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[at-l] The Flashlight caper...

	WOW!  I had no idea this little flashlight would generate so many comments
and interest.
	For those not interested, you may want to delete this message now.  I'm
going to explain just what I've done.

	I'm not a machinist, however, I'm in the Air Force and the machine shop
here is about a 2-minute walk from my office.  ;-)
	So far, the main thing I've done is drill a few holes.  I used about a
3/8" bit, maybe a tad larger, and a drill press, and I drilled all the way
through the body tube in three different places, then turned the tube 90
degrees and drilled three more holes.  One thing I found out is where NOT
to drill -- you can see right into the connection between the two
batteries.  Any conductor going in there will short out the "rear" battery
from positive to case.  Not good with lithium!
	The next thing I did was drill the lens assembly.  The aluminum up there
is pretty thick, and I got a lot of weight off there. It changes the
balance substantially.  I made a total of three passes all the way through
this end.
	I also replaced the alkaline batteries with lithium batteries.  This was a
BIG change.

	Wild Bill and Longwalker are right, as are others who commented on this.
This thing is no longer waterproof.  I'm not sure that's a big factor to
me, but it probably is to someone.  If I had to depend on a flashlight for
6 months in the outdoors, I would not take this one.  However, for a week
or two, it's probably OK.
	Long Walker commented on the loss of strength in the body tube if turned
down.  He's right, of course, but if I don't remove any metal in the
threaded area, it just might work anyway.
	I'm still debating whether or not to try anything else -- but this thing
seems to be pretty impressive already.

	Hope I answered all the questions.  Is this thing becoming a problem with
the volume of email on the list?

	Earl


Earl Needham, KD5XB    mailto:KD5XB@AMSAT.ORG
Lead trombone for Bill Case & the Velvetones (big band)
Clovis, NM
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Chi '76  (That was Texas A&I University.)
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