Making a cryptex is all about understanding the mechanics. Once you do, you’ll be able to adapt the mechanism however you want. To better explain how it works, I drew up a quick 3D model of a basic cryptex withonly one lock wheel attached in Google Sketchup

The basic parts in a cryptex are an inner tube, an outer tube, and lock wheels. The inner tube is here red. The blue knob on the picture is attached to the inner tube and acts as a pin in a lock. On a complete cryptex, you’ll have one for each lock wheel. The outer tube, here yellow, should be just big enough to house the inner tube. It also needs a cut down the length of it so that the lock pins/knobs/whateveryouwanttocallthem on the inner tube can fit through the outer tube, making it possible for the inner tube to be inserted into the outer tube with the knobs sliding down the outer tube cut/track/opening/whatever.

The inner tube is what holds you “treasure”. The point of a cryptex is to make the inner tube removable only when the correct combination is entered with the lock wheels. To stop the inner tube from being removed, you have to create a barrier so that the knobs that stick out of the inner tube and through the outer tube gets stuck on something. That’s where the lock wheels come in. Their inner hole should initially be made to fit the outer tube exactly, so that the lock wheels can spin around it. The lck wheels need to be at least twice as thick as the knobs. You then need to duplicate the mechanism seen in the second picture above – half the thickness of the lock wheel should be a wider hole to let the knob spin freely, and the other half should only have a small portion of it cut out to let the knob through.

When the inner tube is inserted completely, the lock wheels will be able to spin freely because the knobs are located in the half of the lock wheel that has a cutout all the way around, like the position in the second image above. However, to remove the inner tube, all the tiny cutouts in the other half of the lock wheel also have to line up to create a single uninterrupted track for the knobs to slide through as the  inner tube is removed. Naturally, the right combination will be the one that makes all these cutouts line up, whereas any wrong combination will have at least one misaligned cutout to prevent the knobs to slide out.

This is how you make a “proper” cryptex, but it can be done simple. My cryptex doesn’t have one knob for each wheel, and it doesn’t have the two different cutouts for each lock wheel. Instead, it has only two knobs. When the inner tube is fully inserted, these knobs rest inside the 6th wheel and end cap of the cryptex, respectively. This allows the other 6 wheels – that is, number 1-5 and 7 – to move freely, even though they only have a cutout that lines up in a certain position. This is easier to make, but easier to “cheat” to open. In theory, you can open a cryptex by pulling on the inner tube while turning all wheels at different speeds. Due to the different speeds, all wheels will sooner or later line up – but it can take ages. Fewer pins/knobs like in my crpytex means you only need to line up two wheels at a time. However, my cryptex is a geocache, so if people really want to cheat that badly, go ahead.

Hopefully this made a light turn on for anyone reading it and wondering how a cryptex works. If not, well, I can’t help you. This might, however.

My beloved Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones have been through a lot and it shows. I’ve had to fix the plug several times because there get throw around and treated unfairly, but it’s a hassle every time. After my roomate got some cheap wireless headphones I did a little mod that will fix both that problem and give me a pair of wireless headphones as well.

The mod is pretty straight forward. I cut off the cable of the DT770 and replaced it with a female 3.5mm jack. That means that I can use any male-male 3.5mm cable I want to connect it to stuff, so no more having to fix the cable if it breaks. Then I took apart the Bluetooth receiver and switched out the headphones that are hardwired onto it with a male 3.5mm cable. It was hard because the thing is very tiny, but it worked. Now I can connect the Bluetooth receiver to my DT770 or my pillow-speaker, the Fiio S3. The former isn’t the prettiest setup ever, but it’ll do the job. I’ll stick with cables for the most part anyways.

Anyone who’s been a geocacher for more than 5 minutes has been asked the question “is there a GPS in the cache?”. I don’t know why people would even think that, but at least with this new product from Garmin there’s a bit of electronic gadget in the cache. A Chirp is basically a tiny battery powered doohickey that sits in a cache and transmits data every couple of seconds. If you have one of the newer models of Garmin GPSr, it will be able to detect the Chirp when it’s within about 10 meters. The point is to store information like real cache coordinates, hints etc in the Chirp and have it be accessible on the GPSr when in range.

Some cachers hate this concept for all it’s worth since it’s tied to one brand (though it’s an open standard). It excludes people with old or non-Garmin GPSrs, it promotes Garmin yad-di-yad-da. The former is a rather idiotic argument as a shitload of caches exclude some users. Mystery caches that require a high IQ or math skills, multicaches that require a car etc. Just because handicapped people can’t find a forest cache or people who are bad at math can’t solve a mystery cache doesn’t mean those caches shouldn’t be there. After all, the cache owners pay for the caches themselves and do all the work, so it should be up to them what they do with it. There’s still plenty of room on the planet for caches, so no need to be picky yet.

As for promoting a brand, well guess what- someone always have to be first with a new feature. Geocaching is a very middle aged heavy hobby, and unfortunately that means there’s quite a few cachers who couldn’t turn off the screen lock if you handed them a touch screen phone. With the massive new feature sets introduced to geocaching by smartphones and recent generation GPSrs it’s going to cause more than a few grey hairs in the skulls of those people.

Anyways, that’s what the Chirp is. I bought some stuff from Amazon through a friend recently and the Chirp was a last-minute throw. I probably won’t get to use it until spring (the cold here in winter would kill either it or the battery) but it will be fun to play with when that happens, especially since there are only one (or a few) such caches in Norway yet. Where I’ll put it and whether it will be Chirp only I don’t know, but I’m going to archive many of my “tourist caches” and focus more on elaborate caches anyways so whatever I do it won’t be an LPC.

This is mostly a video review, 40 minutes worth (half of it on batteries, so relax), but for the sake of adding some text I’ll throw in some links to the flashlights in the review.

The cheapest of the bunch is the $3 generic “mini 30 lumen” flashlight from DealExtreme. It’s by far the cheapest, less than 1/10-1/15 of the price of the Preon (twisty/clicky prices), but also the weakest. 30 lumen is an overstatement, and 10 lumen is close to the truth. The build quality is also not the best, and it generally feels cheap. But hey, it’s $3 shipped!

The next on the list is the Black Cat HM-01, also from DealExtreme. At $8 it’s still very cheap, and is much better overall than the generic $3 light. Brighter, better build quality, and despite being weaker and having quite a bit more artificts in the beam than the next on the list the tint is much better.

The TANK007 TK-703 is $11 from DealExtreme, and while it does have a very annoyingly blue tint in my opinion it throws as far as the 160 lumen Preon 2 (2xAAA configuration of the Preon modular flashlight), but obviously with a much smaller hotspot than the semi-flood Preon. The TK-703 vs the HM-01 is a matter of tint vs brightness, when it comes down to it.

The iTP A3 EOS Upgrade Edition is the first of the two “real” brand name lights. iTP is a budget brand, but still recognized (not to say the TK-703 and HM-703 doesn’t deserve a lot of credit for the value/price). I cut off the lanyard attachement on the end end painted parts of it with glow in the dark paint on my A3, but you’ll still recognize it on Shiningbeam ($20 + shipping).

Lastly is the light I actually use, and plan on using for the forseable future- the Preon. The Preon is a modular light that can be used with either a clicky switch or as a twisty as well as 1xAAA and 2xAAA configurations. I use the Preon 2 configuration as it’s much brighter and not that much bigger. You can buy the Preon 1 (with twisty) and buy a clicky switch and Preon 2 body on the side, a Preon 2 and the Preon 1 body on the side, or anything you like- you can even buy all the parts separately like I did. 4sevens is the place, $37-> depending on configuration, material, emitter etc. The most expensive choice of these 5, but at least you get free shipping and the coupon code CPF8 gives you 8% off.

So to the actual review…

So over to the parts I couldn’t cover in the videos; beam strength and tint.

Beam strength

The lumen ratings given by the manufaturers are normally overstated and just plain wrong and impossible to compare directly, so I’ll let pictures do the talking instead. All lights were loaded with fresh Energizer AAA Ultimate Lithium batteries when the pics were taken, and for the multi-mode A3 and Preon they were set to high.

1/15 sec exposure, f/5, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Generic light, f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Black Cat HM-01, f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

TANK007 TK-703, f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

iTP A3 EOS Upgrade Edition, f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Preon 1, f/5, 1/15 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

1/5 sec exposure, f/5, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Generic light, f/5, 1/5 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Black Cat HM-01, f/5, 1/5 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

TANK007 TK-703, , f/5, 1/5 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

iTP A3 EOS Upgrade Edition, f/5, 1/5 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Preon 1, f/5, 1/5 sec, ISO-200. White balance: daylight

Tint comparison

The tint might actually vary from one light to the other within the same production batch, and the Preon in particular is available in special editions with other emitters. However I can of course only show you the lights I have, so take it with a grain of salt – shouldn’t be miles off in any case. The exposure on the pics below differ as what would light up the photos nicely with one light would make a blinding light with another. The white balance is still set to daylight, and the color of the light is the point in these comparison pics.

Generic light

Black Cat HM-01

TANK007 TK-703

iTP A3 EOS Upgrade Edition

Preon 1

Final verdict

With the exception of the Black Cat HM-01 and the TANK007 TK-703, these lights are priced completely different. As such, budget constraints might end up being the deciding factor in choosing one over the other. If money is no object, I really like the Preon (especially in the Preon 2 configuration) and even though I like the tint of the A3 better the modular system and the overall quality of the Preon (including the special hidden modes; SOS, beacon, strobe) makes it a winner in my book. If money really is no object, the S2 edition Preon 2 Titanium is currently $75 on 4sevens.com. However if you do buy that one, lock your door or I’ll come steal it!

I’ve made a bunch of paracord lanyards with the classic Leatherman logo colors, black and yellow. There are some with snake knots, some with square knots, and some with cobra knots. How many I give away will depend on how many people enter, but one lanyard per winner. The first finner will get first pick, second winner will get second pick, etc.

To enter, send an email to contest@andreasodegard.com with your name (nothing else). I will draw X number of random winners in about a week (when I have the time) and contact them via email.

The lanyards will ship with normal uninsured mail, as that’s the only way it’s affordable. Hopefully they will still make it where they’re going. The contest is open worldwide, as long as the country in question has a mentally stable postal system.

November 24 update: contest is over and winners have been contacted.

The video for this one ended up being 30 minutes, so I won’t retype all I said here. I do however have some additional comments that might not have been fully covered in the video.

With regards to tint, that’s one thing I’ve always found it a pain in the ass to show on pics and videos because cameras compensate for it. Tint is basically the color of the light, whether it looks slightly re, yellow, blue, green, white etc. It affects how objects you light up look compared to how they’d look in sunlight which is how it’s “supposed” to look. Luckily there are people out there with far more experience than me on this subject, so I’ll refer you to selfbuilt’s guide to tints on CPF.

I did however try my best to at least show the basic principle of the tint difference between my three AAA lights by taking a few pics with my DSLR, with the white balance set to sunlight, 1/15 second exposure and an aperture of f.5.0. These lights have very different beams and output though so that clouds the result a little bit. However you can see the color difference in the light produced.

From top to bottom: iTP A3 Upgrade Edition, Tank007 TK-703 and 4sevens Preon 2. The A3 has a clear yellow tint, which makes it look more like real sunlight and produces the most natural colors. The TK-703 has a blue tint, which makes everything look rather unnatural in my opinion. Lastly the Preon’s tint is green-ish, which is somewhere in between (probably because green is a mix of blue and yellow). Not as unnatural as the TK-703, but not as natural as the A3. I don’t know the fancy names for the tints and these are just my observations, I don’t pretend to be an expert on flashlights as that’s what we have the people at CPF for. These pictures also show the difference in beam strength and shape especially the difference between the tight TK-703 hotspot and the smoother hotspot of the Preon and A3.

Also regarding being water proof, I brielfy mention in the video how you lose that ability when you mess with the tailcap rubber thingy. By default the light is waterproof according to the IPX-8 standard, which means you can submerge it down to 1m+. In other words you can take it swimming, but not diving.

As for prices, there are a whole lot of different Preons currently available. Different colors, titanium instead of aluminum etc. Instead of explaining all here, just head over to 4sevens.com and see what they have. There is also a Preon ReVo light, but that doesn’t use the modular system of the Preon 1 and 2. Also, if you do buy from there, orders of $20-> means you can use coupon CPF8 to get 8% off (I of course forgot to do that…).

Lastly the mod and accessories I did for this light. There’s a tritium mod which adds a self-luminating tritium vial to the pocket clip for locating the light in the dark. The tritum vial and the Norland 61 optical adhesive were both bought from CPF marketplace, from this guy and this guy respectively.

I also made a couple of diffusers. The first one is made from a upside down frosted glass soap tray, a Romisen RC-N3 AA extension tube, some aluminum foil and hot glue. When the Preon is “docked” in that thing on my nightstand I can see the locator and know the clicky is right above it, and the diffuser spreads the light well enough to see what I need. In fact, in Preon 2 configuration on high mode it’s ridiculously bright. The second diffuser is a plastic housing from a lipstick shaped hard candy stick filled with some hot glue. Instead of using a reflector when walking the streets at night I put on the diffuser and hang the light down my side with the pocket clip. Works brilliantly and much more visible than a reflector.

Below is the videos and a bunch of extra pictures.

A while back I had an idea for a system to attach a spork to my Squirt PS4. I did a prototype using some hardening model clay but the whole thing was a bit bulky. The only way I could see it be practical would be if the whole thing was made of metal and a solid piece, like the 3D model mockup:

Today though it hit me that there was a much, much easier way of doing this that didn’t require anything special at all. The whole idea is to have a spork/spoon/etc that has a wide enough flat handle to be able to cut and bend it and cut out a slot for he PS4 (and other squirt models’) flat Phillips head screwdriver. The idea worked brilliantly and it was a very quick and easy mod to do. I am going to pick up some ehatshrink to add “walls” to the Phillips slot tomorrow but it already works the way I hoped just from the pressure of the bent handle. When I get my hands on that spork I ordered ages ago I will probably do the same to it as this seems like the easiest way of making a Squirt attachement.

The tools in the kit was just what I needed to make the part necessary for the liner lock mod. Making the holes for the pivots was the hardest part since I had to do it using the wrong tools still (had no drill) but I managed to do it. Everything works fully, doesn’t add much thickness and I’, generally very happy with it. See the video and pictures for more details.

On Sunday I attended my first geocaching event, Mjøstreff. There have been other events since I started geocaching of course, but none that suited me in terms of transport and timing. This one however was located just a couple of hundred meters from where I live here in Hamar so it suited me perfectly.

It was a lot of fun, about 20 or so people stopped by in the 3.5 hours I was there (from beginning to end, since I didn’t have anything else to do). A couple of cachers I’d seen before as well as spoken to on phone, but mostly new faces. I will definitely attend more events when I have the time.

I’m also working on a new cache to place here in Hamar, and to make sure that it doesn’t suffer the same faith as others around here (one of them mine) and ending up being muggled I’ve done a bit to camouflage it. Hot glue + sand and small stones and a bit of model paint to top it off and the resulting cache is definitely more discreet than the original white plastic box. It’s obvious when you get it into the light, but the point here is to make it invisible when hidden in a dark crevice and I think it will blend in just fine.

I’m in college so I live in something in between a dorm room and an apartment (the concept doesn’t really exist in the US), and so I have very limited access to tools compared to what I have at home. That’s why a fairly simple thing to do like making the spring needed for the Squirt line lock mod is suddenly not so simple anymore. Since I couldn’t do that, I started thinking about why I need a locking blade on the PS4 and came to the comclusion that opening things like heat sealed thick plastic packaging is really what I need it for. I then realized that I could make a smaller blade shaped like an x-acto blade and basically solve the problem that way.

This was a very simple mod to do, only requiring using a cutting wheel on my Dremel on one of my spare Squirt/style blades. By making the blade like that, I move the tip from the back and to the front and reduce the overall length of the blade, which accomplishes two things: first off, applying pressure to the tip now forces the blade open rather than forcing the blade towards the pivot point and close to forcing it closed. Secondly, the shorter length means less leverage is applied and you need more force on the tip to make it shut.

The result is absolutely perfect. Not only can I now open plastic packaging without risking losing a finger or two, but I can also cut through things that I previously couldn’t. This basically means I don’t need a liner lock blade, so I can scrap that project for now.

Check out the video below to see the knife in action.