- Joined
- Sep 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,308
My eldest daughter Sophie (7 yrs) has been pestering me for ages about making her own torch/ flashlight as I keep making cool ones for myself. Figuring that it would be a neat way to show her how to machine and solder stuff as well as find a use for a couple of old 3xAA 5mm LED lights (wedding present, 11 years ago this year!), I measured up a piece of mystery metal rod and figured out a way of making it all fit.
she got a bit bored after 1/2h so I finished off some stuff
Bored out, for no real reason other than that I wanted to practice boring.
parted off (the rest will do Evie's, who's 5), turned around and finned using my parting tool. I need to make a shorter grooving tool to reduce chatter.
Then Sophie helped me center drill, drill and then start boring out the LED and optic cavity. I finished it off with the help of my super awesome DROs
Next to the original stock
And amazingly everything fits perfectly!
Finished wiring up the light last night. Sophie helped with soldering the wires to the LED, but the rest of the stuff was too fiddly for her. She is very happy with the finished light, it's surprisingly bright for an XM-L T6 @350mA!
Old module:
Head with LED in place and optic superglued in:
Tangle of wires from the 7135 chip - red is +ve to the Vdd pin, yellow is +ve to the LED+, brown is -ve to 7135 ground (center) pin:
Old module plate wired up. I ended up drilling a small hole for the two +ve wires to make a more robust joint:
Before the retaining ring:
After:
Head JB welded in place and everything assembled. The head doesn't screw down onto the o-ring, but that's not the end of the world. I'll make the next heatsink a bit shorter to help with that:
It works!
Now I just have to do the same, all over again Well, I did want to practice boring I guess..
she got a bit bored after 1/2h so I finished off some stuff
Bored out, for no real reason other than that I wanted to practice boring.
parted off (the rest will do Evie's, who's 5), turned around and finned using my parting tool. I need to make a shorter grooving tool to reduce chatter.
Then Sophie helped me center drill, drill and then start boring out the LED and optic cavity. I finished it off with the help of my super awesome DROs
Next to the original stock
And amazingly everything fits perfectly!
Finished wiring up the light last night. Sophie helped with soldering the wires to the LED, but the rest of the stuff was too fiddly for her. She is very happy with the finished light, it's surprisingly bright for an XM-L T6 @350mA!
Old module:
Head with LED in place and optic superglued in:
Tangle of wires from the 7135 chip - red is +ve to the Vdd pin, yellow is +ve to the LED+, brown is -ve to 7135 ground (center) pin:
Old module plate wired up. I ended up drilling a small hole for the two +ve wires to make a more robust joint:
Before the retaining ring:
After:
Head JB welded in place and everything assembled. The head doesn't screw down onto the o-ring, but that's not the end of the world. I'll make the next heatsink a bit shorter to help with that:
It works!
Now I just have to do the same, all over again Well, I did want to practice boring I guess..