I buffed the optics for my KR4 today. I like the extra throw and it doesnāt seem to affect the tint too much for the E21A 4500K emitters. I also like how the aux LEDs are brighter points of light, rather than the fuzzy ring of color.
When I bought this Ti/Cu version, Hankās site still had the frosted optic listed as an extra part along with the 18350 tube, tritium, etc. Within hours of ordering, he announced the frosted optic will be standard. So I ended up with two frosted optics, one in the light and one in a tiny ziploc bag.
I made a pair of Nichia Optisolis triple S2+s. One is 5000K and the other 6500K. I usually donāt like cool white LEDs, but I thought it would be ācoolā to have the highest CRI LEDs currently available. The 6500K has 99 CRI and 99 CRI R9 - it donāt get much better than that!
I got the LEDs from Virence and the triple boards from Adventure Sport Flashlights.. I wanted to limit the current to less than 2.25 amps so I got some 6x7135 drivers from Simon at the Convoy flashlight Store. I also installed lighted tailcaps so I had to add 470 ohm bleeder resistors to the drivers.
When I put everything together, there was some artifacts in the beams, so I sanded the lenses to make them frosted and the beams turned out great. With 10511 Carclo Narrow Spot Optics the flashlights have some throw.
I was expecting some greenish tint due to the positive Duv test results on the Virence website, but I donāt notice any at all. The 6500K certainly appears bluish on a white wall, but both appear to have some rosiness to them. Iām very pleased with the tint and how the flashlights turned out.
Probably since heās a flashlight enthusiast like the rest of us, and Iām very appreciative that he sells them! I was actually surprised to find them since I didnāt find any mention of them here on BLF.
Hey, thatās pretty neat. Iād been considering an optisolis light, but couldnāt decide on a good way to do it. I might try with a frosted spot or something for mine, since Iām not concerned about throw.
Iām a bit backed up on mods ATM, though. Hope adventure sport flashlights continues to carry them.
Hope it works out good for you, but dont worry, I know of a chemical solution that will strip anodizing from Ti.
Took me some research to find the right one that most all professinal Ti anodizing companys are using.
It will leave the Ti a little dull but can be polished back without to much effort.
PM me if you need the info.
Iām not anodizing it I guess its oxidizing with heat. Probably easier to revert back, not sure.
In any case the fw3t arrived but the switch is so bad itās unusable to me. A LED dome 2/3 covered in paste. I can see under two of the LEDs between pads. Going to see if Illumn will exchange it. Shame on Lumintop they should be making these perfect by now.
They are both basically the same thing, oxidization. I have done both electrically and by heat. The heat anodizing is some what harder to remove.
The higher the temp or voltage on the color scale the thicker the ozidization layer and the harder it is which makes it harder to remove but more durable.
I came across the chemical make up of Multi-Etch.
This ferric chloride is disgusting. Once this is done I donāt plan on using any more. Stains everything and hard to dispose but the look is cool for sure.
Why āhard to dispose ofā? Itās basically salty rust. After use, salty copper. Flushes right down, just use enough water so it doesnāt sit in a pipe for too long.
Decided to throw 219B sw40 R9080 in my Thrunite T10TV2. My first 219B in any flashlight. Iāve had a pair of sw40 and sw45 from azhu for a while now, itās about time I put one to use.
The Thrunite T10TV2 has XPL-HD in some neutral tintā¦ thereās a bit of tint shift but it aināt XP-G3. A hint of green but not too bad. But I want some CRI! Iāll be leaving the driver stock since I use it with NiMh and itās good enough. Previously I couldnāt open the darned thing, but now I own more than one strap wrench.
Sure enough, red threadlocker. Fun stuffā¦
Managed to peel it off that screw head with tweezers.
Might be tough to get those screwsā¦ The heads are pre-stripped a bit for me.
Got āem (Phillips #0 if anyoneās wondering). MCPCB still stuck but the screws are just spinning.
Oh, that figures. Overflow threadlocker holding it down. Thatās gonna goā¦
A bit overkill for one MCPCB, huh. Oh well.
Unsoldered around 150C. Pretty low-temp. I need to touch up the pads with my solder, which isnāt as low-temp, so up we continue to go.
Beautiful. Tapped the head really quick with a Q-tip, as Iāve read countless times to do, and got a cute little blob in the center of one edge. Neat! Now we wait for everything to cool off.
Had to modify a spare centering to fit - the original didnāt quite want to fit around the 219B. Not sure if the package is a tiny bit bigger, or if it just wasnāt accommodating the solder blob on the edge. Oh well.
(Sorry for the fingerprint on the lens.)
All done! Itās definitely got less green than the (very nice, honestly) SST-20 4000K in my FW3A. I expect Iāll definitely have lost some lumens, especially if I ever put a 14500 back in, as theyāre reported to be 700-800 lumens on turbo and thatās where 219B tops out iirc. But I am quite pleased with it, the HCRI and R9 are quite nice.
Converted it from screw-zoom to push-pull-zoom. Took about 15 minutes with a handfile to remove the threads on the neck. Now the zoom is much faster and more convient to operate.
Removed frosting from center element of the TIR optic. Took 15 minutes with jewelerās rouge and some Q-Tips. Without the frosting the beam is a little throwier (I thinkā¦ I didnāt measure since my lux meter needs a new battery). Flood mode is also now more like a LED Lenser with the beam fading out rapidly after the main circle of spill. The very wide outer spill was caused by the frosting and is gone.
Both the center and side elements of the TIR optic have approximately the same focal pointā¦. so with frosting removed throw should increase. Having the same focal point for both elements is like LED Lenser and unlike recent Coast lights.