Hello, I have an old Fandyfire stl-v6 thrower with an xml-t6 that I would love to put a sft40 in it. The 20mm MCPCB boards do not fit this light, as it has some unusual 30-35mm board. So I was told a reflow would be the best option. I live in Virginia USA and would be very grateful if anyone had the time to do this project, and wondering if I should just order the emitter or not.
Thank you!
Emitter boards having different dimensions does not necessarily mean one cannot be used in place of the other. In your case, it seems that the new board is smaller than the old one, which should not be a problem except in the case that the reflector sits and shorts across the solder joints. If that is the case consider sanding parts of the reflector to make things fit--it usually works.
I would try to avoid reflowing to the old board because the old board is probably aluminum, which has significant worse thermal properties than copper, which I assume the new board is. But if you must reflow, a simple soldering iron can be used in place of a hot plate--there are all sorts of ways to do the reflow without a hot plate.
In any case you must have a soldering iron to perform the swap at all.
As much work as it appears that you’ll put into that light, why not just buy a new one or does that one in particular have special sentimental value?
I see nothing wrong with trying to find help with the reflow, if i were within local mailing distance i’d offer.
I hope you get this sorted. If you do decide to try a reflow yourself there’s plenty of info on here as to how to do it.
Just in case, i posted this on another thread recently, it’s not the only video on reflow but it will give you an idea of what’s involved to get you started:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/39482
I also have an STL-V6 but the size of the ledboard you mentioned was 25mm. So there is lots of room for a 20mm (or 16mm) ledboard with your emitter of choice.
Of course there are BLF members who don’t have a screwdriver, who rely on others to execute their mods. But this one is really easy. So you can either reflow an emitter, or you can try to find a copper or brass ring that fills the gap between 25mm and 20mm (or 16mm). Unless.
Find yourself a round piece of plastic (ring) that fits the opening of your reflector. If it fits, you cut off a piece of about 3mm length. Make an opening in the middle of the piece of plastic of a size that fits the four corners of the led. Superglue that ring on your new (20mm?) leadboard. Now you have something that aligns the reflector and the led. It takes charge of the centering, so to speak.
For focussing (and preventing shorts) I use a piece of (nylon?) sheet with a hole that fits the glued-on plastic ring. I myself am fond of the type of sheet you find in “a box of chocolate”. Add as much selfmade shims to find the correct focussing.
If this all sounds jibberish, read the LINK
PS That Fandyfire is a superior host! But who am I to judge……