Custom Designed Titanium AA Light
An interesting project that fell into my lap. Seems that a fellow
CandlePower Forums member had a bar of Titanium kicking around his house, but no lathe to turn it with. However, he did want a AA Titanium light, so he offered the bar of Ti in return for a custom made AA flashlight.
The interesting part, for me, came about because, one, I was fairly new to operating a lathe, and, second, I had never worked in Titanium before, although I was well aware of its reputation for being difficult to machine. But I enjoy a challenge, so I offered to make the light for Derrik.
When the bar of Titanium arrived, I discovered that the bar was actually smaller in diameter than was originally stated. Certainly that
wasn't the end of the world, but it did present some design limitations--no deep grooves, no shaping of the body could be done and still expect to cram a AA battery in there as well. I opted to try some milling of dimples into the battery tube, with a tapered pattern to the diameters of the dimples. That would hopefully provide some grip, as well as look attractive.
For those who might like to follow the building of the light, and the learning process, please take a look at the thread on Candlepower Forums.