Yesterday afternoon I tinkered with my Q8.
Made some changes to the light to allow the use of 4 20mm SinkPAD mcpcbs and on these I re-flowed 4 Luminus SST-40’s. With 4 × 22ga ground leads and a single 18ga positive, the light makes 11,247 lumens at maximum, on 4 Sony VTC5A’s with copper button tops. Was quite a bit of fine tuning, including opening up the emitter opening in the 4 reflector cups. Lowest mode is just under 5 lumens, so it works pretty good for my purpose. I have TK’s latest Anduril with flickering candlelight and lightning displays. Gotta tell ya, lightning bursts from this power level are very impressive!
Pretty dang cool Zozz! Like it! Does the name show up in a beam profile if you sine it close?
Through a paper yes but with pointing the light to something no. Even from 1cm it shows full green spot. Maybe if I made big difference in thickness of the letters and the area around them.
Now I made one for the BLF Q8 too.
It making the tint so so warm. I will design a diffuser to it.
It’d be really sweet on my Dad’s virtually stock Q8 (birthday present next week) but my own I’d have to be super careful not to melt it.
Very very cool, great work!
Edit: That warming of the tint would be Awesome with TK’s candlelight mode in Anduril. Might have to see if someone can make me one, the candlelight flickering alone is worth the effort I think.
The shipping cost I think about 6-7$. I can share the cad files with you and I think it is cheaper to print it with somebody in the US. But I can ship if you can’t find anybody to make it. Just need to calculate some acceptable price
I don’t know anyone that does 3D printing but surely there’s someone in the States that does. Still though, you conquered it and I like what I see from your printer so if you’d figure out what you need, I’d like to get one (or a few) in the next week or two.
Some FourSeven lights arrived today.
The $12 Preon P1 in Blue
Not at all impressed with it. Head threads were Very loose. To the point it felt like it was going to skip. I managed to expand the body by hammering in a 1/4 in socket that had a nice smooth taper. It was a perfect fit to expand the tube and threads. Tiniest wire I have ever see used, not silicone. 28AWG was an upgrade.
The clip was not reversible to the head, light would not contact the MCPCB to power it. I decided to use a thicker 10mm Sinkpad with the Nichia 219B. The extra thickness allowed the clip to be reversed and light works now.
As I got it.
Took it apart and put it in the heated Ultrasonic cleaner
Updated my EDC scratch built DBC-04 Ti/Cu 18500 light with XP-L2 V6 1C’s replacing the Nichia 219C’s and a Carclo quad optic replacing the Khatod. The optic swap required a 3.55mm spacer which I cut from brass. (had some of the hard to cut pure oxygen free copper, didn’t feel like fighting it)
I also fitted it with a double sided AR coated thick glass lens to protect the Carclo from scratches.
It went from 3400 lumens to 4123 lumens, I lost the tighter beam profile of the Khatod and now it’s a flood monster.
The triple channel TA driver keeps current draw very reasonable right up to Turbo, where it jumps from 2.43A to 14.11! The first 5 levels are all under 1A draw, so run time in everything but the Turbo level is surprisingly good. The 1000mAh 18500 is the limitation, had I made it for the 18650 output would be simply ridiculous.
Thanks MRsDNF.
Thought about rolling the head to try and shrink but wasn’t positive it would get smaller. So I went bigger on the other end. Took some time to scrounge just the right tool to git’er done. Worked and no cracks.
I found a package in my mailbox when I got home from work today. It was from Richard @mtnelectronics, which is always a good thing. Soldered up the clear C8 host with the SST40 on 20mm noctigon mcpcb with a dab of arctic silver. Mtn17dd driver with Crescendo (Thanks for that TK it’s excellent). Both springs are wire bypassed as I assume by now is some kind of BLF law. Haha.
The reflector centering disk that came with this clear C8 did not work with the SST40. I left it out and everything worked great. The last C8 I built was a XHP50.2 from a prebuilt light. That light had a square hole in the disk that sat around the emitter base which worked perfectly.
The same XM footprint square hole centering ring will work with your SST-40, but the trick is finding one that also mates up with the opening in the C8 reflector. If the hole in the reflector is too small you can open it up to match the centering ring by using one blade of a good pair of scissors, carefully and from the outside (bottom) of course, taking it slow will net you a nice fit if you are into that kind of thing.
Thanks for the input guys. I’m actually happy with how this one turned out without the ring. I guess I got away with one this time… I’ll have to grab a couple to have on hand for the next one.
So the round hole centering ring that came with the light I assume is for XP size emitters?
Probably, yes. Simon made a new ramped or bevel style centering ring for the XP-L and it works very good, but it doesn’t help much for those that use XM-L2 emitters or other’s in the same footprint.
I loved my quad m2, the only problem i had with it being that with the way the o-ring sits on the optics liner it was not waterproof, as water could get in the light by going around the brass liner (see image below for a poorly drawn example).
So I sanded the sides of the liner so that the oring would be pushed towards the body forming a complete seal, and swapped the oring for a thicker, GITD one.
After some testing it seems to be completely waterproof now, and the GITD oring looks rather nice, so I’m pretty happy with the results .
Actually, Im not sure that you can use any inner bezel type light with one o-ring under glass and be sure in waterproofness (only exception is P60 with L-shaped sealing). When it is possible, it is better to add one more o-ring between bezel and glass.
P.S. Inner bezel is fail, I can understand why it is so often used. Outer type (like X6, C8, M43 etc) is ways better solution.
I love my M2, but I want to replace the glass lens but the stock one has an odd thickness to it so most replacement glass won’t let the bezel to screw down all the way. I also have a quad setup for mine.
Finally printed out the BLF Q8 diffuser. The first try the side text was too thin so it had holes in the letters so then I changed to use protruding letters on side instead of sinked.
Work in progress
On the light:
Powered on:
The Q8 is on 1500 lumens ramping level without diffuser andthat is what I saw with naked eye with diffuser on:
Updated the UltraFire UF-10 with a Nichia 319ATE SM655 D440 6500K emitter for a nice hexagonal spot. MTNFET driver, 16mm Noctigon, reverse clicky, 16500 cell.
I had originally modded this light with an XP-L HI but always wanted to try the Nichia under a plano aspheric, I like it better now
Although the camera doesn’t pick it up quite right the centre picture gives a rough idea of spot pattern.
It doesn’t quite reach the sky and has lost some throw with the new emitter but is still not bad for a compact wee pocket rocket
XP-L HI Version rough numbers:
4.5A Max
Flood – 1120lm
Zoom – 406lm
Lux – 29000
Throw – 340m
Pretty dang cool Zozz! Like it! Does the name show up in a beam profile if you sine it close?
Yesterday afternoon I tinkered with my Q8.
Made some changes to the light to allow the use of 4 20mm SinkPAD mcpcbs and on these I re-flowed 4 Luminus SST-40’s. With 4 × 22ga ground leads and a single 18ga positive, the light makes 11,247 lumens at maximum, on 4 Sony VTC5A’s with copper button tops. Was quite a bit of fine tuning, including opening up the emitter opening in the 4 reflector cups. Lowest mode is just under 5 lumens, so it works pretty good for my purpose. I have TK’s latest Anduril with flickering candlelight and lightning displays. Gotta tell ya, lightning bursts from this power level are very impressive!
Through a paper yes but with pointing the light to something no. Even from 1cm it shows full green spot. Maybe if I made big difference in thickness of the letters and the area around them.
Now I made one for the BLF Q8 too.
It making the tint so so warm. I will design a diffuser to it.
Reviews: Olight Seeker2 pro, Lumintop GlowI, Sofirn SP36, Convoy 4X18A, Convoy M21C, Brinyte SR8 Rescue Angel, Astrolux MF01 mini, Astrolux FT03S, YLP Sherp S15, Sofirn SP40, YLP Panda 3R and Unicorn, Armytek Prime C1 Pro, Acebeam M50, Imalent MS18, Convoy M3, Nitecore TIP2, Imalent RT70, Wuben T70, Sofirn SP32A, Thorfire VG15S, Thorfire VG10S, Thorfire TG06S
Mods: Imalent MS18 dedoming, Astrolux MF01-20K, Small sun T08 MT-G2, Eagle eye X6 triple XPL, Ultrafire F13 MT-G2, Convoy C8 XHP70, Solarstorm T3 triple XP-L HI
Big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection
3D printing stuff for flashlights
My flashlight related Instagram
My Flashlight related Youtube channel called Zozzlights
Oh now that’s nice!
It’d be really sweet on my Dad’s virtually stock Q8 (birthday present next week) but my own I’d have to be super careful not to melt it.
Very very cool, great work!
Edit: That warming of the tint would be Awesome with TK’s candlelight mode in Anduril. Might have to see if someone can make me one, the candlelight flickering alone is worth the effort I think.
Thank you!
I made a sample so now I can make any size in about a few minutes and then print.
Reviews: Olight Seeker2 pro, Lumintop GlowI, Sofirn SP36, Convoy 4X18A, Convoy M21C, Brinyte SR8 Rescue Angel, Astrolux MF01 mini, Astrolux FT03S, YLP Sherp S15, Sofirn SP40, YLP Panda 3R and Unicorn, Armytek Prime C1 Pro, Acebeam M50, Imalent MS18, Convoy M3, Nitecore TIP2, Imalent RT70, Wuben T70, Sofirn SP32A, Thorfire VG15S, Thorfire VG10S, Thorfire TG06S
Mods: Imalent MS18 dedoming, Astrolux MF01-20K, Small sun T08 MT-G2, Eagle eye X6 triple XPL, Ultrafire F13 MT-G2, Convoy C8 XHP70, Solarstorm T3 triple XP-L HI
Big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection
3D printing stuff for flashlights
My flashlight related Instagram
My Flashlight related Youtube channel called Zozzlights
Would it be feasible to send one to Texas?
(or 3?)
The shipping cost I think about 6-7$. I can share the cad files with you and I think it is cheaper to print it with somebody in the US. But I can ship if you can’t find anybody to make it. Just need to calculate some acceptable price
Reviews: Olight Seeker2 pro, Lumintop GlowI, Sofirn SP36, Convoy 4X18A, Convoy M21C, Brinyte SR8 Rescue Angel, Astrolux MF01 mini, Astrolux FT03S, YLP Sherp S15, Sofirn SP40, YLP Panda 3R and Unicorn, Armytek Prime C1 Pro, Acebeam M50, Imalent MS18, Convoy M3, Nitecore TIP2, Imalent RT70, Wuben T70, Sofirn SP32A, Thorfire VG15S, Thorfire VG10S, Thorfire TG06S
Mods: Imalent MS18 dedoming, Astrolux MF01-20K, Small sun T08 MT-G2, Eagle eye X6 triple XPL, Ultrafire F13 MT-G2, Convoy C8 XHP70, Solarstorm T3 triple XP-L HI
Big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection
3D printing stuff for flashlights
My flashlight related Instagram
My Flashlight related Youtube channel called Zozzlights
I don’t know anyone that does 3D printing but surely there’s someone in the States that does. Still though, you conquered it and I like what I see from your printer so if you’d figure out what you need, I’d like to get one (or a few) in the next week or two.
And I made a diffuser design for the Q8. I hope it will work and doesn’t melt on the light
Reviews: Olight Seeker2 pro, Lumintop GlowI, Sofirn SP36, Convoy 4X18A, Convoy M21C, Brinyte SR8 Rescue Angel, Astrolux MF01 mini, Astrolux FT03S, YLP Sherp S15, Sofirn SP40, YLP Panda 3R and Unicorn, Armytek Prime C1 Pro, Acebeam M50, Imalent MS18, Convoy M3, Nitecore TIP2, Imalent RT70, Wuben T70, Sofirn SP32A, Thorfire VG15S, Thorfire VG10S, Thorfire TG06S
Mods: Imalent MS18 dedoming, Astrolux MF01-20K, Small sun T08 MT-G2, Eagle eye X6 triple XPL, Ultrafire F13 MT-G2, Convoy C8 XHP70, Solarstorm T3 triple XP-L HI
Big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection
3D printing stuff for flashlights
My flashlight related Instagram
My Flashlight related Youtube channel called Zozzlights
Some FourSeven lights arrived today.
The $12 Preon P1 in Blue
Not at all impressed with it. Head threads were Very loose. To the point it felt like it was going to skip. I managed to expand the body by hammering in a 1/4 in socket that had a nice smooth taper. It was a perfect fit to expand the tube and threads. Tiniest wire I have ever see used, not silicone. 28AWG was an upgrade.
The clip was not reversible to the head, light would not contact the MCPCB to power it. I decided to use a thicker 10mm Sinkpad with the Nichia 219B. The extra thickness allowed the clip to be reversed and light works now.
As I got it.
Took it apart and put it in the heated Ultrasonic cleaner
Tiny MCPCB 8mm original
Tiny wires on the double layer driver.
Socket pressed into tube to expand it.
Some 219B goodness
Stripped the Blue but not polished
View BLF with NO Commercials Here!
Neat little light, nice mods. I’d love it for the style, but like you I’d absolutely have to change it up. Love the blue though…
That was one very creative way to fix the threads vw.
djozz quotes, "it came with chinese lettering that is chinese to me".
"My man mousehole needs one too"
old4570 said "I'm not an expert , so don't suffer from any such technical restrictions".
Old-Lumens. Highly admired and cherished member of Budget Light Forum. 11.5.2011 - 20.12.16. RIP.
Updated my EDC scratch built DBC-04 Ti/Cu 18500 light with XP-L2 V6 1C’s replacing the Nichia 219C’s and a Carclo quad optic replacing the Khatod. The optic swap required a 3.55mm spacer which I cut from brass. (had some of the hard to cut pure oxygen free copper, didn’t feel like fighting it)
I also fitted it with a double sided AR coated thick glass lens to protect the Carclo from scratches.
It went from 3400 lumens to 4123 lumens, I lost the tighter beam profile of the Khatod and now it’s a flood monster.
The triple channel TA driver keeps current draw very reasonable right up to Turbo, where it jumps from 2.43A to 14.11! The first 5 levels are all under 1A draw, so run time in everything but the Turbo level is surprisingly good. The 1000mAh 18500 is the limitation, had I made it for the 18650 output would be simply ridiculous.
Love that light DB. It’s perfect in every way.
Thanks MRsDNF.
Thought about rolling the head to try and shrink but wasn’t positive it would get smaller. So I went bigger on the other end. Took some time to scrounge just the right tool to git’er done. Worked and no cracks.
View BLF with NO Commercials Here!
I found a package in my mailbox when I got home from work today. It was from Richard @mtnelectronics, which is always a good thing. Soldered up the clear C8 host with the SST40 on 20mm noctigon mcpcb with a dab of arctic silver. Mtn17dd driver with Crescendo (Thanks for that TK it’s excellent). Both springs are wire bypassed as I assume by now is some kind of BLF law. Haha.
The reflector centering disk that came with this clear C8 did not work with the SST40. I left it out and everything worked great. The last C8 I built was a XHP50.2 from a prebuilt light. That light had a square hole in the disk that sat around the emitter base which worked perfectly.
Turningbluechips: You need 9mm XML centering rings for SST40. You can buy it at fasttech, Simon Aliexpress Convoy store, and some other places.
Reviews: Olight Seeker2 pro, Lumintop GlowI, Sofirn SP36, Convoy 4X18A, Convoy M21C, Brinyte SR8 Rescue Angel, Astrolux MF01 mini, Astrolux FT03S, YLP Sherp S15, Sofirn SP40, YLP Panda 3R and Unicorn, Armytek Prime C1 Pro, Acebeam M50, Imalent MS18, Convoy M3, Nitecore TIP2, Imalent RT70, Wuben T70, Sofirn SP32A, Thorfire VG15S, Thorfire VG10S, Thorfire TG06S
Mods: Imalent MS18 dedoming, Astrolux MF01-20K, Small sun T08 MT-G2, Eagle eye X6 triple XPL, Ultrafire F13 MT-G2, Convoy C8 XHP70, Solarstorm T3 triple XP-L HI
Big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection
3D printing stuff for flashlights
My flashlight related Instagram
My Flashlight related Youtube channel called Zozzlights
The same XM footprint square hole centering ring will work with your SST-40, but the trick is finding one that also mates up with the opening in the C8 reflector. If the hole in the reflector is too small you can open it up to match the centering ring by using one blade of a good pair of scissors, carefully and from the outside (bottom) of course, taking it slow will net you a nice fit if you are into that kind of thing.
Thanks for the input guys. I’m actually happy with how this one turned out without the ring. I guess I got away with one this time… I’ll have to grab a couple to have on hand for the next one.
So the round hole centering ring that came with the light I assume is for XP size emitters?
Probably, yes. Simon made a new ramped or bevel style centering ring for the XP-L and it works very good, but it doesn’t help much for those that use XM-L2 emitters or other’s in the same footprint.
I loved my quad m2, the only problem i had with it being that with the way the o-ring sits on the optics liner it was not waterproof, as water could get in the light by going around the brass liner (see image below for a poorly drawn example).
So I sanded the sides of the liner so that the oring would be pushed towards the body forming a complete seal, and swapped the oring for a thicker, GITD one.
After some testing it seems to be completely waterproof now, and the GITD oring looks rather nice, so I’m pretty happy with the results
.
Nice catch on the solution, makes a really nice little light doesn’t it?
Actually, Im not sure that you can use any inner bezel type light with one o-ring under glass and be sure in waterproofness (only exception is P60 with L-shaped sealing). When it is possible, it is better to add one more o-ring between bezel and glass.
P.S. Inner bezel is fail, I can understand why it is so often used. Outer type (like X6, C8, M43 etc) is ways better solution.
Low-cost copper pills, spacers, optics, drop-ins.
I love my M2, but I want to replace the glass lens but the stock one has an odd thickness to it so most replacement glass won’t let the bezel to screw down all the way. I also have a quad setup for mine.
Finally printed out the BLF Q8 diffuser. The first try the side text was too thin so it had holes in the letters so then I changed to use protruding letters on side instead of sinked.
Work in progress
On the light:
Powered on:
The Q8 is on 1500 lumens ramping level without diffuser andthat is what I saw with naked eye with diffuser on:
Reviews: Olight Seeker2 pro, Lumintop GlowI, Sofirn SP36, Convoy 4X18A, Convoy M21C, Brinyte SR8 Rescue Angel, Astrolux MF01 mini, Astrolux FT03S, YLP Sherp S15, Sofirn SP40, YLP Panda 3R and Unicorn, Armytek Prime C1 Pro, Acebeam M50, Imalent MS18, Convoy M3, Nitecore TIP2, Imalent RT70, Wuben T70, Sofirn SP32A, Thorfire VG15S, Thorfire VG10S, Thorfire TG06S
Mods: Imalent MS18 dedoming, Astrolux MF01-20K, Small sun T08 MT-G2, Eagle eye X6 triple XPL, Ultrafire F13 MT-G2, Convoy C8 XHP70, Solarstorm T3 triple XP-L HI
Big flashlight measurement and beamshot collection
3D printing stuff for flashlights
My flashlight related Instagram
My Flashlight related Youtube channel called Zozzlights
Does it not melt with 8000lm?
The OPTOFIRE - 4.63Mcd aspheric LED flashlight The SYNIOSBEAM - 10Mcd recoil LED flashlight List of the farthest throwing flashlights
Updated the UltraFire UF-10 with a Nichia 319ATE SM655 D440 6500K emitter for a nice hexagonal spot.
MTN FET driver, 16mm Noctigon, reverse clicky, 16500 cell.
319A Version rough numbers:
5.2A Max
Flood – 1036lm
Zoom – 392lm
Lux – 17000
Lux – 900
Throw – 260m
I had originally modded this light with an XP-L HI but always wanted to try the Nichia under a plano aspheric, I like it better now
Although the camera doesn’t pick it up quite right the centre picture gives a rough idea of spot pattern.
It doesn’t quite reach the sky and has lost some throw with the new emitter but is still not bad for a compact wee pocket rocket
XP-L HI Version rough numbers:
4.5A Max
Flood – 1120lm
Zoom – 406lm
Lux – 29000
Throw – 340m
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - CRX Stuff for Sale -
That looks amazing.
Next best thing to a circular spot is a hexagon
The OPTOFIRE - 4.63Mcd aspheric LED flashlight The SYNIOSBEAM - 10Mcd recoil LED flashlight List of the farthest throwing flashlights
thought about covering the cone with aluminum foil?
getting more light to the side
[Reviews] Miboxer C4-12, C2-4k+6k, C2, C4 / Astrolux K1, MF01, MF02, S42, K01, TI3A / BLF Q8 / Kalrus G35, XT11GT / Nitefox UT20 / Niwalker BK-FA30S / Sofirn SF36, SP35 / Imalent DM21TW / Wuben I333 / Ravemen PR1200 / CL06 lantern / Xanes headlamp
[Mods] Skilhunt H03 short / Klarus XT11GT, XT12GTS / Zebralight SC50+ / Imalent DM21TW / colorful anodisation
[Sale]
Drivers: overview of sizes and types
DD+AMC based drivers Anduril or Bistro OTSM 12-24mm, S42, 24-30mm L6, Q8, MF01(S), MT03, TN42
Anduril or Bistro 8A buck driver for 20-30mm, MF01/02/04, TN40/42, Lumintop GT, MT09R
UVC and UVC+UVA drivers
programming key
Remote switch tail DD board with FET
Aux boards:
Emisar D1, D1S, D4, D4S, D18, Lumintop FW3A, Fireflies ROT66, Astrolux MF01, Tail boards like S2+
Yeah the hex shape is something different to the usual square.
MT-G2 would look great too.
- LEDs & Other Stuff - - UI CheatSheets - - CRX Flashlight Builds - - CRX Stuff for Sale -
I got ToyKeeper’s Andúril UI into a Meteor… the hard way.
Squeamish Meteor fans should brace themselves before clicking.
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