DBC2, EDC Quad XP-G3, now DBC-04 with XP-L2 and Carclo quad optic

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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Edit: DBC-02 became a laser… green light at around 200mW

The light got rebuilt to the point it became DBC-04, and now it has an extension ring in Titanium to allow for an 18500 cell with 1000mAh capacity, which gives 14.11A at the tail to the new XP-L2 V6 1C emitters and a change back to Carclo Quad optics. This allows some 700 lumens more light, at 4122.75 lumens. :slight_smile:

I did the cell addition/change in January of 2017, completed the emitter swap to XP-L2’s November 14, 2017. :wink:

—Hiya hiya!
I thought I’d share my second complete scratch build on the lathe, the DBC2 Quad EDC made with Cree XP-G3 S5 3A emitters on a Cutter T-Pad copper mcpcb with Khatod spot quad optics. I made it day before yesterday kind of on a whim. Just went out to the shop with a pocket full of the components and whipped this up initially in about 6 hours. No design, no real plan, it just formed itself as I went along. :slight_smile:

When I got started on it, I had two left over pieces of copper… one in 100% pure that was long enough but not large enough diameter, and one Tellurium Cu that was the right diameter but too short. So I made a 1” pill design with a bezel threaded onto one end and a driver cavity and battery tube threads in the other. Then finned the Tellurium and made it a slip-on. Not optimum, but it worked. :slight_smile:

The battery tube is bored to the correct depth, then the switch is put in from the rear and held in with a brass retaining ring. All done on the fly, as it were, making it up as I went along. :wink:

This is a pilotdog68 lighted tail cap board, with the clear acrylic cover piece and a pinkish opaque rubber boot from my X6/X5 lights. I haven’t done the lighted tail cap thing, not sure if I will on this 18350 light.

I had one of Richards ATTiny25 FET+1 drivers with no firmware flashed to it, so I put the latest Bistro firmware on it, wired up with 20ga leads and got some 2250 lumens out the front from the G3’s and a Carclo quad optic. Then I bypassed the springs and got 2515 lumens. This was playing with it yesterday, getting the brass switch ring finalized and all finished up.

The crazy thing is, I did this while coming off a double dose of the sedatives I sometimes have to take. I mostly remember doing it, but the time it took seems kinda foggy. lol Just wandered out there and did it.

Then today, I changed the game plan…

Did a bit of a redesign. Remembered I had the tighter Khatod optics so I redid the bezel and bored the pill to fit the wider optic legs and allow the taller deeper TIR’s. :slight_smile: 2559.9 lumens now, from the XP-G3 S5 3A’s.

I’m liking it, in spite of the extra effort it took I’m liking how it turned out. All in a days work, right? lol So I’ve got about 10 hours into it now. Not bad, not bad at all.


(Edit: For the record, the head is 33mm in diameter, smaller sections of battery tube are 23mm while the raised sections are 28.6mm. Overall length is 92.8mm. It weighs 181 grams with an Efest purple IMR18350 cell installed.)

Before, with Carclo quad optics…

After, with the Khatod…

I really love how two metals merge when machined together…

All in all, a fun little light with some punch, and plenty of copper to handle it. :slight_smile:

Thanks for checking it out, one of these days I might actually get good with the lathe and start doing things “right”! :smiley:

Edit: 5-20-16 9:49PM
I pulled the bezel and optics and put a 20ga loop between the pad and negative lead, got a direct amperage measurement.

0.01 Amps
0.18
0.86
3.05
7.57 Amps at 2680 lumens

So each of the XP-G3 S5 3A is getting just under 2A, which is the spec max for these new emitters. This is on the Efest IMR18350 cell, which has been taking a beating lately, lol.

I’ve squared away the switch seat, made a brass cover plate for the top of the switch, so I know every ground point is as solid as I can make it. Pulled the resistors off the lighted tail cap in favor of full functionality of the Bistro driver. All the coulda, shoulda, woulda’s, have been addressed. :wink:

EditII: 5-21-16 11:32PM
A quick beam shot at about 35 yds.


Schoolgirl giggles, silly boy grins. :smiley:

And now it’s my EDC, stealing that spot from my Quad Cu X5 that’s been there since Nov 4 ’15, since Dec 22 as a quad.

The belt loop acts as a hook that also catches the hem of shorts, so I can even wear it and deploy the light without having it on my belt. Works pretty sweet, but as with so many things I do, I forgot to double check orientation when I built it… I’ve carried the X5 with the head facing left, on the left side, so when it comes out my thumb is in place over the switch and ready to shine from a tactical grip. This time, I made the sheath with the light facing right, carried left, so it’s opposite and will take some getting used to. Oh well, forgetfulness rears it’s ugly head in so many ways….

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Amazing work!

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Dale, nice work. The tail pcb you have there is actually of pyro1son’s design. You should try one of the Rev5 boards sometime too. They’re more efficient so more appropriate for the smaller cells.

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pd, this one allows the adjustable pot in the center of the spring, I figured with a quad set-up on an 18350 the poor little cell just couldn’t afford the additional drain of a couple of tiny LED’s. :wink:

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You can combine the two versions too. Rev5 efficiency + pyro1son’s easy pot control = real winner.

Basically what I’m saying is, your tailcap isn’t complex enough :slight_smile:

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But I’ve got the latest and greatest in quad mcpcb’s and the freshest XP-G3’s and the rarest Khatod Optic and the elusive Tellurium Cu… should count for SOMETHING! :stuck_out_tongue:

Edit: You’re gonna make me populate the lighted tail cap aren’t ya?

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Nice Dale. You and that little lathe will / are becoming good friends. There isn’t much that’s more enjoyable than just building something as you think of it. I don’t get to do that too often but I sure like it when it can happen. Nice clean work. :+1: Keep it up. Dan.

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Thanks Dan, appreciate it. I thought of you more than once when I was doing this one, rest assured! :wink:

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Two things Dale. Take more sedatives and send me some. Love the light especially with the no tailcap in sight.

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What a beautiful creation. Congrats. :)

I like this picture. Kind of looks like you're in zero gravity and the parts are floating away.

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Steve, I got the brass ring in tight with no holes drilled by using the point on a cutting tool. It had a sleek look that I wanted to keep, but the dang rubber post inside the boot was too long and the light wouldn’t tail stand without changing modes! So I had to drill the little holes so I could unscrew the retaining ring and get the boot out for that simple shave mod. Sure looked sleek without the tweezer holes. Oh well, I’ll probably put some LED’s and potentiometer on the switch board, it’ll give it that one more special look.

Showed it off tonight to a couple of Special Forces guys and they were totally freaked by the output and size. Got out the Trustfire TR-J20 and the guy was showing me money, wanted it bad! lol (13,500 lumens)

Ran it walking the trash can down to the road, pretty much a 10 minute walk, then those guys and the ex-cop neighbor used it for a while, ultimately came in to a cell down to 3.7V even though it’d been on for most of 30 minutes. So it works out really nice, carries easy, isn’t prone to slip even without gripping it firmly due to that double ridge in the middle. All in all a very handy light. The Khatod optics really make a difference, offering throw that the Carclo’s just can’t do.

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Man that is beautiful… When is the production run? I need one ASAP. :slight_smile:

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interesting that you put the lighted tailcap board in it, yet you don’t want a lighted tail cap. SO that means this is for someone else :wink:

14

Amazing build, I like it a lot :+1:

15

really awesome work, I will use this as inspiration to do a multi-emitter build one day…

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This is how I screwed my boot retainer in without screw holes on a light similar to yours on the rear end.

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That light looks amazing. Only thing I woulda changed is add some grooves or knurling just so that it looks different than the tail cap.
Extremely nice build!

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What a beauty Dale, are the two beamshots photo taken under the same setting? Amazing how much more light the kathod seems to put out! is this the 25mm 10° version?

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Wow, that light is beautiful. I wish I had even a quarter of the skill you have Dale.

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Nice work.