Several months ago, local CPF'er Sonic acquired some aluminum project boxes and gave me one. We both pretty much sat on them all this time, planning to make some kind of mods with them eventually.

As luck would have it, we both began fiddling with them about the same time and when we talked recently, we discovered we both had similar ideas as to what kind of mods we should make with them. Actually there were fundamental differences between our planned projects, but being we both planned to convert aluminum boxes into flashlights, a friendly little race was suddenly on to see who could complete theirs first.

I was lucky in that I had everything on hand to make mine, whereas Sonic's one will be revealed a little later since he is waiting on a few specialized parts. Anyway he knows I am going to post mine tonight, so here goes my rough draft of a mod:

I will have a beautifully machined bezel on the faceplate of this light soon, instead of the (also highly elegant) masking tape now used to hold the reflectors in place. There may also even be lenses on them....

This picture will give a feel for the Space Case's size:

And with the same basic drivetrain as a Space Needle II (make that TWO Space Needle IIs), any questions about what kind of brightness might be expected is settled immediately:

I had two spare 5W HD Luxeons laying around, a V2T (on the left) and a U3V (on the right), and you can note the interesting difference in color presentation from each Bin Code. This beamshot is only from about two feet away, where the two beams just begin to converge:

Here are the guts. It looks pretty empty until you realize most of that space is taken up by the two big Mag reflectors once the box is screwed together:

Close up of the slide switch:

And if you ever wondered what kind of output would be produced by putting two Space Needles together, I was too lazy to unscrew the box lid so here is the lux reading just from the half-used batteries:

I will post more pictures once I get the bezel fitted. Then I will sand and smooth the body and probably use either black paint or judiciously applied panels of skateboard tape. And of course a real brightness test using FRESH batteries.

Proudly presenting: the Space Case...

10.4.03 Space Case Refined

I received two beeyootifully machined bezel pieces from another prominent CPF'er and promptly drilled and tapped the eight necessary holes to complete the Space Case once and for all. I also replaced the spent batteries while the lid was off and took another, final lux reading:

The attention to detail was incredible. Even the screw holes were beveled:

And the output with fresh 123's was...(drum roll please, followed by cymbal crash):

That's 12,670 lux!!!

But I don't think I will make any more of these, way too much work, especially getting the Luxeons aligned and to the right height for optimal focus.

Thanks Paul!!!