Driver: Potted with a 50:50 mix of ‘Coca’ brand thermal glue and graphite. Doesn’t really harden, this glue is a white substance very similar in looks to other silicon-based glues and pastes. Dilution doesn’t seem to be the problem.
This driver probably doesn’t need potting, but I needed to test the glue, and graphite as a substitute for silicon carbide. I intended to switch the stock driver with one of higher output but didn’t find anything for this particular diameter (see other thread Noob needs help with #3 XPE Q5 modding) that would work with NiMH AA cells.
Pill / heat sink: grabbed it with slim round nose pliers and twisted counterclockwise to extract. Rested the emitter (reflector had come loose anyways after I dropped the light on a carpet unintentionally) on two toothpicks to secure it while de-soldering driver connector wires (red/blue for plus/minus pole respectively).
A 10 Euro-Cent piece (see Nordic Gold - Wikipedia), ground/polished using files/WD40 or similar oil for better grip, grit 2000 whetstone, then sawn and filed to correct size of slightly under 13 mm was used for a heat sink. Doing such pieces without a lathe is a pain in the ass. Two openings were filed for the wires, then de-burred using grit 400 sanding paper. I didn’t achieve a tight fit so I glued the piece in place using 5 minute epoxy mixed with some graphite, using the old LED on top to keep it perfectly plane while aligning it with a stick.
Used cotton thread to get the wires through.
Driver reinsertion. Slightly uneven, the HS was almost too thick.
LED: Phew. Not pretty, but it works. Warmer tint at what looks like higher output compared to stock. Still missing the reflector at this point, seems to do well enough without it. LED had to be filed down by ~1 mm, carefully to prevent shorting connector pads to case (guess that would have been a problem else, at least in case of plus pole. Don’t understand flashlight electronics all that well.). Held the pill in a vice, emitter in a helping hand made from clothespin (wood, filed to a point) epoxied to flexible tube from dead lighter (similar to these http://www.geekalerts.com/u/Zippo-Flexible-Neck-Lighter.jpg). Soldered one wire to it’s respective pad, applied thin film of thermal glue (‘Stars-922’ this time, actually hardens to thick rubber texture) to emitter base using a cotton bud, the fitted emitter onto HS, twisting to get wires into place. Tight fit, secured it (emitter) with small amount of super glue. Should have taken more photos of these steps.
Glues used, size comparison.
Components:
‘#3’ Zoomie Zoombarer LED-Taschenlampe Meco XPE-Q5 mit 600 Lumen und 7W für 1xAA 1.2V Sale - Banggood Deutschland-arrival notice-arrival notice $3.30 using BLF code (sometimes cheaper on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CREE-LED-Flashlight-3-modes-500LM-Adjustable-Focus-Zoomable-Torch-Light-14500-AA-/161354035813?pt=AU_Lighting_Fans&var=&hash=item2591733265). Or wait until there’s another $2.99 deal for them. Aliexpress doesn’t have them cheaper, although I guess you could try finding one that looks a little different, maybe you’ll get one with a solid pill… probably not.
COCA thermal glue (not a real glue) https://www.fasttech.com/p/1833300 $3.14 / 62 g
Stars-922 heatsink plaster https://www.fasttech.com/p/1341200 $1.22 / 5.2 g
XPE 4-5000K 16 mm value pack https://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10010167/1883800 $4.58 for 5, $0.92 per emitter - considering the effort involved, a XPG2 or XML might be a better choice.
Beam shots at 1/10 sec, ~1m distance (sloppy, no tripod) .
Emitter lines are clearly visible (to the eye, not on this pic tho), despite the current lack of a reflector. Slight artifacts from the wires, may superglue them out of the way later.
Output, as already mentioned, appears to be slightly higher, presumably due to the better heat management and more importantly the most likely higher bin of the new emitter.
Image mirrors:
http://postimg.org/gallery/1sy0x0p6/33f7b9a9/