FOR ANY AND EVERYONE NEW TO THIS THREAD. READ EVERYTHING IN RED FIRST BEFORE POSTING QUESTIONS

These are NOT created yet. They are NOT full lasers. They are HOSTS. We DO NOT have an ETA yet of when these will be ready. THIS is a FEELER thread. IF you do not know what that is READ THE LINK BELOW.

What is a Group Buy?

DO NOT post and say, hey when can I buy one? How much? Can Mine be purple? NO!
These are hosts. ALL GOING TO BE MADE EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. DO NOT ask for special machining, customization, or anything else.

We do NOT have a set price yet. Pontiac guesstimated $75-100 as of now.
There is NO ETA on when they will be done.

Read the damn OP(this post) and do NOT ask stupid questions that have been answered a million times.
If something is not in the OP, feel free to PM me.





UPDATE: 5/25/11
This is pontiacs last post, and most recent update. This is his entire last post.



These will be made of 6061 aluminum. 7075 (I assume you mean 7075, as it is the most common 7xxx series aluminum alloy. There is no such thing as 7025 as far as I know.) will not be used because of the increased cost and resistance to anodizing. 7075 also corrodes faster which is bad for those wanting a polished finish. There is no reason for such a high strength aluminum alloy in this application.

All of these parts except for the trim ring that holds the smartswitch will be threaded together with o-ring seals. This arctic will be a great deal more water resistant than the original but by no means will it be waterproof nor will I make any attempt to do so. Sorry! I really can't see any need to have a 2W laser 100 meters deep anyway. Last I checked, nobody makes laser safety diving goggles. You wouldn't be able to burn anything and the beam quality would be less than ideal for pointing. There are better lasers for this purpose, I suggest you look into one of those.

Most of these parts will be run on live tooling lathes with a few exceptions being run on a 4th axis mill. There is no reason at all to use a 5th axis machine on any of these parts (Where are you seeing parts that need 5th axis work?)

You have to understand, while 100 orders of $100 dollar assemblies might seem like a lot it's really incredibly low in the machining industry. If you want proof of that bring your arctic to a local machine shop and ask them to make you 100 or so. I would bet that you won't like the price they give you too much. The reason I can make them cheaper is because I can go in on weekends and run machines in time where those machines are usually resting for the weekend.
As such it is going to take me some time to completely run all of these parts when I do get started assuming I am devoting 100% of my free time to the project. If I were to start now, while I am trying to work a day job, a night/weekend job as well as many small things on the side I would never get finished. So, I ask for a little more patience, please!



EDIT: 5/13
Sorry for not updating recently. There haven't been many changes. I just wanna say if u need to be on this list and your not on it post again so I can see it and fix it, thanks
Pontiac just posted today that he should be getting to them fairly soon. So you can watch the thread to find cut and I will update it from ow on

If you didn't know,there has been a battery voltage monitor designed by jib. You can have this alsomif you want. It will show your batteries voltage just like the farctic, you can read about it more HERE and on the following pages of the link..

Projected price is still $75-100. We have had no further update on this as of yet. I will begin to update the list later and go through my pm's. So if I missed u posh back and I'll get it done son.

Okay, so we were on another thread talking about we would love to have the arctic HOST, but with a quality built laser inside of it.

So pontiacg5 said he could make the hosts IF he had enough orders to make it worth his while. Quality CNC machined hosts too.

So I pm'ed him and asked if I got enough interest and orders if he could do it, I am still awaiting his answer on how many orders(in the thread he said probably 25-50) and how much it would be.

As soon as he pm's me back I will update this thread, but as of now ANYBODY interested in a quality arctic knockoff host, please inquire here and tell me if you are interested. I will take names and post them here. Like i said as soon as I find out how many people it will take to place an actual order and the pricing I will let everyone know!

We have no current pricing right now, but there isn't going to be any customizing inless Pontiac comes back and says he will. As of right now they are hosts as he makes them all the same.


SO please post if you are interested and we shall see how this goes



Picture of the battery voltage monitor for anyone interested. You can order these through Jib I would say if you want one.


Picture of the pressfit/lens design


This is pontiacs rendering of his host, see post 15 for more details!


People interested-
1. jakeGT 1-3

2. enigmahack 1-2

3. Lordjet 1-2

4. MSwizzle 1-2

5. weidmark 1-2

6. FlaminPyro 1?

7. Tonga 2

8. Anselm

9. Bobby

10. Mohrenberg

11. 00giorge

12. wikemallace

13. Encap

14. mfo

15. Jaxz

16. rhd

17. Helios

18. Arshus

19. Hakzaw1

20. davidbarrick

21. Misellus

22. charliebruce

23. danefex

24. Jollyrajer73

25. Krogith

26. rvrh3

27. bhwollen

28. Coldstl

29. jib77

30. CDHDC

31. Aaron

32. AAlasers

33. Gmh

34. jdkunz

35. Boosted240

36. 532 with envy

37. daniloxx

38. exquzmwa

39. JimBolder

40. Ra1nfade

41. eytyxhs

42. JustinSalaska

43. BrightSpark

44. lpstealth

45. jaylang11

46. Skygear 3

47. TheGreaterWatt

48. bobhaha 1-2

49. FutureOne

50. viperx1101

51. LtKernelPanic

52. jimdt7 1-2

53. kmiller8 1

54. Trias 1

55. Arcaneinsomniac

56. Crazyk187

57. Silvershot

58. rocket689

59. nouthyella

60. petters

61. F35 Lightning II

62. cracked

63. Irradiance

64. frankwi

65. G Fourty

List updated 6/5/11

+1 - I'm definitely interested

Depending on the price, I might get 2.

okay your name is put on the list! hopefully we can get this to happen! im sure we will no problem though

Hey Jake, you can for certain put me down for at least one as well. And like Enigmahack posted, possibly two. Depending on the cost as well

Okay sounds good!

I will probably get one, but if the cost is good, I will probably get 2.

-Matt

I'll also get 1 or 2 depending on price

I would be interested but I don't want a hole in the side I plan on using a end clickie
And it will depend on how much they go for, but I could be interested in several !

Yeah, I would be interested in 1 maybe 2 depending on the price. How would this host assemble?

waiting on pontiacs response, this is just to put names of interested so I can show him that it would be WELL worth his while so everyone keep posting ill keep adding names! once he replys to me I will go forth with all questions!

I might be interested in one myself, if the price is right.
This shouldn't take too long to sum up enough "want"s to make Pontiac see
it'll be worth his while.
Suggestion: don't make to fit an Aixiz-module.

Depending on price, I am interested in 1 or 2.

Think we could fit a ~2W setup into one?

i MAY be interested, depending on price and what it all includes
an image or prototype would be nice to see.
Will they be anodized or no?

If pontiacg5 would answer me I could give u all details! I don't think he's been on all day so I'm still waiting on him and all I know is he said already that he can do quality Cnc machine work!

Alright guys, sorry it's taken me so long to respond back. I've been busy the last two days!



I don't know if any of you remember the renderings of the Arctic I modeled a while back, but I would keep as many of the outside dimensions as possible. I will be leaving the key off of the tailcap as well as the holes for the battery level. I won't be including a hole for a "smartswitch" either.

I don't have any firm numbers on pricing yet but I'll work that out soon. These things are pretty complicated to machine, so they won't be cheap. (It shouldn't be ridiculously priced either though!)

These will have to be machined in at least 7 pieces, however I should be able to press most of those together. (This is how the arctic is done anyway!) I would machine the front finned part as a solid module that the diode presses directly into (no aixiz module!) I could make the front trim ring act as a focus adapter as well. I'm still not exactly sure if that would be the best way to go about it though, I'll need to brainstorm the inner workings a little bit more...

I would sandblast the exterior and anodize them black to get a finish close, if not better, than the original arctic. I don't really have time to go anodizing them a bunch of different colors though so they would all be black. I'd leave the tailclicky the same, but I would try to find a decent forward clicky that would work a lot better than the standard clicky the arctic uses. (The arctic does use a normal clicky right? I seem to remember it that way...)

Anyway, keep the list going. If it gets popular enough I'll start taking deposits and making these things!

I might take 1 or 2 depending on the price.
I have been working out of state for 8 or 9 days at a time, so when you figure out a price and don't hear from me send me a p.m and I will get back to you.

Thanks
Giorge

Pontiac, that's a beautiful piece of work from what I can see. The forward clicky that I think you are referring to is actually the "Smart Switch" located in the finned section of the Arctic. The rear clicky switch turns on the laser and the forward clicky "Smart Switch" brings the laser on line and lets you toggle between modes. I believe the Arctic has 4 sections and the 2 middle sections are pressed together.
Do you have to press them together? If there is no battery indicator and just a forward clicky I don't see why you cannot just make it all screw together. But I'm not the builder here I don't know what all problems are encountered with something of this complex nature. Just my 2 cents.

jake: so you are running the GB: shipping, payment collection, support, etc?

Hey Pontiac, I think I remember reading in another thread that the Arctic is actually GLUED together with super glue! And one individual who rebuilt his, reassembled it using thermal adhesive. Maybe you could just machine the individual host components, ship them in pieces, and let the end user assemble it with the proper adhesive after all the '' guts " are installed? Again, your the man, so you know best!

Yes I am going to run it so when we get the price and everything worked out I will be the one sending Pontiac payments, receiving the hosts, and sending them to you all!

If it has side clicky, and depending on the price, I may be interested.

As long as it has a side clicky, I am in for one (presuming the price isn't crazy)

Pending price I am interested in at least one as well

Forward and reverse clicky refers to the type of switch, not it's position. Forward clicky switches can do both momentary and constant on, reverse switches can only do constant on.

I'd be interested in one too depending on price.