Torch Made From Left-over Bits of Wood

In terms of the creative idea and reasons for making this project there were a few particular issues that I had at the time:

Firstly I've got lots of left-over pieces of wood (oak, lime, plywood, etc) that have piled up from previous projects. These pieces of wood ultimately end up being binned and I wished to make something that utilized them.

Next, when it comes to most head torches that can be purchased on the market, there is a limitation in terms of their brightness / battery life. While they are rather useful for keeping your hands free, I wanted to make something with higher brightness and extended battery life. To achieve this I decided to make a torch with a separate battery box, with an extra requirement that it needed to be small enough to fit in my bum-bag. For the battery I chose a small 1.2Ah lead acid battery and for the torch I chose some strip-lights which produce about 2W power at 3V.

Finally I wished to have some ability to control the torches brightness. A higher brightness setting for situations where more light is required and lower brightness settings to save battery life and extend how long the torch can be used for. To accomplish this I would use either a potentiometer or switches / resistors to control the brightness.

Tools used during the construction of this project

• Pillar Drill.
• Hegner Scroll Saw.
• Band saw.
• Disk Sander.
• Sandpaper.
• Hammer.
• Small Paintbrushes.
• Various Screwdrivers.
• Soldering Iron.
• Pliers / Wire Cutters / Strippers.

Materials for Torch Shaft, Head & Battery case.

• Bits of Scrap wood (I used Oak & Plywood remnants from previous projects).
• 6mm Wooden Dowel.
• LED Strip Lights.
• 2" Diameter Frosted Plastic.
• 15 AWG Electrical Wire. (Colours as shown in photos).
• Titebond II wood glue (Or other type of wood glue).
• Linseed Oil.
• 3x 25mm M4 Stainless Steel Bolts.
• 25mm M4 Stainless Steel Countersunk Rivet Nuts.
• Bag of small nails.

Components Required for Circuit Board

• 2x 150Ohm 4W Resistor.
• 1x 47Ohm 7W Resistor.
• 2x Single-pole double-toggle (SPDT) switches (with centre off).
• 15 AWG Electrical Wire. (Colours as shown in photos).
• 5mm Pitch Male / Female Pluggable Terminal Blocks.
• Vero/Strip board.
• 0.5mm Solder Wire.
• Conformal coating.

A: First I gathered up leftover pieces of scrap wood (mainly oak & plywood) from previous projects, then I drew a number of 34mm diameter circles (x9) on the wood before using a scroll-saw to cut them out. I then glued the circles to each other, with Titebond II wood-glue, to create a wooden cylinder 85mm in length. Wood Thickness: Plywood = 8mm; Oak = 10mm.

B: Next I created 3 more circles:

• The first with a diameter of 65mm.
• The second with an outer diameter diameter of 65mm and inner diameter of 51mm, creating a ring shaped piece of wood.
• and finally one with a diameter of about 45mm. I drilled a 6mm hole in the centre.

I then glued the 3 pieces of wood together as shown in the photos. This created the front portion of the torch (head) which will be attached to the shaft (wooden cylinder) of the wood.

C: For the wooden shaft I drilled 4x 6mm holes within the diameter of the circle. I then glued a piece of 6mm dowel into each hole. This was done to give the shaft more strength and durability.

A: I drilled a 6mm hole in the centre of the wooden shaft and used a 6mm piece of dowel to temporarily attach the torch head to the shaft. Initially I assembled the torch so the head was on in reverse and marked a pencil outline around diameter of shaft (pencil outline visible in first photo).

B: Having assembled them the correct way round, I used a pillar-drill to drill 3x 6mm holes at equidistant points within the pencilled circle. The holes were drilled to a depth of 15mm into the wooden shaft. I then inserted 3x M4 Stainless Steel Countersunk Rivet Nuts into the holes in the shaft (using a hammer).

C: Next I used a 9mm Drill Bit to increase the size of the hole in the centre of the wooden shaft. I temporarily fixed a 9mm piece of dowel into the hole then attached the shaft to a pillar drill and used sandpaper to smooth it's sides. I sanded the torch head in a similar fashion with the 6mm piece of dowel.

D: For the LEDs I used some LED strip-lights that were recovered from the bin at work. I chopped 3x LEDs off one of the strip-lights, used a scalpel to isolate tracking, then drilled two small holes on either side of each LED. I fixed each LED to the torch head, with a couple of screws, in between the 3 holes(as shown in photos). I wired red wire to the positive side & black to the negative of the each LED, the other end of the wires was slotted though 9mm hole in wooden shaft's centre. The LEDs where wired in parallel & the LED forward voltage = 3V.

A: I took some 8mm thick pieces of plywood and marked up dimensions for five sides of the main box. Layout diagram shows the various dimensions used for making the box. The overall dimensions were as follows

• Two end pieces: 60mm by 85mm
• Two side pieces: 135mm by 75mm
• Bottom piece: 135mm by 60mm

B: I decided to use Box Joints for interlocking the five sides of the box together. The Interlocking joints were 30mm in length and 8mm deep (as shown in Layout diagram). Box joints added extra strength due to the strong glue bond caused by increasing the surface area.

C: The dimensions on the plywood were cutout using a Bandsaw, with the freshly cut sides being sanded down with sand paper.

D: I gave the assembled torch a couple of coats of Linseed oil.

A: I purchased a 12V 1.2AH Lead Acid Battery from Screwfix. Battery Dimensions are: Height: 58mm; Width: 43mm; Length: 97mm. The plywood box dimensions were calculated for this battery only, for a battery with different dimensions please adjust box size appropriately. A piece of stripboard would be used to mount the brightness control electronics and was cut down to a size so that it would fit snug inside the box.

B: For the electronic circuit board I initially used a 1K potentiometer but decided I preferred a couple of switches together with 3 resistors (2x 150Ohm & 1x 47Ohm). These gave a clearer more defined separation for brightness levels without me having to faff around trying to adjust the brightness. The 3 resistors were soldered onto a small piece of stripboard and wired to two SPDT (centre OFF) switches & connectors as shown in photos / layout diagram.

C: I soldered a 5mm pitch "male terminal block" onto the stripboard which would be plugged into by a "female terminal block" on the end of the Torch wires. The battery wires were connect to a 2 pin header. I covered electronics in conformal coating, using a small paint brush, which protects electronics from moisture.

D: Lid was oblong shaped with dimensions: 60mm by 120mm. Lid fits on top of the box resting on its two sides and between the two end pieces, to hold it in place I used a couple of elastic bands.

E: To mount the two switches, I drilled a couple of 5mm holes in the lid (as shown in the photos). When I attempted to fit the switches I found that the plywood was too thick, so I had to use a knife to remove some of the wood. I then used the switches washers / nuts to fix them in place.

A: I purchased a 2" diameter piece of frosted plastic and used 3 small self-tapping screws to fix in position. Added 4 small screws to torch rim for decoration.

B: Above photos show completed torch.