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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Machinist's Kits

Hello machinists! I've been thinking about offering flashlight kits when I get things dialed in. Basically I'd provide everything you need except for the metal stock. These are the exact same components I'm using in my lights. I'll even provide a full set of plans. Make some lights for yourself or make some awesome one of a kind gifts for friends and family!

Kits would include:
  1. High power LED mounted to 20mm star (two LED options)
    1. Cree MCE ~ 750 lumens
    2. Cree XRE-R2 ~ 335 lumens
  2. 2.8 Amp or 1.4 Amp 3 mode LED driver (high, medium, low)
  3. Contact spring
  4. Forward clicky tailcap switch 
  5. Switch boot
  6. UCL optical glass window with double sided AR (Anti-Reflective) coating
  7. Flood reflector or Aspheric optic
  8. Mil-spec 22 AWG, silver plated, teflon coated, stranded copper wire
  9. XTAR MP1 single bay CC/CV li-ion battery charger
  10. AW 18650 2600mAh li-ion battery
  11. Buna-N o-ring set
  12. one pad of thermal adhesive tape for mounting the LED star
  13. Full set of dimensioned drawings
If you are interested, email me and I will send you a link to a signup sheet. 

My email: jason(at)darksucks(dot)com

Right now this seems like a good idea if there is enough interest, otherwise it's probably not worthwhile...so getting your name on the list makes it more likely I'll go to the trouble!

This signup is for "interest only" and does not represent an obligation on your part to purchase, or on my part to deliver. 

Pricing is preliminary and subject to change. Prices are listed on the signup sheet that you can access if you email me. They might seem high at first glance, so here are three things to keep in mind. 
  1. These components are all top-end and expensive to start with
  2. In order to buy these components yourself, you'd have to get them from 10 different suppliers. If you consider a minimum of $5.50 for USPS flat rate shipping that's more than 50 bucks right there. 
  3. I'm only one person, my time is limited, and putting kits together is a lot of repeated (boring) manual labor...so selling them has to be worth my while :) 

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