Definitely good to know and I will eventually get back to you on some. At the moment there are too many projects and not enough funds to feed them all.
- P60 deep fins head
Parts that can be produced in different configs (any material, height, pcb size, driver size and etc.), but I won`t make them anymore if I`m not sure that members will order them:
Bezel is big problem for this option. Stock P60 bezel is to deep, uses strange threads and could not provide waterproof with o-rings (in stock it is provided by special shape rubber under glass).
I prefer when bezel is outer style (with internal threads), but seems it is impossible to make such part with machinary I have access to.
Anodizing is another problem for exterior parts from alu. When mechanics is not very cool, anodizing can hide small demerits, but sometimes it makes more of them.
I think I should start with simple P60 solid neck. Similar to OrthoDogs, but without internal screw-in pill. Just one design for triple/quad.
Again have some xp-g3s. 3C tint now.
Can be shipped together with 3xp/xp32/tpad quad boards, but bare only for this moment.
$2/pc.
Combine shipping with any other parts from this thread.
I have made them for myself in triple configuration and even build one light. It is little useless because triple conv. requires host cutting and there were no o-ring grooves so light becomes non-waterproof.
I have sent lots of them to one blf member, unfortunately havent seen if he had build them. Right now have 5 such pills (for triple, that needs host cutting). They are not pretty look and seems that I had done some expiriments with them. So they are free.
Do you mean a triple in a SK68?
I find that idea scary (grin) and don’t think I’d attempt that.
They’re not waterproof anyhow because of the slider.
I was curious about single-emitter SK68 pills
(recently I can find SK68s and “#3 zoomie” flashlights for $2 apiece if I am patient and look on eBay and AliExpress.
But those pills are some soft gray metal, uneven, so an emitter won’t even sit flat in contact around the edges,
and of course 10mm square Luxeon Rebel boards touch only at the four corners, on hollow pills.)
I don’t want to push you into doing this if nobody else is interested in them!
I’d buy a dozen, couldn’t use more soon. See if anyone else is interested to make it worth doing?
I’d wish for pills with solid back planes to mount the LED on so I could use the square 10mm Luxeon Rebels.
But if they have ledges I can stuff in a copper or aluminum disk with some thermal epoxy, I’ve done that with ok success before (and just drilled my own holes for wires)
But before you spend any time and effort on this — I’m just some guy, I would not be making these up to resell, but to give as gifts
I’d be putting in BLF 15mm SK68 drivers if I didn’t keep the originals, and “anything has to be better” LEDs.
One annoyance with improving SK68s is that it’s hard to solder drivers to pills — I just dropped one and had the driver edge solder crack off the aluminum pill.
No problem for me, but a fairly common failure when they’ve been given as gifts so I end up redoing that solder bridge.
I don’t know a simple good way around that problem of grounding the driver to the pill that’s idiot proof against dropping them.
Fewer sharp corners, more pocket-friendly. Also takes the 15mm SK68 driver and same emitter
And when a millimeter is filed off the slider, bringing the lens right down to the LED, they give a generous flood, while the narrow beam isn’t affected.
It’s almost impossible to solder to Al. The metals are too dissimilar, and won’t “stick”. Plus, the briefest exposure to oxygen would lightly passivate it.
What I’ve done is to solder-fill the vias/passthroughs on the edges of the driver (those “ridges” where the boards snap apart, usually), and then press-fit the drivers into the pills so that it’s literally a friction-fit. Not perfect, but seems to work for me. Too much solder, though, and it won’t fit at all.
Yep. Solder blobs weren’t the right approach.
Lately, I’ve also soldered a tiny copper wire to both sides of the driver, flattened it with a tap (it’s soft already from heating) then squeezed that into place.
Same idea as filling the vias — make the ground ring around the driver electrically contact the pill ….