What did you mod today?

Some brass tube & stuff.

Cut a bit of spare MDF, put leather on it, then loaded the strop with red compound (sold as 1K grit on AliExpress).
This is a compact strop for smaller knives and more for on-to-go use in a backpack.
Need to heat up the compound more to make the wax sticky.

This is also the first time I used Shoe Goo as the binding agent between leather and MDF, it is superior to the glues I have tried before!

Soldered up and programmed a new “smart” tailcap today; this one is for 14500 lights. Swapped out a friend’s Booster Tail for this one since he always uses his Sofirn SF14 with li-ions (with AA/NiMH the flashlight will still work of course, just not the tailcap now). It has 6 LEDs and uses them to display battery status.

First battery in the video was at 4.07 V, the second was at 3.55 V.

saved today myself 800€ getting an Upgrade Hack on my Power supplies

Those smart tailcaps are fun :+1:

Did another Q8 bypass today. I always like how these turn out since there is a nice hole to feed the wire through and solder from the back. They have really good flexibility this way and just look nice and clean.

A fuel gauge with no more counting blinkies. Nice :+1: This has got to be the next “it” tailcap mod.

Convoy T2: XP-G3 5000K with BLF A6 Driver, doing 1150 Lumen at start.

old Long Range Tactical (from Banggood) with XHP50.2 5000K and F6 5A, doing 2000 Lumen.

I like Luxpro lights for burning off “dead” alkaleaks, and this critter that takes 2 D cells, an LP1101V2, is a nice beefy light in most ways, but has a front “glass” that’s actually plastic. :person_facepalming:

Wellp, I couldn’t abide that, so decided to stick in a glass replacement from FT for about a buk, and slap on some diffusion film to smooth out the XP-G3’s hideous beam.

It’s a pretty standard ⌀42mm×1.5mm glass, same size as from a C8. Drops right in (albeit a little snug getting past the threads), loads just like a S2+, pressed from behind by the reflector against an O-ring set into the front bezel.

Nice light, actually. Even if you’re not gonna use alkaleaks (ie, you’re sane), you can get a pair of 3AA-to-D adapters and drop in a bunch of eneloops in a 2S3P configuration, and you’re good to go.

That’s what I’m using to burn off moribund alkaleaks (ie, sanity’s in question), but watching them carefully and checking them frequently.

It’s not a screamer, but for a good backup light, it’s quite nice.

Hmm, I might wanna throw in a nice fat XP-L if I can find one in 4C or thereabouts… I might even have a 5A.

Will see about doing that tonight if I find one.

My RRT01 2019 version :

SST20 3000K, triple MCPCB from KD (1mm thick) and their optic (really smooth beam), plus a small alu spacer that I made today at work.

I had to add some length to the stock wires, but the good news is that the stock pill already have a 4mm hole right in the center.
It’s not waterproof anymore, I like when the optic sits flush in the bezel but it’s doable with an o-ring too.
I love it already.
Oh, it does 600 lumens on the highest mode too… not too shabby for a 95CRI 3000K source !
(the precedent LH351D with stock reflector was about 470 lumens, talk about low current efficiency !)

I changed the look of my Q8 since I wasn’t a fan of the black, and green button LED. It now has a more industrial look with the bare aluminium and warm white LED. I am quite pleased with how steampunk’y it now looks!

Considering the popularity of the Q8 i’m surprised I haven’t recalled ever seeing this yet. I think the switch color really ties it together

Likewise - I’ve seen hardly anything in the way of visual mods.

this Q8 looks so cool, very extreme.

Nice mod. Thank you for the informative pictures. I may try SST-20 in my RRT01, when I get it. For me, the difficulty would be sourcing a spacer. And finding an SST-20 tint that agrees with me.

hcanning, how did you remove the anodization?

Oven cleaner!

Polished raw BLF A6 with OSRAM KW CSLPM1.TG and Convoy SST-40 driver. LED gasket from intl-outdoor. Armytek clip and transparent boot. 6.8A max tail current on turn on.

Album with all pictures

Any measurement ? Lumens ? kCd ?
Nice clean look at least !

DIY glow gaskets for triples.

First I made a template from an old 20mm triple MCPCB to match up with a Carclo 105xx optic. 65mm steel box lid.
This is the most difficult & time consuming part but only needs done once.

A piece of sticky tape placed on the steel surface sticky side up.
6mm x 2mm and 3mm x 2mm magnets, three of each for the optic & leg holes.

Place the 6mm magnets onto the sticky tape using the template.

Then add the 3mm magnets and remove the template, apply non stick grease carefully around the magnets & tape.

Template back in place and thin 20mm ID x 2mm outer ring fitted around the template with four large magnets to keep it from movement.

Carefully remove the template again and now we have a mould.
Mix up some GITD powder and UV setting glue.

Apply the mixture to the centre of the mould and allow it to slowly bleed out to the extremities on a flat surface until even.

Next is setting the glue mixture using a UV light source and then slide the tape and moud from the steel.

Carefully peel the tape from the back of the mould and press out the magnets with something like a thin screwdriver.

Remove the outer ring and sand down the surfaces of the gasket.

A little tidying up the well holes with a scalpel blade and it is just about done.

I've found these to be superior to the tape method, although initially more effort.