[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

If you search the net to purchase a “block of aluminum” google will show you nothing other than square, flat, or rectangular stock. Anyhow, I get the point…

Teacher, I would like to be on the same page here. This block or chunk of aluminium is round stock and I would assume it is being turned in a CNC lathe?

I’m curious to how this reflector is being machined. Do you or anyone know of the page this info can be found or if this information was revealed, possibly a separate thread?

Not everyone here realizes how much work and time is involved into producing such a (masterpiece) flashlight like this…!

As far as machining goes, I think we should shine some light on the subject. I think it may help ease the frustration of some of those who were unsatisfied or complaining about there reflectors finish.

:open_mouth: THAT THING LOOKS AWESOME!!

Correct, the GT has a massive 45mm diameter mcpcb. Richard carries them up to about 27mm. Keep in mind that the Convoy L6 with its xhp70 and 9,000 lumen potential (for the 70.2 and fet driver) only uses a 20mm mcpcb.

The reason the GT needs the massive size, even though it’s only putting out 2,500 lumen, is because of the massive reflector. The base of the reflector and centering ring are quite huge by normal flashlight standards.

See the base diameter of the reflector below. Courtesy of MRsDNF (Next to C8, S2+ and P60 reflectors)

Bonus pics.

Next to a Q8.

Currently there is a 32mm maxtoch mcpcb for an xml. These can be converted to 12 volt by some cutting and soldering, but I’m still not sure it would fit.

If anyone happens to find a big 12 volt xhp35 mcpcb for sale, please post about it here.

Thanks

I doubt that.
I assume they get rough casts in reflector shape and then machine it.
Otherwise it would be a huge waste of aluminium, time, energy and tools.
Sure they recycle the machined off aluminium, but recycling those bits with machine oil and surface oxidation into the same quality alloy is costly too.

I think you would be surprised how quickly the modern CNC machine can carve up a big chunk of aluminum. I’m almost positive it’s quicker and cheaper to do it this way as opposed to using a forge and melting down aluminum then making castings which are going to end up not perfectly round for the lathe to grab ahold of.

Recycling the massive left overs is quite easy. It just gets shipped off. The place doing the machining doesn’t have to deal with it.

You’ll start with drilling a hole probably, and go from there.

It’s still a huge loss in material (like 95%), which has to be sold as waste and shipped.
Imagine the weight of the huge solid rods (poles rather) needed to machine 1000 GT reflectors.

Fact is, we don’t know.
People making one offs for a project will have to use solid chunks, but we’re talking Chinese mass production here.

First I though they are made from circle plate shaped 3-5mm aluminum simply and fast with spinning over the shaped cast. Even Alloy wheels body is made that way…
But then I realized that we are talking about small CNC traces all over this thread, so they must be made from solid round chunk of aluminium bars at least 13cm in diameter.

That is just my conclusion, I’m not metallurgy expert, if someone knows better explanation I would like to know.

BLF GT has just arrived. All perfect! What a light: I could use it to illuminate a tennis court! Thanks a lot!

BVH wrote:
Picked up a new toy……………indispensable measuring tool today. I’ve been what I call a connoisseur of light for a decade or so now. My sweet spot is 5500K. I’ve just not been able to get into the neutral or warm Whites.

There is only 1 incan bulb in my house. Everything else is LED 5000K or 5500K. Now I can precisely measure all of my home, car, searchlight and other lights’ color temps and the REAL CRI, not just the averaged number usually quoted for marketing purposes.

I’ve learned quite a bit over the last week while researching my purchase. The typical CRI number we see is the calculated average of 8 colors chosen decades ago by a Body in France, the name escapes me now. It represents how close a light source comes to the spectrum emitted by Tungsten incandescent light. CRI of Tungsten light is 100 on the CRI Scale.

Extended CRI adds another 7 colors to the mix and the Sekonic 7000 meter has the capability to measure and display the additional 7 additional colors. The more color samples that are taken, the more accurate your CRI is going to be.

But even CRI is a bit outdated and there have been and are processes in-motion to use another standard or two. There’s a lot more to it but i won’t get that deep.

Suffice to say that below, the first 2 pics are of readings of the Sun.
The first shows the Color temp in Kelvin (Tcp on the meter) of the Sun at 3:15 PM. Don’t pay attention to any of the lux reading as I did not set up for a precise Lux measurement.

The next pic shows the CRI RA average calculated on only the first 8 colors in the bar graph but it also shows specific individual CRI readings from all 15 samples. The higher the bar graph and number to the left, the higher the CRI of each of the sample colors and the closer to the Tungsten standard the measured light source is.

The 3rd and 4th pics are of the same type of measurements of the GT on HIGH, not Turbo.

The 5th and 6th pics are of the GT on Turbo. Notice how the R9 Red is absent from the GT and is actually a minus number.

Sol at 3:15 PM Dec 12 Text Mode

Sol at 3:15 PM Dec 12 Bar Graph Mode

GT at Top of Ramp Text Mode

GT at Top of Ramp Bar Graph

GT at Turbo Text Mode

GT at Turbo Bar Graph Mode


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Wow BVH!!! . :+1:
This is beyond neat… thanks for sharing!

Seems we have the same tint preference. Mine is about 5000K - 5700K.
But while I have to go with the advertised ‘data’…. you can actually measure it!
I am impressed!!
Thank you again for sharing!!
:slight_smile:

A rough (or not so rough) cast has to be machined too, so either way, you’ll see the traces.

Was looking for a youtube video of flashlight reflector production, but haven’t found one yet.
There are various metal spinning videos though, but that’s not how these are made.

It would be cool if Lumintop came with a video of the production process, including the reflector.

A $2K toy…
Very nice though.

JasonWW wrote:
Correct, the GT has a massive 45mm diameter mcpcb. Richard carries them up to about 27mm. Keep in mind that the Convoy L6 with its xhp70 and 9,000 lumen potential (for the 70.2 and fet driver) only uses a 20mm mcpcb.

The reason the GT needs the massive size, even though it’s only putting out 2,500 lumen, is because of the massive reflector. The base of the reflector and centering ring are quite huge by normal flashlight standards.

See the base diameter of the reflector below. Courtesy of MRsDNF (Next to C8, S2+ and P60 reflectors)

Bonus pics.

Next to a Q8.

Currently there is a 32mm maxtoch mcpcb for an xml. These can be converted to 12 volt by some cutting and soldering, but I’m still not sure it would fit.

If anyone happens to find a big 12 volt xhp35 mcpcb for sale, please post about it here.

Thanks
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Good info & pictures Jason……. . :+1:

Guys, I think there is something wrong with my GT!
I have it now in momentary mode (press&hold for turbo) and each time I press the button
I can feel slight recoil!. This only happens if I go from off to turbo, all normal if it turns ON
in mode that is not turbo.

:smiling_imp:

A large reflector might also be produced differently. A large reflector might also be produced differently… Production reflectors part 1. And without waste. :+1: :+1:

Pretty sure it’s normal. Do you have it loaded with 4 or 8 cells? 8 cells gives more mass which reduces the recoil.

Imagine all the trillion photons shooting away in just a couple of miliseconds after pressing the button.

How to unscrew the head? I tried, but no chance.

Neal does not get a list of Lumintop to whom has the lamp been shipped? I wrote a message to Neal but did not answer.

Wouldn’t hydroforming be a better and more cost effective way to produce a reflector of this size?

This is for anyone who does not know how to acess the MCPCB/LED easily on the BLF GT.

First & foremost… DO NOT REMOVE THE BEZEL. :slight_smile:

So…… here is the process….

  • Remove battery tube
  • Place the ‘flats’ of the *‘engine’ in PADDED vice jaws. DO NOT tighten hard. Tighten just enough to hold it firmly & keep it from turning.
  • Grab the head with both hands and twist it off the *‘engine’ that is being held in vice jaws. If you can’t get it with both hands use a strap wrench placed around head just BELOW the bezel.
  • The top part of the head should come off in one unit containg bezel, lens, & reflector as one piece.
  • Cover hole in reflector to keep dust or any crap from entering the reflector. Then secure this complete unit in a safe, clean, & dry manner/area.
  • You will now see the easily accessible MCPCB & LED.
  • Un-solder Red & Black wires on MCPCB, being careful NOT to damage LED
  • Remove both Phillips head screws from MCPCB
  • Remove MCPCB

Note: …‘Engine’ = Part that houses driver, side switch & MCPCB w/LED*

That is it…. :slight_smile:

Installation will be the reverse of these steps with the EXCEPTION that new Thermal Pasted will be used under the MCPCB. This is AFTER you have removed and cleaned the old thermal paste from the MCPCB mounting shelf of the GT.
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Also…. IF you ever do need to take a bezel off, get a piece of rubber bigger than the bezel .
Place it on a sturdy flat smooth hard surface, then put the bezel face down on it.
As you push with downward pressure twist the head of the light to loosen and remove the bezel.

The GT bezel can be difficult to remove.

Hello, sorry for uploading a flashlight production video, which is not LT, but you can have an idea of the process, partially, greetings.