MascaratumB’s entry – Old Lumens Contest 2019 - Modified Light Category [FINISHED on 8th February 2020]

Thanks for your words NeutralFan! It is not very creative, specially if we look to other mods and builds, but…it may be something useful for this light :wink:

It was inspired in something I am using for my “bedside” flashlight, an Sofirn SP32. I am using a piece of foam from an old perfume box. It works, but foam loses its shape and the flashlight starts to inclinate. So I thought about a more “rigid” structure. From then on…that’s what you’re seeing :wink:

Ahaha, I guess some “peace makers” would need a pipe and a light to guide them through the way! :smiley:
I just hope this ends up well to make it work :wink: No smoke!

_

BTW folks, I need some help here, please!
I want to put a tritium vial in the tailcap, in the lanyard hole. On the one side I will put the Pocket Clip, and on the other, a trit.
This is the shape of the lanyard hole.

My questions are:
1) what shall I use to glue it there? (ex: epoxy? UV glue?)
2) what techniques to you recommend so that I don’t damage the rest of the host while the glue dries?

I never used/placed tritium, nor epoxy, nor uv glue, so I don’t know the best procedure for this!

Any help is appreciated and thank you in advance :wink:

I use a piece of clear tape stuck to the inside of the loop backed with some blutak pressed against it to create a well with a very slightly convex floor then carefully place the vial into the lanyard hole onto the tape and adjust position with a toothpick.
It’s tricky.

Then once I’ve got the vial in place, level, making sure no vial parts (especially tube ends) are protruding past the light body etc I apply some UV glue with a toothpick by slowly dripping in small drops until there is a layer filling the bottom of the well & surrounding the vial.
To help eliminate bubbles you can apply tiny amounts of glue into the vial ends first before placing as there are small pockets on each end which often like to expel tiny air bubbles at just the wrong moment.

Set with UV light making sure no bubbles are hiding, then slowly apply more glue to fill the well some more and harden again.
Fill to a level that covers the vial and is as flush as possible with the body of the light, again tricky due to the curvature.
Then you can remove the tape, give the inside a clean with cottonbud & ISP etc and apply another thin layer to the backside to help protect the vial some.
Hope that gives you some ideas :+1:

Mate, you’re a life saver :wink:
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and also the link for the UV glue!
The process I had in mind was more or less similar to what you described, but those tips will help, as I never manipulated those materials! Specially to check the bubbles part!

I guess I will be able to do that according to these guidelines!
If it was a hole prepared for tritium, it would be easier but this can be tricky!

BTW, do I need to make any special preparation of that hole (besides cleaning it well before starting the process)?

Thanks again for your reply mate :wink:

And… those lights :heart_eyes:

Just make sure it’s all clean, the tape has no leaks etc.
The hardest part is lining up the vial and air bubbles. I put the glue onto a flat plastic container lid and apply from there with a dropper implement, not straight from the bottle.
Still don’t think I’ve managed to do this perfectly but I’ve tried a few times :smiley:

Try a practice run or two by making little wells in blutak, another practice light or something similar and small cuttings of wire etc to mimic the tritium vial to get a feel for it.

You can dissolve the glue slowly with acetone or blast it with a jet lighter to soften and remove, but hopefully you wont need those :wink:

Great info CRX! Looking forward to see how it works out for you MascaratumB.

Thanks again for the tips mate :wink: Well, if I create a buble trit, would it count some more points as double mod? :stuck_out_tongue: Eheh!

I guess I will do as you say, try and practice in other flashlights to see how it is done and then I get back to the VG10! I don’t wanna ruin it before it’s done :stuck_out_tongue:

I am thinking about putting the tape in the outer part and drop the glue and trit from the inside of the tailcap (with the rubber cap removed of course!). Let’s see how it works :wink:

And thanks again :wink:

:+1: :beer:

So, no work these few weeks, but I ordered some stuff I needed, namely: UV glue, tritium Vial, pocket clip.
Despite I initially put a “titanium” clip as aim, I opted for a Stainless Steel one!

I also got notice from kiriba-ru that my package with the pill, optics and Noctigon MCPCB were already shipped!
Despite this and despite I like the Samsung LH351D A LOT, is is probable that I will order Luxeon V Leds from Led4power… Yet to be decided

I also updated the tables on post #1 with the prices and the aims of this mod.

Nothing wrong with stainless clips. There’s a reason the market is full of them :wink:

Yup true :wink: I opted for that for a matter of budget and because the Ti clip wouldn’t add an “extra” to the mod, aside the look and the final value.
So I went to AliExpress and searched for a SS one! I just hope it fits well :wink:
Maybe I can give it a personalized touch when it arrives :wink:

This week I received another component for this mod: the DRIVER!

This is a 22mm driver, double sided from Lexel, with Bistro OTSM Firmware.
As I still don’t have the pill, the optics nor the LEDs to complete the MOD, I just experimented the Driver to check if it worked fine, specially due to the differences in diameter and “architecture” if compared to the original driver.

Some photos below of this experience.

1st, the original elements of the flaslight

2nd, the driver to be installed for this mod

3rd, the structure of the flashlight that I will probably will have to mod to make the wires pass throught the shelf

4th, the new driver experimentation
a) How it fits and how it will look (without the spring)

b) Installing the spring and wire in the driver (tinned the bottom and the spring with some solder and then installed)

c) How does it look in a provisory way

d) There shall be light :wink:

So far, so good!
My biggest concern with a double sided driver was the possibility of the 7135 chips get in contact of get smashed when the battery tube attached to the head. However, the diameter of the whole bunch of chips is smaller than the battery tube inner diameter, so they fit well :wink:

Now, my biggest concern will be…how to keep the driver in place, once its’ diameter is smaller than the head hole. Maybe some solder? Epoxy? Any thing ti “press-fit it?

Any clue in this is appreciatted!

Some more info:
The pill and optic are already on the way (status: in Portugal)!
I decided that I will use Luxeon V 4000K Leds on this mod (status: ordered from led4power this week).
The UV glue and the tritium have shipped, as did the pocket clip!

Nice build, MascaratumB. :+1: I’m eagerly waiting for beamshots. I really like the quad Luxeon V setup.

You could bend a solid copper wire to a circle with the right diameter (fit it in the flashlight before soldering) and solder it on the back around the 7135’s on the outer golden ring. That is how I usually solve the too small driver problem.

If the copper ring is too big to fit and you have used 1 or 2mm diameter copper wire you can cut away some copper outside. With the right diameter and the ring soldered well you could try to press fit the driver.

If the difference is less than one millimeter you could try to increase the diameter with some glue.

Thanks Skylight :wink: I guess I am eager for those too :wink: Fortunately led4power (Neven) found some that he could solder onto a MCPCB so I’ll be able to concretize my plan and use Luxeon V Leds! They are on the way already!

Hum, I guess I will try this last option due to the space between the driver and the head wall! Maybe using some UV glue while pressing it can solve my problem.
If not, I will have to opt for other way :zipper_mouth_face:

Will see when I get the Pill and Leds :wink: Thanks for the tips :+1:

Some stuff arrived this week and some work have been done in the flashlight and the wood support :wink:
I’ll present it below!

Orange tritium vial and UV glue + 9 UV leds flashlight arrived :wink:

WOOD SUPPORT
I decided I would do something more to the wood support, so I picked my pencil, the pyrography pen and some different tips and did this:


After this I tested if the flashlight fit well into the support’s hole, both with and without the white cap (from a liquid yoghurt bottle).
And voilá no problems fitting it and keeping it balanced :wink:
So far I’m happy with this work :wink:

FLASHLIGHT
About the work in the flashlight, I just installed the orange tritium vial.
Used some white tape outside the tailcap, put some UV glue, then inserted the tritium and put it under 2 UV flashlights during around 30minutes.
Perceiving that there were some holes and potential bubbles (CRX warned me about it :person_facepalming: ) I had to press it and to add more glue to fill the holes/gaps.
In the end, the work is not perfect, but it surely is done. This is my first tritium installation.

Final result: no UV light > UV Light > dark and no UV light

More to come, as soon as other things arrive :wink:

Some more updates from the last days!
Last Friday I received the copper pill + brass ring + optics (+ noctigon quad MCPCB) from kiriba-ru!

So, I gave it a try to mount everything in the flashlight’s head, in a provisory way, specially to check dimensions and fiting.

Please note that the Noctigon MCPCB will most probably NOT be used in the build, as I am waiting for a led4power MCPCB with 4 Luxeon V Leds installed.
It will only be used (with 4 Samsung LH351D 5000K 90CRI leds) in case the order from led4power doesn’t arrive in time.

Still, given this possibility, I have “soldered” 4 leds onto it in aloing process.

Below I will show the pill’s and ring’s dimensions and the “experimental” mounting of these elements.

Mounting it up and…. :zipper_mouth_face:
As the Noctigon MCPCB is tall, there is a gap when everything is mounted. I believe this gap will be reduced or even extinguished when the led4power is put onto the pill, still, I had to file the bottom of the pill a little bit reding in about 1mm. Later i will see if it works properly

I also had to modify the head, creating a hole in the center of the shelf to allow the driver’s wires to pass. I used my Parkside drill and some bits to help me on that! That shelf is thick :weary:

As mentioned on the top, I also solderd the 4 leds onto the MCPCB, in case the led4power Luxeon Vs don’t arrive in time!
I used my solderding iron and my electric stove. This took a long time, because I don’t have solder paste, so I had to use solder wire and the clean/add/clean…. in order to fill the spaces for the leds to reflow correctly. Not the best or the prettiest, but they work :wink:


And…it is almost all set :wink:

Great! The important thing about the led’s on the mcpcb is that they all work. Pretty is not as necessary as function.

Eheh, I guess so :wink: My skills on reflowing are not the best, but as long as they work, I won’t mind!

Thanks for checking in :wink:

If the led’s work first time after reflow i’m usually ecstatic :partying_face: This has been a pretty good mod overall. Any beamshots yet?

That’s my reaction too :smiley:
Nop, no beamshots yet as I will wait for the Luxeon Vs to arrive! Just noticed they arrived to Portugal today! So maybe I receive them next week :wink:
I am anxious to receive them :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for checking :wink:

The mounted quad looks like this host was made for it.

With this copper spacer the flashlight should get quite a bit heavier and able to take up some heat.

Yup, this light is quite heavy with the pill inside (+ ring and the rest…), so it will probably handle heat very well, transfering it onto the self and even the head’s walls.
I am very curious to weight it in the final to see how much it has increased :smiley:

I am also thinking about any way to make it more balanced, i.e. making the tail “heavier” :stuck_out_tongue: Maybe I will make some hand made copper beads meanwhile :smiling_imp: