Hollow BKBT stalk

Oh man was this a drag, took forever to do, but it's worth it! I bought a 3/16" VERY long drill bit, which was just thin enough to fit in the stalk. I put the stalk in a vice, and very slowly drilled through, stopping every few seconds to clean it out and make sure it was straight.

It's impossible to see in the photos, but theres a tiny bit near the bottom where the drill poked through the surface, but a little Bondo and RNB hid it perfectly. That, and it doesn't show through the earcap.

It's more than thick enough for two wires, but since the post is aluminum I will just run one wire straight to the battery, and the other will be connected to the post. On the mounting piece of the earcap, I will make a little plate which connects to the battery. The end result will be exactly like a switch, so no need for a mercury or tilt switch! And of all that needs to go in the RF top is the LEDs, so I'll be able to use a more accurate top I'll post more when I get the other pieces done.

Nice! LMK when you have time to do mine! LOL
OSK

**** nice!!

Very nice indeed. That must have taken you a good amount of time worth of drillin...

-Tony Vida; TK 3204; Austin, Tx

Nice work! I'm glad you were able to finally find that BIT!
Now, send it my way, LOL!!

Wow. You should be a doctor or something. I'm sure that takes a steady hand! Looks like your hard work paid off!

Can you explain your switch idea again, not sure I get it.
Great work on the stalk though, i tried this with a resin stalk and would get hot inside and melt holes in the stalk, had to scrap it.

Thanks guys

TK-Fett, this is what I meant, hopefully this makes it clear. When in the down postition, the aluminum post itself makes a complete curcuit, so there is no need for a tilt/mercury switch.

Thats pretty friggin cool Graeme. I had a similar idea myself, but was worried I'd never get the hole drilled strait. How much do those extra long drill bits cost???? Awesome Idea man
Damian

It cost about $11 Canadian, so it'll probably be like $2 US
It's made by a company called Blue-Mol, its a 3/16" XL Extended Length black oxide drill bit. I found it in the drill bits section at Home Depot.

That's EXACTLY how I did mine. The stalk completes the circuit in the full down position, giving the lights power. Anything other than the full down position, and the lights are off.

Where can I get one of those "circut board" things that makes the LED lights blink alternately? I just received my bucket today and want to rig up my RF the same way you did yours.

I know Bobo used to, but I don't know if he does anymore.
I'm going to try this out, just need to figure out the proper resistors for the blinking rate.
http://wild-bohemian.com/electronics/flasher.html

Umm .... I understood nothing from that. Tell us what kind of resistors/capacitors/transistors you use.

LOL yep don't worry, once I get it working I'll try and post something more understandable to people who can't read schematics.

Daft question, but how did you manage to find a drill long enough to drill the length of the stalk?

They had a bunch at Home Depot in the drill bit section, it wasnt exactly as long as the stock, so I had to flip it around halfway through. The smallest I could find was 3/16", and a couple times it went through the surface. Fortunately its in an area hidden by the earcap.