Thank you! 
OK I figured that was the case (specific to zoomie's) but thanks for confirming!
P.S. Most likely it was an auto-correct thing but I think you meant artistic (and no, I'm not a grammar police just that autistic would totally change the context here...
)
I guess you can call it an artistic thing too. 
:partying_face:
Reflowed my first triple!
Havenāt connected it to a driver yet, but I did a continuity check on the jumpers to make sure they werenāt shorting, and the LEDs lit up 
Well done, Erethryn! 219Cās?
Nice Job! Nichiaās :+1:
Thanks.
Yes, theyāre the 5000K 219C from clemenceās GB.
Some quick testing with the ReyLight driverā¦
UltraTac K18 Brass with lighted switch.
Added a white lighted low profile switch with cyan GITD silicone cover.
Switch is white when unlocked and glows cyan when locked out.
That worn out look is awesome CRX. Love it!
I actually took the first steps towards actually having a small FOUNDRY on my property, lolā¦ I have no idea what the neighbors will think, and dont really care.
and by āfoundryā? I meanā¦ I melted the aluminum, I adjusted the MELTā¦ then cast it into the approximate shape I wantedā¦ THIS resulting piece of metal? was what i started machining on, in my attempt to make a flashlight from scratch.
I know when i started fabricating with hand tools, from watching OLD LUMENS pictures of builds? I felt sort of āmachoā. When i finally had my own āhalf a millingā setup going? Felt more āmachoā. When i bought a small lathe and started to use it for more operations? I felt even more āmanlyā and āmachoā.
but THIS? good lord, I am simply walking around sweating testosteroneā¦ LMAO.
==
its only baby steps in the right direction? Butā¦ if i can refine the operation and build a bigger apparatus I need? I might be able to cast a WHOLE LIGHT, ten machine out the insides, such that the entire light is one solid piece of aluminumā¦ that would be no pill to sink losses, no sink to light body lossesā¦ nothng. It should be, i am hoping if i can make it workā¦ other than opening the battery compartment to swap batteries? the entire whole body from inside to outside is the one gigantic āpillā and āheatsinkā in one piece.
the āmachoā aspect of this? It is highly labor intensiveā¦ I spent about 12 hours straight, working over a raging coal fire fed air to make it hotterā¦ giant burns and blisters erupt INSTANTLY even through the heat-proof welding glovesā¦ i get sunburn in the middle of winter from red-hot molten liquid aluminumā¦ i have any number of bad cuts on my fingers from sheet metal is sharper than it looks.
i am reminded of the members name āVestureOfBloodāā¦ IE, his name means he has āinvested actual BLOODā into his own modding and working on lights?
well, whatever āspellā was completed? I bled like a stuck pig into a vat of molten aluminum, and didnt dare drop it, because 10 hours in?? i dont want to lose all that work trying to accomplish this.
PS - this is in no way ācommercially viableā, by the wayā¦ the amount of heat, the length of time, burning straight thru solid steel melt-pots in minutesā¦ re melting mistakes over and overā¦ all before any machining starts?? it is in no way a commercially viable thingā¦ i am trying this just to see what its like to do itā¦ lol
(and i am sweating testosterone all week after doing it, lol, very āmachoā work)
You can buy 1 piece flashlights for example from nitecore
One is the EC4GT
But machining out the battery compartment and implement the driver will be challenging
Modded a blue Convoy S2+ host with metal clicky that Iāve had laying around for awhile.
- Emitter: triple XPL-HI 5A2 4000K
- Optic: Carclo 10507
- Driver: DrJones H17F with lucidrv 2
I started by shortening the pill, the same way as on a previous mod: modding the convoy s2+ mini
After shortening the pill, I decided that rather than making this an 18500 light like the previous mod, for this mod I wanted the light to use 18650. I also wasnāt going to install a side-switch since the whole point of these newer S2+ was to take advantage of the superb metal clicky.
With the shortened pill, there was far too much space in the battery compartment for an 18650. Initially, I was thinking to try my hand at shortening the battery tube via the āhuman latheā method. However with a bit more thought I realized there was a much easier way to shorten the light:
I pulled out the hacksaw and chopped the back of the head off. Then I filed a couple mm off the end of the screw threads at both ends of the battery tube. Result is a Convoy S2+ triple that is 12mm shorter than stock (104 mm modded compared to 118 mm stock). The modded light can also use the 18350 battery tube and an 18350 cell (total length 72 mm with 18350).
Additional work to be done on this light:
- grind off the bottom-most threads on the head to make room for the battery tube o-ring (until this is done thereās no o-ring between the tube and head).
- wait for illuminated switch assemblies to arrive.
- possible remove blue anodizing and polish the bare aluminum.
Can you post some pictures of that foundry, your work sounds very interesting. How do you get those high temps to melt aluminum (had to look it up, almost 700 C)? Do you make some kind of molds to pour melted aluminum into?
CULAā¦
in the interest of ābudgetā, i am using my COAL FURNACE. it closely resembles the biggest āpot belly stoveā anyone ever saw. The main portion that is the firebox? Is a gigantic cast iron bowl, in excess of 1 inch thick all around. because it is so thick and made out of cast iron and so big? I am able to heat it up the the point it goes ācherry redā hotā¦
the fuel for this raging furnace? around 100 to 150 pounds of coal for one firing. With the amount of air i am feeding the fire? this would normally be enough coal to heat the entire house for more than 24 hours. Because i am feeding it so much air? it only lasts a couple of hours. only a small portion of THAT burn time is suitable for melting aluminum.
at these temperatures? i am burning thru solid steel 1/10th of an inch thick in under a half hourā¦ my ābudget crucibleā right now is cut apart gas tanks. But, i need much thicker steel crucibles, so they can take the heat longer.
just imagine taking a HOUSE COAL FURNACE from the āold daysāā¦ and cranking the fire and heat up past the ādanger zoneā of over firing it, LMAOā¦ if this thing would happen to CRACK the firebox and split apart while i am working right next to it? Iām dead. Simple as that. If i am not dead, i will wish i was and wont have feet and lower legs.
I have already learned the difference between āfire retardentā clothing? and fire-PROOF. Its a world of difference, ask me how i know this, ha ha.
=
things i have to do yet?
I have to build, pretty much from scratchā¦ a large OUTDOOR furnace that will do what this puppy is doing with me abusing it inside my house. Outside? if the firebox would split and dump the red/white hot fire out? I can simply step away and be safe. (āsafeā is a word i am using very loosely here, ha ha)
I also have to get away from a crucible to melt the aluminum in, and then pour the molten aluminum into a moldā¦ this has to be ābottom pourā where i can release a latch to let the molten aluminum flow out and into the mold(s).
I also have to start cleaning the scrap aluminum, melting it, and fluxing itā¦ in ONE operation where i pour āclean ingotsā of aluminum out into ingot moldsā¦ then a SECOND OPERATION will be re-melting the clean ingots, for a final pour into the mold shape. Right now i am doing it in one big long operation, and i am losing aluminum every step of the way trying to do it all in one big long operation.
once i get all that doneā¦ I am reading up on making sand casting moldsā¦
i know i cant get ātrueā all one piece out of this? but, the head of the flashlight will be āall pillā.
===
i am starting to wonder if i can manage to pour molten aluminum directly into the head of a MAGliteā¦ the resulting MAGlite head? would then be one gigantic heatsink. I will machine the top to take a MCPCB, and the bottom side to take the driver and battery contactā¦
the only thing stopping me from trying it? is i am afraid i will melt the whole head, or, warp the small threads to the point they dont fit the body any moreā¦
if this would work? i could pour into the HEAD of a large flashlight, turning the entire head into one gigantic heat sink.
That all sounds very scary sedstar, and very cool too. Wether it will be succesful or not, if you care to take pictures during the process without killing yourself, that would be very much appreciated :sunglasses:
someone else is going to have to operate the cameraā¦ i am only one man with 2 hands and i wish i had a couple more hands doing thisā¦ when i have refined (pun intended, lol) the process a little more? You can rest assured i will brag a little and post some picturesā¦
I have two ādefiant 650ā throwersā¦ these are not the āDST 650ā that was site famous? These are the ānext years modelā that were really good for modding? and throwy reflectors? just not ātheā DST650ā¦ one i kept stock for myself, and gifted the other to a muggles buddy. It was his āfavorite flashlightā for over a whole year?? during which time he never changed out the stock 3xD cellsā¦ when it finally ādiedā and he couldnt get the light open to change batteries??
i got the light back, lolā¦ MINE runs fine at stock unmoddedā¦ āhisā i had to get it open and disassemble it and clean out all the alka-leak badness in itā¦ it was no small feat, but, i got it done and the light survived, just is no longer pretty.
i am considering trying to pour the large deep head chock full of molten aluminum, as a TEST to see if it warps the body-to-head threadsā¦ if it passes this test? that light head will become one giant single piece āpillāā¦ and allow me to try it on my 4-D MAGlite head I have laying aroundā¦
the resulting defiant head? would have the deep reflector gone, replaced by a gigantic heat sink that is the entire headā¦ i am guessing i would machine the outside of the head to accept a focusing tube, make it into a gigantic zoomie. I just happen to have a few high quality optical lenses around, from all my night vision optical workā¦
it should be obvious, the new head would accept nearly any powerful LED i wanted, i thinkā¦
My first driver using the ATtiny84A MU. With the smaller size I can now fit all 16 x AMC7135s and a spring pad on a 20mm PCB. With the 84ās additional pins I can turn on any number of the 7135s in constant current, using PWM on a single dedicated 7135, and have E-switch, voltage divider and power off detection on separate pins (although combining them is reliable).
Since the 84A is supposed to have PicoPower capabilities I should be able to switch off BOD during sleep and also experiment with sleep walking features, so I should be able to get longer off times without needing a 200uF cap. I havenāt started those tests yet, just finished porting my 85 firmware to 84.
All those vias are so I can perform some acupuncture to flash the MCU. No need to remove the driver from the light:
I have updated my FET drivers to the 84A MU too, but I wonāt start building them until I have the firmware completed.
ThorFire VG10 Quad
Baked to a champagne with polished head
XP-L HI V3 3C on Tpad Quad. MtnE Fet+1 Bistro, Carclo 10622 24mm quad Narrow Spot Plain TIR, Springs bypassed. Tpad soldered to copper spacer.
Wave modded some Enlan EL01 folders .
Nothing is quicker when you need a blade right now .
