Yes, if you have a lathe, otherwise you are pretty much stuck with stock emitter shelf which is quite disappointing and major limiting factor in any modification…
Yeah, well, it didn’t stop me before I got the lathe… a drill and a rotary tool and I made what I needed. Threads were the only problem and that was because I didn’t have a tap and die set. Where there’s a will….
my goodness, that ‘shelf’ is a freaking disappointment :_(
I’m sorry. Freeme, I’d like to be removed from the list for this light. I’m not in a position to do or pay for any machining or copper bits.
I’ll wait to see what Tom thinks
I’m not sure why the shelf is that much of a disappointment…? Yes it could be better but DTP star is going to do way more for cooling the led than anything else.
The anodizing is a thermal restrictive point but see how much contact area there is on something that diameter and compare it to something like a convoy s2 (which some like to hotrod). Saturating the shelf (with heat) is not going to be a problem with that kinda battery capacity but who here is looking to mod this (super thrower) and have it running for a half hour at a time?
What is the main issue with the pill design? Is it:
- Too thin.
- Insufficient contact with the wall.
- Non screw on design.
- Not enough head room to piggy-back driver.
Done.
Given the size of the led shelf disc I would say this is no major problem for a 3V emitter, I built a Courui without changing the shelf dic, instead used thermal epoxy to fix it and it did alright. Of course the large copper heatsink heated up much quicker but after 5 minutes there was really no difference at all. This disc is much larger than the courui’s and seems like it has about the same contact area. But for a behemoth like this, that is a serious bottleneck!
Some would say all of those are issues. For me, #2 is the biggest issue. #3 would be one way to attempt to solve #2.
What’s the point in toting around that big heavy body if it isn’t soaking up heat? What’s the point of big battery capacity if I can only run it for 2min before output starts reducing?
Again, I’ll wait to see what Tom thinks before deciding anything, but that’s my train of thought. It could very well end up being a non-issue, that’s why I’m not backing out now.
Wasn't it determined that anodization has very little effect on thermal properties? IIRC someone did a fair bit of testing on an anodized shelf directly under the mcpcb.
nothing I've seen yet is a deal breaker though I'm still not sure what the heck I would use a giant, long-lasting, super thrower like this for..
Looking forward to seeing what yall can do with it.
- As pointed out by will34 the courui is also thin. So is a tk61. I’ve never had an srk with a shelf but I imagine that is also light-on for 3 or more emitters.
- With the larger diameter I expect it has more contact area than the above mentioned lights.
- Point taken. Still no biggy to me, when it’s all assembled it doesn’t rattle around does it? So one would assume it is being pressed into the body allowing for heat transfer.
- That has little to do with the shelf and more to do with the design of the light. But none the less, this is a problem, I agree.
Looks to me like 4-5mm of contact area around the radius. I didn’t find the measurement but I guess the shelf is over 70mm diameter??
I’d might still buy it, say $30.00 maybe? Looks to be Cheap, down and dirty, perfect BLF light, if you can get it for $30 bucks!
Wow what a pathetic light.
maybe sell as host with unpopulated driver to use as contact plate?
that way the costs could go down
and i think no one planned to use it out of the box for more than 30 seconds 
Will see.
High anticipation usually lead to big disappointment when people do not get what they want. It is totally understandable.
If you do not like what you see here, just submit your name and walk away from this deal.
Lots of good specs posted above. Been a little out of it - awful cold/infection, something. Goin to the doc this morn I hope. If I'm home tomorrow, can get the delivery, or gotta setup a sign approval some how...
Internally, agree - big disappointment. Might need a lathe to do it right, but unless the manufacturer is willing to change the design, there are many of us who can't do the mech work at that level (myself..), so maybe a simple single LED is viable - the reflector is sounding good.
Wondering out loud here, wasn’t it said there was 10mm of driver bay area? So, with a single sided 17mm FET driver being around 3mm thick, isn’t there a LOT of room to add a heat sink press fit into the driver bay for the emitter shelf to sit on? Couldn’t this heat sink go all the way to the current pcb, (remove all components on the driver, place Katpton tape over all contacts or sand it smooth) This 10mm thick heat sink could have a 17mm driver bay cut into it, or simply a 17mm hole bored through, if done in the middle it could actually replace the current contact board and the battery positive could press into the 17mm driver itself, with battery tube negative pressing into the heat sink.
Effectively, a 70mm dia 10mm thick heat sink being introduced in place of the current driver. That would be sufficient for virtually anything we could stuff in, right?
How is the driver currently being held in place? Is it a press fit? Could I machine aluminum inserts to have a wider lip on top, sized to fit the walls of the driver bay, such that it would replace the driver and have a 17mm driver bay in the center, effectively acting like any of our smaller lights? I could add the 4mm emitter shelf onto that for a 14mm solid piece, then it wouldn’t be an issue for the two piece to have good mated contact.
I don’t know how many lights will sell in a group buy here, or how many of those would need this heavier heat sink, but I could try making one and see how it goes and if I’m able to do it successfully I could offer to do it for those wanting to push this light harder. Not sure how many I could do, and of course I’d have to make sure I could do it at all, but I’m game…. I work cheap, by the way, (well, for this lol)
Tin foil isn’t optimum, a direct contact between metals is the best, tin foil gets wrinkled and allows air space, that extra sheet of metal doubles the available air space with more surfaces. Best to have the 2 pieces in contact directly and not need a go-between.
As I understand it, the emitter shelf “plate” is already sort of a press fit, so it should be good.
Looks like a few mm's of space in there from post #124 - enough for a piggyback FET driver. At a min with no metal work, could sand down the shelf the pill top sits on, and use a good thermal grease - it would help I'd think, not great. Just the shear size of the pill top would shed some heat.
Those tailcap springs look awful - definitely need bypass wires.
The whole anodized surface issues - I'm not sure - better or worse thermally. Could also drill and tap holes and screw it down w/brass screws, if there's enough thickness in that area of the head. 12 brass screws around it - would look cool anyways...
Of course a custom copper substitute of the whole piece from Dale would be totally awesome, and secured down.
the driver can go anywhere in the space beneath the reflector, this would give us more space for the heatsink and would be extremely easy to mod and fw reflash since all the components are on top of the shelf.
this light is begging for a direct drive from 4x26650 without any electronics between emitter and cells since there is so little space inside. Just for running one mode on and off. Like those flashlights we had when we were kids. A solution to heatsinking could be using a small fan right under the pill or a copper plate attached to the pill from beneath