SS ZY-T08 5-up Mod - Finished

I got my first SmallSun ZY-T08 from Wallbuys today and I decided to do something different with it.

ss51a

The 5-up reflector is from Tmart and it's close in diameter to the stock one.

ss51b

Close, but not perfect. I will need to work on the OD a little.

ss51c

The other issue is that the stock reflector is tapered because it's only one led, where this one has very little taper, because it's 5 led. I will have to probably work on the taper of this reflector and definitely I will have to open up the ID of the head, as it tapers a lot, the farther down it goes. It will call for some work in the drill press, with an end mill bit. Well, a lot of work and a lot of luck.

ss51d

I cannot open the ID up deeper than 28mm from the top, because that depth is where the outside of the head starts to decrease for the finned pill section.

ss51e

So, I have a bunch of different copper discs, some stars and a stick of aluminum stock. I think I will be removing the threads of the pill, so that the rod stock will be a press fit into the base of the head, coming up against the copper plates that hold the leds on.

What leds? Well, I am pretty sure they will be Nichias.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

zy52a

I had to remove some material from the Reflector and a lot from the head.

zy52b

I had to do a lot of work to open up the head to take the 5 up reflector, but it works.

zy52c

The heat sink is not going to be what I want, because I just do not want to try a taper. I am putting a short aluminum heat sink over top of the stock insert.

zy52d

Then I will use copper discs soldered together. I heated them, because I need to flatten them and I sanded the edges, because they always curl from stamping out the discs.

zy52f

Soldering them together. I just press while heating and scrape the excess of with something steel, like my ruler.

zy52g

While that cools off, I went ahead and filed down the stars. They are too big to fit in the head, so I sanded down one side of them.

zy52h

Looks like it will work.

zy52i

I won't be doing much for a few days, since I don't have the leds. Supposedly five Nichias are coming from someone special.

I imagine some time next week.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Momentary Switch

ss52a

A momentary switch from Sparkfun. A button from a king, (or rook maybe) and a hole drilled out in the finned section.

Yes, that's hard to do, with a hand drill. I used several drill bits, starting out small and finally using a pilot hole drill for the final cut. In order to keep from jamming in the fins, I had to have the drill running and lower it very slowly till it made contact. Then I had to hold it from jumping, due to the fins. Not for the faint of heart.

ss52b

Came out pretty good.

ss52c

Inside. I had to keep the pill in, so it's drilled thru too.

The stock tail switch stays and now becomes a lock out switch for the parasitic drain from having a momentary switch.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Filled in the gaps on the heat sink

5up1a

5up1b

There were a lot of gaps with the heat sink in the head, because the head has a taper inside and the copper discs were... well, just copper discs. I did not try to fit them into the taper, so I went with another way.

I remembered someone here, (I think it was comfychair), showing how to pot a driver and still be able to remove it later. I am fairly sure he did it with some type of wax, but anyhow, I used Johnsons paste wax and wiped it all down inside the head. Then I filled in with a bunch of JB Weld and pressed the heat sink in. In about 12 hours, I went from the back side and smacked the heat sink with a punch and it fell right out. All I had to do was a little trimming with an exacto knife and clean out the wax with alcohol.

I know, JB Weld does not transfer heat all that well, but it was either that or dead air space, so I made the decision.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got the leds and finished the light, but I really don't have photos. It's all been done before, millions of times. Put the leds on the stars, glue the stars on, assemble the head, put the driver in. Sorry, it's just one of those things. When I get a chance to finish something, sometimes I don't stop for photos.

Here's the finished light and beam shots.

t081a

t081b

t08b1

t08b2

t08b3

That's it. I put enough chips on the driver to hit 7.5 amps and it's really very bright for Nichias.

Reserved

Cool, I like it. I have been playing with putting that reflector in to a ZY-T08 or HD2010. But I cancelled those projects due to fitment issues (would require lots of work). And that the pill is cone shaped (no easy to make a good suitable pill).

Nice to see that you are going for it! Good luck.

Id recommend using MCPCBs out of same type, otherwise you risk not getting proper pressure or focus on the one/ones that are shortest.

nice :slight_smile:

Cool mod idea and ambitious project. Are you planning on using the cells in series to better handle the higher Vf of the Nichia's?

5 LEDs on ZY-T08? awesome!! :beer: :beer: someone at SmallSun should pay attention to this build :smiley:

I don’t plan to and I may go with XP-G, but I like the Nichias. I will use a Qlite driver with extra chips and shoot for 1.5 amps per led.

It took a lot of work to get the reflector to fit. I used my drill press and an end mill bit and it took all morning. I had to step it down and I had to remove quite a bit from the head. It’s one of those almost never going to fit type of deals.

I know the stars are different, but that's what I have. I will measure thickness, but they appeared to be the same at first look and on a table, the reflector seemed to touch them all.

More photos in the OP.

When you enlarged the head what method did you use? Just holding it and rotating it by hand or do you have some sort of jig to help hold it correctly? That’s really good work for being done on a drill press!

I never make jigs. Just can’t wrap my mind around how to figure them out, so I use a pair of leather gloves and hold/rotate the part against the end mill bit. It smooth it, I change to a dremel #115 bit and then a dremel sanding wheel if I want.

Your skills again are outstanding OL. Maybe this light will be the one that passes all the strict parameters at your work. Nah. It will no good as it will put all others to shame. Cant have that can we. On a side note, with your experience how does the beam pattern compare with the likes of these small reflector multi emitter lights with the same light single reflector lights with MTG-2 led?

These 5 up reflectors will give more flood and have little hot spot, especially with something like Nichias. It will be ok out to about 30 yards, but it will light up all round, where the MT-G2 will reach out a couple hundred yards, just because of the increased output. The larger single reflector will have less spill, even with the MT-G2, than the multi cup reflectors.

cool work!

i like what you do O L !

OK, it takes real ball balls to bore out a head like that. Not for the faint at heart. This not a mod I would attempt. It's great to watch a master do it though.

Added photos in the OP, of the momentary switch mod.

Nice switch mod. I'm glad you still have all your fingers. I imagined it jumped around more than a cat on a hot tin roof. Is the switch waterproof and does it come complete as a unit? I need something for the comp light. Thanks.

Not as a complete unit. The momentary switch came from Sparkfun (momentary smd switch)and the base it is soldered to is a 12mm star. The button I took off a Rook or King, can’t remember which.

This the one I used

But this one is an exact replacement for the Chinese ones.

Thanks. I do have the second ones on order. I dont know how good they are as I got 100 of Ebay for a few dollars. I will have to dream up some sort of cap for it.

Nice mod, man i love modding and DIY, my first SmallSun ZY-T08 from Wallbuys is on its way, now i have to think twice modding it,
But why would you use Nichias i havent tried it before what so special about it ? and why not XP-G2