Low-cost copper pills, spacers, optics, drop-ins (Updated 23/10/2022))

My Convoy M2 quad mod went very well thanks to kiriba-ru! I wanted an aluminum spacer to keep the weight down. I used Nichia 219B 4000K LEDs with a 10622 Carclo lens. The 10623 Carclo lens was too floody for me. What an awesome beam and tint!


A new batch of P60 shells is ready.
$9 Aluminum
$16 Copper

I ordered and received some Copper S2+ triple spacers, and would like to report that the price, quality, and service was awesome. Thank you kiriba-ru!

Once I get my floors finished (trying to finish before Christmas so my wife is happy) I’ll put them to good use.

That is the body outer diameter, doesn't it?

With that size pills could be crafted to acommodate ∅20 mm drivers, or do they need to narrow down at the bottom? Never seen a “P60 type” flashlight.

I dont think we can name it “outer diameter” because top lip is bigger diameter. Lets say fit size.
Narrow bottom is needed for some brand hosts.
20mm driver is much more complicated option. Im making this retaining ring style drop-in for a while and have all tools and gauges for threads. This size rings are widely used so I can get them from china. Changing this size will bring many problems, I will need to order custom gauges, and machine custom rings (which is not cost effective).

Simon offers 20mm rings as well now. New age of 21700 lights. Just saying ;). All becomes easier with 20mm drivers and brings more space for flexibility.

Right. I have two 20mm rings from Simon and they are different. Also, sometimes he wont sell spare parts (but was happy to sell same parts some time before). So I would prefer to have several vendors for spare rings, and be sure that they are more or less similar.
When I developed C8TT, I was sure that 90% will use 20mm driver. In reality 90% asked how to place 17mm driver.

More driver space is better suited for buck and boost engines, and overall a wider variety of driver designs.

Luckily not all hosts require retaining rings. For example, an UltraFire SK98 O:) fits ∅20mm H1-A drivers like a glove.

I think certain flashlight designs could get some improvement. UF-1405/1504 torches could get upgraded copper/aluminium pills with room for ∅22mm driver, there are many boost and buck engines available in that size.

UltraFire lists the “1405” in their site, too.

There will be copper pills for single and triple S21A?

No. I’m thinking about triple spacers for S21a.

please made triple pills for S2+ again

Don’t think this is reasonable, I still have many single pills, some with soldered spacer, you can use them instead triple pill.

Yes please!

I’m still waiting for other colors. Even plain black.
If you really intend to do so, it would be nice if they had raised edges, so that centering would not be a problem. Just as it is in your P60 pills. There’s enough room at S21A to do it.
And the aluminum version for weight reduction would be great.

I wanted to make high walls (around optics) and put nice gitd o-ring in gap between optics and bezel, but I’m not now I’m not sure in this decision. I guess many triple boards are not round or oversized (while optics is very precise).

Are the P60 shells the same as the ones I purchased from you or have they been changed? I don’t see pics in the OP?

Uhh, good question.
You have purchased many of them.
Previous batch (when Cu ones were also oversized, and driver cavity was not as deep as before) design got minor changes. Many years ago I added an extra step at the top, it was needed to align centering ring for triple config. Since centering rings are sold out, nobody asked me about this option, so this time I decided to exclude this feature. Now there is just 1mm flat rim around PCB place.

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P.S. Anyone else have problems with photos in OP?

Thanks!

Pulling the walls to the top, under the glass is a bad idea and you answered why. They are of different sizes. L4P are slightly thinner than e.g. Noctigons.
1mm flat rim is enough, just to center the mcpcb.
And instead of a glowing O-ring you can paste gitd tape from the inside and it looks good too.

I bought a quad spacer for Convoy S11 from you which have high walls. I wanted to put 4x Luxeon V there and I don’t know if I can just put the mcpcb on the thermal paste or I need to solder it.
If I put it on paste, I don’t know if the mcpcb will be properly pressed to dissipate heat. This is because the L4P quad is 1.6mm high and the Noctogin is 2mm.
If I have to solder it, I don’t know how to center the mcpcb, because it is 20mm, while the place is for 21mm Noctigon.

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I can see photos.

As far as I remember, you have S11 set (Cu spacer+brass ring). If you need to use thinner PCB, you can sand down the bottom of the brass ring. Also, you can fix brass ring on spacer in right place with a solder or thread locker. Anyway, if you are not sure in right combination, putting them together without solder/thermal paste/wiring is always a good idea.
You can use the central hole in spacer for PCB alignment. CNC made batches have 4.2mm hole, custom and rare parts have 4.0-4.1mm central hole. If you need, I can add a 4.2mm drill to your next order. Use work side (for undersized holes) or shank side (for 4.2mm holes).
1.5mm o-ring can be compressed by 0.3mm with ease, while thickest 20mm triple boards are 1.75mm thick.
I just don’t see another way to get optics centered. Parts are not aerospace precise and need some room for easy fit. I need to give some extra room, if the next batch of hosts will be made by another vendor, my spacers still should work.
Pill top is flat, a spacer is roughly centered inside head walls. PCBs are not perfect in size and roundness, also some of them don’t have chamfer at the bottom (this means I need to add at least 2x minimum tool radiuses to the ID size). All this gives a reasonable amount of side gap, and the build will always end up the same way - you will get optics off the bezel hole. This is not a problem for S2+ (when 1.5mm of optics hides inside bezel), but S21A bezel opening is 0.2mm over optics size - so you will see any misalignment and it will look awful.