Now you're asking a lot of me, lol. I actually have a dedomed XP-L V5 2A triple which I could use to compare in the same light. I'll try and get some beamshots/output comparisons, but it might be a while until I can do so.
The dedomed XP-L's beam is very similar to a dome-on XP-G2 beam.
The big deal here is keeping the tint, since I'm guessing that the lumens difference is under 10%. Also, not everyone is comfortable dedoming emitters. This is much easier and cheaper if something goes wrong!
Even if the XP-L stays within 10% of it's output when de-doming, with a triple light that's a 30% loss in output! With a hot rodded triple, that can be a very significant lumens loss.
Say we're seeing 1400 lumens per emitter for 4200 OTF lumens with the domes on. Take the domes off and lose a mere 10% and we have a 520 lumen loss! Yeah, I'm all for keeping the domes where they belong, on the emitter instead of on top of my computer. (I have a little collection of hot de-domes. :) )
I used a cordless Makita hand drill with variable speed and did most of it at very low revolution. Then I set it to high speed mode and ran it fast to sort of polish the cut. Works so so. There was a bit of slag along the cut edge that I scraped off with the razor sharp tip of my Sage 2. Now I'm gonna have to build a light! :)
Just ordered a shorty S2, I swear those weren't on the site last order I placed just day before yesterday! Now I'll have to wait for that to come in so I can complete this quad. :)
In response to the text I bolded: It’s still 10. A triple of 100-lumen emitters where each emitter puts out 10 less light (90-lumens each) is now putting out 270 lumens. 270/300=0.9, or 90. 30/300=0.1, 10.
While we are sort of on the subject (OK not really), I’ve just been looking at Ledil’s product line and it seems to me that the Sandra series can be cut down to a 35mm triple without the squished-up optics of the Cute and with less depth. (11.1mm vs 15.0mm). Assuming one was inclined to do such a thing. There isn’t an XR or XM version, but I assume that the XP version can be trimmed as described in the OP and/or using the method described by C_k elsewhere.
EDIT: While I’m writing it all down in this post… I speculate that the Cute-3 uses squished 20mm optics while the Sandra-12 uses ~16.6mm optics.