Timeline

• November/December 2019: Collecting ideas for a modded light

• End of December 2019: Elaborating a parts list and taking fotos

• January 8, 2020: Posting an entry thread for the BLF Old-Lumens-Contest

• January 21, 2020: All parts ordered and on the way

• February 5, 2020: All parts have arrived

• February 9, 2020: Soldering springs

• February 12, 2020: Reflowing leds and soldering wires and springs

• February 19, 2020: Building a model spacer with coins and sawing the copper

• February 21, 2020: Soldering the copper spacer

• February 22, 2020: Preparing the switch and thick copper wires for the spacer

• February 23, 2020: Preparing the copper spacer to fit and assembling the flashlight with copper spacer, switch and wires

• February 24, 2020: Putting in the MCPCB and aux led board and connecting the last wires

• February 25, 2020: Making the aux leds work

• February 25, 2020: FLASHLIGHT IS FINISHED, it will be called Matainvoy ML18S

• February 28, 2020: Adding GITD tape and taking beamshots

Step-by-step summary of the build

First step: Choosing the host

Second step: Ordering all parts

Third step: Reflowing the leds

Fourth step: Building a spacer

Fifth step: Connecting driver and switch

Sixth step: Assembling the flashlight

Seventh step: Troubleshooting

Eighth step: Taking fotos and beamshots

I called my modified flashlight ‘Matainvoy ML18S’. The name is a combinations of the three brands and flashlight that I combined for this build. The host is a Wainlight L6, which is the same as the Convoy L6 and I needed one in brown color. The optics and MCPCB is from the Mateminco MT18S, also known as Astrolux MF01S, but I took the first three Letters of Mateminco as I got the parts from the Mateminco store.

I made a video showing some aspects of the building process in 5x to 10x time lapse so that it doesn’t go for one hour but only 12:29. There is no audio but only background music. Here it is (also in post# 42) :

Thanks, Agro and pinkpanda3310.

I still need some more material and may start the actual mod only in February.

man of light wrote:

Good idea and nice pics

How will be the mcpcb thermally connected to the head body?

Thanks, man of light.

The MCPCB will sit on the small rim (1-2mm) just below the glass. Of course that is not enough for good thermal performance and so I will cut a 35mm copper rod to the right length (3-4cm) to have a spacer. I will have to drill a hole in the middle of the spacer for the cables.

G0OSE wrote:

Glad to see you entering! we have actually got a good few entries now

Thanks, G0OSE. In the beginning there where even more prices than participants.

Thank you, MRsDNF and CRX.

MascaratumB wrote:

Gonna be a wall of light? Now I’m also curious with the beam of this

It should be quite a bit floodier than the SST20 in the MF01S and maybe brighter.

I will for sure compare it to my SST20 4000K MF01S.

Thank you pinkpanda3310 for the reminder.

I just updated my first post. Here is a quick summary of the current status:

1) The LH351D’s in 4000K are about to arrive.

2) I have ordered the 30mm driver and MF01 aux led board from Lexel. I may get it in early February.

3) Some copper rods with 16mm and 20mm driver that I already have will be cut to length and used for the spacer along with a 6mm thick copper plate (on the way).

4) I don’t know where my Sofirn Q8 side switch is currently, maybe it shows up in time. If not I will recover a switch from another flashlight.

5) The hot plate for reflowing will most likely arrive too late so the hot air station will be used once again. Maybe with a new MCPCB and fresh soldering paste it will not be too difficult to melt. Reflowing seven leds at once is already a challenge, just figure with 18 leds…

I expect to start the build in the first week of February. First I will fit the spacer, then reflow the leds and finally solder the PCB, switch, aux leds and driver and assemble everything.

Thanks, CNCman.

There will be many pictures as the mod proceeds.

UPDATE: All the parts and some modding supplies have arrived now! So let the modding begin!

These are the things I have been waiting for. Note that the hot plate for reflowing has arrived shortly after I posted that I don’t expect it to arrive in time.

Thank you for following, YogibearAl. I assume that the turbo runs longer with the copper spacer I will use but the total runtime will be less than the MF01S.

Here are some more pictures and a complete parts lineup. Only the Sofirn Q8 switch is missing.

Also, the batteries that I will use in this flashlight have arrived, the Golisi S43 with 30A continuous discharge rate.

MascaratumB wrote:

Oh boy, I wish I was so “clean” preparing to mod It would make my life better

Great that the components arrived! I am really curious to see how this light will shine
Good work

Thanks, MascaratumB! Almost half the work is needed for the pictures but that’s worth it.

I have started the mod now when others have already finished but I think I will make it in time.

man of light wrote:

Nice pictures and thorough preparation. I wish you everything fits as planned, I’m really looking forward to the result.

Thanks, man of light! The mod is in progress, more pictures coming soon.

DB Custom wrote:

Neat idea! Looks like it should perform well and make it all worthwhile. Look forward to beam shots…

Thanks, DB Custom! Maybe it will inspire others as well because I like the combination of L6 and MF01S.

I have done a few more things in the last few days.

- Soldered double BlueSwordM Gen3 silver plated BeCu springs on the tail switch board

- Changed the black switch cover to a white one

- Reflowed the 18 LH351D’s to the MF01S MCPCB

Some fotos before the reflow with clean board

Applying the solder paste and placing the leds

After the reflow

Some leds are not placed perfectly but they are not too far off. I had to widen the holes a bit to make the legs of the optic fit.

The last picture shows the special tool used for widening the holes on the MCPCB without damaging the led domes .

- Soldered 18AWG wires and double BlueSwordM Gen3 BeCu springs to the driver board

Next thing to be made is the copper spacer.

Look what has arrived on last Friday: my Sofirn SWITCHES:

You don’t see any switches? Well, me neither!

But seriously, I won’t complain at all about getting BLF Q8 drivers instead of switches. That’s a nice surprise and an incredibly good deal because I always have good use for those drivers.

The only problem remaining would be that I need a switch for my build. So I thought I will take the switch out of my Sofirn C8F host and see if I can get the green and red indicator leds to work with Lexel’s driver. It would be awesome to get a red switch when the battery is low.

Thank you, CNCman.

Yes, the hotplate works well and is definitely needed for soldering a 300g copper spacer.