Lucky me, the driver is working perfectly this morning, pulling 3 amps, three modes and memory. Yippee. I will put it down to a glitch in the switch? Major I will have to get the 10 degree ones for a comparison. The 15 degrees is a wall of light with an undefined hot spot. I tried a couple of different reflectors in it this morning quickly and the longer reflector I thought was pretty good shining at the garage door. I concur with the comparison with the P60. I have a few different dropins and was pleasantly surprised how well the small light compared to the larger reflector. I will have beamshots up as soon as my patience and time allows.
Night shots added in first post.
nice job, I think I’ll keep that optic in mind for my next bar light, where I want a slightly floodier beam. Looks very smooth and even. If you want more spot and a narrower spill, the LED DNA 10deg should fit in between the P60 and the TIR.
This light was one of my early builds which I liked mainly because of the unique switch area but there was always a couple of things about it that bugged me. It was decided an update was needed.
OL requested at the time the driver needed an extra four chips added to hot it up a bit but unfortunately at this moment that is still more than my soldering skills allow. Having a few drivers turn up in the mail unexpectedly from an anonymous member here who who we all call Dale or DBC the above problem was solved as these were seven mode DD drivers.
A 20mm reflector was also deemed necessary to replace the TIR which meant a new head built to suit the longer reflector. At the same time I'd at last be able to seal up the battery tube properly with some enclosed o'rings.
The reflector that replaced the TIR. The reflector is protected by a 20mm AR lens (not shown here).
The new parts that were used in the mod. For some reason the new head was not here at the time the picture was taken. I'll blame one of my assistants that got sacked while working on an earlier build.
A shot of the battery tube with the new set up to keep out the elements. Its a threaded sleeve that the head screws up against.
A shot of its rear and front along with an LG HE4 bought just for this light. Led was upgraded to a XML-2 U2 1A on a 16mm copper star. The switch spring has also had a piece of 22 AWG silicon wire soldered to it the same as the driver spring.
Ready for action.
What a treat! Was this done after the lathe was refurbished? I like the smooth round drive screws.
Thanks RBD. Yep. Its after the refurb on the lathe. Dale did ask a few weeks ago how I was going with the drivers. I dont churn them out like he does.
When my wife tells folks I build flashlights as a hobby they immediately do two things. First they snicker, then they ask CNC or lathe? Neither? So you don't actually "build" them? MRsDNF, you actually "build" flashlights and I'm insanely jealous of your abilities. I hope the muggles at least snicker at you.
How nice to see this thread pop up again, I loved the design at the time, and I love the new looks all the same :-)
Great work, as usual!!