The BLF DIY Forum First Annual Scratch made light contest - CONTEST IS DONE - WINNERS are Announced! in the OP

The Contest is Done! I will have the winners results in a few days. Once the judges all contact me, I will tabulate the results and let you all know.

Here are the Winners in the 2013 DIY Contest:

Rufusbduck for Single Emitter Hand Made

relic38 for Multiple Emitter Hand Made

MRsDNF for Single Emitter Machine Made

vestureofblood for Multiple Emitter Machine Made

Rufusbduck is also the Overall Contest Winner. Best in Contest!

Here is what the contestants win:

Rufusbduck walks away with $100 USD

relic38, vestureofblood and MrsDNF each get $50 USD

There's more - I can't tell you how hard it was for the judges to choose winners, so for the rest of you guys? You are all winners and it was so close that you need to be rewarded too.

DBCstm - $25 Gift Certificate from LightsCastle + $15 Gift Certificate from Illumination Supply

RaceR86 - $25 Gift Certificate from LightsCastle + $10 Gift Certificate from Illumination Supply

FmC - $25 Gift Certificate from LightsCastle

JA7 - $25 Gift Certificate from LightsCastle

dave_ - $25 Gift Certificate from LightsCastle

texaspyro - $25 Gift Certificate from LightsCastle

ruffles - $15 Gift Certificate from Illumination Supply

nickelflipper - $10 Gift Certificate from Illumination Supply

Pulsar - $10 Gift Certificate from Illumination Supply

Hopback - $10 Gift Certificate from Illumination Supply

Contestants - I will PM you in a day or two and let you know how to redeem your prizes.

==========================================================================================

I sincerely want to thank the contestants for making their builds. I know sometimes it's hard to reach out and try something new and also it can be hard to be in the limelight sometimes, for risk of failure. None of you failed. You all exceeded any expectations with the fabulous builds and the great threads you made. I am deeply indebted to you all for making this such a great contest!

To the sponsors, (both BLF members and sellers), I thank you for giving me the ability to give prizes out to our contestants.

The the rest of the forum, I thank you for supporting our contestants during the competition.

YEEHAW!!!

I think that about sums up how I feel.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The BLF DIY Forum First Annual Scratch made light contest

Contest EntrySign up here, to enter the contest. When you post that you want to enter, make sure you state if you are entering in the Machine Made category or the Hand Made category. You can enter only one of the two. Entries will be accepted until 06/08/2013 at Midnight UTC.

EDITED 6/7/13: The Contest begins on Midnight UTC 06/08/2013 and runs until Midnight UTC 06/30/2013 07/15/2013 (hope that helps). Do not start your build before the contest starts.

Here is a World Map of Time Zones showing the current time, with UTC time at the bottom of the chart.

Here is a UTC converter, which may help.

http://free.timeanddate.com/countdown/i3pujfrv/n1440/cf12/cm0/cu5/ct0/cs1/ca0/cr0/ss0/cac000/cpc000/pcff9/tcfff/fs100/szw448/szh189/tatContest%20ends%20in%3A/tac000/tptContest%20is%20Over/tpc000/mac000/mpc000/iso2013-07-15T23:59:59/bas2/bac090/pa4

Contest rules are described below. (This is an honors system contest, please honor the rules so we can all have a fun and honest contest).

Requirements for the Machine Made category:
No modding of an existing light. It Must be made from scratch. No pre-made heat sink, or flashlight head, body, tail cap, etc.
Lights must be constructed out of at least 75% metal. The other 25% may be of some other material.
Exceptions: You may use a pre-made switch, driver/contact board, spring, led, star, reflector, lens, “O” rings. EDIT: I will add a P60-Drop-in (bare/empty drop in), to the list of acceptable.
The light has to fit into One of two sub-categories: Edited

  • Single emitter light
  • Multi-emitter light

It must be a hand held light, not stationary.

It has to work and you must be able to show a beam shot of it working.


In order to participate and be judged, you must be able to photograph the build as it progresses. Actually, that will help the judges determine how well you have made your light, so photos of the build, as it is being done, are mandatory. Use anything that can take clear and detailed photos for your build thread.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Requirements for the Hand Made category:
No power tools. Nothing that is powered by AC or DC, such as a lathe, end mill, drill press, saw, sander, buffer, etc.
No coatings that would need electricity, such as Anodizing, Plating, etc. Nothing sent to outside shops to have work done or coatings done. Painting with a spray can is allowed.
Exceptions: An electric hand held drill or a Dremel/Rotary Tool. A soldering gun for soldering wires.

No modding an existing light. It Must be made from scratch out of non-flashlight parts. No pre-made heat sink, or flashlight head, body, tail cap, etc.
Lights must be constructed out of at least 25% metal. The other 75% may be of some other material.
Exceptions: You may use a pre-made switch, driver/contact board, spring, led, star, reflector, lens, “O” rings. EDIT: I will add a P60-Drop-in (bare/empty drop in), to the list of acceptable.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The light has to fit into One of two sub-categories:

  • Single emitter light
  • Multi-emitter light

It must be a hand held light, not stationary.

It has to work and you must be able to show a beam shot of it working.


In order to participate and be judged, you must be able to photograph the build as it progresses. Actually, that will help the judges determine how well you have made your light, so photos of the build, as it is being done, are mandatory. Use anything that can take clear and detailed photos for your build thread.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


You may enter in only One Category, Machine made OR Hand Made

Judges, made up of BLF members, will judge for:

  • Most original
  • Best constructed

in each category, with an “Overall Best of Contest”.

All Contestants: You must make your own build thread in the DIY Forum and PM me with the Link. I will Link ALL your threads in One Post here, where everyone can get to it easily. So make your thread when you are ready and PM me with the link. Wait till the contest starts before making your thread please.


Prizes:
$50 for Most Original and Best constructed, in each category
And another $50 to whoever is “Overall Best in Contest”.

All builds and build threads must be completed by the end of the contest. No late entries. I think it would be good if you make your thread as you work on the light, to build a little suspense and give the judges more time to view your work. I just think it’s better to have the thread up there for members to see during the 3 weeks.

There are several member judges for this contest. I am one and I will not be participating as a contestant.

Once the Contest ends, the judges will have 3 days to select their choices for each category and for best of contest. I will notify the winners and post the results here.

This is hopefully, the first of many Annual modding contests. If it goes over well, I hope to have other contests of this type.

Above all, have fun with this. It’s just a way to let you get more involved in the forums and have some fun with flashlights.

Sponsors:

I am looking for sponsors or benefactors for this Contest. I will pay out the prizes, but it would help tremendously if any members wanted to kick in a buck or two, to help with the prizes. You can PM me or send money via PayPal to oldlumens@gmail.com

If for any reason the contributions become more than the initial prize values, I will add 2nd and 3rd place prizes and/or raise the prize amounts for the winners.

07-07-2013 I wanted to let you all know that Illumination Supply has just become a Sponsor in this Contest. The pot gets larger and now there will be a couple (or more), gift certificates going out to "runners up". Laughing

07-09-2013 We have another Sponsor for the Contest. LightsCastle is donating SIX $25 Gift Certificates. That means more prizes for more contestants! Yahoo!

I am trying to keep track of a list of contestants and a link to their builds as they put them up.

If you see I have not included you, or put you in the wrong category, let me know via PM and I will change it.

Hand Made

relic38 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19214


Slim Pickens


mattthemuppet


NightCrawl


Rufusbduck https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19216


FlashPilot


ruffles https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19241


RaceR86 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19218


kbark


djozz


JohnnyMac


baterija


DBCstm https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19260


FmC https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19219


dave_ https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19233


nickelflipper https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19223


texaspyro https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19861


Hopback https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19256


JA7 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19780


Pulsar https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19222

Machine Made

MRsDNF https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19259


Chicago X


vestureofblood https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/19913


lunaras


Serifus

Reserved

This is awesome! I may not be able to start the build, but I can think about what to build. I would be interested in the hand-built category.
Great idea O-L! :beer:

Great contest!

I will think about it, but because I have limited time and a family with a young boy, I'm afraid I do not have enough time/workspace for a build from scratch :-(

Well guys, I hope you do decide to try it. When I say from scratch, think of "receptacles" that could already hold a led, heat sink, etc. A piece of pipe, a plastic coke bottle, a beer can, etc. Think about it and your inventiveness might make it an easy build and still be a fun build. Can't a P60 drop-in be put in just about anything? Remember, you can use a pre-made lens, reflector, led/star, switch, etc. I think a P60 drop-in would qualify, even though it kinda sorta has a heat sink I really would not call it a heat sink. Or a copper pipe cap would substitute for the P60 "heat sink".

Anyway, I Hope you guys can be in it for sure.

EDIT:

And another thing..... Remember I am not in the contest. I am the one setting it up, but I'm not in it. It's for y'all, not me, so jump in and take a chance.

Ooh boy. This will convince me to start a build I’ve been thinking about for a while. Is butane powered torch (or similar) an acceptable tool for Hand-Made entries?

No fair! Old-Lumens (the king of customs) will win all the prizes for himself! :smiley: :smiley:

It sure should be. Glad to see you giving it a go.

Nope, I'm not in the comp, just running the comp. It's for the rest of you. I will just enjoy getting to see all the cool builds.

this will be so much fun :slight_smile: I’ve been meaning to build a new headlamp for ages as my current one annoys be no end - would a headlamp count? It’ll be made from 1in.sq. tubing like all my scratch built lights, but it won’t be hand held (that’s the idea!).

What a great idea!

I really look forward to seeing the builds.

Very cool!
I am extremely curious what great lights will come out of this. :slight_smile:
(but sadly can’t enter myself)

Thanks OL. Time to put the thinking cap on. Are we allowed to ask for ideas? Probably not so don’t answer that. I cant wait to see what some off the extremely capable and creative people here come up with. I know my main item will be a lot off scrap and my main design area will be filled with a lot off words that may be cursing. Where to start AA, 18650. 26650, gees i have a 16340 there I haven’t used yet.

How about portable? Hand held, head heldWink, as long as it’s meant for portability. Make sense?

This is a Terrific Idea O.L. ....

O.L. the Master Craftsman, will be a Judge. I can't wait to see some "Other" craftsmanship, but we ALL know we can't "Hold a candle Lumen" to O.L.

This is going to be FUN !!!

Great idea! :)

If I find the time, its hand made of course.

Count me in. Feindishly, feverishly thinking over the next 10 days. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! >)
Handmade in the USA.

[tenting fingers]

Excellent...