Tofty's Custom Brass Torches

nuphoria · **Reply #90 on:** July 03, 2012, 02:14:45 PM

Yes, has that HDS shape... which is no bad thing.

As for weight, you weren't aiming for something lightweight when you decided to make pretty things from brass were you?

Tofty · **Reply #91 on:** July 03, 2012, 08:45:36 PM

I ordered an HDS quite a few months ago but as their going through some problems at the moment i'm sure it will be many more months before it is shipped, i suppose this torch is my way of coping in the meantime.

Brass has many great properties, lightness is unfortunately not one of them.

Apart from availability there is no reason why a good magnesium alloy couldn't be used to make a torch body (an anodised finish really helps reduce any corrosion issues).
It's electrical and thermal properties are very similar to brass and way above either stainless steel or titanium.
It has good strength characteristics and at just 2/3 the density of aluminium a magnisium torch would be quite impressive.
In fact i might just see how much a rod of AZ31 comes to for a planned UV light.
I can't find anywhere that would expect an order of anything less than a few tons but i'll ask anyway.

Tofty · **Reply #92 on:** August 16, 2012, 12:43:23 PM

New AAA brass torch with a few interesting design features:

Just in case your wondering the sawn faces are indeed a feature.

Essexman · **Reply #93 on:** August 16, 2012, 02:09:07 PM

Some wet n dry and a bit of elbow grease should sort that out mate !

Just to make it clear, the above is a joke, nice work, go on, how did you make that finish like that?

Tofty · **Reply #94 on:** August 16, 2012, 02:56:01 PM

It really was as simple as hitting it with a hammer.....alot.
I used quite a lightweight hammer (i would have used a ball peen but i didn't have one), rested the work on the rubber covers on my bench vise and hit it, trying to keep the amount of force used the same for as long as it took to remove any area of shiny unwalloped metal. It must be pointed out however that i did this before drilling and shaping of the internal channels to avoid any chance of distortion.

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #95 on:** August 16, 2012, 10:59:15 PM

Quote from: Tofty on June 30, 2012, 06:14:36 PM

Done.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

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This is the XM-L head with a T5 tint which is warmer than i expected but still quite a pleasant light.
I set the driver to a simple high/low switching mode, i really don't like any of the more elaborate mode choices like strobe and SOS.

I will have to do some proper beam shots over the weekend for a few of my lights as well as the QTC functionality video for my titanium torch.

WOW!

:gimmie:

Gareth · **Reply #96 on:** August 16, 2012, 11:09:58 PM

It's got a superb output as well.

Neil · **Reply #97 on:** August 18, 2012, 09:23:16 PM

Despite the temporary retinal damage I also was quite impressed

Tofty · **Reply #98 on:** August 18, 2012, 11:50:02 PM

Yep, that one must be my favourite: small, powerful and looks pretty good too.

I realised however that after being initially disappointed by it's performance "in the field" that i hate all clicky moded torches, even if it's just high/low i'll always need to cycle through to make sure it's on the highest output mode. Selector rings are ok but a forward and back magnetic slider has to be the way to go for ensuring you can choose the right mode immediately when turning the torch on, with or without an on/off button. The hunt for the perfect light continues.....as it always will.

tattoosteve99 · **Reply #99 on:** August 19, 2012, 05:33:04 AM

Well since you don't like that one you can send it to me for further testing

Scalyman · **Reply #100 on:** August 19, 2012, 11:19:15 AM

Are these Lights one offs or proto-types that will be available to buy??

Tofty · **Reply #101 on:** August 19, 2012, 02:58:51 PM

Sorry Steve i don't hate it that much.

The brass heat-sink torch shown above is definitely a one-off as it may have taken as much as 35 hours to make. It's successor the HS.II may well go into very limited production after it's prototype stage. If other projects are successful 3D printing might be involved.

Tofty · **Reply #102 on:** June 12, 2013, 12:46:26 AM

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since i've posted in this thread.
Hopefully the next couple of months should will make up for it.

Firstly the rendered torch in the post above will be made this month or early July as i now have a fair amount of time to catch up with things.

I also had a gold plated brass version of my silver torch printed:

These parts were ordered from i.materialise and unfortunately they've ended up being too clever for their own good, they add their own casting shrinkage factors to the models to try and match the models original dimensions but internal and external features will change by a different factor so by deviating from my preadjusted dimensions the parts are way off.
The parts for my silver torch that i ordered from shapeways screwed together with no modification at all but these parts were so badly mismatched that they both required extensive machining to fit, including carving both threads from the original square profile of the model back to 60 degree standard profile by hand as the head was far too narrow for the torch body to fit it.

Mike, Lord of the Spammers! · **Reply #103 on:** June 12, 2013, 07:25:48 AM

Problems aside, it certainly looks the part mate

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