Poorman's version of "The Torch"

Here is my homemade version of "the torch." It can be built for around $30. Here are 2 videos of what it can do. Let me know what you think.

PS, what is the purple coming from? Is that IR from the xenon bulb? Or is it just something the camera does?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyrILH_wgD4[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d2lO41ri0Q[/media]

looks fun... [smiley=evil.gif]

the purple might be IR... or a glair... not sure

bugattidude said:

looks fun...  [smiley=evil.gif]

the purple might be IR... or a glair... not sure

Click to expand...

I was thinking it could be a glare in the camera, forgot what it is called, purple fringing is another name for it, so it could be that. You should see this thing melt black plastic trash bags, does that in about 1 second.

hah... god... have u tried it on ur skin?

Nice ! WE need a tutorial on this please !

bugattidude said:

hah... god... have u tried it on ur skin?

Click to expand...

Yep, after about 1 second it is so hot you have a reflex reaction to jerk you hand away, seriously.  I did it to my friend, he didn't believe it was hot so I said, ok, try it. ;D   After about half a second, he smiled and said I don't feel any heat, then a few tenths of a second later he yelled "OUCH" and yanked his hand away.  He said his hand was stinging for about 5 minutes afterwards.  He believes me now ;D

I would estimate this equilavalent to a 200mw laser.  It doesn't light matches as quickly, but will burn anything else just as good or better than a 200mw laser.  I have burned through a cereal box in about 10 seconds.  I have melted WHITE plastic bags.  This things produces some serious heat for sure.  For only $30 it is well worth it IMHO.

All you need is 3 things from dealextreme.  You need a 9v flashlight bulb, 28mm glass optic, and a ultrafire c1 flashlight and your set to go!  Just replace the glass lens with the 28mm glass optic, replace the LED with the 9v drop-in, and use 2 rcr123 batteries and your set to go.  You focus the beam by moving the light closer or farther from the object, best distance is about 1/2 to 1 inch away.

bugattidude said:

looks fun...  [smiley=evil.gif]

the purple might be IR... or a glair... not sure

Click to expand...

it's a camera artifact - the pixels on the image sensor near the center are so overwhelmed with light the signals interfere with the entire column of pixels

hmm... brighter then a camera can focus on... imagine what it would do if it shined in ur eye...

bugattidude said:

hmm... brighter then a camera can focus on... imagine what it would do if it shined in ur eye...

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Yep, it is the only light that does that to my camera. Even my 3 million candlepower spotlight doesn't do that when shined directly into the camera You guys should try this experiment for only $27 total it is worth it IMHO.

Anyone else on here ever build one of these?

Great idea, been thinking of getting myself a super high power flashlight.

How long do the batteries last though? 10 minutes...5?

Can someone post a link to the video as all i see are lego blocks with ? in them?

would the drop in fit in here
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10709

ben74 said:

Can someone post a link to the video as all i see are lego blocks with ? in them?

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Here are the links! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyrILH_wgD4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d2lO41ri0Q

Batteries last about 20 minutes or so, not bad IMO.

jamilm9, I don't see why the drop-in wouldn't fit in the module, but can't say for sure if it will fit. I know it fits in sku 14027 as that is what I use it in. The nice thing is you can switch the LED module in and out in about 15 seconds, so you can go from burning light to powerful illumination light in a matter of about 1 minute total.

Yeah, 20 minutes is definitely not too bad I thought it would drain them in a matter of minutes. Is it 20 minutes with the 123's off DX, or the high quality ones of CPF? I have tons of the sure and ultrafires off DX, but they don't strike me as the pinnacle of quality.

Wow thats cool! any idea of how any lumens?