Need help with Carclo lens - Ideas what to do with this light: zoomie ==> non-zoomie?

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Hi,

I bought this light awhile ago, but am finding that I don’t care much for zoomable lights. I keep looking at it, tearing it down, and wondering if it’d be possible to maybe turn into a 2x18650 non-zoomie, and, ideally, trying to re-use as much as possible of what’s there, i.e., maybe re-use the emitter, pill, and driver and as much of the housing as possible.

Has anyone tried to do something like this? If so, what was the approach to do that?

Thanks,
Jim

2

Oops. Forgot the link:

http://www.tmart.com/UltraFire-CREE-XM-L-T6-1600LM-5-Mode-Focusing-LED-Flashlight-Black_p136427.html

3

Is the pill hollow? If not you might be able to turn it into a pinpoint thrower with a super overdriven de-domes XP-E2 or XP-G2 on a sinkpad. The problem with a lot of them is that they are hollow so you can’t get decent heatsinking to overdrive them.

4

18sixfifty,

Here’re some pics:

Breakdown:

Front of pill:

Driver side of pill:

I’m wondering what do I do with the head? And, there is kind of no reflector, except that flat one, surrounding the LED?

5

Right zoomies don’t have reflectors at least not these kind. You should be ok to use a sinkpad and overdrive something I would say an XP-G2 should work good. I can’t remember who the member is that makes these into little laser like lights but he would be the guy to tell you how it’s done. He basically ends up with just this incredibly small super bright hotspot with no spill at all.

Maybe somebody can chime in with his name or be of more help. I guess the basic idea is just to de-dome a small LED and drive it as hard as it will take, the lens will focus it even further into a tiny spot. I don’t really know all what else he does.

6

I limited the travel in mine to give me the pattern that suited me best. No more zoomie.

7

I turned a flood to throw into a regular light by putting in a normal lens and reflector ...

8

What did you do about the “head”, i.e., the part that supported the reflector? Also which reflector did you use?

9

Seems like a cool idea. Measure the depth and diameter with the head fully extended. See if you can find a reflector and lens that would fit. DX has great prices on glass lenses. Ideally, you find one that fits with the head fully extended. If shallower, you could use something like solid wire or O-rings to decrease the extension so that the reflector is snug when the bezel is screwed on.

10

Ahh.

Ok, I just got my 1st ever calipers last week (Nieko, from Amazon), so I actually get to use it now :)!!

The ID of the bezel at the front is ~27.4 mm.

The depth, measured from the top lip of the pill, to the front edge of the bezel, when it’s fully extended, is ~24.3 mm.

I’ll look around for a bezel, but if anyone knows of one (or maybe two, an OP and an SMO), please post!

Thanks,
Jim

11

You can’t reuse the existing bezel?

12

Hi,

Maybe our posts crossed each other? That (re-using the bezel, fully-extended) is what I’m looking at now. I posted the dimensions of the existing bezel in the post before yours.

FYI, I was hoping that the reflector from a P60 drop-in might work. Isn’t it suppose to be 26.5mm? I just checked some of mine, and the OD of the rim of the bezels is more like 24+ mm :(…

13

Here’re the bezels that FastTech has:

http://www.fasttech.com/category/1617/diy-kits-parts-reflectors/?reflector

I’m wondering if I could use one of the ~36+ mm ones, like this one:

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1617/10001275/1208514-aluminum-smooth-reflector-for-cree-xm-l-emitters

and shorten it by filing down the front of the bezel?

If I was going to try to do that, would it be easier with a metal reflector or an aluminum one? Does anyone know?

14

I think the bezel is the part that screws down to hold the lens in place. The lens holds the reflector in place. Your links are to reflectors, but you are saying bezels. I may just be confused. I seem to be that way generally sometimes.

I hope this mod idea of yours works. I think there are probably a lot of folks that would like to do the same once they see it.

15

Sorry for any confusion.

What I’m currently thinking of (based on ideas offered in this current thread):

1) Use everything in the existing light, except for the existing “bezel ring” that holds the “lens”, and the lens itself.

2) Fully extend the existing bezel.

3) Then, I need a reflector that meets the dimensions I posted earlier, possibly by taking a 36+ mm bezel and filing the front down to the right width.

4) Put the modified reflector into the the fully-extended bezel, then move the bezel back (shortening) until the back of the reflector seats at the emitter (touches).

5) Fasten the bezel to that fixed position, somehow (epoxy?).

I think the above would work, but I’m still not sure what to do about the bezel ring part. I’m thinking it might be possible to somehow re-use the existing bezel ring. Maybe modify it slightly.

I also don’t know about a replacement lens yet. I’d probably look for a glass one with AR coating?

Thoughts?

Edit: Here’s the list of reflectors I have from FT that I’m thinking of. I’ve included a couple of the 42mm (C8) ones, just to try:

DESCRIPTION MODEL UNIT PRICE QTY TOTAL
Aluminum Smooth Reflector for Cree XM-L Emitters
SKU 1208514 XM-L, 36.5*30 $3.81 $7.62 Remove
Plastic Smooth Reflector for Cree XR-E Emitters
SKU 1209700 Cree, 35*28 (Plastic) $0.99 $0.99 Remove
Aluminum Smooth Reflector for Cree XM-L LED Emitters
SKU 1203500 XM-L: 42*31 $2.63 $2.63 Remove
Aluminum Alloy Orange Peel Reflector for Cree XM-L / XR-E / XR-C Emitters
SKU 1220101 XM-L/XR-E/XR-C, 42*31.5, OP $2.41 $2.41 Remove

16

I would point out that the vast majority of XM_L zoomies are woefully underdriven. If so, you’d need/want a new driver too. If it IS a decently driven light, you might consider selling it instead and simply buying an XM-L light with reflector that fits your needs. If you are just wanting a project then go for it! But as far as practical advice, I believe you ought to consider selling.

17

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion, but if I was going to do anything with this other than trying to mod it, I’d probably do a giveaway here, but at this point, I think that it has some promise as an ok 2x18650 host to play with :).

Having said that, just as a test, I took one of the reflectors from one of my C8s and did everything I listed above except I didn’t chop the C8 reflector, but rather just taped the reflector so it wouldn’t fall out when I held the light horizontally (vertically?), and took a white wall beamshot (about 1 meter):

Doesn’t seem too bad?

18

Unbelievable!

The good news is that it looks like there’s actually a 27mm reflector that would almost fit perfectly:

http://www.customlites.com/McR-27-Smooth-Reflector-McR27-SM.htm

The bad news is that it’s $17!!

I think unless I can find a cheaper one, I’ll go with chopping another reflector :)!

19

Huh? I have about 30 ordinary P60 reflectors here and they all measure around 1.045" OD at the top, or 26.5mm.

Are you measuring the inside of the bezel, or the inside diameter of the head where the front of the reflector seats?

20

Buy a reflector and a flat lens. Remove the aspheric lens.

Completely assemble the light using the reflector, flat lens and any o-rings. It should work fine as a fixed focus reflector light except for the bezel sliding out of position. As a last step, use arctic silver thermal epoxy to permanently glue the sliding bezel to the body of the light.