new life for oddball E-Series body

[DrafterDan]

I came across this sales post, and saw potential. Thankfully, Peu did a good job with the boring and threading, but the carving was lacking a bit of finesse.

Shown here with the Aleph head and SF tail that I plan on using.

I've already trimmed off the head to mate with the max OD of the body. I like the contrasting look created here.
The plan is to shave the body down to match the OD of the tailcap. This will reduce the surface area for my design, but it will work out okay.

Here's where I get a bit artistic. Because this was a carved body, I thought we'd just change things up with a new design.
Because I'm going to lathe the snot out of the body, might as well get some practice in beforehand. I've done some sample drawings with an engraver (showing on the left side), and found I need a better way to previsualize before the actual cutting.
The solution was to put masking tape on the body, and draw my design on that. From there, I'll hit it with the engraver and see how it looks.

Next step is to finalize the dimensions of the body with the lathe, and then make sure my design will fit on the reduced OD.

I don't know how some modders have the patience to document everything and then post everything up in one go. This way it motivates me to complete the project I started!
~D

 

[mk2rocco]

Very nice! Cant wait to see the finished product.

 

[DrafterDan]

Making some progress. Here I've pulled away the live center to test fit the tailcap. More work to be done to the body before I start engraving.

 

[mk2rocco]

This is pretty cool, the thread were already cut so now you just shape it. It's a simple DIY body.

 

[Str8stroke]

Watching and liking. Any more pics DD? I would love to see some of the engrave work once you get that going.

 

[DrafterDan]

The body is done, that is until I decide to maybe use some kind of aluminum blackening to draw out some depth to the design. A couple photos before I start figuring out how to modify the aleph can to accept a 15mm driver. Looks like I have to make an internal pill for the pill.

You can see how I traced the lines drawn with the engraver

I went over the leaves with a carbide scratcher

 

[mk2rocco]

Very nice! Great job on that body

 

[Eric242]

The original body was a rather strange design..... the tailcap threads should have been C/P/Z Series but not E-Series since the difference in diameter between tailcap and body was waaaay too big.

What you did with the body is really good! Looks much better now and the complete light is pretty cool as well :thumbsup:

 

[precisionworks]

There's a great deal of risk when holding any finished item in the chuck. Chuck jaws (no matter if there are 3, 4, 6, or more) are designed with the smallest amount of contact area so that tightening them produces the highest pressure possible. This works fine on a rough or non-finished part & it may work on a finished item ... until Mr. Murphy steps in, the tool catches an edge & the part spins in the chuck. BTDT too many times to count.

Internal expanding arbors are an inexpensive way to deal with this. In the image below there's one shown held in the chuck & the remainder of the set sitting on top of the chuck:



The other internal arbors (resting on top of the headstock cover) require a 5C chuck. Their advantage is the ability to hold parts without a through hole. I often use the low cost internal arbors when machining high dollar titanium customs because they eliminate any possibility of marring the light body. They also do a nice job holding the head or the tail when either of those small parts is machined.

http://www.breakhearttool.com/products

 

[DrafterDan]

You are correct PW, I do have a couple projects coming up that these arbors would be perfect for.
On the image of me working on the head, the body was still full diameter. I was only machining up to those body bands.

It is a good time for me to review my safety practices. What I had planned for machining a pill was not feeling secure and safe enough. This info will help.

 

[mcbrat]

nice. I may do something similar with the glow spiral body...

 

[Ladd]

Nice thread. Sure makes me hungry for a lathe.

 

[DrafterDan]

Nice to have the means to do such a mod! If I remember, the tail section is actually a smidge smaller than a standard E tailcap, that will present a design challenge.

nice. I may do something similar with the glow spiral body...

 

[mcbrat]

nice. I may do something similar with the glow spiral body...

Nice to have the means to do such a mod! If I remember, the tail section is actually a smidge smaller than a standard E tailcap, that will present a design challenge.

I've got an Aleph chrome flat top tail cap on now that fits it fine, but may go to the HA Nat Aleph bald tail, and skim it so it matches, but I don't have a head for the light yet, so we will see....

 

[DrafterDan]

I just realized I never put up the finished photos.

The head is of course floody as you'd expect from a mule, but it is really useful for within-a-room lighting. It was a fun project