? but for “sane” power levels, they seem lik they will be okay.

plus? i think i am the only BLF guy exploiting tractor supply budget lights, lol… i plan on doing 3 reviews after i get drivers and preferred emitters in all of them.

i wont have the best “wow” lights? but… i will be the only one with somethign different.

==

if theres cheap budget 2C and 3D zoomie hosts out there on line? at 10 dollars? i havent seen then… the 2C in particular is the perfect hand size.

=

tail cllickys are great, but, only in a small handsized light…. once a light goes over a certain short size? the side clicky is more comfrtable and makes a LOT more sense… nothing i hate more than a 3D light, thats therwie great, but with a “tactical” tail clicky…

6

Pre 1982 copper, zinc isn’t standard brass though. Its gilding metal CDA 210, softest type of brass. Thermal Conductivity listed as 233 W/m-K. Material data.

7

Canadian pennies 1942-1996 are 98% copper Lots around now as they recently discontinued their use here...

8

Lucky.
Is it legal to melt them down?

9

no kidding when you said just cost you one penny :smiley:

10

pics and stuff??

11

SWMBO was operating a piece of heavy equipment in the middle of a huge field, and it broke. Mechanic came out, found it needed a washer he didn’t have.

Tried to get SWMBO to “run to the hardware store”! HAH! She politely refused, made him give her one of HIS pennies, bored a hole in it with his own drill for him, and “Bob’s yer Uncle” she was back at work before she would have been able to just get off the field HIS way.

Well, that’s my two cents worth…

(Hey! If I don’t pun it, who will?)

Who don’t love a smart, confident woman!

12

Ha. I like her.

13

That's awesome Dimbo.


SWMBO? Care to share what it, I assume an acronym, stands for?

14

She
Who
Must
Be
Obeyed.

Think of it this way: she controls half the money and 100% of the p…… No, the young buckaroos will have to figure that out on their own…

We’ve only been in Love since 1968…

15

Does that include shipping ?

16

SWMBO, damn, I should have got that on my own. Sounds like you got a great boss there Dim.

17

what i am impressed with?

i thought i was the only guy playing with tractor supply budget lights…lol

no, most of th budgel tractoor lights i am playing with have been playd with earlier by old lumens and a few others. (old threads here on it)

wow, you have to get up REAL early in the day, to get the jump on anything.

18

Don't sweat it Sedstar. I don't know how many times I thought I was doing something new or unique only to find someone else here had already done it. It doesn't take anything from your achievement. Great to have you here and looking forward to your future contributions.

19

but… but…

how am i supposed to get “hot flashlight groupies”?

NEXT thing you know,you’ll be trying to tell me theres no fame, no fortune, and no hot young chicks who worship flashlight gods??

well… i DO get to annoy everyone at work about it, thats something at least… shrugs

20

Due to the fact that it costs the Mint about 2½ cents for every penny they print, in recent months there has been more and more buzz about plans to eliminate the penny from circulation, or at least to stop minting new ones. (That’s what Canada just did, minting its last penny on May 4.)

The question naturally arises, then: If a penny saved is a penny earned, but a penny burned (well, melted) is two and a half pennies’ worth of semiprecious metal, maybe Americans are better off melting the darned things than stashing them in Mason jars.

There are, of course, a couple of bugs in this plan.
•For one thing, the actual metals-value of recently minted (1982 and later) pennies is closer to six-tenths of a cent than two and a half. (Most of the extra cost of minting goes to energy, labor, circulation, etc.)
•*And even if you can find pennies old enough to serve as a valuable source of copper, there’s the tiny technicality that in the United States of America, it’s illegal to melt U.S. currency. *Sorry about that.

OK, so Uncle Sam frowns upon the defacement of his currency. But what about other people’s currencies?

Turns out, that’s totally kosher — at least according to our laws. And there’s a wealth of potential copper to be mined from the coins of our neighbors to the north.

However, just as in the U.S., the Canadian government takes a dim view of people pillaging its currency for raw materials. “No person shall, except in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister, melt down, break up or use otherwise than as currency any coin that is current and legal tender in Canada” — so reads the law.

Gallery: Fascinating Facts About U.S. Currency

And yet, the temptation remains. Whereas the U.S. replaced almost all copper content in the penny with zinc in 1982 (nickels today contain more copper than pennies), up in Canada they kept on minting pennies that were 98% pure copper all the way up through 1996. Meaning that finding coins with high copper content is a whole lot easier up there than down here.

But if you do go into the Canadian penny-melting business, make sure to take that vacation to Vancouver before, not after, you get started.

Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith holds Canadian numismatic integrity sacrosanct. He also fears the long arm of the Canadian Mounties.