new guy trying to find a nitch as a maker

hey all, A friend of mine and I are hoping to start a side business making custom lights. I have been part of the flashlight fanatics fb page for a while and being that I have a hobbiest knowledge of electronics and he has a cnc mill and lathe and a hobbiests knowledge of how to run them, we would start designing. My questions are, does anyone care to share secrets on where you find semi/exotic materials for a competitive price? (brass, copper, titanium, timascus, ect) and second of all, does anyone want to share failed designs or design flaws to help in the design process? might be a bit before we actually make a prototype but we have been making pieces and fitting things together and looking at lots of different designs out there. anyway, thanks in advance to all who read this, and to all who are willing to share some wisdom, info or pics. thanks.

Flashlights are a very interesting - obsession.

Many people, including me, have attempted to enter and play in this market. It is exceedingly challenging to find a niche of sufficient size to really out perform the existing market.
- Smallest?
- Biggest?
- Brightest?
- Longest range beam?
- Toughest?
- Headlamp?
- Odd shape?
- Exotic engraving and carving?
- water resistance?
- Fancy programming?
- PIC processor controlled to resistor based power levels?
- Ti, silver, gold, Al alloys, brass, copper, specialty steel, carbon fiber, specialty woods?

Don't take this the wrong way, but it has been done already and pretty well. If you do happen to find a volume market, far east companies will copy it and spit them out faster than you can imagine.

I literally spent $thousands trying to develop products that were "interesting" and bring them to market and really enjoyed doing it. I learned a lot, but the big lesson was that it is a hobby and fun to learn from, but very difficult to turn into a business. As long as you don't let it control your life or imagine that you can support your family from it, have fun.

Good luck with your endeavors.

Harry

Serious comment/constructive criticism, not intended as snark.

Everything Harry said is true, also higher end lights involve serious precision and attention to detail.
Therefore small errors like using the word "nitch" when you mean "Niche" are exactly the kind of thing that can come back to haunt you.

I've got some skills with a lathe/ mill, and have made a few flashlights from scratch, as well as plenty of mods. The time/ money investment is large - even assuming you already have the equipment. Plus, the market is finicky. Not trying to diminish your efforts, it's all about the drive you have to succeed.

As far as materials, there is no shortcut to making exotic blends like damascus. We don't know where you are hailing from, but maybe find a local knifemaker/ blacksmith and see if they are willing to make materials for you.

One idea might be to head over to the "Recommend me a light for" section, and scroll through the requests. If you can find a thread that starts with a list of requirements that none of the replies meet, then you might be on to something. Unless you are Steve Jobs reincarnated as a flashaholic, the market should tell you what it demands (not the other way around).

You'll be filtering through a lot of "do everything" requests ("I want a thrower and a flooder and fit in my pocket and last 8 hours and less than $20 and I'm scared of lithium ion"). One that comes to mind for me is size/weight and driver efficiency, which it seems that Zebralight has a corner on at the moment. If someone came up with some tail-clicky, exotic material, multiple-cell lights that could match or exceed the ZL driver efficiency and weight/size efficiency (at some given brightness for a given cell: lumen-hours per gram, and lumen-hours per cubic-cm), then I bet you'd find a market.

That's a good point Keith, enhancements in driver efficiency/ user interface are in high demand.
Just look through some posts, both here and BLF from software people like ToyKeeper (her Flashlight Firmware Repository is immense), Dr Jones (who seems to be retired now), and Lexel's Narsil firmware seems interesting.