Talented!
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I use what we think of as ordinary or usual wood glues and I use cyanoacrylate.
Titebond is my go-to brand of wood glue. I use three different types, Titebond II, Titebond III, and Titebond Liquid Hide Glue. TB 2 and 3 are the yellowish-colored glues many of us are familiar with. TB2 is cheaper than TB3; approx 33% difference. TB3 forms a slightly stronger bond. The main thing I like best about TB3 is that it has a longer open time; 10 minutes instead of 5 minutes. The longer open time means more time to apply glue to the surfaces, position the parts, and get them clamped. If the applied glue skins over before the two surfaces are fitted against each other the joint will be weakened. TB3 is almost waterproof. TB2 is a little water-resistant. There is also TB Original which has no water resistance at all. It’s open time is short. It is just as difficult to clean up as the other glues. It is cheaper than 2 or 3.
TB Liquid Hide Glue is brown. It is water soluble. Old furniture was always made with hide glue. Soaking the joints in water or steaming them allows the item to be dismantled for repair. Joints glued with the yellow TB glues are virtually impossible to dismantle without damage.
My main reason for using the TB Liquid Hide Glue is that any glue that squeezes out onto the surface can be completely removed with warm water, even after the glue has dried. The yellow glues are not soluble after they dry. Excess yellow glues soak into the wood pores, which makes a better joint, but that soaking in can also cause stains and clear finishes to appear different when applied over an area where yellow glue has soaked into the wood. Sometimes even after cleaning with a wet rag and no glue is visible to the naked eye there can be sufficient glue left to mess with te stain or the clear coat. All those previous lights that had many layers of thin different colored woods were glued with TB Liquid Hide Glue.
CA, or cyanoacrylate are wonderful for many things as they set virtually instantly, especially when used with an accelerator. I use Starbond brand. They have a variety from very thin to thick, even some dark brown and black glues. Their accelerator is great. There are the most expensive glues too. But a drop goes a long ways.
Hawood-softwood, no difference to me for glue choice.
Sometimes sorta, and most of the time no. Mostly no because those items could show in a finished project. Sometimes sorta, because at times I use a dowel or even a power driven brad in a corner or at an edge to keep parts in alignment while trying to fit several pieces together with all surfaces covered in slippery glue. Then those dowels or brads get trimmed off after the glue sets.
OTOH for something like a table top made from edge glued boards I do use biscuits or dowels to help keep things aligned and add some strength. Or I may use hardwood splines if it is something extra special to me; like a biscuit but fitted to tighter tolerances.
Since I’m running off at the mouth I’ll add that I use lots of clamps when using the yellow or brown wood glues. I leave most things clamped at least 4 to 6 hours, many things get left overnight before removing the clamps.
On occasion I use epoxies. JB Weld for anything where the grey color doesn’t matter (hidden). Gorilla brand clear epoxy is very good if it is desirable to have a clear adhesive that will not yellow with aging. Like filling in a knot. Thick CA can also be used to fill knots or mistakes.
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I have decided the wood block base will look nicer if the exterior heatsink plate is recessed into the side of the main wood block.
So I marked the outline and got out the sharp chisels…
It took a while but I did end up with a recess…
Next, onward with some more recesses cut into the block for things like the USB port and so on…
OOOPS!
I had a mishap when routing out some more spaces. Fortunately, I have all my fingers, not even a scratch on me…
I believe this is salvageable. Just extra work… 
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Not at all Don…your thorough answers are grately appreciated with every product you listed then found online and bookmarked into my “Workshop” reference files. You were so thorough in fact, that I don’t even have any of my usual follow-up questions.
BTW, I like how you sometimes place your hand tools in the photo to give the project better scale.
Thank you and best wishes!
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Recovery underway…
I routed a clear edge…
Then found some suitable remnants from when the block pieces were first being pieced together, trimmed them down a bit and got out the glue
I used the wood vice and c-clamps…
That will be left overnight and then we shall carry on.
Thanks for looking in.
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Ouch! What a pita.
Boy that sucks! I am glad that I am not the only one who often ends up regretting it when I try to make something just a little bit “better”…
Sorry to hear about your routering mistake, only caught up with the progress now. This looks like it could be an awesome build and the copper heatsink is cool! You still have time to turn this around and could be a good chance for 1st place. Fair play mate, really enjoyed reading your thread!
Thank you for including the mishaps. Sometimes it seems like other modders never make mistakes and I am just not that good at this. It is a nice reminder that we are all human, and encouraging to see you moving past the mistake and salvaging things.
It’s why I always liked the “what you broke today” thread
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I’ve been busy as a beaver this afternoon. 
I have recovered what was lost with the mishap and have moved forward. I am happy!
The first thing was to trim off the excess glued-in repair pieces and then do a sanding. This is a view of the bottom. The lower portion up to the old routed slot is a repair piece. It is from the same piece of wood that was originally used.
Two different view of the block bottom with the repaired section.
I did some measuring and calculating and double-checked everything. Then I dove in (slowly) and routed out material from the repair.
That took a while as I was working a little slower. I realized what had caused the problem and will not make that error again. I’ll explain if anyone wants the nitty-gritty.
I cut out a space for the 21700 cell.
A Japanese handsaw that I like for fine cuts.
The heatsink recess was re-done…
The heatsink assembly fits…
A view of the top of the block …
A similar view, but with the heatsink assembly fitted…
Phew! I’ve gained ground. Thanks for watching and the support.
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Congratulations and nice recovery!
I wouldn’t mind knowing what caused the error and how you would have otherwise avoided it, but only if you have the time and energy! Otherwise just keep on chiseling away and I’ll continue watching the progress.
The heatsink looks especially cool aligned with dark layers. Good call!
I would also like the “nitty-gritty” 
The mishap was caused by operator error, that is me. Operator errors are the cause of a whole range of bad things. I had done most of the other operational things correctly, then made a mistake. It only takes one error to negate all sorts of positive steps. Oh well.
Without getting into an entire chapter in a woodworking course, I’ll try to explain. I had cut a slot in the block and widened it. I wanted the slot to be a little longer. Seemingly a simple enough thing to do.
I was using a router bit with a 1/2" diameter. The slot was to be 13/16" deep. When cutting material out the general rule is that the depth of the cut should be no greater than one-half the diameter of the cutter. I did that making the first slot cut in 4 passes. I used 1/4" increments and then a final 1/16" pass. I reset the fence and made a second series of shallow passes to make the slot wider.
It was then I realized I should have made the slot about 3/8" longer at one end. The bit was raised the 13/16" full depth of cut. I tried to cut that 13/16" depth in one short 3/8" long movement of the workpiece. The cutter bit into that wood face and the work-piece began to chatter, jump. I let go of the wood block and hit the stop paddle. There is no brake on the router so it took several seconds for the bit to stop. The block did jump free of the bit and I caught it. I don’t know if it is instinct or from training, but when the process started to chatter I knew things were going awry and the thought was to keep my fingers clear, not to try and hold the wood block. Trying to hang on to the workpiece can cause your fingers to be sucked into the cutter. That can be messy. That is how people lose fingers. After 62 years of using power tools I still have all mine so I must be doing something right most of the time.
I believe there were 2 methods, either of which would have been better, or safer. One method would have been to lower the bit all the way and make the new passes incrementally, the same method used to make the initial slot. In this case, the other method would have also begun with lowering the bit all the way and then repositioning the workpiece directly over the bit where the new cut was needed. The block then held or clamped in place, the router motor turned on and the bit cranked up 13 turns. There might have been a need to clean up that plunge cut a little with a chisel.
I think this mishap was made more likely to happen by several factors. These woods are moderately dense hardwoods, much harder than common pine. The rotating bit can get a good grab. Perhaps a softwood would have been cleanly cut more readily without the grabbing? Also, the direction of sliding the wood into the cutting edge of the bit meant the bit was cutting into end grain and once again, the bit edges could more readily grab, or hog into the wood.
Anyhow, using power tools does require concentration and thinking. I fell short this time.
Thanks for looking, and thanks for your concerns and support. I have more to do this afternoon if I can.
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Thanks for the explanation!
I am glad you were not injured 
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+1 Thanks for your detailed description Don, especially the cautionary insights!
Amen to that!
Today is some detail work.
First the USB-C port. I cleaned out, and squared one edge of a circular hole with a chisel.
Drilled some holes for the port hole through the wood side…
Some filing with small rat tail files and small flat files and we have a place for the USB-C port
I will be using a small momentary On switch mounted in the main body of the light. First I drilled a 7/16" flat bottom hole. Then I drilled out the center large enough for the switch actuator rod to stick through. I have an assortment of switches with various-length actuator rods. I can probably use the next shorter size.
Here’s a switch temporarily held in place with a pencil along with a second of the same size and type for display…
Here is the main body block showing the heatsink cutout with the USB port beside it. The switch hole can be seen on the left top while the hole in the block end is for the charger status indicator led.
That is all for today. Thanks for viewing.
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Here’s my switch, a momentary contact (on) switch to go with the driver running Anduril2
firmware. I have a box of these with various lengths of the actuator rod.
I drilled 4 holes in the end of a 7/16" dowel, for the circuit legs of the switch to slip into.
I carved two grooves out of the dowel sides.
Some 26 ga wire was soldered to the switch lugs. The wires will run up the length of the dowel in the grooves.
The dowel, with the switch on the end is inserted into the previously seen 7/16" drilled hole. The switch actuator protrudes from the small hole.
I disassembled the switch and rod and cut the dowel shorter. Pathways for the wires will be cut into the main body block from the switch unit to the driver. A bottom cover plate will retain the switch assembly.
From the main body block, there will be a vertical section of 1/2" olivewood, with a horizontal ‘cap’ piece that will hold the emitter inside the walnut wood sleeve that was shown way back near the beginning of this topic. If that word picture is hard to follow, it will all be crystal clear soon enough.
The piece of olivewood was selected for its appearance. It is spalted; a patterned discoloration that occurs when fungi grow on/in the living tree. At the top of the vertical piece, I am making a box finger joint to mate with the ‘cap’ piece. I have a jig that permits the finger joint to be cut with the router. The brass finger is fixed and is used to maintain the spacing of the slots.
The jig has a sliding platform that slides in grooves in the base which is fixed to the router table top.
The two pieces with the slots engaged.
The corner, temporarily held together for a photo. A medium-thick CA glue will be used. The corner will be sanded to remove the excess length of the fingers.
Now, here is the olivewood piece that will be fitted to the upper end of the vertical piece of olivewood. Remember the cylindrical-shaped walnut sleeve from a ways back? Here it is mated to the olivewood. A 1-3/4" hole was drilled in the olivewood using a Forstner bit. The walnut sleeve’s outside surface was sanded down until the sleeve would fit snugly in the hole.
The black anodized led heatsink will be fitted inside the walnut sleeve.
To secure the heatsink in place I made some supports. I cut a scrap piece of 1/4" thick walnut and sanded a circular shape with the curvature needed to fit inside the sleeve. Then cut wedge shapes and trimmed them. I made more than I needed for this, but better to have extras, just in case…
Two of the pieces were CA glued inside the lower edge of the sleeve. The heatsink will rest on them once everything is assembled.
That will close out today’s progress. I hope you have enjoyed the read.
PS. There may be a few days break. I hit a hiccup with the spalted olivewood. It is a setback in that my original idea needs some modification. I may take a day or two to think out the better of my so-far, two alternate methods.
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Thank you for today’s progress report. Everything is looking great, I’m especially loving the use of finger joints!
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So what’s the hiccup?
I have planned to drill a hole to carry two- 20 gauge wires through the piece of spalted olivewood which is the vertical board. The board is about 7 inches tall and the hole I intended to drill is lengthwise up the 7-inch distance. The board is 1/2" thick, the hole would be 3/16" in diameter. I ran into an extraordinary amount of drift while attempting a test hole in a cut-off scrap of olivewood. Three times I tried and three times they either split the olivewood or simply ran out the side.
I have drilled such holes parallel with wood grain before. Most of the time they have been successful. Sometimes the direction of the grain or a variation in the density between the growth rings causes difficulty. Compounding this is that I am down to the last pieces of olivewood and the suppliers I have used in the past no longer carry any. I don’t want to mess up my last suitable-sized piece so I have rethought my original plan.
I do have a solution that should work fine. But before I get to that I have experienced another small glitch. The glitch was with the last item of work that I showed above, the cylindrical walnut sleeve that will encase the LED heatsink. I messed up drilling holes in the glued-in ears or tabs. The first hole I drilled was mispositioned. That threw off the placement of the hole in the other tab. So, I ended up grinding those tabs off with a Dremel tool. I made new larger tabs, giving myself more space for error.
Then after drilling holes successfully, I ground or cut the excess material away. Below are 2 photos showing the tabs and the heatsink fitted in the sleeve and retained by two 4-40 machine screws. The MCPCB fits to the heatsink nicely.
Let’s go back to the hiccup with that glitch out of the way. I will not attempt to bore a hole through the olivewood I have started for the vertical board. Instead, I carved a channel out for the wires and will be hiding that with a cover strip.
Here is the start of carving out the slot… I have a set of these carving chisels which fit nicely in the palm of one hand. The olivewood is clamped securely in the wood vice.
After several passes we have a nice groove…
The two wires have plenty of space…
I carved a hole at the end of the main body block to pass the wires through into the vertical piece channel/groove. The larger, thicker main block will be tipped up to mate over the groove I cut…
Here’s the view through the wire hole. The main body block and vertical pieces will be fitted together a little later. This is just for display.
The walnut block with the funnel-like shape cut out (with a Dremel tool) is needed to hide the LED wires in the space from the cylindrical walnut sleeve and the olivewood board with the carved-out channel/groove.
It fits like this…
That’s it for now. I’ll be back later I hope. Thanks for looking in.
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Pictures aren’t working