Note: Don’t use a pocket knife no matter how sharp you think it is. It WILL stuff up your dedoming.
My STL-V2 now has a smaller spot than the 7G5-V2, but lumens has drastically gone down. I did a choppy job at dedoming, so I tried to file it down. It worked, but then I had myself a frosted dedomed LED which decreased output even more. Throw also dropped about 2k lux @ 1meter
Ouch. :( Sorry to hear that.
I confess to slicing my XM-L T6 3C with an exacto knife a few weeks ago. It was not for more throw; it’s in a mule light and followed from frustration at the color separation problems in the XM-L. The yellow to green exits around the edges, (having traveled through more phosphor than the light coming straight out the top) while the more blue/violet comes straight out. I did not do such a nice neat job either, but I will say that it greatly improved the color separation and seems to have made the light more dispersed. Unfortunately, I did not do any before/after measures of light output (not a premeditated act!) but for my use, it was absolutely a success.
I think you have the right idea with a straight razor blade, but (if I were to do it again) I would lay a washer of proper thickness around the LED and make only one straight clean cut using the washer as guide for the blade height across the LED.
I did the same some months ago, with a paper cutting knife. Surface wasn’t too nice, I tried to polish it a bit, but it stayed somewhat diffuse. Result was about 30% more intensity with a small aspheric lens. I never built a light with it though, it just laid around for months… I actually had expected more. Maybe I’ll try some more polishing somewhen with 1000 grit.
Just de-domed a U2 using this method: wider beam angle comparing it to a X9 minus reflector. In the 73mm DX reflector the beam is near parallel however not quite as much throw as I had hoped, a few rings as well (I used a Mora to cut the dome, probably not the best idea)… if it wasn’t for the light reflecting of dust in the air I think I might be able to make out the hillside 1Km away with it, trees at 500m are no problem.
Here’s a pic of the XM-L and pill from my Trustfire Mini-01 after i cut the dome off.
Here’s a beamshot. Trustfire Mini-01 on the left. De-domed Mini-01 on the right.
|( |( |(
Now we all just want to stab and cut the dome off!
Thanks for bringing me to see the Light! LOL :party:
How did you cut it off?
I used a new Stanley knife blade. I chopped off about half of it first, then carefully shaved off layers until i got as close as i dared to the board. There’s probably around 0.5mm - 0.75mm of dome left.
I then carefully rubbed the remaining bit of the dome with a glasses lens cloth to try and polish it a bit.
Wow a lot of de-doming going on here! J) I’ve been EDC’ing my L2P with the de-domed dropin for about 3 months now so I can vouch for the dependability of the mod.
I was also expecting more throw… We’re seeing a 20-30% increase whereas I thought it would be in the range of 50-70% which seems to be the norm with the full dome removal method. Maybe we need to find a proper way to polish the dome afterwards? I need to get a few different grits of sandpaper. I also read somewhere that the dome softens with moisture, so maybe it can be molded flat to some degree after being prepped with a fine sandpaper and moistened. Just some ideas…
You started a de-doming revolution 
I think a method of polishing is needed like you say. I have a dremel with a polishing bit i might try.
Cheers
Matt
Thanx for sharing this guys!
Ok, I’ve just polished the de-domed XM-L with a Dremel. It worked really well, and i can see the wires and and bits a lot better now. In the process of polishing, the layer of dome left has almost disappeared, so its about as close to a bare Led i can get without completely removing the dome.
The tint seems to have now shifted towards neutral, but i’ll do another comparison beamshot when the 16340’s are charged again.
My assumption is the dome is connected with a medium grade adhesive. Pics below show are a dom from an SST-50 and a de-domed SST-50 emitter. I melt the adhesive with emitter attached to a heatsink ( i wouldnt try this without) touch copper sink with high heat iron not anywhere near the emitter. Im using a 220v Iron for 3-5 seconds. Use synthetic or wood tweezers to lift the dome with a few slow twits and clock wise and counter. The adhesive will leave some residue outside the emitter contact point that easily comes off with anything other than a sharp blade, sand paper, or wheel jack…lol
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I think this is the biggest collection of dedoming information I have ever seen. Excellent! I love learning!
If I don’t have access to a heatsink to attach the SST-50/90, could I use a hair dryer to heat it up?
Thanks for the info DarkSide
Has the Led held up ok over time after the de-doming?
Here’s another beamshot of the 2 Mini-01’s. After polishing the remaining dome, the tint has definitely become neutral.
Mini-01 on left, de-domed on right.
Update: My STL-V2 has been revived! Due to the shoddy pocket knife work, there was still a large piece of the dome left. I took a razor and sliced it until roughly 0.5-1mm (can’t tell exactly, but it’s 1mm or less) and now my STL-V2’s throw has been increased from 48,700 (domed) to 53,400 (dedomed).
Hurray! I did expect a bigger jump in throw though…
Even though the lumen output decreased, the throw was increased and because the STL-V2 was mainly a thrower to begin with I just made it a better thrower Going by ceiling bounce lux readings the lumen output has decreased by roughly 35%. Quite a lot actually, but it’s worth it for me because I learned something :bigsmile:
Also, the tint became warmer, but not as warm as my P60 IO NW drop-in (that’s the only NW emitter I can compare it to), but it’s definitely warmer than my CW 7G5-V2.
Thanks for the update
Do you have a proper light meter, or is there a reliable app you can recommend?
Cheers
Matt