The FandyFire S3 definitely has its looks going for it. The stock internals are actually very good - the LED mounting area is an integral part of the head, as with the DRY.
While the XM-L with which the light was delivered was adequate, just enough is NEVER enough.
Thank goodness for copper.
The reason for the chamfered area is due to the ridge inside the head:
Below, one can see several details. I bored the inside diameter of the bezel ring to better accept the new optic, and added an o-ring groove. Also visible is the stock brass driver retention ring, which appears to be pressed in after soldering. This is a good design which I wish more manufacturers would adopt:
What is worthy of the copper, machining time, and removal of the awesome stock XM-L ?
Triple XP-Gs, that's what.
The stock host, less stainless bezel ring and tail:
Always fun to watch your builds Chicago. Are you going to remove the resistors and run the parallel or are you going to use a boost driver and leave them series?
W, I can't wait to see the end result of this project. I love the look of that light but it is so expensive compared to others especially after modding it! I have 2 XP-G triples on deck myself and look forward to seeing how you are going to drive these.
You'd better keep some of that awesomeness in my lathe for me when it heads my way! ;)
@dthrckt: The bezel ring was the most fragile piece I've machined to date. After a bit of a read of "How to Run a Lathe," I cranked the speed up to 2k RPM and came in at a very shallow DOC.
@Tecmo: That haiku was awesome !
@Old-Lumens: I will likely remove the zero-res jumpers and wire it up in parallel. The single-cell format precludes the use of the boost drivers I have.
