Thanks! I'm prepared for the worse.
Good coatings are also very expensive and hard for a DIY to do properly-even more so for orange peel.
I suspect milling one up to someone specs would be the greatest issue of all.
You should be able to design it yourself using raytracing software - povray is free.
You can get the optical characteristics from the Cree datasheets.
http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_xml_ezw.asp
At the bottom of that page you'll get the optical models. Hopefully POVRay will be able to read these files. Then just plug in your reflector ideas and see what happens. You have a rough idea of what you want from reflectors that you can measure to plug in their details.
It might be a bit tedious but will cost infinitely less than getting someone who knows about optics to design one for you.
Count me in, assuming the "budget friendly" thing is possible.
likestobepartofcoolstuffFoy
I arranged a beer meeting with the lathe guy the next weekend. POVray i know but i'm way too rusty on it to put something good out of it. Used to do 3D modeling but that's more than 15 years ago with truespace and when 3dstudio was still going strong under DOS...
The machining and aluminium costs would be cheap enough about 3-5usd tops if i make a dozen or so. Surely not more than 20 as this will be way too annoying for the lathe guy. The mirror coating can be hard... Trying for 2usd a piece which if all goes well i should be around 6usd a piece. That would be my target. If above 8usd i'm already not interested anymore, porbably. However these parts will be precisely made and not fingertip coated or chipped or with poor QC.
How about making a SS one and finding a way to buff it to mirror finish? Would that be optically viable? I suspect not but...
The aim is to make the beam more concentrated than the usual C8 comes with and to capture more light. Our lovely manufacturers seems that just stick new leds to what they have available with little to no regards on emitter characteristics...
Can someone post a good throwy reflector from a decent high dollar XM-L flashlight?
I've got my TD15X, but its not an uber thrower (TK41, Thrunite Catapult, M3C4, M1X). After I took the reflector out, it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It has a light ripple to it.
The catapult sounds good to me.
Do you carry the C8 XM-L to make a comparison side by side, at 30+m?
The target is to have a custom relector that can do a better job compared to the stock one. addin a bit mor throw and capturing more light than these generic parts can do. I believe there is more potential to be had from out XM-L's than we budget minded have. Everybody liked the Tk35 beamshots, me included.
http://www.topoftheline.com/alexpol.html
Is it viable to polish the aluminium to such degree? Then apply a coat of clear paint which woudl probably not likely stick to aluminium well?
Gotcha! I think I get the idea here! We want to get the current reflectors to work better for us!
Lol... anyway that was good fun! beats writing essays on how to improve dental health services for rural communities in australia.....due next week :/
That would be easy here - just train enough of them so that you have as many coming in as you have retiring.
I think im gonna ask the lathe guy to make copper pills for the MRV and C8's instead. Perhaps even for P60's.
I still like XR-E's
But if you guys design a cheapo reflector for my cheapo XM-L's, I'm in.
However, think of this like you think of Foyzels. Yeah, you can buy one for $5 at Solarforce-sales, but that adds 25% to the price of the body, os you make grind one down instead.
If you are going to add $100 in parts and labor to the price of a cheapo XML in terms of a "good" reflector, why don't you just start with an expensive light like a TK35 or RA Clicky, and still have a good light to show for your money and trouble, instead of a cheap light with an upgraded reflector?
<but that;s just me>
It'd be good getting them to only just fit in the throat of some popular light (Some sort of Solarforce or the old-style WF-504B) and make them as large as possible. Ideally we want an interference fit into the body - I'm fine with having to heat the light body to get a dropin in if I get better thermal performance. Something like the Malkoff dropins.
http://www.malkoffdevices.com/shop/m61-mod-to-fit-surefire-and-malkoff-p-7.html
Solarforce-its the best. But what were people expecting from a better designed XML reflector?