Sofirn Q8 group buy (gb closed, but try PM to Sofirn for discount)

You know this mod should have its own thread Dale. :slight_smile:

Yeah yeah yeah, simple little add on to the Q8. :stuck_out_tongue:

+1 … It really should. . :+1: . :wink:

Ready for the new tubes/carriers any time now. :slight_smile:

Today I researched the specs on the Ledil Angie and Noctigon quad MCPCB, made sure what depth I’d need between the emitter shelf and lens. Then I went out and cut the shelf to the right depth. Recessed the lens shelf in the bezel so the 2.2mm UCLp will fit properly. Then I cut fins in the bulk of the body. This is the part I really have the most trouble with on this lathe, using the parting tool. But it was being nice today so I went ahead and got the big head ready for mounting emitters. I can use a drill press I have on the back porch to do the rest of the assembly once I get the remaining pieces.

This Sofirn Q8 is all primed and ready to become a monster. :wink:

/\ … Looking good Dale, real good!! . :+1:

I would like to shape the rear of this big head down towards the Q8, but I won’t do that until it’s running and shows me how it handles heat. No need to remove cooling mass if it is going to be needed, and it may well be that even this is not enough.

I’m getting a strong feeling that the cells won’t be able to supply the power I want, especially in the carriers. I will probably have to fortify those but it remains a question as to whether or not I’ll be able to feed all these emitters.

Edit: I might have to make a new battery tube to hold 4 21700 30T’s. :slight_smile:

Dale, are you going to screw down all the mcpcb’s to assure they all make good contact to the shelf?

I don’t think so Jason, the aches and pains created thus far thoroughly convince me that drilling and tapping 10 small holes would not be in my best interest. I will use Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive and apply pressure while it cures, the lens will press down on the 5 pieces as well so I will use the lens in the mounting process and either a weight or my tabletop vice. I have the 3mm thick glass lens I can use, 95mm UCLp is on the way for the final. This should serve the purpose, will have to do.

Noctigon MCPCB’s and Optics have landed in Chicago, estimated delivery is Tuesday.

Need to get busy building the 4 Slave drivers and set that all up on the Master. Also need to drill for wires to run. About 10 hours in and plenty to do still…

Adhesive should work, but I would not trust the glass to push down equally on all the lenses/mcpcb.

This isn’t the first time I’ve done this Jason. :wink: Not even only the tenth… I’ll figure it out, usually do somehow.

The driver, well, speaks for itself I reckon…

I have the 2 screws mounted to lock the new head in place, this is the 2 screws that formally went into the reflector so it wouldn’t rotate. Working on getting the central hole drilled for the wires to run up through. I swapped the MOSFET and 7135 chip on the original Q8 driver so all drivers have the same components power wise, the original driver will supply power directly to the SST-40 in the middle via both red and black wires as usual. There are 2 14 ga positive leads that will be shared between two quads, so two of the quad boards per 14 ga positive. Then each Slave driver has an 18 ga Teflon coated lead for the negative. I used 26 ga Teflon wires for the signal leads, green to the MOSFET and orange to the 7135.

Haven’t tested it more than to ensure Anduril is working, so there’s that still to do as well…

Wow-zer!! Nice!!! Appreciate the update with pics. :+1:

25,426.5 lumens at start… 22,700 lumens at 30 seconds.

This one turned into quite a lot of work!

See the stack of 16 Samsung 30Q’s that came today? Ready for those tubes/carriers… :wink:

Impressive, VERY IMPRESSIVE!! . :+1:

Thanks for sharing Dale. :wink:

Still have some details to nail down, and there will eventually be a double carrier tube on it…

I like it. I saw the video you posted on the other thread measuring the lumen output.

It’s a beast!! . :beer:

I want to see an outdoor video of it.

/\ …… Me too!!

I’m guessing the beam will look like a souped-up Astrolux MF01.

I used to get really excited to see 12,000 on my meter, then later if it got up to 20,000 I was really impressed! This one? Over 70,000 on the meter! Gonna run out of meter soon at this rate!

Used it tonight walking the trash can the 300 yds down to the road, really like the beam on it, at much much lower than full onslaught mode of course. Very nice even for a general purpose walk, that double click to Turbo is silently lurking in the background, waiting to turn the sun back on… :smiley: Using it a a decent middle to well lit range for this walk it didn’t even begin to get warm. Pretty sure outside, in the cool of night, with some breeze, it should easily run the cells down without discomfort. At least in present 4 cell configuration.