Gentlemen,
A few weeks ago I got an unexpected surprise in the mail. JacktheClipper had sent me his old xjc-b12 as a gift to play with. This is an older P60 style host, and was used by Jack for a number of years. When I received it, the failed stock switch had been replaced with one from an rc-g2 and the anodizing removed.
Here's what it looks like broken down:
Since it was well cleaned of all traces of anodizing, I thought I'd have a little fun with it. Since I've never been a big fan of attack bezels, scaloped tailcaps, and that obnoxious nut under the head, those were the first to go:
Hmm...better, but it still doesn't look quite right. I took a break from the cosmetic design and decided to get the guts up to snuff...
Seeing as how an XM-L would be an obvious choice here, that's what I went with...but I took a different approach to the optics (more on this later). Here's a pic of the stock pill base. Notice how thick the aluminum is! I wish they still made them like this... The only mod I had to do to the pill was to remove the threading from the top, to allow a 20mm star to fit properly.
I had just received a yellow package from Kaidomain a few days later, and inside was one of these drivers. They claim 3 amps, but I've yet to see it, and it has a few extra modes I really don't care for, but the price was right so into the pill it went. The XM-L T6 was attached via Arctic Silver epoxy.
Since I'm a stickler for proper heatsinking, the entire base was wrapped with very thick (.65mm) copper, which made for an extremely snug fit into the head...which is always a good thing.
The tailcap switch was redone with a a 16mm reverse clicky from DX, and a new black boot. Looking now, I forgot to take a pic of it, but before the switch went in I added solder to the joints where the spring connects to help reduce resistance.
The stock reflector got set aside in leiu of a TIR lens. A few weeks ago I ordered a few different 26.5mm TIR lens's from LEDsuppy.com. I tried the narrow, narrow frosted, and wide frosted. After playing with each for the good part of a night, I realized the one I consistantly went back to was the frosted wide (beamshots later). It gave such a smooth, wide, beautiful beam. I really need to get a few more of these. The neat thing is, they are almost a perfect fit for a P60 host. They're just shorter than the standard reflector. (Note: I did not use the plastic mount in the picture below...no need to).
So, now with the light's function completed, it was time to turn some attention back to the form. While sifting through my ever growing Box-O-Parts, I came across a couple of misc. copper plumbing pieces (coupler and encap). Hooray! A little more machining and baby now has new shoes and a hat to go with that pretty dress. Here's how it all turned out:
Here's a few side by side with a Solarforce L2P:
I was able to reduce the OAL and diameter quite a bit over a standard host. Combined with finely rounding all the edges makes for an easily pocketable light. Because it's still an 18650, the length is still sufficient enough that I don't miss the knurling...at all...
Now for the beamshots: The pics really don't do the Frosted Wide lens justice...it's awesome in use. The battery I thought was fresh for these turned out to only be delivering @2.4a. Despite that, I'm still tickled with the output. For reference, here are the three different TIR lens's (notice the square shape of the emitter visible in with the narrow lens). Mouse-over in each pic for reference to the manafont UF 3-mode xml:
Summery
Since it's getting rather blasse' to just stuff an xml into any old light (but it's still fun), the only realy avenue left is form factor and style. The tough thing about style is that unlike hard data (lumen, lux, runtime, etc) it's rather subjective. So, I leave the final vote to you...Some may like it, other may think I'm off my rocker, and a select few would say "both" (and be correct). Thanks again goes to JacktheClipper for sending me this light and giving me a few hours of entertainment!
As always, thank you folks for humoring me.
-Match