limited production :: hand crafted :: high performance :: rechargeable :: premium flashlights

This is my blog about creating a startup LED flashlight business. I'm a designer, fabricator, and strategist and I'm passionate about making ideas real. I believe that products are about people, that they should be built to last, deliver real value, and that we need to do a better job than we have in the recent past.

Most of my career has been contract or freelance work and I've crafted products and strategies for both big international companies and startups. I also used to work in the "industry" fabricating special effects for film and TV, along with the occasional hot rod. Bottom line, I love making things.

I'm starting this blog so you can follow along, from day one, and see what it's like to start a business, or fail in the process. Only time will tell, but I hope you find this interesting enough to stay tuned, comment, link, like, tweet, and (most importantly) participate in turning this idea into something tangible and valuable.

For a good place to get started with general info about who, what, why, etc., check out the "Stickies" on the left side of the page. Thanks for stopping by and please don't hesitate to ask questions and get involved!

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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Behind the Scenes: Cutaway View

Just a quick peek inside the anatomy of a flashlight. I posted the exploded view a while back and this post is a follow up to that. A cutaway! I've always geeked out on cutaway views so I thought it was time to do my own. The main reason was so that I could actually check fit and clearances on the battery. If I can't physically see inside it's just a bunch of math. I'm an applied research person, not a math person. So, this is what it looks like.

Click the image for a 1024x768 size version
Turn out the math was correct...or at least my 3D model. I left the band in the center of the body so the whole thing wouldn't collapse as I was machining it. You can also see the substantial piece of solid aluminum that sits just behind the LED. This absorbs the heat and then transfers it to the entire head of the flashlight. This means the body will also start to pick up heat. It's hard to see but the first 1" of the body is bored out so the battery "floats" and does not touch the walls, preventing direct heat transfer to the battery and driver.

Posted by Jason at 9:37 AM
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