Courui + 86mm KD reflector + camera parts; Say Cheese!!

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Following on from LinusHofmann's thread, I ordered the big KD reflector, along with the camera lens hoods/adapters that he linked in his OP.

They all turned up during the week, so I was eager to see what needed to be done to get it all together.

I have a modded D01 that I prepared earlier, which is already a killer thrower. The only change made since that thread is the addition of a Fet driver, although the performance is still the same @ 340kcd.

Here's all the parts from Linus' shopping list, plus I threw in a lens protector;

The KD reflector was flawless, & dwarfs the stock D01 reflector.

I needed to remove some material from the OD of the reflector lip, in order for it to fit into the larger of the two hoods. It could be done with a file, but you better take a cut-lunch with you...

Now that I could trial-fit all of the parts, the entire assembly comes up just a few mm too short.

There's no chance of fitting a regular lens & 'O' ring, as the reflector is sitting almost flush with the top of the upper hood.

In addition to this, I didn't like the idea of cutting the original bezel in half to use to clamp the assembly to the body.

I rummaged through some parts I had, & found a 74mm lens filter assembly that I had from when I was trying out some different lenses. The female thread, although a slightly finer pitch, fitted onto the D01 body, so after some more measuring, I figured that I could get the ideal height by attaching the filter ring to the lower hood.

I sanded the threads off the lower hood;

& also sanded down the ring a little;

Until I ended up with this;

The lower hood & ring were then JB welded together;

In order for the reflector to sit down flush onto the MCPCB, I also had to relieve the inside lip of the upper hood;

And finally, we end up with a completely reversible solution, with enough height to install a more durable lens & 'O' ring if one desires;

What the hell is that in there?!? That there, is my centering ring, made from an old 20mm driver. It fits over the modified XM-XP centering ring that was already in the light;

Here's the finished light, using an 86mm UV filter for the lens;

Soooo, was it worth the effort?

I took a back-to-back comparison, measured @ 10m;

Stock reflector, 340kcd.

Quick reflector change whilst topping up the batteries;

KD reflector, 625kcd.

Yes. 625 kcd.

:beer: :beer:

Thanks for reading!

_update_

Beam shots, because I know someone will ask for them;

Mouse-over, KD reflector, mouse out - standard reflector.

:beer:

2

Nice mod FmC :slight_smile:
I hope i will do something like this one day.

You didn’t say what led you used, so what what was it?

Where do you find the clear XM to XP centering ring?

3

I believe it’s an XP-G2 R5 1A.

Those rings are available from FT, & RMM. I just sanded it down so it was flush with the LED base.

4

Wow. You guys are so creative with what you come up with. That is a good comparison shot with the standard reflector. I love it when I get sacked.

5

Aha thanks, those i know about (don’t have them yet though), it just looked so different when sanded down :slight_smile:

You could drop in a XP-G2 S4 2B, that one is many flux bins higher (I think it goes R5-S2-S3-S4 in flux bins, so 4), it should give a substantial improvement in throw. IOS & MTN has them :wink:

6

Updated OP with some beam shots.

Please excuse my pos camera….

7

very creative. What is the best place to buy a courui big head? I want to do this mod. The only difference is using a slightly taller hood that should give me some more clearance. Something like this- 82mm Tele Metal Screw-in Lens Hood for DSLR Cameras | eBay it is 36mm tall, the stock one is 25mm tall. It has more than enough height to accommodate an o-ring + a proper lens or another. If it is too high, I can place some copper washers under the emitter star.

8

thats really cool…

i like that reflector…i cant wait till i get a little better at scratch building stuff, lol…

everything i make now? has too much duct tape and plastic PVC pipe and fittings, lol…

9

Love it man, the light looks great!

10

Nice neat finish FMC. Great work.

11

we need beamshots from a further distance. Could you take some photos of the KD vs stock reflector from 200m or so? Thanks!

12

is a way to do similar project ,if you dont have the tools to remove material from the reflector ?

13

Awesome mod!!! :beer: :beer:

How did you protect the reflective surface when you were removing material from the edge? Did the KD reflector came protected with plastic as in the photo? What did you use to hold down the centering MPCB to not fall into the reflector?

Thanks!

14

I’m sure there’s other sizes of adapters available that would do the trick.

I’ve already ordered a set of these for other projects.

The reflector had a protected film over the opening, which I managed to keep on there through the machining process. I cut it carefully with an exacto knife around the tip of the lip, so it didn’t get jagged on the cutter.
The centering ring is held on by a couple of dabs of super glue.

As for longer beam shots, I’ll see what I can do during the week.

Thanks :beer:

15

Great build. Gotta love those photographic components.

16

I got around to taking some long-distance shots this evening. Sorry, but no comparison shots with the stock reflector.

There's a concrete pump tower up the road from where I work, which is visible by day. Google Earth tells me it's about 375 meters from the back of my workshop, where I took the pictures;

Day / Night pictures for reference;

It wasn't quite dark when I took the pictures, & also there's a lot of light pollution in the area...

Here's a mouse-over of the night shot to the pump tower with the KD reflector Courui;

~1/4 mile? No problem...

Prior to this, we were lighting up some of the near-by Gum trees, that were full of Crows settling in for the night. They hated it, & left the tree en mass, each time the beam hit them.

We had literally hundreds of Crows flying around, & dodging the beam mid-flight.

'The Boys' at work were suitably impressed :)

:beer: :beer:

17

Good shot :slight_smile:

Long beam shots are always interesting.

18

impressive!

19

what emitter would be a better choice in this reflector? An overdriven dedomed xm-l2 or xp-g2?

20

XML\XPL will give you a larger beam & more lumens, possibly at the expense of a little throw.

I'm yet to try an XML in this setup.