Lich14 is named after a pulsar. The collapsed core of a star that already burned out, no bigger than a city, still spinning light into the dark long after the star itself is gone. It was the first pulsar ever found to be holding its own planets, a burnt-out thing that never stopped reigning. Felt like the right name for a light small enough to close in one hand. The 14 marks its cell: a single 14500, the AA-sized round.
Prototype I (7/6/2026)
The first prototype came together not long ago. I built it around a Convoy switch, but reworked the housing around it, mostly for the sound. I spend a lot of time with mechanical keyboards, and I’ve come to want that same crisp, clacky feedback out of everything I click. Inside, it runs an 18mm reflector and a 17mm driver on the 14500 cell, and the middle section, right next to the head, is aluminum rather than a separate pill. The knurling on this one came out rough. It was a test run, and it read like one. This prototype was never meant to be functional. I wanted the shape, the switch feel, and the housing sound sorted before I put any electronics behind it.
Prototype II (17/7/2026)
This round fixed the knurling and reshaped the body for a more balanced grip in hand. It runs an H17Fx driver, though a standard Convoy driver drops in just as easily if you’d rather run it on AA. Two brass retaining rings hold the driver and the rubber switch boot in place. The pill stayed aluminum, for the heat dissipation and to keep the weight honest. The one thing still unresolved is the pocket clip. I haven’t landed on a design for it yet.
This one works. Fully functional, switch and all, and the clip is the last piece standing between this and a finished light. Once that’s sorted, I’ll be making a small batch to give away, and Prototype III is already next up.
