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Re: [at-l] The Flashlight caper...

Earl,  why pussyfoot around like this? 
How about sodering a short length of wire to each end of a battery
(whatever size suits your fancy) and sodering another pair of short wires
to a bulb.  Then connect the corresponding ends of the battery wires with
the bulb wires (twist bare ends saves the weight of crimped connectors). 
Perhaps some sort of metal solder adhesive could be used instead of real
soder.  Soder up a few extra batteries as replacements via mail drops,
etc.  This way you avoid the weight of any flashlight case, switches,
reflectors, or lenses.


On Fri, 01 May 1998 15:48:00 -0600 Earl Needham <kd5xb@amsat.org> writes:
>
>	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.)
>* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List | For info 
>http://www.hack.net/lists *
>

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