Gentlemen,
Today I'd like to show you an old led light a co-worker gave me. It's well over 5 years old and judging by the crummy emitters, probably older. Closest thing I found out there currently would be something like this (with a little looking one could probably find a closer match). It's a 3 led 3xAAA light with a side clicky (reverse!). Here's a quick before/after shot:
Now the rest of the before pics:
And the output with fresh batteries. Shield your eyes and turn down the brightness of your monitor!
Uff da! Well, after a complete teardown I noticed that the pieces may lego with a P60 drop-in... Here's the parts:
and one with the switch removed:
Here's one shot of the monsterously monsterous triple threat emitters (blah...):
Upon trying to fit a drop-in into the light I noticed that:
1.) It won't fit with the switch insulater installed.
and
2.) The body is too wide to even remotely center the drop-in, much less provide any heatsinking.
Luckily I had a small chunk of 1" copper grounding rod handy, and was able to turn down a perfectly fitting adapter. To insulate the bottom from the positive off the switch I got high-tech and used a cut down plastic bottle cap as seen here (Note: the pictures aren't out of focus, they actually came off the lathe a little "blurry" ):
Since it was all apart, I figured it would be a good time to freshen up the exterior. I decided on a dark metallic flake forest green (because that's what was available on my garage shelf). Once dried and all back together, it turned out something like this:
Solarforce XP-G 3 mode drop-in @1.3amps off of junk alkie's
And, one last photo that better shows off the color (It contrasts well with my disturbingly white hand...):
Also of note, I replaced the scratched to hell plastic lens with a solarforce glass piece and found that an 18650 will fit it with very minor grinding to the tailcap. I've always liked side switches (a la maglite) and now I have one for any P60 drop-in for less than $3 in paint, new o-rings, scrap copper, and glass. This essentially free (sans drop-in) torch is quickly becoming one of my favorites, mainly due to the side switch and now the added personal touch. Hope y'all enjoyed this (If not, just mark as spam )
-Match