World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Completed!

[George7806]

George for the photo contest ,can I use props ? For example another light next to nucleus?

Yes, anything is allowed, as long as the Nucleus is on the photo as well.

 

[phosphor22]

As I mentioned in the sales post, the Ti is great.
Brass - yes; an anodized version (green or deep blue) one would be nice too...

 

[George7806]

As I mentioned in the sales post, the Ti is great.
Brass - yes; an anodized version (green or deep blue) one would be nice too...

You'll be in for a pleasant surprise.... Next Friday, the Brass version will be announced, and the special edition will be revealed!
A few days after the announcement, they will be available....

 

[nollij]

I'll put a list together, and message everyone, when they are available. It should be about 6-8 weeks...

Please put me down for a copper version as well

 

[write2dgray]

Please keep me posted on the copper as well. Thanks!

 

[George7806]

Please put me down for a copper version as well

Please keep me posted on the copper as well. Thanks!

You got it!

 

[George7806]

Few quick shots of the Nucleus Prototype as promised. As far as the Brass and Special Edition version, they will both be announced and revealed Wed. evening. (I moved it earlier from Friday) Sales for the new finishes will start on Sunday.
As you can tell from the pictures, the prototype was very close in size of the final version. What it lacked was grooves for o-rings, Tritium slots, key-ring holder and Sapphire glass (it had a 7.7mm optical glass) and it was made of aluminum and brass, instead of Titanium.
With its tight tolerances it was pushing the limits of my small manual lathe. Anyways, I thought it might be interesting to see, what this all started with, and helps to pass time until the other versions are introduced.

Here they are:

Posing with the final version.

On top of a TM36

 

[phosphor22]

Look - cousins!
I like the polished brass/polished aluminum together.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

My QTC pills came in the mail today and I tried one out on the Nucleus. It works really well to adjust the levels, but it's too thick and the tail doesn't screw in enough to be secured by the o-ring. Neat concept though - I'm gonna think on how to get it to work.

 

[egginator1]

World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

That was such a great idea Sean. Think it would work if George modified his design a bit? Such a simple idea to greatly enhance the lights versatility. I wonder if the how the tiny threads would hold up...

 

[George7806]

World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

My QTC pills came in the mail today and I tried one out on the Nucleus. It works really well to adjust the levels, but it's too thick and the tail doesn't screw in enough to be secured by the o-ring. Neat concept though - I'm gonna think on how to get it to work.

That was such a great idea Sean. Think it would work if George modified his design a bit? Such a simple idea to greatly enhance the lights versatility. I wonder if the how the tiny threads would hold up...

I have also received some 1mm x 4mm QTC pills and yes, they work quite well. The only way to modify the tail, is to mill a small inset blind hole into the bottom. The only issue with this, is that you'd get into the small tapped hole from the other side. If I remember correctly, there is only 0.010 - 0.020 material left between the bottom of the tail and the bottom of the split-ring hole. With this modification, the light would lose it's water resistance, unless the split ring holder or the 2-56 grub screw was permanently attached with thread sealant.
My other small issue with having the QTC pill in, that you need quite a bit of force, to achive full or close to full brightness, due to the small size of the light.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

Re: World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

George, I was hesitant to talk about mods to your light here out of respect for your work. But, since you bring up the topic, what about trimming down the brass light engine a little bit on the battery contact side? Do you think taking off a few hundredths of an inch would affect its ability to screw solidly into the battery tube?

 

[George7806]

World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

No worries, I know, that any design could benefit from improvements, and my design, is no exception. As far as taking material off on the contact side, would have the same issue....only about 0.016 is the overhang of the battery contact, so to accommodate the QTC pill, would need 0.040 taken off, so that wouldn't work. I believe, the only way to accomplish this, is milling an inset in the bottom of the tailcap....but you might run into other issues as there would be a hole behind the QTC, so pressing would not happen in the center from the backside, but from the sides.

 

[George7806]

Re: World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

On an other note, this would be a perfect element in a concept battery-tube add-on I have designed for this light. The only reason it hasn't seen any daylight, is the fact, that I couldn't control the current intake, which would make the light over heat and out of power in about 15 mins. I will post more details about this add-on later, and if there is enough interest, it might be available after all. What I can tell you about it, that it is the same diameter as this light, so it could be added easily twisting it in place of the tail-cap. It uses some very uncommon AAAAA (or 5A) batteries that are 200mA batteries with a discharge rate of nearly 2C. 3 of them on full charge are able to provide around 1000 mA current to the LED. At 1 Amp the surrounding material cannot dissipate the heat efficiently, so adding a QTC would resolve this issue. Once I have completed a prototype, I will post some pictures for reference.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

Re: World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

George - you've got some great creative ideas. I'm excited to see the designs you come up with.

 

[egginator1]

This is great stuff!

 

[egginator1]

World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

Double post....sorry

 

[George7806]

World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

George - you've got some great creative ideas. I'm excited to see the designs you come up with.

I have some good news for the ones wanting to use QTC. After playing around with the 1mm x 4mm QTC , I managed to cut it in half (actually less than half, making it to be about 0.013 thick instead of the original 0.040. This way it fits on top of the battery, with the o-ring still engaged, even when the light is off. After t this modofication the QTC is a bit more sensitive to pressure, which for me seems to be on the plus side, as you need less force to control brightness. With the decreased thickness the brightness adjustment is a little more tricky, and the very low levels are a bit hard to set, but once you set your brightness it stays there...it's manageable , and easy to reach maximum brightness. Also, it's important, to find a way to keep the QTC in the center of the battery, instead of sliding to the side. What you need, is a sharp thin razor blade, and since there are no electronics inside, you just need to try and slice straight. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me here or at my email. It is not a perfect solution, but it's a solution for now, if you wanted to use a QTC

 

[George7806]

One more interesting feature of having a sensitive QTC. If you set the brightness about midway, a press on the tail would give you a max brightness temporary, while it is pressed. This is caused by the few thousands of tolerance between the inside and ouside thread.

 

[phosphor22]

Re: World Smallest Titanium Light using a High Power LED (Nichia 219B 93CRI) Comp...

I have some good news for the ones wanting to use QTC. After playing around with the 1mm x 4mm QTC , I managed to cut it in half (actually less than half, making it to be about 0.013 thick instead of the original 0.040. This way it fits on top of the battery, with the o-ring still engaged, even when the light is off. After t this modofication the QTC is a bit more sensitive to pressure, which for me seems to be on the plus side, as you need less force to control brightness. With the decreased thickness the brightness adjustment is a little more tricky, and the very low levels are a bit hard to set, but once you set your brightness it stays there...it's manageable , and easy to reach maximum brightness. Also, it's important, to find a way to keep the QTC in the center of the battery, instead of sliding to the side. What you need, is a sharp thin razor blade, and since there are no electronics inside, you just need to try and slice straight. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me here or at my email. It is not a perfect solution, but it's a solution for now, if you wanted to use a QTC

Tried this too -- and it works -- although it is a little tricky to adjust the light level.