# Introducing the MagnetoDrive with SmartDial



## wquiles

This is a project that started as an idea back in 2007-2008, but back then I still did not know enough machining nor I had done my own PWB boards/firmware, so the idea grew slowly in the back of my mind, as I did not know yet how the heck I was going to pull this off.

My intention is to come up with a heavy duty diving light, that also works great as a heavy duty flashlight around the home/office/car/etc. - basically a diving-rated, heavy duty light that you can always reach for, when you need a little, or a lot of light. But I also wanted a new way to use the light - a new user interface. So like any complex project, I divided the project into two "parts" - the dive-rated host, and the new user interface.

Since designing the new dive-rated host is relatively easier, I started design on the new user interface first. The original inspiration for the new user interface came up from using other multi-level LED lights over the last 5-6 years. Some of these offered 2, or 3, or 6 levels, some 16 levels, but I did not completely like the user interface in these for several reasons:
- You could not have very small steps for the very low end, and at the same time still have enough steps to cover the mid and full brightness levels.
- Even if you had enough steps, you were always forced to go through the full arc of motion or many button press/push cycles to go from lowest level to high - it was relatively slow to reach max. brightness from the OFF/LOW level.
- Few of these were dive-rated, due to using a push button.

I also wanted a new interface that did not require the user to have to learn/memorize/remember a particular sequence/etc.. Something intuitive, without SOS, blinking lights, zombie-killing mode, etc. Just a smooth transition between really low, and really high, in an intuitive and easy to use package. My idea is that you could hand my light to any person, and without having to read a manual, that person would be able to use/operate the light. Since nothing like what I wanted existed, I have to come up with my own design, and learn new skills in order to do it all on my own, so of course it has taken a while (literally a couple of years).

My new user interface that I came up with (actually "Patent Pending") is based on a custom designed, microprocessor controller board (called "MagnetoDrive"), which when used with an LED driver allows for 255 steps of brightness. This controller has an user interface that allows the user to get "all" of those steps - this interface running in the MagnetoDrive I call the "SmartDial". So the MagnetoDrive is the "board" or the brains, and the "user interface" is called SmartDial.

My MagnetoDrive with SmartDial (MD-SD) translates the movement of the selector dial into a variable brightness output, with the main characteristic being that the steps are selected based on the speed at which the user is moving the freely-moving selector dial. So except for the physical stops at both ends of the arc (OFF and 100% ON), there are "no" physical steps, no detents of any kind in the control dial - the dial moves 100% smoothly and freely from one end to the other. 

How it works:
- Move the control dial slowly, and you get very small steps, but of course the max. brightness can't be achieved since the range of motion is limited to the low brightness levels.
- Move the control dial at a normal speed, and moving through the range of motion goes through min to max brightness, but the steps are of course bigger.
- Move the control dial at a very fast speed, and the max. brightness is achieved almost instantly - this is like the turbo mode. Just a very quick "flick" of the dial gets you to max. brightness level.
- Since the control is continuous, you can start slow, then move fast, or any mix – it all happens automatically.

Here are some videos I took tonight:
MagnetoDrive - moving of the control dial slowly

MagnetoDrive - moving of the control dial at normal speed

MagnetoDrive - moving the control dial very fast – a “flick” to achieve max brightness - "turbo" mode!


I have a lot of the design for the new host completed, but I needed a platform to test and fine tune the new user interface provided by the MS-SD. I tried to use existing flashlight parts to create the "mule", and I settled on a "D" size Mag type of host (using only the tailcap and the head) as an ideal place to start. Although the diving light that I want to create will be smaller, this mule now has a fully working MD-SD:








In the next post I will describe the steps/work towards making this mule, which has been a great vehicle to further testing the design - remember that a design might look perfect on paper or in my mind, but nothing beats having a real, physical working unit!. I also needed a fully working unit before I could submit the Patent paperwork (done already), so the mule has been great to have. I am currently working on a second prototype unit, which will be closer to the dive-rated flashlight that I have in mind, so I will update this thread as I make more progress on it. 

I also forgot to add that the MD controller incorporates automatic thermal control (lowers brightness to protect the host from over-heating), as well as low-battery monitoring in two stages:
- automatically lower output level as the battery has 5-10% energy left
- shutdown to prevent over-discharge of cells

I hope you will find this interesting - please let me know your thoughts on how this MS-SD looks to you 


Edit: April 9th 2012:

Complete, fully working 2nd prototype for the MagnetoDrive (I have to re-do the tailcap - it might be functional, but does not quite look like it belongs there!):






2nd prototype turned ON, sitting on a table, showing the visual effect of the lightweight bezel (in these two pictures you can really see the neutral tint in these 3x XP-G LEDs):






Will


PS In my rush to post this last night, I neglected to say thanks to Barry Milton (and the rest of the great guys in the machining sub-forum) and George Scolaro (TaskLED) for their help and mentoring these last several years, and for their help/advice in this project :bow:


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## wquiles

To make my mule, I started with my spade drill, as I need to make the "pill" that will house the MagnetoDrive (MD) controller:






Then round the edges, do the internal boring, etc.:




































I then need to mark the hole where I want to have the programming port:


























Finished pill:






I then created the positive contact disk, and spacer disk:


























I got the positive contact ready:






And here I am test fitting the pieces:






I cut and re-threaded the D host to the right size:






I then threaded the other end:











This is how it looked:






I knew that I was getting this groove pretty deep, but as I keep making light passes, I had a minor mishap:











Some machining humor:






So, I had to start all over, but since the D host is not thick enough, I had to truly start from scratch:











First the head end (I still want to try to use a stock D head):
















I had to make a new pill, also from scratch, as well as all of the other pieces:
















This time I went with a finer thread:











A new dial ring:
















A new programming hole:











I then trim and treaded the tailcap side:











So here I had the basic mule done:






But the lines on the head were not "right", so I decided to try something new for me:






It came out pretty good:
















For this mule, I also wanted to try an "F" size LiFEPO4 cell, which of course has a very flat discharge rate, but it required a battery spacer:


























For this build I used a "C" OEM spring, which gave me a slightly shorter host length:
















And here is the completed mule in the middle. The top is one of my own custom 1xD's, and in the bottom is a stock 2D Mag:







I will post additional photos later as I get more work done in this project 

Will


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## wquiles

reserved #2


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## mvyrmnd

I love the interface. Like a magnetic ring that we already know on steroids.

How do you deal with stopping accidental adjustments to the brightness?


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## Norm

mvyrmnd said:


> I love the interface. Like a magnetic ring that we already know on steroids.
> 
> How do you deal with stopping accidental adjustments to the brightness?


 
Simon from the description bumping the control ring would only generate a small change in brightness.

Norm


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## Th232

Ingenious!

I'm also interested in mvyrmnd's question, while I'd say a small bump shouldn't cause much of a change, if I'm reading this right a small sudden bump would cause more of a change than a softer/slower bump over the same distance. How much of a difference would it make?


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## Diablo_331

Wow! That is neat! Subscribed!


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## saabluster

Congratulations on finally bringing this to fruition Will. I know you have been working hard on it for some time. I know you do what you do out of love for the hobby but I sure hope you get compensated in some manner for all your hard work. I need to come over there and give your light a try.


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## Fskywalker

Nice work bro!!!
Francisco


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## Stephen Wallace




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## wquiles

Thank you guys 




mvyrmnd said:


> How do you deal with stopping accidental adjustments to the brightness?


Two ways:
- Passive: the dial is not "exposed" - it sits slightly below the outer surface of the outer rings, so the dial is not the first thing that would touch when the light is put down, and,
- Actively: the pressure on the dial is user adjustable so that you can control how easy (or not) the dial can move/rotate, and if you make it "tight" enough, you can basically lock the dial anywhere in its arc of rotation (of course including the OFF position, which is a very handy feature by itself). So you can get to the brightness level that you want, fine-tune it up/down a little, and then tighten the dial to make it stay in position, until you need to change it again.




Th232 said:


> I'm also interested in mvyrmnd's question, while I'd say a small bump shouldn't cause much of a change, if I'm reading this right a small sudden bump would cause more of a change than a softer/slower bump over the same distance.


Exactly. It is not the small or large change in rotation by itself, but the speed at which it happens, which determines how fast (or slow) the brightness changes. I know it sounds complicated in "words", but it is very intuitive once you play with it - I have handed out to a few folks (including my neighbor) and they quickly "get it" 




saabluster said:


> Congratulations on finally bringing this to fruition Will. I know you have been working hard on it for some time. I know you do what you do out of love for the hobby but I sure hope you get compensated in some manner for all your hard work. I need to come over there and give your light a try.


We are almost ready for another get-together here in the Dallas area, so that would be a great opportunity for you and other local flashaholics to try the new interface in person and for me to get feedback on how well/or not it works for you guys 

Will


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## mvyrmnd

wquiles said:


> Thank you guys
> 
> 
> 
> Two ways:
> - Passive: the dial is not "exposed" - it sits slightly below the outer surface of the outer rings, so the dial is not the first thing that would touch when the light is put down, and,
> - Actively: the pressure on the dial is user adjustable so that you can control how easy (or not) the dial can move/rotate, and if you make it "tight" enough, you can basically lock the dial anywhere in its arc of rotation (of course including the OFF position, which is a very handy feature by itself). So you can get to the brightness level that you want, fine-tune it up/down a little, and then tighten the dial to make it stay in position, until you need to change it again.



Ahh,

Very cool 

I'm jealous of the guys who'll get to play with this. Stranded all the way on the other side of the pacific, I'll have to wait for a production model  (and save up the cash for it)


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## wquiles

mvyrmnd said:


> Ahh,
> 
> Very cool
> 
> I'm jealous of the guys who'll get to play with this. Stranded all the way on the other side of the pacific, I'll have to wait for a production model  (and save up the cash for it)



I will do my best to keep this thread up to date as I make more progress past the prototype stage.

I also have code in the micro-controller to incorporate automatic thermal control (lowers brightness to protect the host from over-heating), as well as low-battery monitoring in two stages:
- automatically lower output level as the battery has 5-10% energy left
- shutdown to prevent over-discharge of cells

Will


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## georges80

Nice job Will, great attention to detail as always!

For thermal monitoring, given necessary location of the control board (as part of the hall 'ring') having a spare pin for an external thermistor might not be a bad idea - or was that the plan already? In the flex driver I don't have spare pins so the thermal monitoring is performed by the internal uC temperature sensor - so my scheme only works if the driver is near the LED(s)/load.

For an external thermistor you would have a voltage divider and to minimize power when 'off', you could feed the VCC side of the thermistor divider from the same logic output that you use to power the hall sensor ring. That way when 'off' you would set the output pin to low and cut power to the hall ring and also the thermistor divider.

Can't remember which avr you ended up using, but I assume at least the tiny84 that you started with, so hopefully you had a few spare pins to play with.

AND, where are the pictures of the electronic guts??? All I see if metal/delrin shavings - this isn't the machining subforum ya know! 

Very *Refreshing* to see a thread in the subforum that doesn't yet again involve 'modifying' a light to use a DX drop-in :eeew:

cheers,
george.


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## wquiles

Thank you George 

For thermal monitoring, the MD board is housed in the same "pill" as the driver, which is also the heatsink, so I will be using the built-in temperature probe inside the micro-controller that I am using (Tiny84).

I will try to have more pictures next time 

Will


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## jabe1

How much amperage can the control circuit handle? or is it purely an input to another driver board?


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## wquiles

jabe1 said:


> How much amperage can the control circuit handle? or is it purely an input to another driver board?



Excellent question. The MD board is the control, or brain only - it either uses direct drive (say with a MOSFET for the PWM switching), or it can control an LED driver. As such, the amperage is controlled by the external components/LED driver. I designed the system this way (modular) to allow for more flexibility in regards to the LED(s) that can be powered. The MD board has a built-in voltage regulator and it is designed to work from a single LiIon cell (of LiFEPO4, like the "F" size cell I am using in my mule), to about 25 volts or so, so it should work well in a wide range of applications.

Will


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## jabe1

Excellent! 
I can't wait to see the finished product.
It sounds like anyone familiar with an Ipod control will be able to use this to it's fullest extent immediately.


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## mvyrmnd

jabe1 said:


> It sounds like anyone familiar with an Ipod control will be able to use this to it's fullest extent immediately.



YES! I knew this seemed familiar somehow. 

The iPod was a revolution in digital interfaces. I hope for wquiles this will revolutionise flashlights in the same way and he makes lots of money licensing his patent


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## wquiles

jabe1 said:


> Excellent!
> I can't wait to see the finished product.
> It sounds like anyone familiar with an Ipod control will be able to use this to it's fullest extent immediately.



You know, the SD (SmartDial) is indeed using a similar concept, where you can go slow to find what you want, and fast to skip over the "stuff" you don't need/want - of course I am not searching for songs/files/folders 

I also think that some digital car stereos have used a similar speed-sensitive volume control. But so far no-one had applied this concept to illumination devices - that was the crux of my invention, and that is why I decided to pursue the patent.

Will


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## Th232

I hope the patent is more than just US only, I'd hate to see you lose out in the international market.


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## DM51

It's a brilliant idea that takes variable power control to the next level. 

The light itself looks very cool too - I really like the cone/venturi shape of the head. 



Th232 said:


> I hope the patent is more than just US only, I'd hate to see you lose out in the international market.


Agreed! :thumbsup:


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## ^^Nova^^

And by the sounds should work for LED and Incan as well. Variable "analog" hotwire driver, wow.

Cheers,
Nova


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## wquiles

Th232 said:


> I hope the patent is more than just US only, I'd hate to see you lose out in the international market.





DM51 said:


> Agreed! :thumbsup:


I am definitely covered in the USA, as I filed prior to revealing my invention here, but now that the information is in the public domain by this post, technically, no-one else can file in any other countries and claim they are the inventor, as this information is now available publicly to 100's/1000's of folks world-wide. Then again, not everyone follows rules nor have the same moral standards than most of us do 




DM51 said:


> It's a brilliant idea that takes variable power control to the next level.
> 
> The light itself looks very cool too - I really like the cone/venturi shape of the head.


Thank you. The cone idea came to me when I was done with the machining and put all of the parts together. With the OEM Mag head, the mule/prototype just did not screamed "custom" enough, plus the dial and rings in the middle had straight lines, so the head's curvaceous surface kind of looked out of place, so the idea came to me to try to give the head a straight cut, and the result is what you see here in the pictures 




^^Nova^^ said:


> And by the sounds should work for LED and Incan as well. Variable "analog" hotwire driver, wow.


Yes, with an external MOSFET and a few discrete parts, you could use the MD controller board to provide dimming to an incandescent bulb. I have it in the code today to have an inverting output, so the PWM can work active LOW or active HIGH (I needed this for LED drives since different drivers have different PWM active modes). Of course, this would not be a "regulated" combo - it would still be a direct drive configuration, but you would have 0-100% dimming, and the same access to all 255 steps as in the LED case, depending on how fast you move the dial.

Will


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## jabe1

How's this going? I'm surprised there isn't more feedback/comments in this thread!


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## BVH

Just found this thread. And as Georges80 said, I too, thought I was in the machining forum, Will! What a great idea and can't wait to see the finished product!!


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## IlluminatedOne

What a great idea, i much prefer having a variable output rather than clicking buttons for the desired output levels gives you exactly what you want. 

I wish you much success with your design.


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## wquiles

Thanks much guys 

I got some new lenses to try for my next prototype, so I am still working on the design stage. Since I am the programmer/designer/machinist/tester/etc., the process is unavoidably slow, but still moving forward 

Will


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## BVH

wquiles said:


> Since I am the programmer/designer/machinist/tester/etc., the process is unavoidably slow, but still moving forward
> 
> Will



Yeah, but I bet you have no employee disciplinary issues nor contractor problems!


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## Glenn7

NICE!! 

So wheres the sign up list


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## wquiles

BVH said:


> Yeah, but I bet you have no employee disciplinary issues nor contractor problems!


True, I am also the HR department so nobody gets paid until I say so :devil:




Glenn7 said:


> NICE!!
> 
> So wheres the sign up list


Thank you. No sign up list yet - a little early for that. I need to finish the second prototype. I will keep this thread updated 

Will


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## wquiles

BVH said:


> Yeah, but I bet you have no employee disciplinary issues nor contractor problems!


True, I am also the HR department so nobody gets paid until I say so :devil:

Will


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## wquiles

BVH said:


> Yeah, but I bet you have no employee disciplinary issues nor contractor problems!


That is true. But I am also the HR department, so no-one gets paid until I say so :devil:



Glenn7 said:


> NICE!!
> 
> So wheres the sign up list


Thank you. No sign up list yet - a little early for that. I need to finish the second prototype. I will keep this thread updated 

Will


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## Stephen Wallace

Bit of server lag going on there I guess.....


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## saabluster

Stephen Wallace said:


> Bit of server lag going on there I guess.....



No Will is just trying to bump up his post count. :nana:


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## LuxLuthor

Will, threads and accomplishments like you just showed us remind me why I need to come read here more often. Just incredible....and this is going to also work for diving when you work out prototype issues? What diving depth are you striving for? WOW!!


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## wquiles

Stephen Wallace said:


> Bit of server lag going on there I guess.....





saabluster said:


> No Will is just trying to bump up his post count. :nana:


I already contacted an admin to delete the extra posts. Quite embarrassing as something happened with my browser and the CPF database since it keep timing out, and I just keep trying. I should had stopped and waited before trying again 




LuxLuthor said:


> Will, threads and accomplishments like you just showed us remind me why I need to come read here more often. Just incredible....and this is going to also work for diving when you work out prototype issues? What diving depth are you striving for? WOW!!


Thank you. Yes, the host that I am designing is a dive-rated host from day one: no push buttons of any kind, dual o-rings on the tailcap, and with a thicker lens (shooting for 1/4" thick lens)/o-rings up front to withstand actual diving use. Right now it will be built around the 26500 or 26650 cell size, so it would make a great main or backup light while diving. But I am planning on an even shorter version (basically head only) to that it can be used with a canister for longer dives, but that could also be used as a bike light (head separate from the battery pack).

There are a lot of great hosts out there, but with the MagnetoDrive board, I basically have to build a complete host around the driver board, and that will allow me to incorporate the selector ring. I first tried the simplest path, which was to use the Mag host, but there was not enough thickness to start with, so I am starting from a raw piece of Al tubing in the right ID/OD size. That is why coming up with the host is taking so long.

Will


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## choppers

Wow...awesome. Just amazing....I would love to own one of these....

Fantastic work Will


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## wquiles

Thanks much for the encouraging words 

Will


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## DM51

saabluster said:


> Will is just trying to bump up his post count. :nana:


LOL, I've now deleted the duplicate posts. Sorry for the delay there, Will - I've been away for ~2 weeks.


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## smflorkey

This is looking like something in the 'must buy' category. Will, I think you're going to put a serious dent in my wallet.


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## Nitroz

Wow! How did I miss this post! This is amazing and very cool control scheme.

The host that you made is very nice and I think you should make a light just like that with a flared tailcap and, of course your own bezel that mimics the head somewhat. Beautiful creation!

MagnetoDrive chiseled into the light would be an excellent name with some graphics like this ||||||||, except that the bars get thicker as they go to the right.


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## wquiles

DM51 said:


> LOL, I've now deleted the duplicate posts. Sorry for the delay there, Will - I've been away for ~2 weeks.


Thanks man - I will be more patient next time 




smflorkey said:


> This is looking like something in the 'must buy' category. Will, I think you're going to put a serious dent in my wallet.


Thank you. I am still travelling a lot for my day job, but I am still making progress towards the next prototype 




Nitroz said:


> Wow! How did I miss this post! This is amazing and very cool control scheme.
> 
> The host that you made is very nice and I think you should make a light just like that with a flared tailcap and, of course your own bezel that mimics the head somewhat. Beautiful creation!
> 
> MagnetoDrive chiseled into the light would be an excellent name with some graphics like this ||||||||, except that the bars get thicker as they go to the right.


Thank you. The next prototype host will be closer to the actual size - I will not be using any Mag parts, so it will have a different look/feel.


Will


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## Steve K

a neat and fun design! 

As a EE, I have to wonder what sensing technology is being used. I thought I saw the word "hall" in there once or twice, but I would have thought that the current drain would be too high for a device that may sit unused for a long time. Of course.... the little Mag 100 that I have uses an accelerometer, and I haven't noticed it killing the batteries (but it only operates when the tail switch is depressed...)

Looks like a fun project, and I'd love to learn more about the sensing technology if you can share the details.

FWIW, I've been impressed with some of the fancier hall devices out there, especially ones that sense magnetic field direction. The Melexis 90316 is one of these, and similar devices are available from AustriaMicroSystems and Renesaas.

regards,
Steve K.


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## wquiles

Steve,

I am using Hall Effect Sensors, but they are not enabled all of the time, so that helps keep current consumption to a min while in the OFF position where I also put the micro-controller to sleep.

I am not done, but so far it has been a fun project indeed. It is good to have a fellow EE here in the forums 

Will


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## BVH

OK, OK, you EE's are making me feel stupid! Enough!


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## wquiles

Quick update on the second host. I am not sure what lens I will use yet, but I got a few to evaluate. To help me evaluate these various lenses I am building a small setup that will allow me to find out what focuses best with each lens, given the LED that I will be using, a Cree XM-L:













Here I am cutting the moving "heatsink" or "pill" that will keep the LED entered:





















The post to solder/glue the LED:






Here I am machining the outer "body" which will hold the lens in place - starting with Al tubing instead of a solid bar:






A sliding fit:






Trim:






The two pieces - note in the heatsink/pill the upper one inch has the friction marks (the lower section is 0.002" smaller, so it does not make contact):






I need to drill two holes for the LED wires, and of course solder/glue the LED - hopefully this coming weekend:






I also have to create a lip in the inside of the tube and make some lens holders to that I can test them, but making progress 

Will


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## Th232

Interesting to see how you've done the LED post. Out of curiosity, since the pad on the LED is rectangular, did you choose to make the post round just because it was easier to do on the lathe, or were there other considerations?


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## Steve K

wquiles said:


> Steve,
> 
> I am using Hall Effect Sensors, but they are not enabled all of the time, so that helps keep current consumption to a min while in the OFF position where I also put the micro-controller to sleep.
> 
> I am not done, but so far it has been a fun project indeed. It is good to have a fellow EE here in the forums
> 
> Will



I didn't notice if there was a separate power switch or not... I assumed that moving the ring would wake the micro up, which would require the halls to be enabled all of the time. .... or... just have the micro briefly power the halls every half second or so, looking for a change of state. I've worked with hall switches such as the Allegro A1101. Its datasheet says it draws 4mA typical, which would kill a battery relatively quickly.

It's always fun to contemplate other ways to implement a function... Instead of using an active device like a hall, an option would be to use a coil to pick up changing flux from a magnet ring. It wouldn't draw any power, and could be used to wake up the micro. The output voltage will depend on the speed of the changing flux, so it might ignore slow changes. This might be a bug, or it might be a feature.  The downside is that winding coils is an extra production process that costs money and can go wrong. 

best wishes for the project,
Steve K.


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## wquiles

Th232 said:


> Interesting to see how you've done the LED post. Out of curiosity, since the pad on the LED is rectangular, did you choose to make the post round just because it was easier to do on the lathe, or were there other considerations?


Yes, absolutely, just easier on the lathe. This fixture is just for comparing lenses (not to be used in the actual prototype), so this was quick/easy to do in the lathe


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## wquiles

Steve K said:


> I didn't notice if there was a separate power switch or not... I assumed that moving the ring would wake the micro up, which would require the halls to be enabled all of the time. .... or... just have the micro briefly power the halls every half second or so, looking for a change of state. I've worked with hall switches such as the Allegro A1101. Its datasheet says it draws 4mA typical, which would kill a battery relatively quickly.
> 
> It's always fun to contemplate other ways to implement a function... Instead of using an active device like a hall, an option would be to use a coil to pick up changing flux from a magnet ring. It wouldn't draw any power, and could be used to wake up the micro. The output voltage will depend on the speed of the changing flux, so it might ignore slow changes. This might be a bug, or it might be a feature.  The downside is that winding coils is an extra production process that costs money and can go wrong.
> 
> best wishes for the project,
> Steve K.



There is no separate power switch. Although I don't have the data sheet in front of me, I seem to recall that my Hall Effect sensor draws something like 0.3-0.4 mA when operational - pretty low power consumption, while giving me a very fast response.

Will


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## Th232

That sounds like a really good current draw, if you don't mind me asking, what's the part number? I've found unipolar or bipolar sensors with current draws around that level, but no linear ones that were acceptable for my purposes.


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## wquiles

Th232 said:


> That sounds like a really good current draw, if you don't mind me asking, what's the part number? I've found unipolar or bipolar sensors with current draws around that level, but no linear ones that were acceptable for my purposes.



Ahh, that makes sense. I am using a low power, unipolar sensor. 

I found the data sheet: typical power consumption is 280uA (0.28 mA). Send me an email (in my signature) so that I can send you more info 

Will


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## cdrake261

Can you post a video of the flashlight switch in operation?


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## Nitroz

cdrake261 said:


> Can you post a video of the flashlight switch in operation?





wquiles said:


> Here are some videos I took tonight:
> MagnetoDrive - moving of the control dial slowly
> 
> MagnetoDrive - moving of the control dial at normal speed
> 
> MagnetoDrive - moving the control dial very fast – a “flick” to achieve max brightness - "turbo" mode!



This was in his first post.:thumbsup:


----------



## wquiles

cdrake261 said:


> Can you post a video of the flashlight switch in operation?



The first post has 3 videos where you see me moving the switch in operation on this mule/prototype - that is why I had that small piece of blue tape in the videos so that you guys could see the movement. 

Once I have the second prototype (closer to final design), I will make new videos.

Will

PS - thanks Nitroz, you were quicker with the reply


----------



## Nitroz

wquiles said:


> The first post has 3 videos where you see me moving the switch in operation on this mule/prototype - that is why I had that small piece of blue tape in the videos so that you guys could see the movement.
> 
> Once I have the second prototype (closer to final design), I will make new videos.
> 
> Will



I can't wait to see the finished product! It seems like nothing has really stood out in flashlights and then you come out with this. I love it when someone comes along with an innovation like this, it make everyone else work harder. 

Your pictures, attention to detail, and creativity are amazing! Keeping an eye on this.



wquiles said:


> PS - thanks Nitroz, you were quicker with the reply



No problem.


----------



## lucca brassi

Nice work Will 

that magnetodrive could be used also as throtle on scuba scooters ;-) special on brushless drives


----------



## wquiles

lucca brassi said:


> Nice work Will
> 
> that magnetodrive could be used also as throtle on scuba scooters ;-) special on brushless drives



That is a cool application :thumbsup:


----------



## nbjly

Definitely want to own one  :bow:


----------



## wquiles

nbjly said:


> Definitely want to own one :bow:



Thank you 


I started testing optics, but much more testing still ahead of me. I will post a few pictures of what I have done so far soon.

Will


----------



## Th232

Just saw this through a link on the marketplace:

http://www.lessemf.com/mag-shld.html

I'm not sure if it's worth it (seriously, how strong a magnet do you encounter in everyday life?) but it might be worth a thought.


----------



## Steve K

Th232 said:


> Just saw this through a link on the marketplace:
> 
> http://www.lessemf.com/mag-shld.html
> 
> I'm not sure if it's worth it (seriously, how strong a magnet do you encounter in everyday life?) but it might be worth a thought.



the answer is: it depends. 

I've been involved with designing sensors that use hall cells and rare earth magnets. Some sensors were used in joysticks and such, so we did a little evaluation of the effect of nearby magnets. The complication is that you can buy bracelets and rings that have rare earth magnets built into them, supposedly for their benefits to the wearer's health. 

With this in mind, we started evaluating the effect of these magnets in proximity to the sensor. It wasn't really that hard to make the sensor less sensitive to external fields such as this.

Part of the trick is to have a good closed circuit for the magnetic flux. A closed circuit of high permeability material has the benefit of reducing the stray field coming out of the sensor as well as shunting any external field away from the hall cell. 

By the way, if you ship an item with a magnet in it, you should be aware that there are limits on the permitted field strength coming out of any container intended to be shipped by air. A strong magnet in the container could cause errors in how the airplane's navigation system senses magnetic north.

regards,
Steve K.


----------



## Th232

Interesting info Steve, thanks for that. Never really used Hall effect sensors in any of my projects, so it's great to hear from someone who has.


----------



## wquiles

Steve K said:


> the answer is: it depends.



Great answer Steve 

By using the simpler ON/OFF unipolar switches (unlike the linear sensors you are using), I have a lot less problems with external magnetic fields, but since external magnets/fields have always been a consideration on my design from day one, I am also incorporating some additional logic elements in the firmware, which further enhances the ability of my circuit to ignore external magnets/fields.

Will


----------



## Steve K

Hall switches are the way to go if you just want to know if the field is above or below a certain level. 

I was wondering if you are using a ring magnet with alternating poles, or if you are using a "toothed" ring that produces varying reluctance as the ring is turned. The toothed ring approach is common when measuring the speed of a gear or wheel. Typical applications would be cam or flywheel gears in an engine (to measure engine speed), or toothed wheels for anti-lock braking systems when measuring wheel speed. It's a little simpler (cheaper?) than a magnetic ring... you just need a magnet behind the hall cell and a fairly well defined magnetic path. There's a wiki page that discusses this a bit..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_speed_sensor

There are a lot of clever ways to use magnets and hall cells. The hall cell manufacturers usually have some application notes that describe some of the more common (but not obvious) ways to set up magnetic circuits to measure rotation, linear movement, etc.

regards,
Steve K.


----------



## wquiles

Steve,

A good part of my IP (Intellectual Property) on the Magneto Drive/SmartDial is actually on what and how I am doing things with the hall sensors to achieve the features I showed in the description/videos. It has taken me a "long" time, and a lot of money in parts, and machining, and experimentation, and "many" revisions of firmware to fine-tune things and figure things out, so I am not ready to share a lot of details at this point in time.

I do want to keep this dialog going as the general knowledge on sensors and such is helpful to the forum's community, but if you see me not diving deeper into some topics, please forgive me for leaving things a little more vague than I would like to.

Will


----------



## Steve K

I completely understand the need to protect IP, as well as the difficulties in doing so. Considering how easy it is to disassemble or reverse engineer a piece of electronics, it's hard to hide anything that isn't pretty subtle. I deal with various electronics suppliers in my duties at work, and have had to use our cat-scan x-ray machine to determine the cause of failure in some of them. It's somewhat amazing what you can see... bad solder joints, cracked capacitors, cracked traces inside of a board, etc. This is just one slice from a cat scan of a device:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtsj00/3893799527/in/set-72157622149564437
The device was potted inside of an aluminum housing, and depotting usually led to a lot of broken components. The cat scan told us a lot about what was going on inside. Sometimes it's really handy and fun to work for a large company that can afford tools like cat scan machines. 

regards,
Steve K.


----------



## wquiles

Steve K said:


> I completely understand the need to protect IP, as well as the difficulties in doing so. Considering how easy it is to disassemble or reverse engineer a piece of electronics, it's hard to hide anything that isn't pretty subtle.


Yup, indeed. Early on I decided that my project would have simpler hardware, and put as much as possible in the firmware. The hardware stuff is fairly trivial to duplicate, but the firmware features will definitely take longer to duplicate (or come up with something similar) - it is inevitable: just a mater of time 





Steve K said:


> I deal with various electronics suppliers in my duties at work, and have had to use our cat-scan x-ray machine to determine the cause of failure in some of them. It's somewhat amazing what you can see... bad solder joints, cracked capacitors, cracked traces inside of a board, etc. This is just one slice from a cat scan of a device:
> (snip pic)


That is totally cool!

I used to work for advanced micro devices (AMD) and the silicon engineers once told me that to reverse engineer semiconductors you basically feel off one later at a time - talk about "really" trying to find out how stuff works :devil:


Will


----------



## wquiles

To center the XM-L I created a custom fitted piece to align it:
































I then drilled two small holes for the wires:
















Getting ready to glue the LED (using two-part thermal paste):






Here the whole assembly is in place, and I have a piece of steel pushing down to make for a very thin thermal paste layer:






All done:






Then I got wires soldered to the LED:











Quick test - yup, it is working 






Now some epoxy to keep the wires in place:











I am making a custom holder so that I can try various lenses - more on that soon ...

Will


----------



## BVH

I really look forward to viewing all your posts, Will. Your photo documentation is absolutely fantastic!


----------



## Nitroz

Wquiles,

Where did you get the Devcon in the bottles?


----------



## wquiles

BVH said:


> I really look forward to viewing all your posts, Will. Your photo documentation is absolutely fantastic!



Thank you for your kind words 




Nitroz said:


> Wquiles,
> 
> Where did you get the Devcon in the bottles?


I don't remember the exact seller, but it was from Ebay - something like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Devcon-30-Minute-Epoxy-9-oz-S-33-NIB-/390358061529?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5ae32751d9


----------



## CMAG

That's some very nice work, wish I had the time to make chip's (my 12"x24" collecting dust lately) 
I learned the hard way that big co will just flood the market and don't care about patents, keep her safe.


----------



## wquiles

CMAG said:


> That's some very nice work, wish I had the time to make chip's (my 12"x24" collecting dust lately)
> I learned the hard way that big co will just flood the market and don't care about patents, keep her safe.



Thank you 

Having a lathe and a mill to my disposal means that (within my abilities) I can have an idea/concept and then make it and see if it works or not.

Will


----------



## Chicago X

Amazing work.


----------



## wquiles

Here I am making the outer tube, which simulated the actual flashlight host. I made a lip so that the lens/optic holder has a place to rest against:






I then made the custom lens/optic holder:






I made several lips on the inside to test various lens/optics:











Here is the pieces ready for testing:






And although I have a lot of testing ahead of me, here is a quick shot at testing an Ahorton aspheric lens with the XM-L:
(the outer "body" stays in place, while I can slide the inner LED "pill" inside/out to focus on any given lens/optic which is resting in the black delrin holder)







Will


----------



## 350xfire

Will. That's awesome... Let me know when the testing phase begins and I'll get it wet for you! haha
What burn time are you shooting for?


----------



## BVH

Will, I did a somewhat quick review of your first post and a few on page 1 and didn't find the info. Pardon me if I missed it but...

What is your anticipated maximum Lumens output target?
What LED are you thinking of using (or LED's and and their configuration)


----------



## wquiles

350xfire said:


> Will. That's awesome... Let me know when the testing phase begins and I'll get it wet for you! haha


Absolutely - specially since you have the setup to test high water pressure for depth testing 



350xfire said:


> What burn time are you shooting for?





BVH said:


> What is your anticipated maximum Lumens output target? What LED are you thinking of using (or LED's and and their configuration)


My intent is to not have a "wow" light, but have a practical light. Much the same way *McGizmo* does for his amazing creations, and more recently master trow maker *saabluster*, with his idea of "right sizing". It is part of the reason lights in this project will have built-in temperature control - they will NOT get too hot in your hand: the light will bring the output down to bring the temperature down, which of course means the highest, long term output will only be achieve under water and/or very cool weather. I am trying to come up with a light that will "last" a long time (not in terms of "run time" but in terms of durability).

In terms of specifics, everything is possible, but for this next version, I am trying/testing two configurations:
- single XM-L LED
- triple XP-G LEDs

EDIT: Part of the selection/implementation of the LED(s) involves my desire/goal to make it "somewhat" easier to upgrade to better/newer LED's down the road. Maybe not quite "modular", since the "pill" for the controller/driver/heatsink has to be perfectly aligned with the outer selector ring, but nevertheless it would be great if upgrading the LED/lens/optic were possible without having to do any machining or serious re-work.

At least initially I am trying to come up with a "work" light, so it will have a more pleasant, wider beam.

As for runtime, my current "target" battery size is 1" ID so that I can fit 2x 26500 cells, or a longer body that can take 2x 26650 cells (and of course, 18x dia cells with a delrin spacer). I will also design a "head-only" version for canister use as well, after I finish the hand-held version. 

Given all of this, runtime is at this point unknown since I have not done final selection on the LED yet (plus my MD board provides 255 output levels, so runtime will vary a LOT depending how the end user ends up using the light). Unlike all of my prior projects, I used to do finish the light/project, and then do a very long post with all of the pictures "after" I am done - but for this project I am doing it more in a "blog" format so that you can see what I see as I make progress on the light.

Will


----------



## ma_sha1

Awesome builds, can't wait to see what the 2nd one looks like finished!


----------



## wquiles

ma_sha1 said:


> Awesome builds, can't wait to see what the 2nd one looks like finished!


Thanks


----------



## wquiles

This weekend I was able to play a little with the setup comparing lenses. Although I am not looking for a throw-y light, I still went ahead and tested one of the ahorton aspheric lenses.

Against the ceiling:







really close to the wall:






even defocused you still have some secondary rings and color change:












I tried some TIR lenses as well:

















And I hope to find some time to play with this small reflector made for the XM-L:












Will


----------



## Toaster79

Can you give us the source and dimensions of the last reflector please?


----------



## wquiles

Toaster79 said:


> Can you give us the source and dimensions of the last reflector please?



Sure, no problem 

Source:
http://cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=XM+Single+Lens

Part #: XML-10R

Diameter: 29mm



Will


----------



## lover018

Splendid build mr.Will.
Can you show us how does the internal contact where + side of the battery sits looks like?
Can you tell us is it necessary to use button top cells or flat top is also good? And which suplier has button top F size cells, since I was looking and couldn't find any?
Best wishes.


----------



## wquiles

lover018 said:


> Splendid build mr.Will.
> Can you show us how does the internal contact where + side of the battery sits looks like?
> Can you tell us is it necessary to use button top cells or flat top is also good? And which suplier has button top F size cells, since I was looking and couldn't find any?
> Best wishes.


All of my recent builds are designed and built assuming flat cells. On this particular mule/prototype, the positive contact is a round brass screw head, so it works with any cells.

The "F" size cells I have (two of them) I got online about 1-2 years ago, special order, but I don't remember from where I got it. In fact they are so old that one of them no longer holds a charge!. The other one works well, so it is the one I have been using. But this size cell is only for this particular host - the next prototype will use a smaller diameter main tube ("C" size), and the prototype will likely use a single LiIon cell (probably a 26650 cell) and once I get the LED driver resolved, it will use 2x 26500 or 2x26650 cells.

I have been traveling a LOT lately for my day job, so I have not been able to work a lot on this project these last 2 weeks, but I am almost finished on the 3D CAD design for this second prototype, so I hope to actually cut metal during the holiday break 

Will


----------



## lover018

Amazing how much effort you put in your builds. No wonder they rock. I guess I'll keep this thread bookmarked so to have that honor to see the second prototype.

Filip


----------



## wquiles

lover018 said:


> Amazing how much effort you put in your builds. No wonder they rock. I guess I'll keep this thread bookmarked so to have that honor to see the second prototype.
> 
> Filip



Thanks much. I hope to post again this coming weekend with another update 

Will


----------



## wquiles

I have been traveling a lot (as normal) and then recently on vacation, so I did not have a lot of time to work on this project until this weekend. I made some improvements in the PWB (ordered my second prototype boards yesterday), so with the boards on order, I finally was able to spend some quality time with my lathe today 

As I mentioned recently, this is my second prototype host, and I have the design fairly completed on Alibre Design, so I am now starting to cut metal (Al) and make some chips. I am starting with the "pill" that houses the electronics as well as being the heatsink for the LED. Here starting with a solid piece of 6061 Al (by the way, the ID of 1.005" should have said "1.005/2"):












Turning the piece with the "rough" Al-specific insert to remove material fast (stock dia size was 1.250"):











Then switched to my PCD insert for a very smooth finish:






The finish with the PCD inserts is so good, that just wiping the cutting fluid with a paper towel made a light scratch (towards the top):






I am using a star for this build:






So I am making a pocket to center the star:











I will post more tomorrow 

Will


----------



## wquiles

OK, a few more photos. 

I part the pieces both on the bandsaw, or with a parting tool - here I am showing both:











So here I have two sets of parts with the right OD, for two complete pills (each pill is two matching pieces):











I then start working on the inside work on these parts:






Yes, that boring bar is too large for that hole, BUT, in this case since I am removing a lot of metal in the first pass, the tool is making the hole big enough for the rest of the bar to go through:











Then I do the finial pass to achieve the wall thickness I am after (0.010"):
















The two parts of each pill are press-fit:











I then use an old sharpening stone to take the sharp edges off, and finally label each pair as they are fitted to each other:











I hope to be able to get more work done today 

Will


----------



## BVH

I really enjoy your threads, Will! Keep em coming! The light, too. Can't wait to see it complete.


----------



## Spartacus001

Wow!
Incredible workmanship. I'm definitely following this thread.


----------



## wquiles

Thank you guys 



I was able to do more work tonight - more photos to share 

I lightly sanded the edges of the star for a nice press fit on the heatsink:






Here is the star and lens I will be using on this second prototype:






With the two pills ready, I am ready to start working on the main body of the light:





















First work on the head side, where the glass outer lens will be:











Make sure the pill fits:






Then start work on the area for the glass lens (I am using a 1 1/4" dia, 3/16" thick glass lens - a little overkill even for a diving light):
















Second cut to make a slight pocket for the o-ring behind the lens (the one that gets squished down under pressure):






I then went to make the o-ring grove for the o-ring that keeps the lens in place:






However, the hole was slightly too small for this tool, so I had to very lightly grind the back of the tool for it to fit:











Then finally cut the groove:






Not a great photo, but here is the lens assembly in place (yes, the glass lens is there). You have to slightly compress the o-ring behind the glass lens to get enough clearance to then press the retaining o-ring:






Did the second host:






Here a couple of inches behind the glass, you can see the "lip" inside that keeps the pill in place:






Then do the tail-end side to fit the cell for this prototype - a single 26650 cell:






I hope to be able to do more work tomorrow 

Will


----------



## BVH

Will, What is the measuring tool in the 6th pic?


----------



## wquiles

BVH said:


> Will, What is the measuring tool in the 6th pic?



That is a very large Starrett Height Gauge that I got really cheap ...
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?231460-Starrett-Height-Gauge-a-tad-too-big!&highlight=


Will


----------



## wquiles

Not a lot of shop time today, but I still made some progress.


Now I have to fine-tune my CAD design with the actual Al pieces, and set the position of the selector ring, etc., so that means I need to partially complete the pill so that I can take some measurements. So I started cutting the two pieces of Delrin that I need for each pill: one 0.09" thick which will house the positive battery contact (that will work with flat cells) and a 0.020" thick spacer to prevent the MagnetoDrive PWB from making electrical contact with the pill.

Here I am turning the OD to size:
















Then drill the small hole for the positive battery contact:






Then part the two pieces (one for each pill):











Then drill the large hole on the thin spacers and part:











Here you can see how thin 0.020" looks like:






Here you can see the thicker (0.09") pieces:






Here you can see the back of the prototype MagnetoDrive board, with the thin spacer in place (that is the side that faces the battery):






That is all for today 

Will


----------



## Glenn7

I'll take it


----------



## borrower

Even without the excitement of the MagnetoDrive, the level of craftsmanship is fabulous. Please keep posting pics.


----------



## LV426

Oh give me!!! :huh:


----------



## 350xfire

Very nice Wil. I especially like the way the lens goes in with the pressed o-rings.


----------



## wquiles

Thank you guys 

I will keep posting pictures as I go along - just keep in mind I can't work on this project every day 




350xfire said:


> Very nice Wil. I especially like the way the lens goes in with the pressed o-rings.


Hector,

I picked up this design from what I learned here in the forums, several builders/divers such as yourself, and from Steve Lindblom's "Divelight Companion" book. Since I will have two O-rings on the tailcap side, and no holes in the body (using the MagnetoDrive board), at least in theory this should be a very good design for a diving-rated light/host. In fact, the glass lens that I am using (1.25" dia) has a thickness of 3/16" based on your feedback to at least have 4mm for a diving lens.

Once I complete the body machining and the tailcap, I would like to ask if you could please test the host in your pressure pot/system?

Will


----------



## wquiles

OK, back from business travel, so I was able to make a little bit more progress on my second prototype. Here are the two main host tubes with the internal machining work completed, vs. the Alibre CAD design drawings for this 1x26650 cell host:







I am using my home-made carriage stop since I am making several pases:







I am first working on the tailcap section:











Prepare the thread area and the two o-ring groves:






Then threads for the tailcap (20-TPI):






Chamfering the o-ring grooves (removing the sharp edge):






Host completed on the tailcap side:






This is now long some of the "curls" can become while turning - great care must be had not to get caught in these - they are "VERY" sharp!:






Work on the second body:






Now both bodies are done on the tailcap side:






Start work on the head side of the host:











as with the tailcap section, remove the sharp edges in the o-ring grove:






Done with threads - threads are 32TPI:






Cut the transition area:






All done in the lathe for now. However, as you can see in this pictures, I messed up while doing one of the hosts - the 0.350" thread area in the host in the right is missing - yup, I cut right pass it  . That host can never be used for a completed light (EDIT: See post #108 where this error is sorta "repaired") - and the error came right at the "last" operation before threading. But at least I can use it for various tests, including the milling work I have to do on the head side of the host 






Will


----------



## ICUDoc

Thanks again for lovely photos and teaching.
So sorry about that last operation wrecking the prototype- I know exactly how you feel.
Regards


----------



## wquiles

ICUDoc said:


> Thanks again for lovely photos and teaching.
> So sorry about that last operation wrecking the prototype- I know exactly how you feel.
> Regards



Yes, that was emotionally painful. I had spent quite a bit of time on both hosts, still hoping to have two prototypes running, but I made a simple/trivial mistake (misreading my own drawings!). Live and learn. Hopefuly I will not do the same mistake next time 

Will


----------



## georges80

Will, since you enjoy cutting such fine tubes and disks etc, you could thin the tube down some more, machine a thin sleeve with near interference fit, add some epoxy and slide the sleeve over the tube and machine the sleeve AND thread. Assuming you have enough 'meat' on the host.... Should be some machining challenge work for you and a chance for more pictures 

Sorry to hear of the brain glitch on the proto.

cheers,
george.


----------



## wquiles

georges80 said:


> Will, since you enjoy cutting such fine tubes and disks etc, you could thin the tube down some more, machine a thin sleeve with near interference fit, add some epoxy and slide the sleeve over the tube and machine the sleeve AND thread. Assuming you have enough 'meat' on the host.... Should be some machining challenge work for you and a chance for more pictures
> 
> Sorry to hear of the brain glitch on the proto.
> 
> cheers,
> george.



That makes the wall behind the front/head o-ring thinner than my targer 0.025" goal, but for a prototype, that might just work out perfect - thanks much for the suggestion 

Will


----------



## wquiles

georges80 said:


> Will, since you enjoy cutting such fine tubes and disks etc, you could thin the tube down some more, machine a thin sleeve with near interference fit, add some epoxy and slide the sleeve over the tube and machine the sleeve AND thread. Assuming you have enough 'meat' on the host.... Should be some machining challenge work for you and a chance for more pictures



Well George, you were right - it was possible to fix this host with your idea 

Forst re-chucked the part to cut the bevel:











I then took 0.0025" (0.005" total diameter change) to make room for the ring:






Then took 0.0006" more, except on the area to be threaded (so it would be slightly thicker):






Now I had an area for the part that will be press fit, so I needed a piece of Al for the actual ring. It just happens that a D size Mag host is about perfect for a donor:






So I start boring to match my target ID (about 0.001" smaller):
















And of course I tested with the body itself:






Then part (cut) the piece:






And here we have the press fit I was after:






So I talked the D Mag host into donating further to this project, and I used it as the tool to press fit the ring:











Who said Machininst don't user hamers? (even a soft one!):






But that press fit was not as good as it needed to be, so I cut some grooves on both surfaces and used epoxy (as George suggested):











Then I waited two hours. How did it work? Awesome! 











As I wanted to wait even more before doing the threading operation, I proceeded to do the body grooves while I waited longer for the epoxy to cure some more:





















Then I cautiosly proceeded to work on the threads:






The threads came out very good (as good as I can cut them at my skill level):











The "repair" job took a while to do, but it came out OK. Thanks George 

Will


----------



## georges80

Excellent job Will. Glad my suggestion worked out well - and you got an opportunity to showcase more of your machining skills (threads look fantastic)... and a chance for more photos 

cheers,
george.


----------



## wquiles

georges80 said:


> Excellent job Will. Glad my suggestion worked out well - and you got an opportunity to showcase more of your machining skills (threads look fantastic)... and a chance for more photos
> 
> cheers,
> george.


Thanks much George 


OK, so I also have been working on the electronics for this second prototype. I am using these really nice 3x XP-G boards, and since the LED vf's are closely matched, I am wiring them in parallel. My MD_SD board's output is a "generic" PWM signal (programmable by me for active high or low) so in order to provide current to the LED, I need a second LED driver board, or at the very minimum, a small circuit that will take PWM as an input and be able to switch several amps ON/OFF per the PWM's duty signal. For this prototype, since I am designing the body, I am just going to do a very simple DD (direct drive) from the 26650 cell, so I came up with my own small circuit using a MOSFET as the switch element, and I recently got those boards to play with  .

So this small board will take the PWM from my main/controller board, and interface directly to the LED(s):






All wired up for the testing:






Here I am connecting my MD_SD controller board to my MOSFET switching board:











I am powering from my bench supply at 3.499 volts, at both the low end (right now at 5-6% duty cycle if I remember correctly) to 100% duty cycle:












Close-up of the boards - these are "generic", and can be used in other projects/circuits that use PWM - I have several extra ones I could make available if folks are interested. These use the same MOSFET I used in my PhD-M6 incandescent voltage regulator and routinely switch 5+ amps:






Will


----------



## Darvis

My God man, this is so beyond incredible...


----------



## 350xfire

very cool... Definitely send it to me and I will test it. Thanks for sharing this with us!


----------



## wquiles

Darvis said:


> My God man, this is so beyond incredible...


Thank you 




350xfire said:


> very cool... Definitely send it to me and I will test it. Thanks for sharing this with us!


I am working on the tailcap next, so I should have something for you to test soon 

Will


----------



## wquiles

OK, more machining work - this time on the tailcap.

I started by cutting some 1.875" Al bar into more manageable pieces:












So here is my first version of the drawing, and the raw Al piece below:






Started shaping the piece on the outer surface first:











Then work on the inside:





















Then to the internal threading (20-tpi):











Part the piece:






Semi-finished piece (note lots of small annotations/edits to my 3D design as I go along):






I designed the engagement in such a manner that you engage the threads for a couple of revolutions "before" you hit the first O-ring. Then the thread engagement continues until just after the second O-ring (remember this is a dive-rated host):











So that first tailcap was a "test" piece, which will be used as a fixture for additional machining on the host (to prevent the host from being held in the chuck by the threads), so I started making a new tailcap - this one for "real" 

So like before, I started with a solid piece of Al:






Safety note - see this birds nest of Aluminum? That is "extremely" dangerous - very thin, very sharp, and if you attempt to remove it while the chuck is rotating, and it catches on the chuck, you can loose your fingers before you feel the pain. ALWAYS stop the lathe before attempting to clean these strings!!!






This one I bored using a different method (instead of starting with the 1" spade drill). Either way, it takes time since my lathe is manual, and I am trying to hit a final wall thickness of about 0.100" on the back of the tailcap:





















Here all of the internal work (except threading) is complete (the last, deepest groove is for an O-ring for something I am experimenting with):






Doing the internal threading:











Cut bevel to protect O-rings:






Half of the tailcap is complete:






Now start working on the back portion of the tailcap:





















Not quite ready, but getting close to being done with the lathe work:






Final work on the lathe:











This is my setup for the mill, thanks to Barry Milton - a superb Yuasa!






However, I would not use that cutter, due to not having enough clearance:






So I had to use a smaller cutter, even if it meant having to do two passes to do each of the 6 sides:






Here I am cutting each of the 6 sides:






Here I am done with all 6 sides:











After cleaning the tailcap, it looks like this - unfortunately you can see the very faint lines of the two pases with the cutting mill, but it still looks fairly decent:











And screwed in place:






Detail on the very back of the tailcap:







Still need to do the second tailcap, and then work more on the front of the light/host, but making progress 

Will


----------



## BVH

Just shaking my head (in a + way) at your fantastic documentation on this thread! Simply wonderful! What mill do you have, Will? And what size is it?


----------



## Mattaus

I hate threads like this. It makes me want to buy a lathe and get working. So many applications outside of machining flashlights...see, I'm trying to convince myself already!


----------



## 350xfire

That thing is looking great Will! Cool tail cap!


----------



## DM51

Tremendous post, Will! I love following your "how to" threads, and this one is going to be a winner.

Got a good chuckle from this:


> I am trying to hit a final wall thickness of about 0.100"


LOL - I think we are all confident you hit that 0.100" with total precision, within a nano-inch!


----------



## wquiles

Thank you guys 




BVH said:


> What mill do you have, Will? And what size is it?


Enco knee-mill, 8x30 table, converted to Variable Speed with a 3HP motor on 220V.




DM51 said:


> LOL - I think we are all confident you hit that 0.100" with total precision, within a nano-inch!


On most of the critical parts, I try to be right at 0.001" tolerance, but I might be off about 0.001", which normally is not a huge deal. Now, as it happens, that 0.100" wall thickness at the back of the tailcap is not a critical dimension - the problem is that it is a blind operation (I can't see that deep in the hole), so I am counting on my math, the DRO on the lathe, and in reading my own prints properly (which I proved earlier in this thread I don't always do!) - so if I miss calculate, I could easily drill/bore through or make it too thin, which would ruin the part and I would have to start over 


Will


----------



## mvyrmnd

That is properly sexy!


----------



## wquiles

Thank you 

The hex shape on the tailcap is a practical design - besides providing a gripping surface, this will be the anti-roll feature since the bezel is completely round in shape.


----------



## DM51

What are you planning for a lanyard attachment, Will?


----------



## wquiles

DM51 said:


> What are you planning for a lanyard attachment, Will?



I envisioned two ways:
1) The primary place to attach the lanyard will be right on the tailcap. My current design involves drilling two holes through only two of the 6x sides (opposite of each other), so that a lanyard can be use through the tailcap, while still allowing the light to stand flat on its tailcap (a hard requirement for me). The hole in the middle of the tailcap allows for easier threading of the lanyard material through the tailcap if using both holes, and/or the usage of only one of the two holes, and at the same time serves to take some weight off. Since I envisioned a lanyard hole as part of the tailcap, I left the wall thickness right there between the inner wall and the hex side fairly thick - so that it would be strong.

2) The secondary method is by the inner portion of the body. That is why I made the tailcap screw "over" the body (and why it has a diameter larger than the body) in order to provide a secondary means of attaching/holding the light by allowing the user to use a strap/clamp/etc. in the middle part of the body.


Edit: When I am done with the second tailcap in the mill, I will drill the two holes, then it will be easier to show what I meant 

Will


----------



## 350xfire

Will:
I think that light looks like it would work well in the Oxycheq Light Sock:
http://northeastscubasupply.com/sto...s/Oxycheq-Universal-Light-Sock/prod_3029.html

I have a few laying around I will try one when you send the light in for pressure testing!


----------



## wquiles

350xfire said:


> Will:
> I think that light looks like it would work well in the Oxycheq Light Sock:
> http://northeastscubasupply.com/sto...s/Oxycheq-Universal-Light-Sock/prod_3029.html
> 
> I have a few laying around I will try one when you send the light in for pressure testing!



Yes, thanks for the link. That is exactly what I envisioned for method #2 above 

But if there is enough interest, I would also like to design a head/canister combo, where the head would be smaller than the 26650 host I am currently finishing. In such a design, since there would be no battery in the head, I don't need a fancy/complicated tailcap - the "tail" end of the head could be completely sealed, sans for the cable gland, like I did on this earlier project.

Will


----------



## 350xfire

Yes, that would be great!


----------



## wquiles

I started work on the second tailcap:


















The surface finish provided by the PCD inserts is awesome - that is "as cut" - no polishing of any kind:






Ready to thread:











But the threads were a little bit too loose (I cut a tad little bit too much on the last pass), and the deep groove did not came out as good as I wanted, so since I had plenty of metal in that raw piece, I started over:






I also just received my new O-ring grooving tool, so it was a good time to do the inner groove "properly":






I had to grind off a small part on the shank so that it would deeper into the tailcap:






Once I re-did the tailcap portion and threads again (saving you the photos this time - same process as above), and started to trim the tailcap to length:











Getting the OD done:











Cutting the bevels:






A quick visual comparison with the previously finished part. Getting there:






Doing the back of the tailcap now:
















Now done with the lathe work:











Now the part is ready for the milling machine (to cut the hex shape):







Will


----------



## wquiles

I just finished the second tailcap, including the holes for the lanyard 

Lots of debris!:






Now I have to do the setup to drill the two holes, which involves several steps.

Using my laser to find the middle point:
Y axis:
- Find edge
- Zero DRO
- Find other edge
- Note DRO reading
- Move to 1/2 the distance -> centered!

x axis:
- Find edge
- Zero DRO
- Move from edge 1/2 the depth of the hole in the tailcap (0.3")
- Drill hole











Second hole:
- Index part 180 degrees
- Part is already centered - drill second hole






Remove sharp edge:






You can see a small blemish on this one 






This is what I meant earlier for lanyard attachment. Using two holes:












Using one hole:











Doing the holes in the part that was already in the chuck/indexer is easier/quicker since each of the six sides are perfectly indexed to the milling cutter. But then I go to cut the holes in the other tailcap, I first need to mount, and align the part so that I am cutting the hole at exactly 90deg. To do that I use a very sensitive, machinist grade, bubble insert (basically used to replace a broken piece - except that I bought mine for this exact usage):











Since the Y axis is still perfectly centered (since it was centered for the first tailcap), I only need to set the X axis, so I use the laser again to find the edge:






I still need to de-burr the inside of the holes, but I can do that carefully by hand with a small file:






Here are the two completed tailcaps in their respective host (note the light/reflection trick on the host on the right in which the body grooves appear to shear across the length of the middle tube!):







Will


----------



## 350xfire

Very nice!


----------



## archer6817j

wquiles said:


>



Hey, I invented the polarizer on your LC/EF  

Loving this project by the way!


----------



## wquiles

350xfire said:


> Very nice!


Thank you Hector 




archer6817j said:


> Hey, I invented the polarizer on your LC/EF


Way cool! It is one of my favorite tools in the mill


----------



## wquiles

I am trying to prevent the electrical current from flowing through the threads. Not only do I plan to coat the complete light (using Moly Resin), but threads can get dirty/contaminated/etc., so I designed a "cup" that sits inside the tailcap, which houses the spring, which is electrically isolated from the tailcap. The cup closes the electrical circuit against the edge of the body, only when the tailcap is fully tightened, therefore providing a more reliable and solid path for the current to flow.


Here I am making the spacer that goes on the back of the tailcap:
















Cut (part off) at 0.050" thickness:











Cut a piece of Al to make the cups:






Get the OD to the right dia:











Drill a hole through it to make the part lighter:






Bore to get a press fit for the spring that I am using:











and cut to length. I am cutting 3 pieces - normally you should part closer to the face of the chuck, but this setup I have is very stiff/rigid, and since the part is hollow I only have to cut a little, so it works well at slightly over two and 1/2 inches away from the face of the chuck:
















Here I cut a small lip that will match with the delrin spacer that I cut earlier:






This is the part that will face the bottom of the tailcap (opposite to the battery):






You can see the order of the parts. The o-ring provides electrical isolation from the sides of the tailcap, and allows parts to be assembled without threads - all is press fit:






Here the delrin spacer and the o-ring are in position:






Cut and spring about to be press in place:






Here I show how the cut and the end of the body make electrical contact to close the circuit:











All done (one on top not fully screwed):






When fully screwed the second o-ring is completely covered by the tailcap, providing a good seal, yet backing off like 1/2 a turn opens the circuit while still allowing the second o-ring to still fully seal against the tailcap:






Looking from the top down on the empty host (no "pill" nor battery in place):






That is it for today 

Will


----------



## X_Marine

Absolutely superb. :thumbsup: 
*X..*


----------



## wquiles

X_Marine said:


> Absolutely superb. :thumbsup:
> *X..*



Thanks much 


I have been able to spend more time recently, so I will be posting additional pictures soon.

Will


----------



## moderator007

X_Marine said:


> Absolutely superb. :thumbsup:
> *X..*


+1
Great pics Will.


----------



## 350xfire

Will, you planning on getting them hard coat anodized?


----------



## wquiles

moderator007 said:


> +1
> Great pics Will.


Thanks man 




350xfire said:


> Will, you planning on getting them hard coat anodized?


Quite possibly, it I can find a local, dependable place to have it done - I am not doing HAIII on my own (too dangerous). Right now, at least initially, these Aluminum prototypes I plan to coat with Moly Resin, which is more durable than Powder Coating (in my own testing), and about the same as Cerakote. Point being these finishes I can do at home, on my own, they are safer, very tough, and I can control the results, thickness, etc.. I think HAIII will be the natural next step, and/or Titanium versions.

Will


----------



## Phil Ament

Hi there Will,


First off my name is Renn and I live in the city of Melbourne in Australia and I too really love fast but nicely built cars and extremely high quality audio sound systems (DIY E46M3 H&K Upgrade Thread) for both home and for car and as a matter of fact I actually collect high quality audio system components as well as cars, motorcycles, anything with wheels, gadgets as well as flashlights and searchlights. My main prerequisite when deciding whether to add a particular item to one of my collections is for it to be manufactured by using the highest possible standards for design, materials and construction. I really can appreciate an item when it is built to a standard and not to a price and I often consider a high quality and well made item to be a "work of art" no matter what it actually is. I also love to pull these items apart just to see how they tick, and then re-assemble them again to the best of my ability, with the aim in mind being to "optimise" their function and performance. It is a bit of a running joke with all my family and friends that they frequently "dump" their items on me and when they get them back they always both look and work much better than they have ever done before. I mainly only possess hand tools as such like my F1 Style Snap On tool chest and the odd occasional electrical handyman items, but nothing quite as intricate as a lathe or a mill or even a Starrett Height Gauge although I do have a soldering iron and a vernier, and whilst I may be able to disassemble and then reassemble and improve most of my things without too much trouble, most unfortunately I do not possess the necessary skills (unlike you) to be able to actually "create" something from scratch. 


When I sat down at my iMac tonight and went to CPF, I somehow managed to end up at this thread and the more I read the more my jaw dropped. I then followed some of the links that you posted here and I also ended up reading your "Dive light" and your "DIY E46M3" threads and my jaw dropped even further, and then after that I returned to this thread and by the time that I had finished reading it right through I had then felt very strongly compelled to post some comments. I just cannot believe the supremely high standards of the quality of your work and your absolute meticulous attention to each and every single detail, all of which is so highly complemented by the amazing way in which you have so thoroughly documented each and every single step of your progress, along with your apparent willingness to freely and without hesitation, pass on any knowledge and information to any other people that may require it, and the second that I finish typing this message I am going to bookmark this page and I will now be a "frequent returner" so that I can keep tabs on the piece by piece progress of your awe inspiring creations.


Lastly I just wanted to say that not only do I also think that your MS-SD invention is ingenious and I wish that some of my lights had this highly effective and seemingly very user friendly feature, but I also wanted you to know that when I look through the many photos included in your posts and I carefully study all of the numerous wonderful pieces that you have so caringly created along the way, that I do truly consider them all to be a prime examples of true "works of art" and I cannot commend you highly enough. There really is only one negative thing that I have to say about this whole thread and that is after reading through your posts and studying all your work I am going to be leaving here with a rather inflated feeling of inadequacy, but then again that's my problem and not yours and so I best go out to my garage and see what I can come up with. Once again Will, utterly amazing and extremely well done, you are a true craftsman and an engineering virtuoso.




Sincerely Yours
Phil Ament :wave:

P.S. Whenever your lights are ready, PM me and


----------



## wquiles

WOW Renn - thank you much for your kind words - much appreciated 

I try as much as possible to design/built/make things without much regard to price - try to make it the best it can be build with my equipment/ability, with as fewest compromises as possible. I basically do things the way I would like somebody else to make/build it for me, and try to build it for longevity. This unfortunately translates in lots of hours and lots of labor, which makes much of my work and projects too expensive, but I can't help how I do things, and I don't see myself competing against anyone else, specially not on price. That is the same way my mentors taught me: quality over quantity.

In many ways, "it" (this crazy obsession with attention to detail) started back then in 2002 with that M3 and that audio upgrade thread. Even after 10 years, I still get emails about the upgrade. Great memories 

Will


----------



## 350xfire

Sorry to highjack, but.... Where's the audio upgrade thread? I'd like to see that!

So that dive light is going to cost about $12,000 lol...


----------



## wquiles

350xfire said:


> Sorry to highjack, but.... Where's the audio upgrade thread? I'd like to see that!
> 
> So that dive light is going to cost about $12,000 lol...



No worries - here is the link

I stopped counting how many $100's of dollars on machining time I have spent on these two prototypes. And the many, many hours in front of my PC with Atmel's C compiler and debugger coming up and then fine-tunning the algorithms for the SmartDial feature, and the countless hours in front of Alibre Design 3D CAD, and the many $100's of dollars on parts ordered over the last two years .....

Gets depressing quickly if I think about stuff like that, but I get excited every time I get part of the project running/ready as I envisioned in my head several years ago


----------



## 350xfire

Thanks...
Good thing is that once protos are done you can get a CNC shop to mass produce the aluminum parts and I guess some type of electronics company.... That's how you get costs down to be able to sell at a reasonable price... Then the Chinese move in and copy oyur design and sell for $39.99 through DX.

I agree we spend way too much time developing stuff. But heck, it's something we enjoy. We could be spending time playing video games and watching TV instead!!


----------



## Grifter

Very impressed with the work you've done brother. A very addicting thread IMHO, I couldn't stop reading it once I stumbled into it.


----------



## wquiles

350xfire said:


> Good thing is that once protos are done you can get a CNC shop to mass produce the aluminum parts and I guess some type of electronics company.... That's how you get costs down to be able to sell at a reasonable price.


Absolutely, I could never offer these with me doing the machining - it would be over $1000 in machining time alone. It has to be done in a CNC machine to be affordable.




350xfire said:


> Then the Chinese move in and copy oyur design and sell for $39.99 through DX.


The only relief that I have is that even if/when they copy my hardware design, they still will have to spend some time on the programming bench to mimic my SmartDial feature - that is the part is truly new.




350xfire said:


> I agree we spend way too much time developing stuff. But heck, it's something we enjoy. We could be spending time playing video games and watching TV instead!!


Yes, well said. I would not be doing this if I was not learning something new, having a good time, and dealing with great folks worldwide


----------



## recycler

amazing work there, you almost make it look easy, i must add i have a serious case of latbe envy and your photos are fantastic


----------



## tino_ale

wquiles said:


>



Man you're not joking when you are cutting towards the chuck 

I seems you are using a carriage stop but it's unclear to me how exactly ?
- are you using power feed, for a good surface finish, in that case how do you stop the feed power right in time right at the shoulder ?
- are you just rotating the carriage hand wheel yourself, until you touch the carriage stop ? in that case how are you getting a nice finish ?

Anyway, it's awesome work and definetely tool oriented thread, I love it


----------



## wquiles

recycler said:


> amazing work there, you almost make it look easy, i must add i have a serious case of latbe envy and your photos are fantastic


Thanks. I learned a lot from others here in the CPF's, so I am grateful for that 




tino_ale said:


> Man you're not joking when you are cutting towards the chuck
> 
> I seems you are using a carriage stop but it's unclear to me how exactly ?
> - are you using power feed, for a good surface finish, in that case how do you stop the feed power right in time right at the shoulder ?
> - are you just rotating the carriage hand wheel yourself, until you touch the carriage stop ? in that case how are you getting a nice finish ?
> 
> Anyway, it's awesome work and definetely tool oriented thread, I love it



OK, several questions. Let me try to hit all of them:
- Yes, that was pretty seriously close to the chuck. I don't do that too often!
- For these operations I am not using a carriage stop - all done by hand and by watching how close can I get to the chuck without hitting it. Normally for Al and Delrin the chuck is spinning at 1200 rpm's, so not very forgiving it I make a mistake. In fact, in that photo you can see damage I made to two of the six jaws when I was threading (under power) and missed releasing the carriage on time 
- For operations where I am trying to hit a specific length (or inside depth), and I can't get there in a few pases, I do have a carriage stop - I made my own several years back and it adjusts to 0.001":











- Good surface finish on Al and Delrin -> several factors:
* Stiff setup. All gibs are fairly nice and tight.
* Very sharp inserts, preferably positive rake
* For the final passes, now-a-days (for Al/Delrin) I am exclusively using PCD inserts which are the sharpest, and have extremely long life (again, on Al and Delrin). Few of these inserts have built-in chip breakers, but for the final pases it is perfect
* On Al I always use the near-dry lubrication system, with LB3000 lubricant
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?257169-Near-dry-machining-...


Will


----------



## tino_ale

Thanks Will,

Just to clarify : if you need to machine to a shoulder, you set the carriage stop, and then machine by hand right ?
I was just wondering because in my understanding you can't get the best finish by hand but need to use power feed instead. But power feed is not usable if you are machining to a shoulder, you would risk crashing into it... am I right ?


----------



## wquiles

tino_ale said:


> Just to clarify : if you need to machine to a shoulder, you set the carriage stop, and then machine by hand right ?


I might use the carriage stop from time to time to quickly get "close" to a target dimension, but all work in my lathe is still done by hand - no power feed used at all.




tino_ale said:


> I was just wondering because in my understanding you can't get the best finish by hand but need to use power feed instead. But power feed is not usable if you are machining to a shoulder, you would risk crashing into it... am I right ?



In theory you can only achieve a good finish with the steady movement of the power feed (one of the many advantages of a CNC machine), but since I don't have a way (yet) to automatically stop the auto feed to prevent a crash when machining close to the chuck's face, I don't even recall in the last 1-2 years ever using the power feed at all. 

All of those Aluminum parts with a nice finish that you see above were done by hand, with no power feed. But as I mentioned above, with the right inserts/lubricant/stiff setup, you "can" get really nice finishes in a manual lathe without using the power feed.

Will


----------



## tino_ale

All clear now, thanks :thumbsup:


----------



## wquiles

So I have been able to work on one of the "pills" for one the prototypes (once I work out details, I will do the second one). First had to drill a hole for the wires - it does not have to precise, but close:






Chamfer the edges - don't want to short a wire!






Like I mentioned earlier, I am using a 3x neutral XP-G and narow lenses:






Getting ready to solder:






Lightly sand the bottom of the star to try to achieve a good "flat" surface for the thermal epoxy:











Not "beautiful", but it works:











Ready to epoxy the star:











Put some weight to make sure the layer of epoxy is very thin and even:
















Test with the FET boards that I made. These small boards take as input a logical level with basically no current draw, to turn ON/OFF a high power FET - think of it as an electronic equivalent of the old fashioned relay, except this can handle more power and has only about 0.003 Ohms [that is 3 miliOhms] resistance when ON:
















I am using long wires to these numbers are not very accurate, but here I am giving the 3x XP-G (wired in parallel) about 4.4 amps at 4 volts:






Seal the wires in place with two-part epoxy:











Epoxy the FET board to the pill:












I will post more pictures soon 

Will


----------



## 350xfire

good progress! can't wait for the finished!!!


----------



## KuanR

Looking great, this is one of the most innovative user friendly lights I have seen! I can't wait to see the finished product, even though it looks good even in raw form


----------



## wquiles

Thank you guys


----------



## 350xfire

wquiles said:


> Thank you guys



OK, Will, enough already! Get her finished and send it over.... haha


----------



## wquiles

350xfire said:


> OK, Will, enough already! Get her finished and send it over.... haha



I am trying Hector. Honest 


Here are a few more pics 

Here I am aligning the Kurt to the table - make sure it is parallel to the X-axis:






I then line up the pill:






And why? Because I am still doing some small amount of developing/testing with this host, so I am making a "programming port" in this pill:






I filled all of the raw edges and I then test to make sure it still fits in the host (it is a light press fit):











Positive battery contact:






And although I have to do it again shortly (did not quite work as well as I wanted), this is how it should look like once completed over the next week or so:






Will


----------



## wquiles

We are having a DFW (Dallas-Forth Worth) flashaholics meeting in about a month from now, so even though I am hoping/planning to have one of these recent 2nd prototype versions ready, I went ahead and updated the firmware in my first prototype, so it will be ready for the meeting as well 






Will


----------



## us3rname

Thank you for the awesome machining photos. You have definitely sparked my interests in this light.

Subscribed.


----------



## Diablo_331

I can't wait to meet you and finally see this beauty a Veteran's Park! I've been following this thread closely and I love you work!


----------



## wquiles

Thank you guys 

I will for sure have the first prototype (working better now with the updated firmware), and I am still optimistic of having the second prototype ready as well 

Will


----------



## wquiles

OK, some good progress on the MD project. 

Here I am getting ready to glue the part of the pill that will become the positive battery contact:







Although production units will not have a programming port, since these are still prototypes and might/could get some fine-tuning of the algorithm, at least for this "pill" will have a programming port. Here I am getting both halves of the pill together:











I then epoxy the positive contact plate in place:






And the moment of truth (two halves not glued yet - just in case!):






Now that the module works, I seal it for good:






After cleaning the excess epoxy:






I then lightly press the 6-pin programming header inwards, put some epoxy, and tape it, to keep the pressure while the epoxy dries:






Done with the pill. More photos soon 

Will


----------



## BVH

wquiles said:


> ......................I then epoxy the positive contact plate in place:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Will



Hey Will, the "positive plate" is in reversed polarity! Don't glue it yet!


----------



## wquiles

You know, I use whatever I can find on my bench - sometimes a free D cell (comes with the D Mag's) is just the right weight/size for the job at hand


----------



## ^Gurthang

Hope you and the rest of the folks in DFW are ok after todays tornados.


----------



## wquiles

^Gurthang said:


> Hope you and the rest of the folks in DFW are ok after todays tornados.



I am hearing the tornado alarms around me, but so far no problems where I live.


----------



## wquiles

I need to redo the tailcap as I am not liking this initial style/shape, but I finally have completed one of the two prototypes 


This nest here is made out of Delrin (Acetal) - does not look like much, I know:






It looks much better when cleaned:






More work on that piece - see if you can tell what is becoming:































More work on the Yuasa indexer:


























Finally parting the piece off:






Now you can see where it goes - it is the selector ring:






I needed to do some "secret" work on that selector ring, but I needed a way to hold it, so I made my own expanding collet:































Then moved on to making the bezel part:





















And threading the bezel:











Then the final machining work on the bezel - back on the Yuasa to make it lighter:











Close-up on the machined bezel:






Complete, fully working 2nd prototype for the MagnetoDrive (again, I have to re-do the tailcap - it might be functional, but does not quite look like it belongs there!):






2nd prototype turned ON, sitting on a table, showing the visual effect of the lightweight bezel (in these two pictures you can really see the neutral tint in these 3x XP-G LEDs):






And a final shot from behind:







Besides a new tailcap I need to work on the low battery and high temperature behavior, but it is now a fully functional prototype, and I will have it available at the Flashaholic meeting here in DFW in about two more weeks or so, to give folks a chance/opportunity to actually use it in person, give me feedback (good and bad), and see what comes next 

Will


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## 350xfire

Holy crap... I like that selector ring! How does it work? Does it have any stops, friction fit? The bezel is awesome too! Want to see beamshots!


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## wquiles

350xfire said:


> Holy crap... I like that selector ring! How does it work? Does it have any stops, friction fit? The bezel is awesome too! Want to see beamshots!



Thanks 

Yes, it has stops at both ends of travel, although remember that with the SmartDial you don't have to move through the whole arc to get max or min output - that is my invention. The selector ring rotates smoothly (without any detents), and it is totally user-adjustable friction-wise, which also includes fully locking the selector ring anywhere along its travel (including the OFF position which is of course a very desirable feature in any diving flashlight while in storage). 

Besides the standard battery/temperature monitoring, and sleep mode (to put the micro to sleep), this light also incorporates logic in the controller that greatly minimizes the possibility of external magnets being able to activate the light, but being this is a public forum I unfortunately can't share/show the more interesting details of how I got things to work, how the bezel/body work together, etc.. - it is a trade secret for now. 

Will


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## 350xfire

wquiles said:


> Thanks
> 
> - it is a trade secret for now.
> 
> Will



NICE! Alert Homeland Security... lol
Very cool.


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## KuanR

I keep coming back to this thread to see updates and this just blows my mind. LOVE the selector ring and the new bezel, looks killer when it's turned on!

Will, when these become available for sale you will be hearing from me very quickly


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## wquiles

KuanR said:


> I keep coming back to this thread to see updates and this just blows my mind. LOVE the selector ring and the new bezel, looks killer when it's turned on!
> 
> Will, when these become available for sale you will be hearing from me very quickly



Folks here in the DFW flashaholic meeting will have a chance to play with both working prototypes this coming weekend. Lets see what happens next 

Will


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## Th232

That looks awesome... if you don't mind sharing, what do you do to get the slot walls on the bezel that smooth? I've generally found that as soon as I stop moving I end up with dents in the wall (probably the EM pulling itself into the wall a bit or something).


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## wquiles

Thank you 

The setup is fairly stiff, I am using LB3000 cutting lubricant, the spindle RPM is about 1000, I go "very" slow, and I have the jibs adjusted fairly tight on the mill's table.


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## Z-Tab

Wow, there is a lot going on here. I only just found this project, but I will be following it closely.


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## Diablo_331

After having had the chance to get some hands on time with both of the prototypes, I can say that I will be purchasing a light with the MagnetoDrive for sure! The attention to detail is absolutely amazing. The man behind the product is nothing short of a genius. I'm really looking forward to this!


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## Th232

wquiles said:


> Thank you
> 
> The setup is fairly stiff, I am using LB3000 cutting lubricant, the spindle RPM is about 1000, I go "very" slow, and I have the jibs adjusted fairly tight on the mill's table.



Thanks for the tips, will definitely be trying these out next time I'm doing slots.

On that note, given that you've got the slots in there, any thoughts on making a diffuser so you can use it more like a lantern?


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## wquiles

Thank you guys 




Th232 said:


> On that note, given that you've got the slots in there, any thoughts on making a diffuser so you can use it more like a lantern?


That is an interesting idea. I have to think more about that one 

Will


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## KuanR

I'm really jealous of the people that already got to have hands on time with the prototypes! If there are more people out there, it would be cool to hear some of your feedback for people like me that didn't get a chance to try it out.


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## KuanR

BUMP for updates, Will!


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## wquiles

KuanR said:


> BUMP for updates, Will!



I am trying to find a shop that could work with me to make the machining on a CNC setup - the only way to make this affordable, so not officially on hold, but looking at how to go past the working prototype stage 

Will


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## KuanR

Hey Will, any updates if this will go into production?? I keep checking back every now and then for an update


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## wquiles

I have located a couple of local CNC shops, so that is good. I however don't have the funds yet to do a small run at this point in time, so I am not close to doing any production run in the near future.

Not being able to do a production run has been a mixed blessing since I have had more time to re-think production/design details, and I have made progress with the small buck LED driver that I needed for the production light. Specifically, I needed an LED driver that could drive 1x LED, or 3x LED's in series, take 2-4 LiIon cells, and fit in a very small space (with parts in only one side of the board). Here is how my current design looks like, for a high efficiency, constant current, buck LED driver in a 20mm board, with a target current around 1.5-2 Amps, and that can take an input PWM signal for dimming. The small board has one grounded hole for a screw, and two holes for LED wires coming from the other side of a heatsink - I am hoping this driver will be useful in other small form factor LED lights as well:







Will


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