What did you mod today?

[Fritz_t_Cat]

I am presently carrying an unanodized BLF A6 with short battery tube.
The tail cap’s o-ring prevented it from screwing all the way on. I checked my smallest chain saw file, but it was too big to make the o-ring groove deeper. I settled for a change of o-ring from my junk bag, maybe from an SK-68.

[Andrew2007]

@Fritz t. Cat

I reflowed a 219C off the cheap star it came on and onto a 16 mm. Noctigon. The first try, it shorted + to ground. I didn’t see any bridge when I took it off, but it worked when I put it on the second time.

I haven’t done many but I never know how much solder paste to use, I always think it’s better use too much than too little and the excess beads out. They’ve worked so far which is a relief, one less thing to think about.

I’ve watched a few video’s and it looks like the emitter pulls itself into position on the pads by the solder, so I’ve tried to make sure that the Noctigon is near level before I apply the heat underneath using a small gas torch.

[FmC]

Just finished putting together my Convoy M2 host that arrived today.

The Black Maggot work light is going to take a back seat to this M2.

I put in an XM-L2/Noctigon, with 1.4A Nanjg & 1-mode firmware, installed forward switch, bypassed the spring & finished it off with the Neo magnets on the tube with heat-shrink.

I know it sounds boring, but it's a great configuration for a work/inspection light. Hopefully it can take a knock or two....

[djozz]

@Andrew-W

@Fritz t. Cat

I reflowed a 219C off the cheap star it came on and onto a 16 mm. Noctigon. The first try, it shorted + to ground. I didn’t see any bridge when I took it off, but it worked when I put it on the second time.

I haven’t done many but I never know how much solder paste to use, I always think it’s better use too much than too little and the excess beads out. They’ve worked so far which is a relief, one less thing to think about. I’ve watched a few video’s and it looks like the emitter pulls itself into position on the pads by the solder, so I’ve tried to make sure that the Noctigon is near level before I apply the heat underneath using a small gas torch.

I use too much solder paste all the time, and even if the led does not suck itself in place with excess solder squeezed out (i.e. Oslons on XP-boards never do that), I still can not measure significant lower performance.

Too little paste almost certainly influences performance.

[Ouchyfoot]

@djozz

@Andrew-W

@Fritz t. Cat

I reflowed a 219C off the cheap star it came on and onto a 16 mm. Noctigon. The first try, it shorted + to ground. I didn’t see any bridge when I took it off, but it worked when I put it on the second time.

I haven’t done many but I never know how much solder paste to use, I always think it’s better use too much than too little and the excess beads out. They’ve worked so far which is a relief, one less thing to think about. I’ve watched a few video’s and it looks like the emitter pulls itself into position on the pads by the solder, so I’ve tried to make sure that the Noctigon is near level before I apply the heat underneath using a small gas torch.

I use too much solder paste all the time, and even if the led does not suck itself in place with excess solder squeezed out (i.e. Oslons on XP-boards never do that), I still can not measure significant lower performance.

Too little paste almost certainly influences performance.

Sometimes I do what Old Lumens does. After the emitter snaps into place, give it a little tap with the back of the tweezers. You’ll be surprised how much excess solder will pop out of there sometimes.

[kyfishguy]

The wife unit bought me some new Eneloops for Christmas so I've been making some battery packs out of the more beat-up looking older cells in my collection. The wrapper damage came from test fitting experimental 4AA battery holders into non-bored maglite tubes. I don't do that anymore.

The latest ugly eneloop application was to the battery pack of my old cordless Dremel. The original pack was 700ma NIMH in 6s configuration. It never did have any power or run time so I expect both to improve. Only thing is charging is going to take forever with the 200ma dremel charger! That's a Duraloop mixed in with the white and blue.

[The_Last_Katun]

I finally found, and replaced the reflector to my TrustFire T6-F16.

The reflector original was for a SSC P7 (then adapted to receive an XM-L) and deep 20,5mm.; I put one of 24.3 mm. with a reflector double level. Now the flashlight has reached its harmony, with a gradation between the center and the border.

The new reflector

I also replaced the driver, now it has 7135*8

[chouster]

Man, did he (Firelight2) say his DQG tiny does 3100 lm? That is crazy!

Awesome thread by the way!

[chadvone]

Modded a Plano Stowaway 3400 to hold 16 laptop pulls. Cut down some of the ribs in the lid.

4.96 Stowaway from Wallyworld
10 minutes
1 knife
1 band aid

[pilotdog68]

@chadvone

Modded a Plano Stowaway 3400 to hold 16 laptop pulls. Cut down some of the ribs in the lid.

4.96 Stowaway from Wallyworld
10 minutes
1 knife
1 band aid

I’m actually interested to see pictures of this one (if you can). I’ve been looking for a better way to store loose cells. I had thought about using a shotgun shell carrier, but I haven’t found one I like yet.

[chadvone]

Will get some pics.

[chadvone]

The 3 ribs in the lid had to be taken down a little. I used a knife with push style blade.
A chisel or rotary tool might work better.

[Andrew2007]

I didn’t take the topic of storage seriously a few week’s ago, I should have just in case.

[robo819]

Just posted my first 2 REAL mods a little while ago…….

My First Real Mods/Builds

I finally got the nerve to try doing something more than a simple spring bypass. The 2 lights I decided I would either sacrifice, or make better, were the Thorfire C8 and a Small Sun ZY-T16 to try my first real Mods or Builds on. [image] Both Lights DO have spring bypasses at both ends on these. The ThorfireC8 was a fairly simple removal and swap of driver and MCPCB and replacing both. I used a17mm FET+1 six mode driver (moon - turbo) with 120 second turbo timer and a 20mm Noctigon MCPCB with…

[SawMaster]

@Fritz t. Cat

I am presently carrying an unanodized BLF A6 with short battery tube.
The tail cap’s o-ring prevented it from screwing all the way on. I checked my smallest chain saw file, but it was too big to make the o-ring groove deeper. I settled for a change of o-ring from my junk bag, maybe from an SK-68.

Needle files sets all have round profiles and are small enough to be useful for flashlight work. Most cheap sets are crappy on steel but work fine on softer metals.

Phil

[keltex78]

Not much here… I finally did replace the emitter in my Thorfire KL02 with a WW-tinted fried egg, which is much nicer than the CW tint that is used in that light. Fortunately, I had some good spares in my kit that don’t have the nasty greenish tint that so many of those have.

[Firelight2]

Continuing to tinker with my EDC lights. Modded 4 lights the last couple weeks:

DQG 18650 Tiny III with 3.8 amp mokkadrv driver: (extremely classy-looking small triple with chrome accents with great grip).

• Replaced triple XPL HI 3C emitters with triple XPL HI 3D.
• Replaced extra o-ring at bezel with acrylic lens with filed edges (needed to keep the triple TIR optic from falling out).

DQG 18650 Tiny III with FET driver: (3000 lumen ultra-compact pocket light. Looks beat up but works great)

• Replaced triple XPL HI 3C emitters with triple XPL HI 3D.
• Rebuilt switch to allow for more “click”.
• Modified homemade copper switch piston for improved look and feel.
• carved horizontal grooves in external heatsink sleeve to improve grip.
• repainted heatsink sleeve to more closely match anodizing.
• Removed and reapplied brush-on superglue to nickel-plated brass ring around button (to insulate thumb from heat).

Aleto N8 zoomie with fresnel lens: (at around 87mm long, world’s shortest 1x18650 zoomie. 25k lux)

• Replaced XPL HI 3C emitter with XPL HI 3D.

Aleto N8 zoomie with 20mm aspheric lens: (93 mm long with 44k lux. very throwy and compact 1x18650 zoomie)

• Replaced XPL HI 3C emitter with XPL HI 3D.
• Rebuilt switch housing for improved look and feel. With previous setup rubber button protruded slightly but was extremely stiff to prevent accidental pocket activation. New build requires much softer touch to activate but has a raised aluminum ring shielding the button.

[djburkes]

I modded a Lumintop Tool by putting a 11mm fet and a XP-L V6 1A led in it. I had to grind the inside and bottom of the reflector a little bit to get the the led to fit correctly, this was after I accidentally dedomed it…of course. Just make sure you don’t pay any attention to the scratches. The driver is flashed with Guppydrv firmware. She puts out quite a few lumens, I don’t have anything to measure with so I compared it to a BLF A6 that I have with a XP-L V6 1A emitter. I also put a Nichia 219C in a Solarforce LC2 host with a fet+1 with A6 firmware and a smooth reflector. Here’s a few pics…

Here’s a few beamshot comparisons between the Lumintop Tool and a BLF A6 from lowest to highest mode.

[pilotdog68]

Just replaced the switch in my quad-219c Convoy M2. The last switch didn’t like 15+ amps very much…

[pilotdog68]

Just swapped the LED in my Skilhunt H02 from a nasty cool white to a nice XM-L2 5A, perfect for headlamp duty. For now that’s all I’m going to do to this one. This may be the first of any of my lights to escape a driver swap.