I've been on a multi-AA run lately https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/8199 and wanted to do something with the SAIK 305. I love the form factor, and for the price it isn't too bad. If you're lacking in crazy mod skills like I am, and just shake your head when you see what Old Lumens does with just hand tools, there's hope! I initially soldered a T6 emitter onto the existing driver and honestly, it was pretty nice...if that's all you did, you'd have a fairly bright light with (hopefully) a decent tint. I wanted to eliminate the blinkies though, so on we go.
The pill in this light is pretty awful, hollow much like the Lanshi in the above post. I don't have what it takes to create a new pill, so I thought I'd try to fill in the hollow as best I could. I started with a sheet of brass that I had on hand, and cut a small piece out...I rounded it on a basic disc sander
fitted in the pill, could pass for an Italian coin!
I sanded down a P60 pill and flattened the top end
So now we have this (I also had to grind the lip on the 305 pill to fit the P60):
Solder the coin to the pill:
drill the wire holes through the coin:
Solder the driver and emitter (I had a 20mm on hand):
install the new drop in:
That's it!
You can wrap the pill a bit like you would on a P60 to help with heat transfer - this isn't the optimal solution, but it's much better than stock and is pretty easy to complete. This is a budget solution to improving a fairly decent budget light. I have a glass lens that I'll be removing from a 46mm camera filter, but plan on keeping the plastic reflector. This isn't the light to end all lights, but in the limited world of short 3xAA's it's a very budget option.
Very nicely done. I love seeing mods like this. More people should try to mod their lights. Anyone with a little common sense and a little mechanical skill can accomplish a lot. Thanks for putting this thread up. As you say, there are few 3AA lights out there, that fit the budget category.
If the beam isn't to your liking and you want a smoother beam, an option is to get a can of Krylon Clear Gloss Acrylic. Just hold the reflector out at arm's length and hold the can out at arm's length the other way, so you get a good 4'-5' distance and just do a couple one second blasts and see how it looks on the reflector. Then just blast it as you need, to get an even coat. All you want is a roughness on the finish.
Something to experiment if you like a smooth, perfectly round beam. The stock reflector, with the coating, will give a good size spot and a large spill.
Sorry, got carried away there. Glad to see your mod and thanks again.
I like the way you used a old P60 pill base to hold the driver and emitter. Good work!
Can you perhaps tell us how much it ended up costing all in all so I can compare to some other projects that I am thinking about doing. I would like to give some AA based lights to a few friends that I dont want to be using Li-Ions.
I had an old pill on hand, the emitter was $6 on ebay and figure $4-$5 for a nanjg driver. Initially I looked for a 20mm driver for both this light and the Lanshi 3xAA that I linked to above, but there isn't anything out there that I can find that is decent. So, convert it to 16mm!
As far as tools used, besides a soldering iron and a drill, I used these:
The saw was only used to cut the piece of brass, otherwise all of the shaping was done on the disc sander. You could also use something like this, which is super cheap at Harbor Freight...I used this for the Lanshi pill:
