# My first flashlight body from scratch..



## Mirage_Man (Jan 5, 2007)

I've been making heat sinks and modifying Maglites for awhile now. But nothing really all that difficult for any real machinist. It has been a great learning experience and way to really get to know my machine.

So now that my two Maglite group buys are complete I finally have some time to work on a few things of my own. First up was to modify a Nuwai Q3 with a P3 Cree. I made a heat sink to TB's specs, bored the reflector hole a little and then soldered up the Cree. I popped in a frash R123a and BAM! What an amazing sight that Cree was in the Q3. I couldn't believe how bright it was. Up until this point I had been wondering what the big deal was with these _crees_? I now know.

I realized that this light was going to be my EDC. It was bright enough and yet inexpensive enough that I could beat it up an not worry about it. However I just had to follow in TB's footsteps and make a body extension to allow the use of 17670's. Hence this post. Below are a few pics of the current itteration of the extension. I have made 3 in the last 24hrs. :laughing: The first I screwed up the male threads. The second was more of a test piece that I made out of a smaller diameter stock which won't allow for turning the O.D. And finally the third...well it threads perfectly and the knurling came out rather nice I think.

Will I make more? More than likely. The last body took me about 3 hours to complete. I have to assume that that's a really long time? For an experienced machinist it wouldn't take nearly that long, right? But I really took my time so as to not screw this one up. I think it paid off.

I'm open to any suggestions or tips...

MM


----------



## highorder (Jan 5, 2007)

excellent work! don't tell too many people, or they will flood you inbox!

what type of knurling tool did you use? I cant tell if your diamonds are sharp or flat.. did you do it in a single pass?

either way, nice job!


----------



## choppers (Jan 5, 2007)

WOW!!! MM, how sweet is that!! I love the Q3's...I have a bunch of them. I bet this thing is bright. This thing would be sweet looking in Camo ! If you make more I am in for sure. Great Job...


----------



## Led_Blind (Jan 5, 2007)

Looks like sharp tools and lots of passes.... i could be wrong. I am learning to lathe at a friends place and find it very time consuming.


----------



## 65535 (Jan 5, 2007)

Is the knurling an auto thingy?


----------



## nekomane (Jan 5, 2007)

Great job :thumbsup: Can you fit an o-ring on the tail end?
The Q3 looks like a great mod host, is the star easy to swap instead of using a custom heat sink?
Thanks for sharing.


----------



## jar3ds (Jan 5, 2007)

very nice! Pretty soon your going to be busting out your first homemade flashlight! 

Obviously this would take a lot of time... but if you want to make a lot of money just make a 2xAA body for the HDS...


----------



## cmacclel (Jan 5, 2007)

Great Job!

3 hours sounds about right. People don't understand how long this stuff takes 

I've spent 3 hours making a heatsink. Also what helps is if your stock is the right size from the start. I usually have to take alot down and at 0.050 a pass it takes a while.

Mac


----------



## Mirage_Man (Jan 5, 2007)

> what type of knurling tool did you use? I cant tell if your diamonds are sharp or flat.. did you do it in a single pass?



I used the bump knurling tool that came with the Phase II tool post set. I did it in one pass very slow. Then I came back with a very sharp tool and skimmed the surface to cut off the uglies.



> an you fit an o-ring on the tail end?
> The Q3 looks like a great mod host, is the star easy to swap instead of using a custom heat sink?



There is an O-ring on the tail end. Look closely at the pictures and you will see it. To use the Cree in the Q3 you really need to bring the LED up into the reflector some. Otherwise there won't be much of a hotspot. Also the stock HS is basically just an aluminum ring which is not a very good HS. Driving the Cree at 1A begs for a better HS. 



> 3 hours sounds about right. People don't understand how long this stuff takes
> 
> I've spent 3 hours making a heatsink. Also what helps is if your stock is the right size from the start. I usually have to take alot down and at 0.050 a pass it takes a while.



So I'm not working at a snail's pase? :laughing: Yeah I specifically went and bought some 1" stock for this. The first one I made I started with 1+1/4" stock.

MM


----------



## TranquillityBase (Jan 5, 2007)

Is that for a 18650...


----------



## wquiles (Jan 5, 2007)

Nice work dude 

I am glad you mentioned how many hours it takes - I am the same way. Things take far longer than folks realize :naughty: 

Will


----------



## PhotonFanatic (Jan 5, 2007)

Isn't it great to be able to do what you want to do?

Three hours for a part isn't unusual, especially if you don't have a DRO. :-(

Took me two days to make a KI Knock-off, which was still riddled with mistakes.


----------



## KC2IXE (Jan 5, 2007)

.050 per cut? Is that diameter, or the depth of cut? Either way, fairly light - to go from 1.5" stock to 1" diameter should take 3, at most 4 cuts - say .100 doc, .1 doc, .02 (all roughing cuts) and then a finishing cut to size


----------



## cmacclel (Jan 5, 2007)

KC2IXE said:


> .050 per cut? Is that diameter, or the depth of cut? Either way, fairly light - to go from 1.5" stock to 1" diameter should take 3, at most 4 cuts - say .100 doc, .1 doc, .02 (all roughing cuts) and then a finishing cut to size



Most of the people here have hobby machines and 0.050 is MAX they can take in one pass and thats diameter.

Sure if you have a big Leblond like I have here in work I can take off .500 at a time or a full blade width but these smaller less rigid machines forget about it. Thats one of the reasons I'm upgrading my machine.

Mac


----------



## KC2IXE (Jan 5, 2007)

Ah, I used to take cuts way deeper than that on my little 6x12" Atlas that was bolted to the old bench - and I would NOT consider my 12" Atlas a heavy duty lathe

I learned on a big old LaBlond - man that thing had GRUNT - I thing it was a 16x50 some odd - on THAT machine, it's 2 passes - one roughing, and one finishing

I NEED to get a real lathe - the tough decision would be:
New Gunsmith lathe like your getting
10EE e-m
or
HLVH 

All have their pros and cons - saw a MINT 10EE e-m the other day - and I mean mint - 1971 model shop - NOT production. Cried - they wanted more than my truck cost new - $27K


----------



## highorder (Jan 5, 2007)

you should be able to find a decent 12x48 South Bend for less than $1000. 

if you have the floor space, that is.


----------



## Mirage_Man (Jan 5, 2007)

TranquillityBase said:


> Is that for a 18650...



No. Why? I made it to your specs. If it's because it appears the ID is large then I see why you asked. It only appears that way in the picture. I like to put a slight bevel on the inside edge. I think it cleans the look up.

MM


----------



## TranquillityBase (Jan 5, 2007)

Mirage_Man said:


> No. Why? I made it to your specs. If it's because it appears the ID is large then I see why you asked. It only appears that way in the picture. I like to put a slight bevel on the inside edge. I think it cleans the look up.
> 
> MM


 I was being a smartarse...


----------



## TranquillityBase (Jan 5, 2007)

It looks great Brian...excellent knurling too.

I'll bet you're making another one, or two, right now...

TB


----------



## Glen C (Jan 5, 2007)

Very nice work


----------



## will (Jan 5, 2007)

Ah - the fun of taking a large piece of aluminum and making it smaller, with a hole in the middle.

nice job..


----------



## KC2IXE (Jan 5, 2007)

highorder said:


> you should be able to find a decent 12x48 South Bend for less than $1000.
> 
> if you have the floor space, that is.



Don't want a SB 12x48 (and yeah - I have the space) - My Atlas 12 is allmost fully tooled - I'm missing some ultra rare options (like the bed turret, and the lever cross slide - I have the tailstock lever turret)

If I change lathes at this point - it'll be to a 10EE or a HLVH - I DREAD the cost of tooling it up however (BTW when I say the Atlas is tooled - I have the lever collet closer, and have EVERY round collet except for two of the 64ths, and missing 2 hex and 2 square collets - aka I have more collets than you can shake a stick at)


----------

