Homemade flashlight

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737mechanic
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Location: Dallas

Homemade flashlight

Post by 737mechanic »

This is my second flashlight I have built, It started out as a bar of 6061 aluminum, it uses a P7 LED emitter which puts out about 700 to 900 lumens. In comparision the 6V zenon maglite clone puts out about 150 lumens. The battery is a 3.6v 18650 protected cell and the light has 3 brightness levels. On low it should last about 20 hours, Medium about 10 hours and high about 1-1/2 hours. I have posted a picture of the 6 volt rechargable maglite clone zenon flashight next to my P7 for size and brightness comparisons. This light will light up a football field on a dark moonless night and will fit in my pants pocket.

View of light on table.
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Another at slightly different angle.
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Another slight angle.
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Back of light showing switch.
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Light taken apart showing all pieces.
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Close up of front.
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Lens and bezel.
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The P7 Emitter glued to the aluminum insert with aluminized epoxy.
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My home made P7 on left next to my 6v Zenon rechargable maglite clone.
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The hotspot on left is the P7 the one on right is the 6V Zenon. It doesn't look like it in picture but the P7 is pure white while the zenon is a yellow tint. Picture does not do this light justice when it comes to showing the true brightness of this light.
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CANINDUST
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Post by CANINDUST »

Nice project
What did you use for reflector material?
There is 1000 ways to skin a cat

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Harold_V
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Post by Harold_V »

Awesome light, Dave. Nice job! Any plans to anodize and dye?

I used to like those Maglights--until I got a flashlight that used LED's. I am no longer interested in them.

Harold
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737mechanic
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Post by 737mechanic »

CANINDUST wrote:Nice project
What did you use for reflector material?
I bought the reflector, it is aluminum with orange peel surface, you can also get smooth but the orange peel helps blend the light and gives a more uniform beam.

Harald_V

My first nice flashlight was a streamlight stinger I bought about 10 years ago, at the time it was state of the art, compact, and as bright as you could get from a light that size but LED technology has sinse passed the incandescent lights so much it is hard to use a regular flashlight anymore.

As far as anodizing it, I thought about buying a small anodizing setup but have not done so yet. Being able to anodize different colors would be real nice. I was also going to either knurl or groove the light but I liked the smooth look so much I just kept it plain.

My next build is going to be with a SST-90 emitter which delivers about 2250 lumens.
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coal miner
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Post by coal miner »

'737mechanic , very nice work ! Liked your screw in bezel! That's a good idea to get rid of the O D screw on lens holder . Will use your idea on some lights I would like to make from scratch . What type of clicker did you use on the tail ? I have some led Cree XP-R2 emitters coming on the slow boat from China . Will use those on the new build . Try out my homemade anodizing on them .
A couple of pics of some X Mas presents I made . 1-2C and 1-2D Maglite have Q 5 led's x 2 CR123 batteries and the other pair have 6 cell maglite bulbs x 3 CR123's .
HaroldV , the incandescent 6 cell bulbs will put your eyes out . Not as much run time as the led's tho .

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Regards
The more I learn , The more I don't know !
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737mechanic
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Post by 737mechanic »

coal miner

The switch I used is a reverse click switch for flashlights. Here is a link to the switch. They also sell the rubber switch cover.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15879

The first light I built was a Cree-R2, that is my work light now and I love it. It isn't as bright as my P7 but it still lights up my entire backyard and will cause you to see spots for an hour if you look at it to long. I will post some pics of it when I get home tomorrow.

I like your fluting on your lights. Did you use a round nose end mill for that. I am waiting on a rotary table so I can do that kind of work and get it all spaced perfect.

Tell me more about your home made anodizing setup. I have been over to caswell plating and checked on some of there kits and am thinking about buying one but I am running out of garage space. I have a powder coating setup but not sure if I want to powder coat my lights yet.
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Harold_V
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Post by Harold_V »

Harold_V wrote:Awesome light, Dave. Nice job! Any plans to anodize and dye?

I used to like those Maglights--until I got a flashlight that used LED's. I am no longer interested in them.

Harold
Chuckle!

I just noticed I assumed your name to be Dave. Fine name, but it likely isn't yours. Sorry for the mixup.

Harold
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coal miner
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Post by coal miner »

737mechanic , don't have a rotary table but use a 5C spin indexer . 36 divisions plus 1 degree increments . Easy combinations of 2,4,6,9,12,18 and 36 divisions. Made mandrels to fit a C size and D size head that will go in a 1" 5C collet . Clamp the indexer to the table or put it in the Kurt and start cutting what ever combination you want . Use the Y to center the head on the diam and the X to control the length . I use several sizes of ball end mills . I can also chuck them up in a home made collet closer in the lathe to make radial designs in them .

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Google home anodizing and you come up with all kinds of hits to get ideas for setting up a DYI setup . I use 12amphour/sqft and it gets me pretty close , most of the time . Still have a hicup every once in a while . All my set up contains are things I had on hand and what I got from Wallyworld .
This pic was taken when everything was new and clean , I use a bigger plastic tub for the acid solution now , of course all the other containers are stained .


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I have been using Rit dyes ,need to get some from Caswell . There are some members on this board that do this stuff for a living . I'm just a hack compared to some of the setups they have and the excellent work they do .
Did you see the oops on one of the heads ?
The more I learn , The more I don't know !
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737mechanic
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Post by 737mechanic »

Harold_V wrote:
Harold_V wrote:Awesome light, Dave. Nice job! Any plans to anodize and dye?

I used to like those Maglights--until I got a flashlight that used LED's. I am no longer interested in them.

Harold
Chuckle!

I just noticed I assumed your name to be Dave. Fine name, but it likely isn't yours. Sorry for the mixup.

Harold

LOL, I noticed that but since I am called much worse sometimes I took it as a compliment.


Coal Miner

I noticed the oops on the Red head. I was trying to figure out if you did that on purpose but finally assumed it was a mistake. Still looks better than the stock head.
jim rozen
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Location: peekskill, ny

Post by jim rozen »

They do sell one watt luxeon lamps
that retrofit into the mag lights.
Not inexpensive. But this is
one of my favorites, two C cell
mag light with one of those. A
bit more rugged mechanically than
the inexpensive LED lights.

Technitool also sells a luxeon
emitter upgrade for the two AA
type mag light, with an improved
(back end of housing) switch.
Batteries don't last that long but
it's a lotta light in a small
package.

Jim
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Flybynight
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Post by Flybynight »

Thanks for the link.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15879
Wish I had seen it sooner. I bought 5 flashlights for Christmas from another source. Cost $14 apiece.
They has the same thing under $5.
Jim
Armed Men are Citizens, Unarmed men are Subjects.
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coal miner
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Location: Southern Illinios

Post by coal miner »

737mechanic , more Maglites . This is getting to be an obsession .

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All are D-cell lites . The silver one has a 9v incandescent w/ 2 - 3AA adapters . The blue one is the a LED w/ 2 CR123A's , after market reflector , nice size . The red one was cut way down to hold 1 of the 3AA adapters w / LED and different reflector . The incandescent is the brightest , but does like batteries . The blue and the red ones do not have a lot of difference in the illumination , both very bright for their size . They are brighter lot than the Tera-lux that they sell at Wallyworld . Been there ,done that . These do cost more .

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Got this C-cell stripped and ready to anodize to another color when the weather warms a little . It will be a one of a kind since they only come in black .
I'm not to bad ,some of the guys over on Candlepower Forums are really hardcore . Some very nice work there !
The more I learn , The more I don't know !
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