# Mods that make you go hmmm... more stuff added 6/6 and 6/7



## Bimmerboy (Jan 31, 2007)

Well, at least they make family, and some friends go "hmmm", and look at me like I have two heads. _But they just don't understand_.

Edit: This thread is extremely dial-up unfriendly. I suggest grabbing a beer while waiting for the pics to load. :drunk:

After more than two years of being a flashaholic, and a member of CPF, I found myself feeling a little dissatisfied with regard to not having created any real, home made mods in all this time. Pretty much just collecting some lights, and some parts... with the intention of eventually building this and that, but very few builds becoming reality. In fact, my personal "coolest" light (shown further below) is an _excellent_ creation, with components made by numerous CPF'ers and different manufacturers, but I didn't *make* a single part of it.

Long story short, I've started doing something about it, and have built a couple of lights that I would consider to be on a fairly "home made" level... lol. There were some things laying around the place that looked like they'd make fairly unique lights, so I went for it. A quick run to Radio Shack for parts, a quick brush up on soldering, and things were rollin'. I hope you all get a kick out of this stuff... I know I did. Putting this nonsense together while laughing was a challenge.

First up... "The Choco-lite".

This past Christmas, everybody got Ferrero Rocher chocolates in their stockings. They came in clear plastic, pyramid shaped containers, holding 5 of the tasty little morsels. After chomping them down, I looked at the empty container and thought "hmmmmm". Here's the end result.

Take one Ferrero pyramid, double-sided poster tape, 2 AA battery holders, an original MJLED, Minimag switch/bulb pedestal, and a little power switch. Add solder and beer, work for two hours, and voila!





































I never liked the very strange, blue/green/puke tint of the MJLED's since day one. It's almost an indescribable color, and just sucks, even though the thing is very bright. I have another one of these pyramids for the "Choco-lite II", and it's gonna' run a much nicer tinted SMJLED, and a 14500 Li-ion... hahaha.

The next, and even more stupid creation is "The Arawak Love Candle", aka. "Evening Wood". I'll leave the double entendre up to you to figure out.

Many years ago, a friend went to the Caribbean for vacation with his GF. They brought back for me a knick-knack container made of some kind of nice looking hardwood, and inside was a bag of "Arawak Love Potion". Smelled mostly of oregano... lol. It was a fairly handsome, touristy kind of souvenir thing, and it was to be my next victim.

I've wanted to make a light out of this thing for almost two years. Looked at it collecting dust one day, and thought "hmmmmm". But, I never had any spare parts laying around that seemed like they'd work. What finally made it possible was a 3AAA, 9 LED, *$1* Chinese flashlight bought at a local dollar store, and given to me as a gift recently. I looked at the wood container again, looked at the flashlight, and thought "HMM HHMMMM!!!". We were now in business.

Got a bunch of whatever the heck tools were in the garage, some of them probably not quite the best tools for the job. No real plan, except a vision of the finished product. But, I was gung ho, and nothing was gonna' stop me. Here is the end result.

I'm actually quite proud of this thing. Not only does it work, but the LE operates noticeably brighter than in it's original host, has whiter tint (no angry blue at all!), but will also give longer runtime. Better electrical path, and bigger batts. 





















The head assembly. I was NOT going to pull it apart for the pics. Pos and neg run through individual holes drilled through the cap, and there is a quick disconnect for cap removal. The pos. contact is from a Mag Solitaire tailcap spring.






The power comes from a 3AA to 1D adaptor. These have received negative commentary from many in the past, but it works quite well in this application!






The shiny, coppery looking thing is a 1968 (more Cu) penny, ground and drilled by Dremel, hand filed afterward, and soldered to the negative lead.






The switch controlled negative connections, coming from the penny, going to the head.






You can see the negative connection on the right, which comes up from underneath the LED assembly. I had to use the Dremel's engraving bit to dig channels and pits in the wood under there, because of the wires and little solder blobs.






And this is the $1 light. These things are actually really great! Good looking, bright, very good tint to be honest, and they come with a little 3AAA battery holder inside with 3 included batteries (sucky ones though)! Went to the store myself this time and picked up a couple more... one for the mod, and one for the car (using Energizer E2's for cold weather reliability).
















Size comparison to a standard click lighter.






All this has now brought things to a new level for me, and am currently in a modding frenzy. Got some parts coming in for various other projects, one of which will be dumber than The Choco-lite and Evening Wood combined, but to me, it'll be cool as hell. :devil:

I've really found a new satisfaction in this hobby by doing these mods, and I hope they were fun for people to look at. There's definitely more coming. I get strange ideas all the time, and these won't be the last.


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## Ganp (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

:huh: Most Excellent Fun Dude ... :goodjob:


Colin.


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## Long John (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Very innovative Bimmerboy, I like it:goodjob:

Best regards

_____
Tom


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## shiftd (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Wow, luxor replica !! :thumbsup:

that looks good. You just need to put 4 HID on the top of the piramid now 


Lol, shining love potion, what all the ppl need 


Interesting mods


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## bombelman (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Great mod.. Quite interesting, but curious why you did not
remove the switch from the tailcap...

You should know, I got these very same lights, mine were a little over a buck.
I only bought them to use the VERY hard to find switches in my Arc LS
Clicky-mod. [Here]


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## Bimmerboy (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Thanks for the responses! Glad to share this stuff with ya'll.

I had so much fun making these, that I'm now totally hooked. Parts for the next cree-ation (hint hint) should be here within 2 - 4 weeks... hopefully less! It's gonna' be one fugly mod too.  

Shiftd - that a very dangerous suggestion... for my sanity that is, because now I'm tempted to do it! J/K... but, you have given me a new idea for the other pyramid. I'm gonna' look at a few pics of the Luxor, and see what I can do... hehe.

Bombelman - Wow... you have the same exact lights! They're all the same colors that I saw in the bin at the dollar store as well, plus the red. These things apparently get around. I checked out your mod thread, and I love what you used it for... excellent.

I didn't disassemble the switch because leaving it as is, it totally fit the design criteria. The switch housing made it super convenient to hook the connections to, the threads bite into the wood nicely and hold VERY securely, and it's strong and solid switch, with a good quality feel to the clicky action. It should be highly reliable. In fact, between that switch, and the internal compression of the other components in the mod when the head is on, you can probably put the thing in a paint can shaker and it won't even flicker (you'd have to use something to keep the head from flying off though). I've tried shaking it vigorously, and there's not a hint of flicker or anything rattling.

I can't believe they sell these lights for a buck! The switch alone is worth more than that to a flashaholic, much less the 3AAA holder, and nine bright, _non-blue_(!) LED's. Fantastic deal. Before seeing your post here, I was playing with the idea of buying a bunch of these in order to do a small group buy here, if there was any interest. But, now knowing they're available on Ebay makes it a little pointless to do so. I will, however, recommend these little bad boys to anyone. You can hardly go wrong.


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## cutlerylover (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Cool mods, I love to see stuff like this, very creative! By the way I LOVE Rocher's, I get a small box every year for christmas so it reminds me of the holidays...


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## Rookwood (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

What - no pics of the Evening Wood light in a darkened room? 

Very cool and fun stuff - thanks for posting these!


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## luigi (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Nice 
You made me laugh and enjoy the post and pictures.

Luigi


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## Bimmerboy (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*



Rookwood said:


> What - no pics of the Evening Wood light in a darkened room?



I'll have to experiment with the camera a bit since I've never taken any low light pics before, but will do so this weekend.

Beamshots, if you can call them such, are on the way!


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## eebowler (Feb 2, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

LMAO. Your 'Awawak Love Potion' light is cool! oo:


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## Bimmerboy (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*

Who's ready for more silliness?... I AM! :wave: Here's my latest round of mods. This is a long post, so let's sit back and say "hmmmmmm" together, shall we?

Here's something just a small minority of CPF'ers seem to get into... a laser! I got bit by the laser bug only a few months ago, and it's already hard to remember life without streams of coherent photons. Much as I love the things, *they are very eyeball un-friendly, *, so this is a good time to mention to the uninitiated, that there are neccessary safety practices involved when dealing with ALL lasers! The light from a laser gets focused onto the retina into a pin spot of intense power... much different than normal images projected onto the retina, even including what most may consider a "spot" source like incan bulbs or LED's.

Once you get past the standard 5mW "pointers", damage begins to happen at frightenly quick rates... as in _wayyyy_ faster than your blink reflex can protect you. *NEVER, EVER* shine any laser into someone's eye, your own eye, an animal's eye, or a reflective surface... moving vehicles, airplanes and heli's, etc. (those are Federal offenses, by the way). Lots of info on this subject over in CPF's laser section, and across the web. Now, on with the fun!

It's using a 16X DVD burner laser diode installed in a lens/heatsink module, both from Dr. Lava's GB here. Power comes from a pair of E2 AA's running through a 2.7 Ohm resistor, and a cap across the power leads to slightly ramp the startup... kinda' like a poor man's soft start. Should also provide a little spike protection from cheapie power supplies. Laser diodes are very sensitive devices and can blow in a millionth the time it takes you to say  

Estimated power in this configuration is somewhere in the 55 - 60mW range (or thereabouts). With the focusable lens, it'll pop a balloon with a little black magic marker on it in about a half second at four ft. away, and blackened matches in one second at one ft. After it's planned upgrade using a constant current driver, power should be about double. That safety sticker ain't on there for nuttin'!

This is "The Grayser". Click the link to see a more detailed write up.

That's right, we ain't playing here. The switch goes forward for constant on, center is off, and you pull it back and hit the red "fire" button for momentary operation.







Out of focus. Gotta' retake this shot.







The business end.







The other business end.







A look inside the magical box of Light Amplified by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.







Cap, resistor, switches.







The diode/lens housing is sitting on a small heatsink, in which I channeled a bit out of the top for the housing to nestle in, and attached the two with Arctic Silver heat conducting epoxy. Cool stuff... no pun intended.







How many times can you look into a laser beam? Twice!!  







Next up... my Frankensteined out, lantern mod. I haven't decided which of two names this will be called. One is "The Fug-light" because it's a light, and it's fugly. The other, and more likely name is "The Excrelamp"... because it uses a Cree X-lamp, and it looks like _who did it and ran?!_ 

Yep, this beauty queen is sportin' a Cree P4 on top of an old CPU heatsink, pushed by a bFlex driver, and 4 alkaline D batteries held in a 6V lantern battery adaptor! How's that for stupid? 

It started life as a junky, not very bright for the power consumption, ugly lantern. I've been wanting to mod this thing for the longest time into an even uglier, but much more efficient and long running light. Haven't done a runtime test on it yet, and am hoping the alkies perform as desired (read: keep the circuit in regulation). Really don't want to use NiMH D's because of the self discharge. What good would that do me during a power outage?... not that we really get any. Last time was the big one back in August '03. Can't even remember the one before that. Anyway, this thing is like a rebel without a cause... or rather a lantern without a reason, but I like it anyway. What else is this ridiculous, yet has a bFlex in it? Top THAT! :devil:

Size comparison to a bottle of beer (empty of course)






In it's original configuration
















The eye of the monster






The brains of the monster.






The bowels of the monster. BTW, who the heck's ever heard of Dynex batteries? Not me. Spotted 'em in Best Buy at a good price though.






Batteries installed in the 4D lantern-size adaptor found at Auto Barn for $3.






It's almost alive! _It's almost ALIIIIIVE!!!... haaaa! haaaaaaa!_






That little red button is the bFlex controller, and is included with the driver (you have to solder it in place). Stupid as it sounds, the diameter of the driver and location of the switch makes it an absolutely perfect fit inside the neck. So perfect in fact, it's like George designed it specifically for this lamp!... lol.






And there's where the business gets done. The heatsink is crazy glued to the lampshade holder to keep it from moving, and the Cree is AS5'd to the sink. The Artic Silver keeps it stuck in place, and the wores are bent to keep it from lifting off... I hope. It's not epoxied because the emitter will eventually be replaced with something with a 180 degree spread pattern. The Cree's dispersion angle, is a well known and somewhat despised in many applications, 75 degrees. A Seoul would do the trick, but the gummy dome would not be protected from dust. I'm dreaming up some kind of idea to get the light to disperse around and downward like a bulb would. Whatever gets stuck in there for that job should also make the whole thing even uglier too... hehe.






Last but not least... "Baby Magzilla". It's been about a year and a half in the making, and although I didn't make the parts, the real centerpiece of it's individuality was my idea... and what a PITA to have it made! That centerpiece is a 35mm long extension for a standard Minimag tube. There's a huge story behind it, so detailed that it will bore the living crap out of you, so I'll spare you most of the details. It involved multiple CPF'ers, a local machine shop, me hounding the daylights out of said CPF'ers, failed plans, failed attempts, a LOT of time, etc. But persistence, and a desire to give myself blind spots, paid off.

Here's the little pocket barn burner. You can see the extension on the tail end. It's got the highly sought after high-temp ceramic socket, turbohead (Stinger head and high-temp reflector along with a finned, gun metal gray HAIII Stinger to Minimag adaptor... you know who makes that... hehe), and a pair of 14670's pushing the vaunted, Carley halogen filled 1499!


Obviously, the camera preferred to focus on the jacket instead of the light. I'll have to redo these.







Next to my standard for size comparison... another empty bottle.











And here is the extension... ultimately made by CPF'er Ledean! The Minimag walls become quite thin when trying to thread them, especially when trying to machine them. The only thing that seems to work is to use a die. Even then, you can see how thin the wall is upon live, close inspection.

Again, you don't want to hear the entire story behind this. You'll be asleep in no time.










There's a very good reason for the extension, other than just to be different. I didn't want to run a pair of 14500 Li-ions at 2.5 - 3C. Simple as that. The current draw of the H1499 would easily put that load on the batteries, which as many of us know (hopefully) is a no-no with Li-ions. It's one of the factors that could lead to internal dendritic growth, eventually shorting cathode to anode, and then we have a serious problem. With the extension allowing the use of higher capacity 14670's, the rate of discharge goes down to approximately 2C. Still riding the edge a bit, but definitely safer than 3C. Anyway, more pics!

Here are the failed attempts from the beforementioned local machine shop. Ledean had originally shipped me a few leftover Minimag ends from his cut down 1AA mods to use. Somehow, the guy at the shop got confused on my specs, and cut the first two too short.  The threading on the one that didn't break looks beautiful though. Upon letting him know it wasn't the right length, he went to work on the last tube I had, and it broke.






The pair of 14670's, and a _very_ well made 14670 dummy cell (thick aluminum core with a Delrin shell). The dummy really adds to this build! Not only does it allow testing of a new bulb on just one batt to see if it's working, but also allows the versatility of using a Strion bulb as a LOLA... awesome!





Credit for making this light a possibility goes out to the MANY fellow CPF'ers who made and/or supplied the parts. Auroralite for the ceramic socket, Fivemega for the Turbohead, AW for the 14670's, Litho123 for the H1499's, rain_man_ind for the super-nice 14670 dummy cell, ... and again, especially to Ledean for making the ever-crucial extension! LEDEAN ROCKS! :rock: Highorder and rain_main_ind were also part of the saga behind the extension, and I thank them for that as well.

So, all these mods have four things in common. Electricity, photons, a desire for things slightly off the beaten path, and BEER! Yes, it's fun to down healthy portions of your favorite beverage while modding... mine is Bass ale... seems to make things more challenging... or perhaps, just plain challenged.  

Hope ya'll enjoyed the mods! There are a few others in the works, but are more of a normal bent... Mag85, multi-level tri-Cree, etc. Inspiration can strike at anytime though, and given some of my recent song ideas (check out Attack of the Lydian Cows for example... no guitar solo yet), the next round of wackiness should continue the trend, no problem.

Beamshots and ambience shots by tonight or tomorrow night!


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## Robban (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... *warning* - too many pics*

I actually kinda like the first mod, the pyramid. What I would do though is frost the whole thing to make it a nice little "mood light". How I don't know, some fine grit sandpaper would be the right way to go I guess but I think spraying it down with acetone would be a lot more fun


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## Ledean (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... new stuff added 3/28*

I am glad I was able to contribute to your project ..
Wow. a lot of folks have played a part in it ..

What would be the run time and does it get too hot to hold  .

Now we wait for the beamshots ...

Ledean


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## Bimmerboy (Mar 30, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... new stuff added 3/28*

It has been brought to my attention that his thread, especially my last post is not exactly user friendly in some ways... hehe. I'll start a new thread on the performance aspect of these mods, and will keep it shorter, and with a few less pics. :laughing: 

Did some testing and beamshots last night. Baby Magzilla breathes some good fire for his size!


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## carbine15 (Mar 30, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... new stuff added 3/28*

Bimmerboy is my new hero for the week. Good works. I love your mods and your humor. Keep up the goodness.


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## Bimmerboy (Apr 2, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... new stuff added 3/28*

Thanks very much for the kind words, Carbine!

I was extremely lazy this past weekend, and did not process the photos for posting. New thread with beamshots by tonight... *enter that movie announcer guy*... _This time, it's for real_.


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## Bimmerboy (Apr 5, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... new stuff added 3/28*



Bimmerboy said:


> New thread with beamshots by tonight... *enter that movie announcer guy*... _This time, it's for real_.


Uhhhh.... yeah, sure. 

I can say, however, that it is now time to stop making Ledean wait for beamshots. Been promising him this for the last couple weeks. I'll stick them in this thread since starting a new one for all the same mods would be a bit funky. Besides, I've seen some threads recently with enough pics stuffed in 'em to clog a T3 line, so here goes...

I'm very much _not_ practiced in doing this, but the following pics should give some idea of Baby Magzilla's dragon breath (that's what he gets for eating Li-ion's for breakfast).

Providing a reference for comparison is my 4D Mag running an overdriven XPR103, which kicks culo on a stock 4 cell Mag bulb. This is at 30 ft. to the fence.






B-magz at the same 30 ft.






Mag XPR103 at 80 ft. Different fence.






B-magz pretty much killin' it here.






The overdriven 4D Mag seemed pretty bright in this shot at 25 ft., until...






...Baby Magzilla opened his mouth.






The Chocolite, giving plenty of ambient light to go search for more chocolate.






Evening Wood sure can get it up! 





The Chocolite and Evening Wood are actually a lot brighter than what the pics suggest. Those shots need to be re-done after I learn to set exposure correctly. Been relying on full auto for everything. Also, working out an issue with the Excrelamp, so a couple ambience shots of the electric turd are in the works as well.

I'll be bach (und you be beethoven).


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## nein166 (Apr 5, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... beamshots finally added 4/5*

Nice stuff you've put together will they be coming to PF8 with you?

Magzilla is very impressive do you edc it :laughing:


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## FILIPPO (Apr 5, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... beamshots finally added 4/5*

:wow:


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## Bimmerboy (Apr 8, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... beamshots finally added 4/5*

Thanks, Filippo!

And thanks to you as well, Brian! I'll definitely be bringing most of these mods, plus a couple others.

The issue with The Excrelamp should be wiped clean (pun intended) within a couple days, and will be fully functional for the event, as well as for a couple more pics here.

Edit: Totally forgot to answer Ledean's question! More performance observations will be done at PF8 this coming weekend. But what I know so far is that on a semi-chilly night, after 5 minutes of on-time, the head barely got warm at all. I did not allow my hand to provide any heat removal. Seems most of the heat goes out the front end very efficiently. And it's not like that H1499 ain't hot... it is! Baby Magzilla will definitely keep french fries warm until the batteries run out.


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## Ledean (Apr 9, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... beamshots finally added 4/5*

Those are very impressive beamshots ,the BabyM totally stomps out the mag 4d xpr 103 and in such a small package .
What reflector are you using as I do not see too much light wasted as sidespill ..


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## Bimmerboy (Apr 12, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... beamshots finally added 4/5*

Last bump for this babysan until the next mod... for which inspiration struck this past Easter Sunday. I got another Ferrero container... lol. This time it's a large, clear and gold plastic egg with multiple platform levels inside. The quest for silliness continues.

Ledean - Thanks! It really does stomp it!

As far as I know, the reflector is straight from the Stinger (Streamlight I think), as is the bezel. Having only experience with smooth reflectors, I'm guessing that the orange peel is light, possibly medium.

Although the pictures seem to minimize the effect, there is some wasted sidespill in the fact that the beam is kind of rectangular instead of tight and round. Not sure yet if that's something to do with the filament, or the weird shaped nipple on top of the bulb that many halogens seem to have. Much as I think throw is cool, I do have to say that the wider swath of light seems quite useful, especially at close to medium range.

Next time ya'll see this thread (NOOOOOO... not again!), it's gonna' have an egglight... hehe.


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## Bimmerboy (Jun 6, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... more stuff added 6/6*

Well the eggs aren't done cooking yet, but in the meantime, we've got dairy!

Behold, the "Pint of Milk". This past April, I attended Photon Fest 8 at Milkyspit's house, where he very generously gave me a 19 LED head that runs off 9V, uses a voltage regulator, and 19 tiny little resistors, one for each LED. So, in tribute to Milky, I went looking for the correct PVC plumbing parts to make something resembling a Milky Candle.

Long story short, the diameter of the head would've required getting pretty big parts, and the thing would've been huge... more like a Milky baseball bat than a candle. But, after more rummaging through the parts bin, what I wound up with worked even better than I'd hoped. In fact, the two random PVC pieces work so nicely for this mod, it's almost like they were made specifically so someone like me could come along and make a flashlight out of them!

Anyway... Two days after PF8, light poured from the Pint of Milk. Photons spilling all over the place, but there was no crying over it. This thing is bright!

See? Milk does a flashlight good!







$1.80 in PVC, and a little Rat Shack switch. Gotta' love cheap mods.






Two 9V's in parallel for double the runtime. Nabbed the snap tops from a couple dead ones, and wired 'em up. As luck would have it, the batteries fit perfectly snug in the holder/bottom piece.






That's the regulator down there on the bottom of the board. The semi-circle notches were round filed by hand to fit the corners of the batteries. They become shallower so as to progressively snug the batteries as you stick the bottom in. Believe it or not, with all the exposed metal inside this light, nothing shorts out! Still gonna' get some liquid electrical tape in there anyway.






Twin towers of power.






Warp engines ready, Scotty? Aye, captain... she's got plenty of powerrr!






Warp 10, Mr. Sulu. We're going to the Milky Way!





Spock, what do you think we'll find in the Milky Way? Logic dictates that we should find a lot of calcium, captain. Calcium?... Spock? It should be good for bones, captain. Bones? Bones, will the calcium be good for you? Dammit, Jim! I'm a flashaholic, not a doctor!

Scott (Milky) - Thanks again for giving me this great little light engine. I love this mod, and it wouldn't exist if not for your generosity. Looking forward to bringing it to PF9.


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## Bimmerboy (Jun 7, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm... more stuff added 6/6*

While in the middle working on another mod last week, I got the idea for this quick and easy 'lil bugger I call "El Cheapo".

It's another $1 thing, but a little different than the one in the first post. It's slightly smaller, uses the same 3AAA holder, but instead of 9 LED's just sitting above a metallicized surface, this one has three, and they poke into a little tri-reflector. Interesting thing is, in order to make use of the reflectors, the emitters were cut down and polished just like a SMJLED! However, the output was lamer than lame, and one of the LED's died after hardly any use. This thing sucked!

I just so happened to still have three original MJLED's laying around for the last couple years. Since the modding tools were already out, I ran and got 'em, and fired up the iron. Getting the stock emitters out was pretty tough to be honest. The solder really took a lot of heat to melt from direct contact with a 30W iron... getting it to soak it into a wick was definitely a pain. But once the board was clean, putting in the new emitters was easy. From beginning to end, the whole mod took 30 minutes.

The results were outstanding! I really did not expect two things... that this hunk o' junk would turn into such a little beast, and that the tint of these early MJLED's would become so nice! 4.5V instead of 3V did wonders for both the output, and the _cat urine mixed with phlem tint_ that I always hated with these emitters. They're so much brighter and whiter now!

Since they're in parallel, and also draw much more current than the average 5mm LED, there's likely a bit of voltage sag happening with the AAA's. But that could be a good thing, possibly helping to prevent the emitters from burning out under the excess voltage. I don't expect the greatest runtime, but for a buck and some old LED's you can't beat it.

Ahora, gringos... mira!... El Cheapo esta aqui!



















The now much improved output. It's actually brighter than many Lux I lights! Holy frijoles! 





What a fun and easy mod! Next time I order from the Shoppe, I'm gonna' get the newer SMJLED's, and do more of these things!

Upcoming mods: The egglight is still to come, but it doesn't have a name yet. When it's built and named, it'll be shown here. However, the next laser build is going to be overflowing with lunacy. Be very afraid.


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## TECENG (Jun 7, 2007)

Ya know, your comment regarding the "baseball bat" got me thinking. How about modding a real baseball bat by putting LED's in the business end. That way if you have an intruder in the house, you only have to carry one item while searching for him, then give him a whack with a great swing using both hands on the bat :naughty:


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## Bimmerboy (Jun 8, 2007)

LOL... please don't tempt me. Once I start illuminating baseball bats, I'll have to admit there's a problem. Just at the suggestion, I can already see the doctors going "hmmm..." through the one-way glass.


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## Bimmerboy (Jun 14, 2007)

*Re: Mods that make you go hmmm...*



Bimmerboy said:


> I can't believe they sell these lights for a buck! The switch alone is worth more than that to a flashaholic, much less the 3AAA holder, and nine bright, _non-blue_(!) LED's. Fantastic deal. Before seeing your post here, I was playing with the idea of buying a bunch of these in order to do a small group buy here, if there was any interest. But, now knowing they're available on Ebay makes it a little pointless to do so. *I will, however, recommend these little bad boys to anyone. You can hardly go wrong.*


 Empasis mine, obviously... lol.

Yeah well, unless peeps can find the better quality ones from 6 months ago, I can no longer recommend the $1 flashlights... at least in my area. In fact, 6 months ago = 2 generations of quickly degrading quality ago for these things! Maybe _'they'_ saw this thread and decided the light was wayyyy too good to sell for a buck?... twice?! :shrug:

The second generation ones were bad. As of 2 months ago, there was a choice of two (they're actually still available at one store), one of which is the El Cheapo host shown above, and the other, a smaller, really bad imitation of the first ones. The 3 LED ones are just dim and lame, and the 9 LED jobbies have the most horrendously purple/blue tint you can imagine. In fact, it's almost beyond imagination! They make the old Nichia's look pure white! The little turd looks like a reject from the UV LED bin, sold as a regular flashlight. However, both models are much better than what I found last week. :green:

I went to all three known dollar stores in the general vicinity. Now, there are FOUR kinds of turd from which to choose! The two just mentioned, a regular flashlight-looking 2AA thing with 8 LED's, and the real show stopper... an even MORE horrible version of the original. In a moment of bad judgement, I bought three of those. _Hmmm... Yes, I'll take some of those Sharpei doo-doo's over there, please._

Well, let me say... these are so bad, you can't even laugh at 'em. Dim, worse tint than a MJLED on 3V (think: some kind of intergalactic plasma puke), and the body is now made of super cheap plastic. How does it conduct from the negative end, one might ask? By spray painting the inside with some metallic paint! Nope, they're not even dipped in flashing. Just very unevely sprayed with this junk. Except for the reverse clickies and circuit boards, these lights are already well on their way to whatever landfill or recycling plant they're gonna' end up at.

There was light at the end of the tunnel though. The regular looking, 2AA one (it was actually $1.29!... the nerve!!) turns out to have what I think is a little boost circuit, and the 8 LED's have a nice, white tint, especially when tested with 4.5V! So, I grabbed a hacksaw and got the good stuff out, which will go into my second generation, UV reject thing... which will be posted about here soon enough. :devil:


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## sysadmn (Jun 18, 2007)

TECENG said:


> Ya know, your comment regarding the "baseball bat" got me thinking. How about modding a real baseball bat by putting LED's in the business end. That way if you have an intruder in the house, you only have to carry one item while searching for him, then give him a whack with a great swing using both hands on the bat :naughty:


 
They already make those. 

They're called "MagLites". :laughing:

The 4 C/D 3W LED works fine in a 5D, although it might hit thermal protection sooner. 6D are still available. Wonder if anyone makes an "anti-roll" hexagonal tailcap that just happens to have thin extensions? Picture a 1/4" thick hex plate on the end of the tailcap, which extends 1/4" from body. You do not want to be on the wrong end of that in a dark alley.


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