Sorry, I mis-spelled it in my post above. Corrected
Great mod djozz :+1: big ups to ya
I made a handle for my GT90. (Achtung: some sloppy work ahead) The WT90 is a great new flashlight, but being a 3x21700 light, it is a rather big chunk to hold. It could do with a handle but it does not have one, and no tripod mount hole either. So I made a plan for making a working handle, with the added plan to learn how to DIY aluminium anodising, I have wanted that for years. I started with finding out where on the WT90 is meat enough to make attachment holes. TA helped me with a secret technical drawing that shows wall thickness and I must say that the WT90 is leanly built, little unneeded excess material which is good. But not good for my holes! I finally settled for holes around the switch. That flat bit makes for a great attachment point for the handle, good looking too, but a handle there comes at the expense of a little less convenience operating the switch (the switch will never accidentally engage in your bag though). I decided for M4 threading, so the drill was 3.3mm. Taking the wall thickness into account, the 2 holes at the rear side of the switch were made 9.5mm deep, the 2 holes at the front side of the switch 6.5mm. The front side holes could not be positioned any further to the front because the wall thickness is decreasing fast there. I first marked the position of the holes with a pencil, then made pits with a center-punch, then drilled the holes. It was all by eye so the hole positions were not perfect. !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/CthF26y.jpeg! !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/lCqo920.jpeg! Then the M4 threads were added with a hand tap. !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/PArZmkF.jpeg! The handle was made out of 4mm x 30mm aluminium strip. Ideally I would have liked 4mm x 20mm, but I needed the width to attach it around the switch. Now that it is finished it feels great in the hand though First, the attachment holes were made, trying to match the not so perfect positions of the holes in the flashlight. One hole was off so I had to ream it to get the screw fit. The cutout for the switch was a 14mm hole, with the underside bevelled to completely clear the switch. This was an ugly hole, I should have clamped the strip tight to the drill press when drilling it :person_facepalming: Then the handle was bend and then cut off, using a vice and a piece of stiff leather to prevent scratching the aluminium. Also here sloppy work: it is ok but I’m not over the moon with the shape. Then filing and sanding until everything was very smooth. I planned on anodising, and an anodised finish shows everything, it does not cover the blemishes. !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/znXxyd5.jpeg! !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/IKTwxvE.jpeg! !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/oiEqDRK.jpeg! !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/a1AzlfF.jpeg! The next episode was anodising. I’m lucky to work as a class assistent/technician in a school, so I can use the fume hood, and I stole some 4M sulfuric acid for this from school (it is cheap so no big deal, and in return, the school gets a new experiment to show in the fith grade, anodising aluminium fits nicely in the 5th grade when the subject is oxidation ) !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/syAZydn.jpeg! The first step is cleaning the object well with water and soap, then an etching step with concentrated caustic soda. I made some crude video’s of the several steps.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IE9B-BNK_i4] After dying, you have to seal the pores in the oxide layer (and thus lock up the die) by boiling the piece in distilled water for half an hour. Well, when doing that, the die immediately washed off so I got a blank anodised handle, really nice but not what I wanted. So then I went for the real deal, I ordered official anodising die from a german webshop, 16 euro for 10 grams, of which I used 5. The die solution can be used multiple times so I’m good for ever with this. First I removed the old ano layer in the caustic soda step, a bit longer than neccessary to be sure everything was gone, then did the same steps again, but now with the new die (and I went for 3A this time in the sulfuric acid step). Now the handle picked up the die really well, and it did not wash off in the boiling phase. In fact I ended up with a really well black anodised thing :party: !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/oWDkLpB.jpeg! It immediately looked good on the WT90. !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/pHDmE1G.jpeg! The only thing left was ordering some black screws to go with it. I found a nice assortment of black bolds on Amazon, and that indeed finishes the light off !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/g2t2y2Q.jpeg! !{width:100%}https://i.imgur.com/n4bGk82.jpeg! If I knew beforehand that the anodising would go so well, I would have done a better job on the construction of the handle. Still the handle looks fine and it does a great job in handling the WT90 much better than before. Perhap a tripod mount hole in the next WT90 version?, or a proper handle coming with the stock light?
EXcellent design and nice execution, especially the ano! I like your design (material and shape) and i WiLL Be stealing it
Question - is it spring-y? I know the light is not heavy, so i doubt it is. i just know aluminum has a tendency to, well.. bounce lol. So does steal actually when a bend like that is made..
The alu is thick enough that it feels solid/firm and does does bounce. I found 3mm too thin and 5mm was very difficult to bend, so 4mm was used.
Nice work Djozz!
I’m not brave enough to drill holes in it yet.
I would be very afraid the drill slips and the holes are not lined up symmetrical.
I sliced the dome off my ft03 sst40 6500k today, but ruined the beam lol. O well it was a blessing in disguise because I wanted a 5000k version all along. Btw anyone know of a lanyard ring for a FW21, I want one for the Copper X9L I just recived?
I completed the mod on my Sofirn D25S today.
I also almost completed my Sofirn D25S build - only to realize I only had one 16mm 3535 MCPCB. D’oh!
- LEDIL Anna TIRs
- LH351D “Dogfarts” (SPHWHTL3DA0GF4RTS6) 5000K nominal
- Quadrupel Fet+1 Anduril driver
- Pink switch LEDs (since my D10 has red)
- Thanks to both Quadrupel and Tom E for this one
The 16mm MCPCBs from Simon/Convoy came in while my parents were visiting. Finally got around to things today.
I trimmed the LED leads to length and ended up actually cutting down the flat side of one of the MCPCBs a little farther back than how it came. I used a pair of cable cutters (“cut only copper” seemed fine here) to do this. This was to give extra room for the leads to enter the LED chamber through the hole in the tube. I applied some thermal paste behind the MCPCBs after cleaning up the flux residue to the best of my abilities, and somewhere around here I put in a battery to test (on moonlight) that the LEDs lit up (they did).
Judging by the picture, I guess I checked them before I cleaned it
I assembled the front of the light, and found that the TIRs were a bit loose. I knew that this meant there was no pressure on the MCPCBs, which could lead to bad things on high modes if the MCPCBs lifted and the heat had nowhere to go. So I decided to install some centering rings around the emitters that the TIRs could sit against. I had to trim them down a bit to stay out of the way of all the wiring in the head, but they work quite nicely. Now the full stack (o-ring + lens + TIR + MCPCB) has a bit of pressure to it and I can rest easy knowing the MCPCBs are pressed against the shelf properly.
The DOGFARTS tint is lovely, by the way. Quite pleased. The beam pattern is also a fantastic flood. It’s probably basically unusable for walking, or nearly so (and would need high output); but that was never the intention. I wanted it for close-up indoors type work, and it will be perfect for that. By contrast, the D10 I built with a 45 degree TIR is the perfect beam for walking at night.
Nice one Scallywag. What are your impressions of the engineering of these headlights? They’re outsourced by Sofirn and maybe Boruit? The body tube seems to be an extrusion with offset rails. The charging port behind the switch cap is a nice feature that I’d like to see on more lights - no rubber flap that binds or I mistakenly take for the soft switch cover (in the dark).
I had changed the D10 w/ LH351D (5000ºK) but kept the original driver as I felt it suited well my needs (M2, M1, L , H - no Mode Memory) and being only ~ 600 300lm on start, most often needed light level. I use it every day working in my shop - no need to play some contortion with the Luxo lamp to inspect the finer details of a driver, drill edge, digging in some bin, etc. I kept the D25S w/ the SST40 (6500ºK) for those times I need much higher illumination. I don’t keep it on all too much as the coolness gives me a headache, which is strange as most of the illumination at my bench is 6000ºK
Edited the start light level. 2nd click within 2 sec. brings to H (~600lm).
Nice, djozz! Anodising is something I'd like to try someday, too. If I might suggest, consider buying a cheap high speed steel bottoming tap and that will allow you to get a few more threads in those holes. The hss ones from China are decent enough and sometimes you can get them for just a few bucks. Alternatively, you can carefully grind down and clean up a normal plug tap to make it bottoming, just go slow and keep it cool. What you have is probably fine but considering the leverage and small fastener diameter + aluminum I'd feel more comfortable with more threads if it were mine. That anodising turned out really nice looking, good job.
Nice one Scallywag. What are your impressions of the engineering of these headlights? They’re outsourced by Sofirn and maybe Boruit? The body tube seems to be an extrusion with offset rails. The charging port behind the switch cap is a nice feature that I’d like to see on more lights - no rubber flap that binds or I mistakenly take for the soft switch cover (in the dark).
I had changed the D10 w/ LH351D (5000ºK) but kept the original driver as I felt it suited well my needs (M2, M1, L , H - no Mode Memory) and being only ~
600300lm on start, most often needed light level. I use it every day working in my shop - no need to play some contortion with the Luxo lamp to inspect the finer details of a driver, drill edge, digging in some bin, etc. I kept the D25S w/ the SST40 (6500ºK) for those times I need much higher illumination. I don’t keep it on all too much as the coolness gives me a headache, which is strange as most of the illumination at my bench is 6000ºKEdited the start light level. 2nd click within 2 sec. brings to H (~600lm).
I find the build to be quite sufficient. Most of it is even pretty good - like you said, the charging port inside the end cap is a nice design. However, as others have noticed with the D25S, it lacks a gasket for the front piece of the optics assembly. I think I would still trust it in the rain, but the D10 is surely better for water resistance.
Today I picked the driver from the Emisar D4 (v1) - which had a damaged switch - and “transplanted” it into the Acebeam H20 (headlamp).
For a while I’ve been wanting a better UI on that headlamp. Given that the switch of the D4 was damaged, I took a chance to mod the H20.
These are the original settings:
I had to diminish the driver diameter to make it fit the head’s hole. I used my “dremmel-like” tool with a sandpaper roll.
Then I replaced the wires.
And then I soldered everything!
Simple mod, great improvement in the UI
I still have some doubts about the heat management on the driver part, but I won’t bother too much for now.
This Just In!
Acrylic paint with Strontium Aluminate…
TechnoGlow Aqua Acrylic
it goes on like a thick honey consistency… dries to the touch quickly, about 30 minutes or less…
fun times… looking forward to night
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Oh wow, that looks good. Might order some to put around the centering right on a couple lights. Wonder how it would do with the heat?
it is acrylic paint… google says acrylic tolerates up to 320F… might not be proper for a centering ring… not sure
its kind of thick… might be a bit tricky to put on the centering ring, in a way that does not alter how the reflector seats… also dont know if a tiny amount around the led would be very visible.
share what you learn
its kind of thick and does not flow flat… I did a second coat to even out the low spots… and Im quite happy with it now:
Simple pocket clips - never thought about adding it here, but figure in case nayone i ever looking for ideas. I use copper washers or wire to make the electrical connection for lights that aren't meant to have the "captured clip (i.e. fw3a clip installed onto the emisar D4 & DT8). I did about 20 minutes of dremel work to widen the KR4 clip to fit the e07x body. I used the bench top grinding wheel to narrow the "arms" of the Olight M2r Pro clip to fit the D4s. I think one of the best and easiest is the Convoy s2 clip on the D4. never falls off no mod needed.
Convoy C8+ triple. MTN Fet, modded S2+ reflectors, custon aluminium spacer and lh351d leds. Doesn’t heat very much even on 100%.
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Some nice modding there Haukkeli. What is the beam like?
Very nice actually. Picture at ~1, 5m
Nice mod, it is a bit like the Sofirn triple C8 that they used to sell (they still do?). Did you use a triple MCPCB or or three separate ones?
Three separate 16mm ones.