Low-cost copper pills, spacers, optics, drop-ins (Updated 23/10/2022))

Ok so you’ve made my decision for me. What would you charge for a quad LED spacer with a carclo lens?

Custom Cu spacer+alu centering ring=$10
Optics is $2.

I’m kind of a newb with this stuff, but would khatod optics be better? I’m looking for the tightest beam and best temp protection possible. I’m a firefighter and I want to build a light that can penetrate smoke. Looking to build this with a warm white (2700-3000k) XP-L HI LED board from MTN.

Dont thin so.
It is hard to achieve tight beam with small multi-led optics.

Actually, I just took another look at MTN and they don’t have any premade quad LED options, only triples. So I’ll have to stick with that. I’m looking at the carclo 10507 lens with a the noctigon 3x mcpcb with XP-L HI LEDs

I think you can add quad pcb and 4 leds to the cart and check toolbox “solder options”.

Ok so I’m back to quad then. Just added 4x XP-L HI LEDs and the standard MTN 4XP mcpcb to my cart at MTN. I also threw a carclo 10621 optic into the cart, but I’m still wondering if you think khatod would provide better temp protection and beam profile? Lastly, I already have an AR lens for the M1 that I’d like to put in front of the optic to protect it from debris. Afterall, firefighting isn’t exactly a profession that treats equipment nicely. Lol

I have not seen anyone who could say why Kathod quad is better than 10621. I suppose this is the reason why I have not heard “khatod quad” for several years.
What do you mean by temp protection? If you need flashlight that can be heated from outside (fire), any plastic lens have similar melting point.

If you are trying to cut through smoke, you definitely don’t want a triple OR quad from khatod, carclo, or anyone. Your best option honestly might be the stock reflector and an Osram CSLNM1.FY (yellow-orange light) [available from Convoy Aliexpress]

You really want a narrow beam, ~4° and the narrowest/least intense spill (field) possible, and to achieve that in a light this size you need a single optic with a domeless emitter with 2mm² or smaller emitting surface area. Even the spill beam, though not intense, will blind you in the foreground and hurt your visibility. A very deep reflector or better a very narrow single TIR or even aspheric light is what you want. If you are ordering from MTN exclusively, he still has the UF-T20 host. Might be a good idea. It’s a glass lens - heavy but flame resistant. Try that XPL HI 2700k in there and compare to the quad setup you build and tell me if I’m wrong.

You are right.
I think Convoy C8 with small warm led is also very good choice.

Any chance you guys know a place to get a TIR that’ll fit the M1 or S2? For starters, I already have an extra M1 and driver just waiting for an LED and optic, so I’m going to stay away from the UF-T20 for now. Secondly, I’m currently running an S2 with a 3000K XP-L HI LED, OP reflector, and AR lens on my helmet, but it feels a little underpowered for what I originally wanted. I just worked a big extra alarm fire about two weeks ago and I had over an hour of runtime with it in extremely smoky conditions. Talk about trial by fire, all 3 floors were rolling with fire and here in Chicago, we rarely go defensive, so I was right in the thick of that fire and smoke ripping down ceilings and walls and “opening” windows for ventilation and overhaul. It was a great light, but in a few situations even on turbo I was hoping for a few more lumens and/or a little less spill from it. I’d love to upgrade the S2 with a TIR and also have an M1 quad/triple or single TIR as a backup.

Keep in mind that even a 2.8A S2+ will get too hot to even touch if left unattended even a few minutes. By “unattended” I mean not having an ungloved hand wicking away excess heat. Had one tailstanding for just 5min or so, and when I went to grab it to turn it off, I just dropped it, as it was like grabbing the business end of a curling iron. Needed to grab a shirt or something to use as an “oven mitt” to just get hold of it long enough to turn it off, and then drop it again ’til it cooled off. Not Fun.

Tubelights have pretty lousy heat dissipation, no fins or anything to help with that, so build up heat fast.

“Smart” lights will throttle down on their own, but “dumb” lights will just keep going full-tilt ’til the LED cooks, or even the driver pops, or worst case the cell itself overheats and vents.

You really need a bigger light for a) more thermal mass to soak up and spread out the heat, and b) way more cooling fins to dump that heat to the environment.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I really appreciate the help and advice from you guys. The S2 on my helmet is running a Bistro FET+7135 and the temp sensor is set to about 130°F (roughly hot water temp from the faucet) before turbo drops down. I also have it set with moonlight off (don’t need it on a helmet light in a fire) and 4 mode (25/50/75/100) light levels. It’s perfect for my needs, but I’m sure a TIR optic would improve the beam tightness. I was running it at 50/75 for most of the fire with no issues, but there were a few moments when I kicked it up to turbo for a specific task and it felt underpowered.

I think you need more candela, not lumens (and the accompanying watts). Even running the same driver and led in the M1 will probably be a large improvement for you. Carclo 30 mm TIR (10755) could probably be made to work in the m1 with a custom spacer. It’s 14.3mm tall vs the reflector at 23.2mm. 7.2° beam with the HI and about 32cd/LM. ~25kcd would be pretty effective and sustainable IMO.

It happens someone here may be able to help with that :wink:

Hey BLF,

Today my thread celebrates 5 years.
And ATM it has almost 200000 views (which doesnt looks impressive nowadays, but I could never expect such numbers 5 years ago).
The BLF community was very kind to a random guy from non-friendly (toxic) area.
Here Ive got some good experience that I didnt had before. I was quite young and probably made many mistakes, but people here were so polite and rarely sent any negativity to my side.
This thread have helped me a lot, now its time to go further.
As some of you know, I was used to use someone`s else resources to make things. From one hand, I had people from whole over the world, that have high “internal quality” level and were happy to get parts if they are top notch. At the other hand, I had people that are hard to achieve great results with (even if they are doing their best) because of low “internal quality”. Ive tried my best to close this gap (learned so many measuring and hand work techinics, build many special tools and machines to mask machining imperfections), but at some point I started feel myself as gymnast in split position.
I cant say Im 100% ready but I just dont see other ways. I need my own cnc machine(s).
For this reason, I have not invested in materials and machining for a while, trying to minimize money frozen in parts. And thats why I wont restock parts for some time more.

I have removed sold out parts from the OP and each part amounts are updated.
From this message, I offer
25%
discount for any part from the OP.

Can also offer some parts that are not popular and not listed in OP:
Convoy C8TT heatsink head (bare with driver ring and o-rings) - $12 26pcs in stock
Convoy C8 stainless steel bezel (modified to flat top) - $4 6pcs in stock
Convoy C8 AR coated glass $2 24pcs in stock
S2+ (old threads) aluminium triple pill (with some dents) - $3 3pcs in stock
S2+ (old threads) copper single pill (no lip around pcb - for 20mm boards) - $5 1pc in stock
M2 aluminium quad spacer kit $5 1pc in stock
HD2010 copper pill $10 1pc in stock
Manker U11 aluminium quad spacer kit free 7pcs in stock
Brass contact rings for SRK style flashlights (BLF Q8 and etc.) free in stock

Please respect others and make a post if you want to get something (this way everyone knows how much is left).

I would be interested in a Manker U11 quad spacer kit but I would rather pay for it to help with your transition. Good luck with your new venture!

Congrats kiriba-ru. :partying_face:

Kiriba-Ru
I have placed a few orders with you and it has always been a great experience. Thank you for offering these parts and for your excellent service. I wish you the very best and look forward to new parts. I’ll take the M2 quad spacer and two U11 spacers from this list (If that is ok and I’d be happy to pay you some for U11 spacers, especially since I would be getting two), then I’d like to add 2 s21a spacers.

I’m hoping to see the maglite heatsinks come back and maybe a C8 6x spacer like Led4Power used to sell.

Thanks!

What happened to S2/S2+ spacers? I thinking stocking up some more.

Congratulations. I don’t need anything right now but have been pleased with my past purchases and the way you handled the orders.