P60 Drop-Ins from FastTech.com - Picture Heavy.

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Quick, and probably pointless review.

These are the cheapest P60 drop-ins I have found.

First, of the Orange Peel (OP) reflector found here.

And of it's sister, the Smooth (SMO) reflector found here.

I live in the same time zone as Hong Kong, so shipping dates are accurate.

The order was placed on the 12th Jan, late at night (way past business hours, since I closed my bar that SATURDAY night).

Order was shipped on the 14th Jan in the morning, and arrived in at my home on the 25th Jan.

Despite being virtually the same thing, one costs 17c (AUD) more than the other. SMO on left, OP on right.

The SMO Drop-in (cheaper) comes with standard two contact springs, insulation separator ring and seperately wrapped reflector. (advice on seperate packaging well-heeded by FastTech.

The OP Drop-In comes with the same as above, as well as a LED Die center-er and the reflector comes in a heat-sealed anti-static bag. Shmancy.

Both reflectors from top-down view. But in excellent condition.

From the side, and semi-assembled. The SMO reflector has a brass/golden coloured spring, whereas the OP has a silver coloured one. Big deal?
What might be slightly disconcerting to the most OCD of people is the brown spatter on the side of the OP reflector. Being Aluminium, is definitely isn't rust, and it's see through so I'm assuming it's a stain from machine oil or something like that. The discolorations on the OP reflector which look like burn marks are also on the SMO. I assume they're normal.

My super accurate measuring tools, way better than digital calipers, and pretty much on par with laser measurement systems. This method determines that a 16mm star and a 17mm driver are perfect fits. Albeit a little tight.

In this last photo, if you have the most discerning of eyes, and an incredibly calibrated monitor, you'll be able to tell that the pill on the left, belonging to the SMO drop-in is brass coloured. Very yellow and shiny. The pill on the right is slightly dull and tarnished and appears to have a much higher copper content than the SMO one. It also smells like freshly machined/oxidised metal.

There's only so much crap I can ramble on about. Given my name you'd think I could ramble on forever. But, no.

Feel free to spam.

2

Wow, thanks for the review. FT definitely has the cheapest blank P60 around. And from the looks of it, definitely some good quality stuff regardless the price.

Even got a centering ring huh… oh well, now I have to order some. :bigsmile:

3

Hahah, yeah just make sure you get the OP ones though, the SMO ones don't.

4

Harbor Freight has 4” digital calipers on sale for $9.95 until Feb 2. 6 inch are 20 bucks until the end of the month.

5

That’s the exact same drop-in that I just received from DX.

Can’t say I’m too happy with it - put the thickness of a wire and a PCB between the reflector and pill, and there’s barely any threads holding the thing together. I measured 1/2mm of clearance by squishing a piece of poster putty between the two and screwing them fully together.

6

Are the reflector threads on these empty P60 modules from fasttech the same as on all other drop-ins?
I assume its the same for all, but someone please assure me.

7

Nice to see the reflectors are packed properly.

I received two sets of P60 parts from DX yesterday - both had the brass pill, insulator and rear spring (all loose/unwrapped) packed inside the bowl of the reflector…… Nice.

As you’ve probably guessed the mirror surface of both reflectors are scratched and scuffed as a result. :~

8

There's at least 3mm of clearance from the emitter seat of the pill to the top rim, where the reflector sit when fully screwed in. If the emitter star is 1.5mm thick, that leaves 1.5mm wire/solder space. 1.5mm is like 15AWG wire. Using 18AWG wire (more than enough for 3A), means over 0.5mm for solder if we assume the insulating ring is a huge 0.5mm. That's for the reflector to be fully seated. I don't know what you're doing different, but I made my first P60 today, and it was fully seated.

Also, if it's not fully seated you might have weird rings and stuff since your reflector is not at the right height.

9

I have got OP version of this drop-in at 01/24/2013 (shipped 12/31/2012). It was packed without reflector protection (the pill inside reflector) and reflector is
scratched up.

I agree with gmarsh! (misunderstood)
There is too much space between the pill and reflector (on threads)- poor heat transfer!!!
In my opinion it is poor quality drop-in.

01/26/2013- I just wanted to note, that I have also received good customer care with my reflector packing issue. I’m fully satisfied.

10

Ah, I must've read it wrong.

Excuse me, but the illiterate here in Australia number in the millions.

If gmarsh is saying there's no threads, then I definitely don't think we have the same drop-in, since it takes me four/five full turns to get it fully seated for me.

Yeah there is the tiniest of gaps, it really depends on what board you are using. You simply cannot design for the whole range of thicknesses, that's what thermal compound is for.

If it really is as big as you say it is, then you can either take the 1/2mm clearance off the top rim of the brass pill so the reflector sits lower when fully screwed in, or stick the LED emitter on a 16mm copper disc 1/2mm tall, sandwiched in thermal compound.

Bad luck with the scratched up reflector. If you shipped from FastTech, they only recently started packaging seperately. In any case, those scratches look very minor, nothing brasso and a cloth can't buff out, the one on the rim really doesn't matter.

EDIT: Nope, I read it right the first time, gmarsh is talking about just reflector and pill, no emitter star, and he's saying it doesn't screw down enough with the PCB, insulating ring etc.

You are saying the opposite.

For gmarsh it's most likely his solder on his contacts are too high.

For you, you just have to bridge that gap.

11

I brought home a set of calipers from work. Here’s what I bought, and what I’m measuring:

http://dx.com/p/26-5mm-smooth-aluminum-drop-in-module-set-without-emitter-5937

There’s 2.6mm between the top ridge of the pill and the seat of the pill where the LED star sits. In the reflector, the ring around the center hole extends 1.5mm above the surface where the top ridge of the pill would sit if it was screwed fully into the pill. Thus, fully screwed together, there’s 1.1mm of clearance between the reflector and the seat of the pill. (Not 0.5mm, as I said before when I did the putty test. Disregard that.)

Now the problem is, I bought these for my TV-B-Gone project:

http://dx.com/p/5w-940nm-infrared-ir-led-emitter-silver-152456
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20pcs-1W-3W-High-Power-LED-Aluminum-Base-Plate-16mm-/390330289929?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:CA:3160

The white base of the LED is 2.5mm thick, and the reflector rests on this. And the PCBs are 1.5mm thick, requiring 4mm of space. At this point, I’ve unscrewed the theads 2.9mm to get that space - and how many mm of threads are there on the pill? 3mm. So the pill won’t thread together with these guts.

So now I’m planning to solder the LED directly to the pill without a PCB, and use kapton tape to insulate the pill from the LED leads.

Of course, maybe this is typical of all P60 pills and I should have picked a different form factor than a P60 for the LED that I have…

12

Oh - I haven’t soldered anything together yet. Still waiting on a last couple of things from DX and Digikey before I get started.

13

I see how that could be a problem.

I is not pro enough/have not bought a cheap pan to solder on my own LEDs. Sticking to pre-made until I can be bothered.

The hole in the reflector is large enough for the XM-L LED to stick through, and being able to solder the wires way out wide where the reflector is actually further away from the pill ensures perfect clearance.

14

Cram hard enough and they will… J)

15

I would like to see your guns!

No really, living in Australia, the only time I get to powder my hands is when I visit a friend in the Philippines.

16

Thanx for the review Ramblings.

How about some SMO vs OP beamshots of the two?

Thnx

17

Hi Ramblings, do you happen to know the difference between SKU 1164600 (yours SMO) and this one ?

18

Sorry bud, no idea. =(

19

does your SMO one fit XML and throw well?
because in the other SKU specifically for XML, the review says it throw well.
actually I’m gonna buy the drop in only to take the reflector for replacement.

20

Hi,

I happen to have both SMO drop-ins.
Basic difference is the bottom, SKU 1208507 (the “XM-L”-one) has more space for the solder joints of the emitter base. Inside they’re a little different too. SKU 1164600 seems to be for a different emitter. Outer measurements are very much the same, just seem different as one is matte and the other one glossy.
Mind it’s not really a “throwing” reflector (it’s P60 after all…) but SKU 1208507 has a nice defined spot. Never tried SKU 1164600 yet.
Made some pics:
Left is SKU 1208507, right is SKU 1164600.
Greetings