A Perfect Dedome?

I’m about to do my first dedome. It will be an XM-L2 U2 1A. What would be the easiest method to do? I’d like it to be a bit warmer but hopefully without the green tint shift…

That dedomed XHP35 looks fantastic! I can't tell, but is the phosphor surface ok? Looks softened up or something, maybe a result of chemical treatments?

Hopefully it's not too labor intensive. Guess that's the ultimate thing we want to achieve - not just one offs that take hours of work, but a repeatable, predictable process. The process can take hours, but if we had to spend hours to do one with high risks, it's not very practical to make in batches.

I’m gunna be using MEK for a dedome but I just need something answered.
I see you all dedome on the board. Do you then reflow onto a fresh board afterwards or is an alcohol rinse sufficient!

I rinsed with isopropanol after dedoming with MEK on the board, and I’ve not seen any adverse effects.

Awesome, dedomed and scraped xpg3 here we come!!!

Excellent Mitko, is the most XP cleanest eh seen, what recommendation can you give me to clean the remaining silicone surplus after putting it in gas to dedomar it? Eh used a toothpick but in several occasions eh cut the 2 wires that go to the phosphorus of the led. I have been told to try compressed air, but I doubt the out of the air will lift the phosphorus of the led. Thank you!

Mitko's chemical may not leave silicone residues - not sure. For me, I don't consider it necessary or worth the risk to get every trace of silicone off. I'll try to be sure loose pieces are removed, but I won't risk removing stuck silicone around the wires.

Thanks friend, I thought the silicon traces somehow affected the projection of the led.

So… I wonder if anyone in the us or? Would be willing to purchase these items and then distribute them so they could be attainable and affordable on a small scale. I’m guessing there would be a lot of problems that would keep this from happening? Don’t know about shipping chemicals let alone multiple chemicals in the same shipment and … I’m sure this is not possible or yes?

Why bother with the IPA, though? MEK evaporates with 0 residue; should be able to even just dribble some MEK over any loose bits instead of using IPA. Even 95% IPA has that nasty remainder of water…

Had to look, you’re a Yooper, not overseas or anything, right?

Yesterday I stopped off at my local hole-in-the-wall hardware store to see if I can get some nice powerful solvent. Didn’t make my weekend trip where I could’ve stopped off at Lowes and pick up a gallon of MEK or xylene (the latter which can be used as an octane booster if yer so inclined), so didn’t want to wait another week…

Anyway, I go looking for “some nice powerful solvent that’d eat silicone… something like MEK, xylene, Stoddard’s solvent, whatever you got”. So, I get pointed to the little spray-bottles of “organic” this and “green” that, some crap that doesn’t even list the chemicals and probably doesn’t work that well anyway. Finally, I’m eyeballing the rest of the aisle, and right opposite it are maybe pint cans of both MEK and xylene! Sold! (Well, yah, probably 5× the price-per-gallon as the actual gallon, but…)

Anyway, if I can get it pretty easily in a hw store that carries maybe a half-dozen of each item because of limited space, you should be able to get some fairly easily, too.

“Big” stores like Lowes and Home Despot should have it for sure.

Thanks for the reply. I forgot an important part of my post. :person_facepalming: so, ya, I can get MEK. actually that’s what I’ve been using with ok results but nothing like this thrower potion I am reading about :wink:

Ya… da UP eh! How you know a’boot dem dare Yoopers?

Ah, that witches’ brew…

Before anyone goes ordering anything, get the spellings right!! -phosphate vs -phosphite is a huge difference, and goggle doesn’t have a clue what’s “coresiline”. And I’m assuming benzene?

Eh, you just pick it up on the street…

Think'n for those type of chemicals, might be best to get the names right.

Really didn't think we could get MEK in NY - thought it would have been banned. NY and Cal are pretty tough on these things...

Long Island used to be known for potatoes, now it's breast cancer - good rule on LI: don't ever buy a home built on an old potato farm, and don't drink the local water. Sometimes there's good reasons for bans. So off to buy some MEK . It's at my local homedepot here.

Just thought i would add this in about dedoming the new style Cree LED’s. They will dedome completely with MEK, however be careful not to aggravate the phosphor. It becomes very soft and I’ve just ruined one by smudging it. If you slice about half the dome off before you soak it, it should only take 20-30 minutes until it swells, at the point it will pop off with the slightest nudge, unfortunately when I did one today I pushed the dome across the phosphor slightly and it ruined it. I’d recommend giving it about an hour to harden again before trying to scrape the excess of the surface.

How is the tint shift after this method?

It’ll warm up the tint a bit. If I know I’m going to dedome, I’ll start with a 1A tint or so and it usually comes out pretty neutral. But then again, I’m colorblind so I may not be the best judge :frowning:

Thanks! So you can’t tell if it shifts to green?

The Lowes near RFM (just off the Meadowbrook and OCR) has gallon cans of MEK, xylene, toluene, acetone, whatever your chemical-craving heart desires. Lots of contractors use that stuff as solvents and for cleaning, and for good reason, because they work.

The problem is irresponsible companies and illegal dumping, that made half of LI one big Superfund site. All that stuff leached into the top-level aquifers, to the point where they’re polluted coming out of the ground. You gotta drill past those into the deeper aquifers to get any kind of potable water.

I’m in Queens, but haunt Nassau and Suffolk fairly regularly.

Yeah, just what I need… another green flashlight. :stuck_out_tongue: