I’ve considered doing something similar with my stainless bezel lights but oddly have never seen it mentioned until now. What’s the best process to keep it nice, smooth, and even?
While standing at the belt sander, I kept thinking, “I wish I was friends with a machinist.”
gchart, I removed most of the metal using a belt sander with a 40-grit belt, and it’s slow going. I moved the bezel side-to-side across the belt, and regularly rotated it to prevent uneven wear.
I love this quote by ‘old4570’ I found in this thread while reading about grinding/filing/sanding stainless bezels:
I surprised myself by managing to keep all three Q8 bezels very flat and even. I left them installed while working so the light could act as a handle and heatsink.
What lights are you thinking of altering? Perhaps you could start with an easily-replaceable (and available) bezel in case it doesn’t work out.
I’ve done this sort of thing too many times with a belt sander and a file. I still do some things that way, believe it or not.
I personally would rather add crenelations than remove them, as I head stand all my lights and like being able to see if I’ve left one on in moon mode or something.
I haven’t really posted a mod in this thread in a while. Simple mod, but I swapped the LED in my ThorFire TK05. The stock “neutral white” XP-G3 was as blue as could be. I bought some Samsung LH351D 5000K from DigiKey and reflowed one onto a filed-down copper dtp board. Took some pics while I was in there, then put it back together.
Nice, truly neutral light now. And a lot more lumens. By my estimate, 50% more while in turbo and 33% more medium. Just as long of a runtime, too. More pics and details in this thread, but I’ll share a few here.
click for larger images
Beamshots [before], left to right: ThorFire TK05 (XP-G3), Klarus Mi7 (XP-L HI), Convoy M1 (XP-L 5000K)
Beamshots [after], left to right: ThorFire TK05 (LH351D 5000K), Klarus Mi7 (XP-L HI), Convoy M1 (XP-L 5000K). I apologize for the white balance difference between this and the last shot. But in comparing the three LEDs, you get the idea.
Runtimes. Disclaimer: the TK05 was tested with a Wuben-wrapped 600mah 14500. The Mi7 was using an Sanyo 800mah 14500. I need to retest with like cells.
Swapped the driver in my s41s to the x5/x6 driver, and swapped in a lighted switch. Both from BG.
Would like a better lighted switch than a single LED, but it works.
Loving this driver
Gotcha. I don’t like the beam pattern of the s42 optics with xp-l hi and maybe this is the solution. I think using the stock mcpcb as a spacer might work. Have to sand it down to expose the copper obviously.