Great job Match. The question comes up now and again and now we know how to do it. Thanks for the effort.
Awesome job Match! 
really awesome, thanks for posting!
That's the simplest (complete) reflow explanation I've seen, and now I have the confidence to try it (and destroy a few emitters lol).
I'll have you know, I sort of wish you'd not mentioned this and just surprised us, as now I'll be laying awake nights, contemplating the possibilities...
Thanks for the compliments, folks.
As I stated in the opener, I think mine is the ONLY expanation out there. Unless someone's google-fu is better than mine, I couldn't find any how-to's to go off of. Despite all the excellent modders over at candlepowerforums, I've seen nary a hint on how to perform this. Might be because it's harder to charge $200+ for a custom light with this feature if the secret is out 
Great write up!
I’m also just staring at those pictures of sunshine 
Sunshine is the drug of choice in cloudy Seattle!
Just think of the lux measurements you would get with an aspheric in that light!
OOOH! Me like!
Nicely done Match. I personally have not seen any LED reflow tutorials out anywhere.
A 2C? You should stick a 26650 in there, either the MNKE or King Kong. :P
(but I'm afraid a MNKE could give you 20 amps without sweat, I doubt XM-L would handle that even if cooled by stream of liquid helium.. :D)
My hero! 8)
Match, very nice job and tutorial! I did a mod with a small copper pedestal for an SST-90. The raised pedestal was rectangular to fit the center of the emitter base and I wired to the underside for +/- . I Soldered the emitter to the copper and AA'd that assembly to an aluminum heatsink, but the AA kept from letting enough heat transfer go into the Aluminum, for an SST-90. I never pursued it any further and I never did any photos, since I wasn't satisfied with the result. Copper heatsinks really transfer heat fast, but of course, sooner or later it all gets too hot. How about doing an active cooling flashlight or spotlight Match? With your talent...........
Oh, Match? Be careful - If you turn that beam on the sun itself, it will probably end up causing another solar flare!
I like the way you did this one. 
Thanks for taking the time to post this thread, for people to learn from.
And great tutorial.
Always wondered what those little pads on top were for ;-)
Daytime beamshot?? Amazing. No further comments.
As usual .
THanks guys.
O-L, last year I also tried just using epoxy for a bare emitter, with similar results as you. As for a spotlight, I think this is as close as I'll come for awhile. I have a few of those plastic handheld halogen spotlights that I bought years ago, but haven't bothered to try and mod one yet. I think the bulkiness of them turns me off, not sure...
Oh, but you would love the output of a nice, crisp HID light! Car replacement kits are fairly cheap on ebay ;)
Plus: everyone here would love to see you do it (well, at least I would).
While it may not be the best explanation of it, it is out there.
Love you mods BTW, I so want to make that copper light.
Jamie
Am I missing something here? Those videos are showing reflowing onto a star, very different from what this thread is about.
This is beyond incredible. It's that bright in broad daylight on a wall? Unbelievable.
Might a better beam pattern be possible if the reflector were a little tighter around the emitter? I know you're working what what you have but . . .
A 26650 is a bit tight in a Mag C, by the way.
iwantoneFoy
Thank you for the compliments. As stated in the opener, I couldn't find anything on the net for an emitter directly to copper. I've seen the digi-key video, and also the nice one done by you as well, but those were pcb to pcb.
The main difference is items such as what to do about the bottom electrical contacts, where to wire up the new contacts, and (as I found out) what a bugger it can be to actually solder to the emitter due to the direct copper mounting being so dang effictive of a heatsink.
Thanks Foy :)
Yup, the single beamshot was done competing against good old South Carolina sunshine. As soon as I get a free minute, I do plan on doing actual nighttime beamshots and will update this thread when completed.
As for the reflector, that's the stock rebel from Maglite. The extra space around the emitter is due to the copper pedistal only being 7mm in diameter. Most Mag mods usually have a 12.8mm star that would fill up the remaining space. I spent quite a bit of time ensuring that the emitter was centered and seated at the correct depth, which also helped in getting the lux readings that I did.
As for wanting one? Stay tuned....I'm actually now considering making/selling some of my mods :)