Astrolux Ft03 SST40 dedome (fail...sorta...maybe?)

RobinVC · 2019-10-12T11:21:54.000Z

Hey all,

So recently I was thinking my astrolux didn’t throw far enough totally valid right? So well I thought I would give dedoming a shot.

I read a lot about dedoming and came to the conclusion that a gas soak would be easiest for me. So I removed the led from my light and let it soak in gasoline for a night.
The next day I looked and the dome was still on… ugh. Nevertheless I was impatient enough to try and remove the dome from the led anyway, thinking it had been in its bath for long enough.

Result:

I broke all the bonding wires…. all of em. :cry:

Also tore some phosphor from the led:

I found that the dome hadn’t weakened at all, so I probably used the wrong kind of gas. It did seem like the dome had detached from the led a bit, but because it was still so structurally sound the bonding wires were stuck in it.

Anyway, since I kinda failed already, I thought I would try something even dumber. Soldering the bonding wires back to the board.
I was lucky enough to have the bonding wires still stuck to the middle part thing (i’m lacking in led terminology ).

Results:

It ain’t the prettiest, but guess what:

IT FREAKING WORKS!!

So yea, I will be trying this led out in the light itself. But I will also order another led just because I’m not 100% happy with this.
But for a first ever dedome, I’d say I did pretty ok.

(btw I filmed the soldering part: Youtube )

RobinVC · 2019-10-12T14:24:27.000Z

update: led just died lol

The_Fat_Controller · 2019-10-12T14:29:16.000Z

if its any help SST-40 Dedomed

Marc_E · 2019-10-12T14:36:36.000Z

Good effort! Especially with resoldering the bond wires.

Different LEDs need different techniques for dedoming, and working methods are not known for all of them.
Gas/petrol works on some of the older Cree LEDs but is not known to work on the SST-40, i believe for the reason you found out that the bond wires get damaged in the removal process.

You can buy dedomed SST-40s from KaiDomain, and while i really like the tint it is very cool and on the greener side of white.

djozz · 2019-10-12T14:39:00.000Z

Brave attempt! I managed re-soldering bondwires once (worked but in the end I used a different led for the flashlight build) and I can tell you that your result looks very pretty!

RobinVC · 2019-10-12T14:50:00.000Z

Thanks, I knew there were commercial ones out there, but I wanted to give dedoming a shot. I bought some non-dedomed leds from KD just now to try again haha

The_Fat_Controller · 2019-10-12T14:54:18.000Z

RobinVC:

Thanks, I knew there were commercial ones out there, but I wanted to give dedoming a shot. I bought some non-dedomed leds from KD just now to try again haha

Fair play to you for trying… i’ve not had masses of success tend to slice instead

RobinVC · 2019-10-12T14:54:30.000Z

Marc E:

Gas/petrol works on some of the older Cree LEDs but is not known to work on the SST-40

yikes, there isn’t that much info on dedoming sst40’s so I feared something like that might be the case.

I still have the intact dome, so i’ll try dumping it in some solvents and see what melts it

RobinVC · 2019-10-12T15:00:14.000Z

The_Fat_Controller:

RobinVC:

Thanks, I knew there were commercial ones out there, but I wanted to give dedoming a shot. I bought some non-dedomed leds from KD just now to try again haha

Fair play to you for trying… i’ve not had masses of success tend to slice instead

Does it have as much an effect (or close enough) as taking the dome off completely? You can’t really go super low since you’d slice the wires…

RobinVC · 2019-10-12T15:03:35.000Z

djozz:

Brave attempt! I managed re-soldering bondwires once (worked but in the end I used a different led for the flashlight build) and I can tell you that your result looks very pretty!

thanks man! I had it looking cleaner at first, but then I had to go and try to add more solder…

The_Fat_Controller · 2019-10-12T15:13:06.000Z

RobinVC:

The_Fat_Controller:

RobinVC:

Thanks, I knew there were commercial ones out there, but I wanted to give dedoming a shot. I bought some non-dedomed leds from KD just now to try again haha

Fair play to you for trying… i’ve not had masses of success tend to slice instead

Does it have as much an effect (or close enough) as taking the dome off completely? You can’t really go super low since you’d slice the wires…

To be honest ive found there to be little difference and the beam tends to be a fair bit cleaner less chance of artifacts , also the tint shift is less dramatic , i use a very sharp razor blade and slice as close as i dare , try to do it in one pass so you get a clean cut , i get about a 95% success rate but make sure the emitter surface is clean after any dirt from the blade and you will have a smoker

Kevin80970 · 2024-07-06T21:26:46.558Z

Why?