Without details, something as sophisticated as LEDs or any technology from the last 100 years wouldn’t be possible. We learned by figuring out what’s going on. Just sayin’.
It’s the same as any $10-20 zoom light. An aspheric simply projects an image of what’s underneath.
I appreciate that guys. Thank you.
It’s all about tact, agenthex, and you replace tact with an argumentative nature. I will not discount your knowledge, and I can appreciate that. But you alienate folks for the purpose of… what? Maybe you don’t know how it looks, and I appreciate that too…but man. lol.
Anyway, back on topic, thanks guys. I am honestly intrigued with the relative simplicity and zero cost potential of de-doming if done right to the right emitter. I just managed to make notable improvements to a couple of my drop-ins with a 5 minute mod, and I totally dig it. I like the science behind it, and the discussion that we get following. I’d love to see more beam shots and hear more from people who do this to some of their LEDs, especially if someone does it to an already impressively utilized XM-L vehicle like the HD2010. I have one, but am quite hesitant to mess with the stock torch, as it already rocks. But I imagine if de-doming can do what it has done for my P60 drop-in, it can do some pretty cool things for the HD profile. Then again… if the reflector behavior will no longer perform correctly with a de-domed LED because the light dispersal profile is different, then maybe it won’t work well at all.
But my noob assumption at this point, is that because de-doming increases the dispersal pattern of the emitter and spreads more light into the reflector, causing it to collect more intensely at the hot spot, and even tightens the hot spot a bit, then wow. It could make the HD2010 even more of a monster.
Obviously there is specific protocol to follow with this mod, and little margin for error, considering we are perminantly altering our LEDs. And I imagine XM-L domes and emitter construction may vary a bit. But so far, I’m 2 for 2.
Thanks again.
It’s simply a clash of cultures, from the perspective of both geography and profession. 1) There’s a certain middle american attitude that differences are best resolve by dodging them. Personally, I’d like to think I respect others enough to perceive their thoughts as more than trite, and avoid speaking as if they need to be coddled. 2) Some of us work in fields where being correct matters. IOW it’s something worth pursuing even if it means we’re wrong. For example, I didn’t think dedoming would make that much of a difference to throw. Obvious I’m wrong, but it matters to me why I’m wrong. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have things like LED’s.
I can choose to adhere to middle class middle american norms to be more popular, but OTOH if I wanted to be popular I wouldn’t bother posting comments in a flashlight forum.
de-doming is the new oven baking! lol
Stop tempting me into destroying one of my lights. Yikes!
The Science is about clear and concise expression and discussion of ideas and testing the theories to verify if true. Nothing about culture, class, or personality or argument for argument sake. Nothing but muddy water there.
Another update: After trying to polish it further, I ended up going too far and I accidentally broke one of the wires inside the LED.
Goodbye my STL-V2… at least I got some nice pictures of you when you worked wipes away tear.
I kept turning on the LED to see if I had gone too far…. Like that’s going to tell me when to stop! Sorry Man, and Thanks for taking one for the team. I hope there are enough of these stories in this thread to temper enthusiasm and steady the blade.
Science is often arguing for argument’s sake. The purest of science is blue skies research with no practical applications.
Also note I’ve asked plenty of relevant, empirically testable questions in this thread, and it’s rather others who choose to focus on whatever politics interests their mind. I suspect this isn’t done for scientific reasons.
Just separate your ego from your ideas and there is no problem to be proven wrong. Then on to the next theory, idea, problem or solution. Maybe even slice the dome off an LED just to give it a try, see how it goes or what it does.
No, the problems associated with being wrong still exist here for the reasons specified above. Pretending they don’t exist doesn’t make them go away.
I’ve dedomed crees before. They only seem to focus as well as the best reflectors in class, so I didn’t bother to take advantage and take measurements. Perhaps I should go back and knock the domes back off again because I glued them back on. The stock v2/v6’s tend to have larger hotspots than they really should for a reflector that size. I tried adjusting focus but it doesn’t really impove, which means either the designer didn’t know what they were doing or they purposely made the spot larger for practical purposes. The tk35 clones in comparison have tighter hotspots even with smaller reflector (but crappy emitter/driver and thus can’t take advantage).
Slewflash, I am sorry to hear that as well. LowLumen’s advice not to try to de-dome a favorite light was obviously meant to be taken to heart. I would not have tried this at all had I not had a couple of drop-ins I wasn’t using much. As it turns out in my case, I will be using them much more.
And based on my very very new experience with this, I would recommend anyone take a bit less off the dome with your first slice to ensure you have a little room for polishing. I think I have at least 1mm left on each of the emitters I cut on.
Tried to polish it and only managed to get it filled with cloth fluff |( . I didn’t have enough room on it as it was because my first cut was very close(max 1mm) from the emmiter. So I said screw it, and got a cutter blade, took off some slices and tested it. 48klux. At least I got it close to original values.
I also put a small drop of “FixIt PRO” on it to redo the optics, but this needs to cure under sunlight(UV), so we’ll see how this goes tonight(8:56 AM in Romania when I’m writing this).
Fingers crossed! I need to see +51k on that reader or I’ll loose it and get myself an SR90, lol.
INFO: THIS POST WAS WRITTEN OVER THE COURSE OF A FEW HOURS BECAUSE I COULD NOT UPLOAD. IT MAY BE WEIRD TO READ! (Weirder than my weird norm anyway)
Hmm. I could not resist.
Snipped the top off my thrower that did 104 kCd before. Went down to 92 kCd.
Polished the dome and tried to remeasure. But a dark spot occured at the center of the beam and when I turned it off and looked at the light the dome was filled with smoke. The dome has a burnt spot in the centre now 
Maybe this is not good for overdriven emitters though I think a copper bound xml at 5 amps should do fine..
....
Now I am really sad...
Hmm. New info. Since my crappy internet connections won't led me publish this anyway right now...
Apparently something from the polishing wheel was still on the dome. That was what burned. I sanded it away and am working on polishing again. Yippee!
More info. Still something stuck in same damn position! Or same phenomenon happened again with the emitter at least! #¤§*!
Down to 50 kCd 
... Lord almighty let me upload this post already!
Ground some more off that dome and I am really close to the die now. Got past the burnt stuff and now its stopped burning. Got lux back up to 102 kCd.
Trying to get it polished now. And wondering how the f@rk I'll get the smoke residue off the reflector and glass. I can't see it by eye but I know it must be there and on the lens. Because it did not just waft out of there. It dissapeared! Word to the wise. Test your emitters outside the flashlight head and with no reflector near it! Bugger!
Still can't post this! Please don't let someone ruin their reflector like I've done while I can't upload. I can't get that layer off it. When looking at the right angle to the reflector that smoke IS visible! And warm water and mild detergent does not remove it. Ughhn!
Update again:
It just seems to me that this de-doming method is only effective in deeper reflectors. I cannot get the lux up above the 102 kCd mark.
But holding the reflector from my Jacob A60 over the led - WOW! The throw has gone up from ~50 kCd to now 83 kCd! If you have a XML in a Jacob this is the mod for you! (Of course you have to drive it at 5 amps too or it will not work)
Good news though. I got that stuff off the reflector. Lukewarm water and mild detergent for 10 minuted while gently rubbing it with my fingertips have done the trick. Then warm water in the end and now frantically waving it about to expel any water droplets. And I can not detect any scratches. Phew! I HATE cleaning reflectors!
Update again again :-)
Held X7 reflector (original reflector from light) in the hand and was able to move led more inside the reflector. This increased my throw to 117 kCd.
Now I have to rebuild this light and maybe drill bigger hole in reflector bottom to let more light come inside it. Certainly seems like this mod sends more light out to the sides...
Now I've polished the dome some more and lux went up to 117 kCd without bigger hole in reflector and original distance to led. wonderful. because now I've also gained something from this!
Going to bed now. Still can't post. In the mean time I hope no one torches their emitter out in flashlight land like I've done. Gave me a fright it did!
Thanks for the input Ledsmoke, looks like it worked after all. I too burned my cloth on the emitter, but I could just slice it off. When my Jacob A60 arrives I’m going to dedome it as soon as I open it up!
Man, that was some suspenseful reading!
Almost as good as tonight’s episode of SoA.
Wow! that’s a hectic story Ledsmoke!, but good that it worked out in the end. The main variable that can muck things
up it seems is the actual polishing.
MattSPL and JaffoAZ,
Great beamshots, the’re really telling! The UF 3mode de-dome results seem match with mine.
Sorry to hear that Slewflash, I’m also guilty of getting a bit over zealous with the polishing but have lucked out so far.
Please remember guys, this is a permanent mod, and it goes without saying there is some risk involved
especially first time around. When I started this thread I had no idea it would catch on like this, but If i knew
I would probably have put up a disclaimer saying that you should only try this with a light that you are willing to lose
or upgrade later. But really this goes for almost ANY mod that permanently alters the functioning of a light.
Nice! :bigsmile: … XR-E de-doming is dead easy (in my experience) since the dome is glass, just be prepared for a needle thin beam.
Great practice mod for P60 drop-ins that are relatively easy and inexpensive to replace. I’m going to continue hoping someone else tries and succeeds with their HD2010 before I think about it any more. But I am likely to see what I can do with my Mini-01 after seeing Matt’s beam shots.
What do you guys think about attempting to de-dome an XM-L zoomie? I only have one of those that zooms far enough to shrink that emitter to XR-E sizes (UF 1x18650 version of the TF Z5). My UF SK98 clone and TF Z8 both have huge emitter spots. If the dome magnifies the emitter as well, maybe de-doming would shrink the spot a tad? Or would the lack of a reflector cause so big a loss of OTF lumens? Hmmm… may have just answered my own question.
So if it’s glass, do I just pry it off with tweezers?