What to do with empty TR-1200?

I have a gutted TR-1200. The original design has a reflector that screws into the bezel, and the driver compartment screws into/onto the back of the reflector. Not good!

The battery tube doesn't take up all the threads in the back of the head, there's something like 6 full (female) threads not being used at the top, problem is I don't know how to find a pill with the right thread to fit in there. Has anybody figured out what will fit, or some other way to get a conventional pill mounted in one of these rather than just hung off the back of the reflector?

I have one too. Been wondering the same thing for quite some time. I just keep putting it back in the box to think about later. Kind of a shame, because the host itself has some decent heat sinking potential. Will be following this thread.

Just discovered the thread is similar to the thread on the head of a Solarforce L2_, close, it will screw in, but I can tell it's not a perfect match. But at least the diameter is the same, pitch or something else is a little different.

I have a batch of stuff coming from FT, the two non-C8 pills they have listed and a few reflectors with pills same style as the original TR-1200 (they fit in D cell Mags with just a little cutting, and work nice).

this was a classic host which really got me searching for more DIY parts than i’d like to admit :slight_smile:
i have about 4 drop ins for it now
love the 3x18350 length too it’s perfect

this plastic reflector will fit if you go c8/p60 pill style
https://www.fasttech.com/product/1208513

as will this aspheric
http://club.dx.com/forums/forums.dx/threadid.826104

what i would like are some AR lenses which fit:)

[edit: there is this at KD but a bit pricey:
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S004304 ]

Hey I already have one of those here!, set aside for something Maglite-related one day, probably. Very similar dimensions to the deep Mag LED reflectors (but lots cheaper). I also have two of these (one still with the OP, other has been stripped and polished) which screw into the TR-1200's bezel, but as yet I haven't found the pill that fits it. Gives a nice soft center spot with a XML without being floody.

This one is deeper, doesn't have the TR- threads on the front, but the ring at the front is thicker than the threads would be so it's able to be clamped tight when the bezel is screwed down. No method to mount a pill on the backside though...

If I can't find a pill that will screw into the bottom of the head using the leftover battery tube threads, I'll just bore it out and press in a one-off hunk of aluminum.

Wait - are you saying the thread on the front of the battery tube into the head is the same thread as the C8 pill? Somehow, I have managed to never own a C8, so don't know those parts well...

edit: C & D cell Maglite AR lenses are a direct swap, in fact the original glass lens from this TR- is being used in a D cell Mag right now.

oh and i also saw this aluminium xm-l one
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1372

i think all the screw in reflectors released were shallow by design (for halogen or sst)

[edit: one screw in deep OP at dx
http://club.dx.com/reviews/text/18841/254027
also fandyfire v7 was deep but can’t find the reflector sold separately]

looks like that 29mm FT pill will be close… look forward to your results!
otherwise you could bore the battery tube to fit in a c8 pill, the FT one is 23mm
[edit: no, i didn’t mean any p60/c8 would be a direct swap, just using the same ideas…]

thanks, mag parts tend to incur pricey shipping ><

just saw this thread with the flamed tr-3t6 head, all i can say is wow. diy colour host here we come :slight_smile:

I doubt either of those pills are going to work, it depends on how they measured them. OD of the battery tube threads is 1.130", or 28.7mm. Pill would need to be the same dimensions as that part, measuring the thread ID in the head isn't really relevant, you'd need to know the specific thread pitch & depth.

Something like this?

http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S021394

I think I’ve seen reflectors in this style as well. I’ve got a single LED with T6 XML that uses this design and just find the drop-in’s too expensive relative to complete discount SRKs.

Eh, I had a 5x XR-E module in it originally, I want to do a single LED and convert it to a pill or something mounted in the head. I'll see how the reflector+pill from FT looks once I get it, it may do fine... I also have another extension tube coming to let it run 3x18650, so thinking probably a big fat buck driver and MTG2. The no-pill design doesn't seem like it'll be well suited to that, but we'll see.

If there's nothing pre-made that can be adapted I'll make something out of AL bar stock, bore out the inside of the head, and just make it a press fit. I don't have any way to make new threads so I have to stick to caveman tech here. :)

non-standard taps and dies are damned expensive…
for instance, if you were into c8 pill swapping this would be useful, but 46usd…
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-23mm-23-x-1-0-HSS-Metric-Right-Hand-Tap-M23-x-1-Pitch-/170917944017?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27cb80dad1

Great info islisis. Thank you.

yikes! $) I could buy another drill press for what two of those taps would cost!

a whole bunch of massive reflectors at KD… and a 86mm D 90mm H!! ><; are these new?
http://www.kaidomain.com/category.228

40mm deep reflector should fit the tr-1200 with some work
http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S021798

What about grinding down the threads and glueing in a piece of round aluminium?

I’ve got a TR1200 host as well, it went out of service when I ruined half the emitters trying to dedome it.
Perhaps filling the head solid with solder and using it as a home defense weapon? With the extension tube on of course.

Well, yes. More or less. But I'm leaning towards using the reflector/pill assembly as-is, and then building a copper spacer that's clamped between the pill and the bottom of the head/front of the battery tube when it's all screwed together. As opposed to building a whole new design pill from scratch that's installed in the head... without a method for cutting threads to make it removable later, driver changes & tweaks would be a severe pain, it would have to be a press-fit.

:O

You are crazy creative. Nice work.

The driver originally had wires between contact board and driver, I replaced that with .040" copper wire. Thermal pad between the two, then squashed down and held in place while the posts were soldered.

Ready to check the amperage:

The spring can't overheat if it's not there. 4 solder bumps around the ground ring contact the front face of the battery tube when screwed together. The driver isn't soldered in, it's held only by being clamped in place (yes, that means I'm expecting some part of this to blow up, and planning ahead accordingly):

Short stumpy reflector. At 9 amps, does it really matter?

Currently using the 9 amp driver from IOS and this reflector/pill kit, and an extension tube for a 3x 18650 config. It does 5A with two 18650 and 9A with three. I'm not sure yet if I like the overheat protection because YES it does get painfully hot after about 5 minutes, don't think there's anything I can do about it, either by shedding the heat quicker or by disabling it. The driver would have to be mounted somewhere other than the same thing the LED's attached to. On a positive note, the body getting so hot so fast is a good indicator that the heat transfer is working better than you'd think possible with this kind of reflector/pill design.

Oh, and it totally drowns out the 5x SRK - this thing on LOW is about the same amount of light as the SRK, with a much smaller hotspot. It's not a tight center spot of course, but the vast majority of the light is in the hotspot and very little in the area between the spot and the outer spill. Can't wait for it to get dark!