What did you mod today?

This an OLD mod. DRY 3xXml. I used a metal checkering file on the body (which could use a little finishing/polishing) and relieved the tailcap for easier access.

Time to upgrade. LED suggestions? I want ~5000k. I’m not up on what would be best, XPL or SST-40? Maybe efficiency would be better than raw output for this host.

Also, the battery carrier is too short for many 18650s. At one point I bought a bunch of small brass spacers that could go in between the rods and plates, but apparently I didn’t do it and they’re long gone. Anyone have a suggestion for making it a couple mm longer?

I got these in the other day: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BVRKJZF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are brass, and not sure they are the right size, right #'s, but cheap enough. I bought them more for making battery pads or using in wood or plastic for battery fillers, etc. Forgot who posted here, might be a little eralier in this thread or the Amazon deals thread.

I actually have a set I use for driving pins. I guess I can cut and drill them. Good idead, thanks.

I’ve been reading through a few pages of this thread and seen so much talk of MEK. Man, I hated that solvent. I used to work at a Lufthansa MRO as a structural technician (the sheetmetal guys or riveters as some called us). MEK was AMAZING at removing paint and ACT, as well as softening up uncured 2 part polysulfide sealant to remove the excess mess you made when installing fasteners such as hi-loks or rivets. We used that sealant on friggin’ everything to seal stuff from the elements as well as to keep repairs such as doublers airtight. Also used for corrosion prevention, of course. Anyway, the point is, MEK is a NASTY solvent. I remember I’d double and sometimes triple up on gloves when using the solvent, and even then when I took them off, I could smell it on my skin, so MEK can make its way through nitrile gloves and many other gloves, and also pretty quickly eat them up in the process. The smell is also very strong and you needed the VERY fine cartridges for your facemasks if you wanted it to actually filter out the smell. Just by smelling it, you can tell that that substance is the kind that can cause permanent damage in your brain and CNS. Some people handled that stuff inside the cabin with nothing on, and sometimes with just a paper mask on. We’d get it in 5 gal jugs and go through tons of it pretty regularly. I’d recommend to anyone in here handling that stuff to do it in a WELL ventilated area and use adequate PPE. This is not IPA we’re talking about. It IS exremely strong and effective though, I’ve read several posts in this forum where users fully de-dome emitters just by letting it soak in MEK and then just blowing out the emitter when removed from the solution. Where do you guys even get this stuff? They don’t sell it in any hardware store here, except as a component in a mix of compounds such as paint removers and lacquer thinners. Certainly not the 100% pure MEK I got at the material store counter at the MRO. That’s the only part I miss about working in aviation, having access to so many amazing chemicals, materials and tools all day. Plus the massive discount on FedEx and and air-travel lol.

You can get 100% mek at hardware stores, even Lowes, etc. Not to be confused with mek peroxide.

Very nasty.

To me, xylene might be worse. Got that on my hands once and my entire arms started to tingle like they were asleep, but painfully, and I nearly passed out.

Jeez, that sounds horrible. We don’t have any Lowes here in Puerto Rico, or Harbor Freight. I really wish we did. You guys get so many affordable tools, power generators, etc. That Predator 9500 inverter generator that replaces the Honda model (it’s like a Honda EU7000iS but even more powerful, even if it’s not as quiet) is 2 grand at harbor freight. That same unit is being sold here for 4-5 grand.

I took the missus advice and cleaned off the anodizing

She was right, looks better now.

My missus has just one advice on flashlights :frowning:

The AA battery of my little analog alarm clock is dead.

I modded it Nov 18 2020 (link to the mod), swapped the incan bulb, that worked with a momentary button, with a dim led that is permanently lighted. The 260 microamps current should have been good for half a year on a fresh alkaline battery and indeed, it has worked for even 8 months. Will put in a new battery for another 8 months.

Yep, I agree.

Thanks for the update djozz. Very cool mod!

Lol, my wife is very accepting of my unusual hobby. I know she really doesn’t care about lights but she entertains me by pretending :heart_eyes:

Oooh I didn’t like it at first, thought it looked very weird and out of place, but now that it’s all actually bare and monochromatic, it actually looks pretty nice. :+1:

Too bad. Seems like results are random.

Yeah, and what is that piece that was removed? Was that part of the phosphor or is that the “window” part that I’ve heard being spoken about in some other threads? I’ve been out of the flashlight world for quite a long time and only recently came back and I was only familiar with domes. Now I’ve heard about “windows” as well. What are they, what are they for and what are the effects? If I know that, then I’ll know why people remove them. Is it similar to de-doming in terms of the performance benefits? (that being more throw at the expense of lumen output most times).

That “window” on my picture is how the dome came of. I placed it there just to show what it looks like after removal. Luminus SBT90 has a window in front of it. I think it is just to protect the phosphor. That’s just my guess.

Hmm, interesting. I took a few pics earlier tonight of my new Nitecore TM39 and I took some pics of the emitter. Handheld and in terrible, dim lighting in my room late at night so not the best shot but you can clearly see the SBT-90.2 and mine doesn’t seem to have anything on it covering the phosphor. Maybe they made the 2nd gen without the window? Lemme turn my laptop on real quick to upload the pic to Imgur… hope the compression doesn’t kill the quality so much as I’ve already compressed it from Raw into JPEG plus further compression from uploading to Imgur etc…. Meh, should be enough to see everything clearly.

Convoy S21B, 6V boost driver @4A and Nichia B35AM 5000K R9080.

how is the beam? any artifacts?

@Neurotoxin, I’m pretty sure I see the glass window, the picture shows no reflections to tell it is there, but it does show the glued edges.