Match's Mods: Junk light to side switch P60 Host

Gentlemen,

Today I'd like to show you an old led light a co-worker gave me. It's well over 5 years old and judging by the crummy emitters, probably older. Closest thing I found out there currently would be something like this (with a little looking one could probably find a closer match). It's a 3 led 3xAAA light with a side clicky (reverse!). Here's a quick before/after shot:

Now the rest of the before pics:

And the output with fresh batteries. Shield your eyes and turn down the brightness of your monitor!

Uff da! Well, after a complete teardown I noticed that the pieces may lego with a P60 drop-in... Here's the parts:

and one with the switch removed:

Here's one shot of the monsterously monsterous triple threat emitters (blah...):

Upon trying to fit a drop-in into the light I noticed that:

1.) It won't fit with the switch insulater installed.

and

2.) The body is too wide to even remotely center the drop-in, much less provide any heatsinking.

Luckily I had a small chunk of 1" copper grounding rod handy, and was able to turn down a perfectly fitting adapter. To insulate the bottom from the positive off the switch I got high-tech and used a cut down plastic bottle cap as seen here (Note: the pictures aren't out of focus, they actually came off the lathe a little "blurry" ):

Since it was all apart, I figured it would be a good time to freshen up the exterior. I decided on a dark metallic flake forest green (because that's what was available on my garage shelf). Once dried and all back together, it turned out something like this:

Solarforce XP-G 3 mode drop-in @1.3amps off of junk alkie's

And, one last photo that better shows off the color (It contrasts well with my disturbingly white hand...):

Also of note, I replaced the scratched to hell plastic lens with a solarforce glass piece and found that an 18650 will fit it with very minor grinding to the tailcap. I've always liked side switches (a la maglite) and now I have one for any P60 drop-in for less than $3 in paint, new o-rings, scrap copper, and glass. This essentially free (sans drop-in) torch is quickly becoming one of my favorites, mainly due to the side switch and now the added personal touch. Hope y'all enjoyed this (If not, just mark as spam )

-Match

That's a nice piece of work. I like the new color. The best thing is you thought to take before and during photos.

What a great way to bring new life to an old host. I especially like the custom sleeve you turned for the dropin. Well done!

When I think about my first LED flashlight ..

Romisen = Luxeon Job .. Was upgraded to P4 , then moded to take P60 pills , and it became , SSC P4 / Luxeon K2 TFFC / SSC P7 / XR-E R2 / and now XP-G R5 ..

If I think about it too much , I really didn't need to buy anymore flashlights , just keep upgrading the Romisen ... [ I should stop thinking about it ]

Looks nice!

You should try duracoat, magpul FDE would be pretty sexy!

Wow! Awesome work Match!

Fascinating post Match! Thanks for sharing!

"Match's Mods"... I love it. You just earned yourself a series on BLF. Frontpage'd and Sticky'd. Do you think you could do a before/after half/half split picture for the frontpage teaser? Or I could create it for you.

Hope to see more!

impressive. i normally am not so lucky to find flashlights like this that are modable with ease like that

i like side buttons on some lights too. esp big ones.

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I was afraid the title may sound too pretentious...but it's got a nice ring to it. I did luck out with this torch being easy to disassemble and having the wonderful side clicky. Part of my reason for posting this though was to draw attention to some of the "old school" budget lights (and this one definitely is...) that many folks have laying around, and to show how relatively easy it is to give them a new lease of life!

Mr. Admin, I'll update the first post with a before/after shot...let me know if that'll work.

-Match

Great job, don't worried by the tittle , you deserved it big time due the fine work made and how well presented it.

Around here we lack the 'junk' to mod , only actual junk is available, lack the machinery also , and more importantly the required skills to use it...

Not trying to be a smartass but how did you manage to paint it so that paint does not get off with minimal use? Aluminium is notorious for not liking paint... thats why almost always gets anodized.

[quote=Budgeteer]

Not trying to be a smartass but how did you manage to paint it so that paint does not get off with minimal use? Aluminium is notorious for not liking paint... thats why almost always gets anodized.

[/quote]

Heh...who said it's not chipping off? I've been carrying this torch at work now since I finished it and it's definitely showing signs of wear. Honestly, it's a working light in a very harsh environment, so this doesn't bother me much. Although, once it starts to look really terrible I'm going to sandblast it and try another coating. I'll update this when that happens.

-Match

Just too good....

*hats off to you match*

Seriously LOVE the minimatch3g though. Kinda makes me want to get a minimag for that.

oh theres aluminum paints and primers you can buy. i might be able to source them if people are interested. funny thing is i think you have to throw them in the oven on like 600F (if you oven can do that) for about 30 mins. someone say HIGH electric bill?

Match, you always give us new ideas. Thanks for posting this mod!