I will gladly give my opinion. I know that a Cree phosphor is physically weak. I have witnessed zero evidence after hundreds of de-domes that the phosphor is chemically weak against common plastic/rubber solvents. If you put a LED in a solution, it is your duty to watch it and prepare to remove it when ready. While I’ve seen zero evidence that chemical solvents effect phosphor in any way, of course you can make it turn ugly. Just leave it in solution for 2 weeks and come back. The only thing I have ever seen showing a chemical de-dome changing anything on an LED, is a light brownish/orange tarnish that appears on the package metal, not the phosphor, by leaving it in for well past 8 hours (10-12 hours will usually show some light tarnish on the silver in some area, so don’t wait).
Is phosphor removed in a chemical de-dome? No.
Is phosphor removed in a hot de-dome? Around here, all the time.
Why would I poke, stab, and prod a hard material (made to take heat) that is attached to a sensitive material, when I can pour liquid on the LED, and watch the dome remove itself, nearly perfectly?
I did a de-dome last night. Cree XM-L2. Complete edge swell occurs within 20 minutes. In 1.5 hours, I can probably safely “touch” the dome and it will drift off. But I want the LED clean. If you bought a light that was advertised as de-domed, and chunks of the dome were all around the die when you got it, I bet you would be more interested in the guy’s lights who don’t leave that crap there for you to look at. I would be. So I expect a clean de-dome myself. I don’t cut corners when I have to do next to nothing to make it right. I’ve never been in a situation when I said to myself, “oh no, a de-dome is needed within 10 minutes or we are gonna lose this light”. If I bought the LEDs, I knew long ahead of time they were being de-domed, while they traveled in the mail to me. So when someone says, but I don’t have the time…some of us just don’t view time the same as planning I guess.
There’s no set time for a de-dome in any LED. Play it by eye. When the dome is detached and ready to float away, remove it. Larger domes have more surface area and take in more solution more quickly, creating more swell that pushes and then becomes buoyant, thus lifting quicker most of the time. This applies to square dies, MT-G2s are a different story.
I’ve tried all kinds of chemical solutions, methods, experiments in setup and positioning, when it comes to chemicals and dedoming. I can always over-complicate something if I try. But with this, for you guys, there is zero need to. It hasn’t changed over the years. I don’t know what genius got mad at gasoline, but you maybe shouldn’t have listened when he spoke. Acetone = poor. Paint thinner = poor. Gasoline = great.
As for the time lapse, I did one, and my IP cam froze a half hour in, like it loves to do when I need it most, always because of a buffer cache I forget to change from default. So I have the very beginning of video, and some of the rest, but I’d rather just make another video that’s complete instead of posting the segments. So I’ll do that, again, correctly. I de-dome about every other day so it’s no problem. Regardless, my standard camera works just fine, so I took photos of full-swell of the dome at 2.5 hours in gasoline with no tricks involved. This should however prove that whoever says gas doesn’t work, either isn’t trying, or isn’t doing something right—and I don’t know how can you mess up something as simple as pouring fluid in a glass. Not even the bond wires have material stuck to them, so I’ll never have a desire to do it the hot way. Sorry, but that’s just me.
After the first photo, I touched the dome with a zip-tie and it drifted right off the LED. Here are the photos: