To look at these pictures physically hurts me.
Hurts me because I know I can't have it! :D
Amazing work, Sloth. I know I have told you that a dozen times, so here is a dozen and one. ;D
Wow, thanks, Caine, I appreciate that...
One of the things that bugged me was the state of my main canister, the part that sits under the clamp. I had cobbled it together while figuring out how I wanted things to go. I was hesitant at first, but knew I needed to remake this piece. Mainly to allow for the activation/aux switch setup and a little more support for the crystal chamber mount. The extra lip around the brass chamber mount also mates to the step I machined in the grenade section, for a bit more stability when it's closed. I just lathed the threads out of that spot to make a smooth shoulder.
You can see the clamp in the top part of the picture. It is cut out for the recharge port that you can see floating in the rear of the canister. In front of that, is a pivot that is hinged in a milled out spot.
The arm that is attached swings between the two 90degree tactile switches. One will be for activation of the CFLS, one will be for the aux button. I had to machine a 'transistor' button that is threaded into the other end of the swing arm. This will go through the square tab in the graflex clamp from the outside, and tie into the arm, letting me push the transistor down for activation, and up for aux.
This whole setup fits within the inside diameter of the clamp, and the inside diameter of the battery compartment.
To mount the switches, I have a set of 1/16 holes drilled in the flat spot, where I will crimp the switch mounting tabs to. I also have a spot milled out under the switches for the wires to clear.
Here you can see the inside wall of the battery can, and the bottom of the switch area. Sort of. Sorry for the crumby cellphone pics.
Here's the inside of the battery can. I had to machine it quite a bit more than my previous model, to account for battery placement, but still leaving enough material for mounting screws for the crystal chamber mount and the graflex clamp (more on that later)
Not sure if it's too visible in this shot, but I am beginning to mark with a sharpie all the spots I need to cut. I need to drill and tap for set screws, holes for the springs to sit, and shave off a few bits around the plug connector. I'll need to shorten the back end of the crystal chamber mount, and massage a few things into place.
Not shown is work I have done on the LED string. I started that, and will have something new and neat to show. New for me, not new to the planet, but it should improve my LED strings.