well the perfect diffusers were right under my nose!
i noticed some “paint pots” on the upstairs bench.
these are just short pill bottles ganged on a tree.only issues are i dont know where they came from.they are marked $1.99
and its hard to clean off the remains of the tree after cutting them loose.
its nothing horrible to look at.at 3/4” tall they do the job well and are compact.perfect fit to the i.d of the tube and the jbweld holds them fine.
i rough up the i.d and o.d where it seats to ensure a good grip.
warning!
k2 tffc has too low vf to dd.
hits over 2a!
.47 1/2w tames them.
3w luxeon clone ok dd…
“nature white” seems the brightest with k2 tffc 180 lumen@700ma very close.
looking froward to see new photos. 
I used some old frosted plastic bulb on a $3 Ultrafire S5, something like DBSAR’s half dome but I used the whole globe. Fits like a glove, no tape/adhesive needed.
I can’t remember which one exactly but pretty sure the LED bulb was one of the $0.01 promotion offer or something. This is why I try not to miss those
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Very nice turds!
those last pics are of the 3rd rebuild of the prototype where it gets a diffuser upgrade.
I just finished building a dozen more of these using various diffusers and $2 flashlights.
did up 10 more here.
most expensive part being the quarter as a heatsink.
harbor freight freebies.
leds were free as i ordered neutral white chinese 3w leds for a job and got cool white.seller sent the right ones and told me to keep these.
and the batteries are free laptop pulls.
all my neighbors each have 1 or more.
we get lots of power failures due to storms.
one of these held to the ceiling from its lanyard with a tack or pushpin does a lot!
Nice.
I found some other interesting LED cheapies at the local dollar-store that was shaped like an Incandescent light bulb with a hanging lanyard. I modified them with a better W/W LED and a resistor and they work great on 3-AAA cells for 14 hours.
Yes they are. Someday alkaline batteries will go the way of the buggy whip so these mods wont have to be done.
nice thing about these is they can still be used with 3aaa if you have the holder with the extended + contact.
but even the best aaa are pathetic in these so 18650 all the way!
big lots had a 10 pack of assorted camo patterns for 4.99 on sale.
grabbed the last 3 they had.they work fine in these mods.check local stores.beats playing games to exploit the hf coupons….
Nice find.
these
you have to seat the quarter at about 1/8” from the front but otherwise they do fine.have to grind/sand the i d at the front as the paint/anodise is there.
damn
now I have a project to do
another note.i have some pre tffc k2’s here i have been using.these must have a .47 to 1 ohm resistor in series or they pull way too much and overheat.
the output has minor rings from the smaller point source and the bottom of the bottle.
the chinese clones have a higher vf which eliminates the resistor and the larger area of the phosphor somewhat evens out the beam.
Well I would be glad to be able to make turds like those.
can you easily get a u.s quarter?
or a local coin the same size?
rest of the parts are easy,cheap,and sometimes free.
these
have a huge die in them.biggest die i have seen in a “3w” led.wider than an xml die.
they work great in the direct drive design here.
nw is ever so slightly yellowish.but brighter than the rest.
those are the same ones i been using in various lantern conversions and small lighting upgrades for awhile. ( they are a clone of the original Luxeon Star design with its own “case” for the LED die.)
( both the 1W & 3W versions) I like the WW versions for lanterns, and some of the NW tint ones are not bad either. they do have a big die, sort of like a small version of a MT-G2 shape in a smaller lower power case) these wor great and easy to use for various Led lighting mods and lantern conversions with the side power connectors and smooth flat bottom heat sink plate. i have driven the 3W with 700ma before using a 2-7135 driver but they have to be direct contacting a good copper heat sink to survive. They are some what tougher than a regular LED as the die is covered with a hard acrylic dome instead of a silicone one like most.