Where would be the fastest place to buy a non blf x6 ???
His hosts aren’t complete for some reason beyond American understanding, but it could be assembled with parts on hand. For example, the lens is available through various sources, I have several taken out of previous X6’s and replaced with UCLp versions. The switch has already been linked, o-rings can easily be found.
If Richard wanted to or had time to, he could measure 75 lights for you. 
I would re-measure mine, but it’s sitting under a hard earned quad heatsink and I’m not feeling like taking it apart. 
Ugh. Sigh sigh sigh! OK: When you hand lap a CPU and a heatsink, let’s assume you lap them against either each other OR against a “true flat” surface. Whatever, in our hypothetical scenario they mate perfectly afterwards, right? Great. What doesn’t matter in that case is that the CPU’s top surface (top of the IHS / lid) is no longer square with the sides. [Because you’ve been lapping it freehand of course, you don’t have a machine which can keep your grip perfect enough!] Why doesn’t it matter you ask? Well, we’re clamping another flat surface across it with springs [the heatsink w/ it’s retention bracket], so that other surface will simply tilt until it mates correctly with the perfectly-flat-but-no-longer-square-with-anything IHS!
Now think about what happens when you place a rod (the heatsink is a stubby rod) into an empty cylinder (flashlight head) where it fits tightly… and the bottom is no longer square to the rest. See the problem? The tight fit around the circumference requires that the faces be square or you’ll have a tiny, tiny contact patch.
Furthermore, in order to achieve contact on both surfaces the bottom post/protrusion must be of exactly the right height. Too much and you only get one surface… too little? You only get one surface…
Isn’t it amazing how seemingly simple things get complicated so fast?
Free hand? Why? Doesn’t the sink have a hole through the middle? A bolt through that hole allows it to be mounted in a drill so it can be spun, a file, sandpaper, rotary tool, S30V Spyderco, lots of ways to cut it once it’s spinning, not so difficult then to keep it square… not perfect, perhaps, but much closer than freehand.
Alex :) I completely understand and this the need for the paste. My whole purpose of purchasing rather than making is time vs. money. My toolpathing would take me more time than it would be worth to make "one" and the quad could be a pain since I do not have the parts to check fitment....guess better go to RMM's site :)
I had to cut a stem on the table saw that would chuck into the drill press. Then I literally used a broken HSS planer blade clamped in a drill press vise and swung the table by hand for the cross cuts. To cut the cup, much of it was blind. The table and vise were in the way. Between squatting in front of that bench top drill press that’s over 30 years old and from Harbor Freight in the first place and my shoulder knifing me, it was quite fun! 
But I don’t hold any corner on stubborn, do I? If the wife, a CNA, saw even a little of how I do things out in the shed, she’d have conniption fits for sure!
Oh, by the way, did you know that if you clamp a high speed steel 70 yr old planer blade into a 100 yr old floor mount vise and hit it with a large metal object it will cleanly break like a piece of glass? And then you have a sharp new cutting surface!
Be careful man. The wife could be reading LOL.
Just think. First you ask her to throw things at you at high velocity and now you are talking about attempting to change physics. She's going to take the meds away! LOL
It’s your god given right to be stubborn wight. Right or wrong everyone else has it too so what can you do? Being the prick that I am, I just had to do a math check though.
Area of a shelf is pi*r^2 minus emitter hole or 3.14*15.85^2 - 3.14*10^2 or 3.14*(15.85^2-10^2) or 475mm^2.
Area of shelf plus emitter pad area is 789mm^2.
Area of 5.6mm high rim is 2pi*r*h or 6.28*15.85*5.6 or 557mm^2
Area of 2mm lip is 126mm.
Other than to agree with wight about the difficulty in getting both bottom surfaces to mate at the same time I do tend to also agree that the emitter area does seem to add significantly more contact surface area to the host. Whether that additional contact area is needed is left as an exercise for the reader. Me, I’m just throwing marbles on the dance floor.
If the best place to mate the heat-sink is the emitter hole (where the MCPCB would usually sit), then it doesn’t make any sense to not use that area. Add to that the math showing how much added contact you are getting by mating both the hole and the shelf. As for the possibility of not getting one or the other mated due to differing height, well let’s think about this. If the protrusion on the heat-sink is machined ~0.5mm too long, you don’t get a mate between the heat-sink and the shelf. Put some thermal paste on the shelf and forget about it. That would be better than having the protrusion too short and using some thermal compound at the most critical point for best heat transfer to the fins. As for leaving out the protrusion entirely, I think I’ll just leave this here:
(Emphasis mine)
Sure enough, I was mistakenly using D instead of R. (!) The figuring works out similarly either way: you’re getting more contact area from the big shelf than the little one, and the big one appears to be at a known, non-variable height whereas the little shelf - not so much.
I agree with RBD and anyone else who’s posted it: yes, if we could implement a heatsink which adequately interfaced with both shelves [eg no bridging a gap with TIM, this is not adequate] that would reduce thermal resistance a lot. I don’t think that the reduction would be significant, despite being a lot.
IF the 20mm shelf was at a known height I’d recommend interfacing with that rather than the 31.7mm shelf. (I’d establish a loose fit on the 20mm diameter cylinder, tight fit on the 31.7. I’d do a rough face on the 31.7mm surface and a perfect face on the 20mm surface.)
Wish we could do a pour, but then machining a new head altogether would probably be the way to go. lol
Maybe that’s what nitro should be working on instead of just an insert? Or, maybe have all three options?
A few different choices here. I don’t think milling an entire head from copper is a viable one. A simple 5.6 x 31.7 disc is easiest. Adding a 2 x 20 post adds some unknown to the capabilities and looks cool sitting on a desk. If the cost stays reasonable then I’ll get one but if not then I’ll just ghetto some scrap aluminum. It’s a bit unreasonable to ask Nitro to come up with more than one option but once he settles on one there’s no reason someone couldn’t produce another.
Well, in all fairness, a few things changed on the X6 for the Group Buy…the tail cap is not interchangeable for example. So they’re two different lights. We run into that a lot don’t we?
The target here is for the Group Buy Special Edition light. Looked at solely in that regard, and with over a thousand of them out there, then it makes sense to spec the heat sink to that specific set of measurements.
Man oh Man spent close to $300 on metal, so i hope u guys are ready for these, once i get the sample in few days ill be off to the machinist to have them made
im considering doing a run for the X6 SE and some for the NON X6 if the current design dont work out (on both) so this way these will sell and everyone is happy ? and i dont want to get stuck with $300 of wasted material :(
Dale made one of these work so it might not be a bad idea to follow his lead on this.
So do u guys want this done or not ? if so just post so i can cancel my order on the material
Are you having trouble understanding the two posts you quoted? [Both DBCstm and Stittville Ed are suggesting that you stick with your original plan make a heatsink shaped like DBCstm’s drawing.]
Most posters seem to be in favor of you sticking with that plan. In my opinion the worst case scenario (other than a run of undersized parts) isn’t that bad: it’s simply a higher than necessary cost and the requirement of sanding or filing to get good acceptable fitment.
Stick to the plan and start making chips!!!