Unless you have access to a mill or lathe your original plan is better. A hand drill is not a safe way to do it and the chuck on a drill press can come loose with side loading.
Well, yeah, I guess I would have to drill holes side by side or something. But I see your point, it would be a bit of trouble. I could try to find someone to do it for me.
Less than ten bucks just seemed like such a reasonable price to get so close to what you need. You would still need an extra cover plate for the battery pack though. If you can find somebody with a lathe or mill that would be great and fun besides so I’m not reccommending against it just didn’t want you to hurt yourself trying to cobble it up with the wrong power tool. Something already hollow like tubing round or square could work but that oval piece you linked was nice since it was already tapped for screws and has two of the plates already done. There’s no “wrong” here as this is your project.
Well, I’m still waiting for the drivers. I’m sure it will be delivered….
Wow, that’s some serious hang time. Shipper should try out as an NFL punter. Can you check with your postal service. If there was a delivery notice, it may have slipped away. Happened to me. Item was sitting there 4 blocks away for 5 weeks!
Well, found an email with a tracking number I had totally forgotten about. It’s USPS, this is the last entry:
First-Class Mail International
Missent
October 11, 2012, 8:25 am
The drivers are here, finally 
Might have the fins run vertical to allow for heat rising and to not create a vacuum at the back if horizontal.
Sure, others have already mentioned this 
At last! :bigsmile:
I forgot to buy lens holders? do I need those, or can I just glue the lense to the XM-L base?
If the lens has legs you can do that. You want to avoid getting anything on a tir optic above the led hole and no superglue . Fujik works okay. Just on the flat bottom surface of the optic. I sometimes use the housing to center the lens- center the led.
that depends on the optic - the carclo ones need the holder for the designed beam as the optic sits slightly above the LED, whereas some others it makes no difference or improves the beam (Ledil LC1 is a great example of the latter).
For gluing down optics without holders, I use 5min epoxy. Works really well.
well, I shouldn’t have ordered the switch from digikey. 38$ postage is f**in too much 
No Euro supplier has switches? Remember, if you are using the Techjunkie/Oldlumens mod and do not store the batteries in the light a low current switch is fine.
Probably, too late now. Next time I’ll be more careful
Well crap, I’ve managed to ruin one LED. I had already soldered the drivers to the LED bases and was testing them out. Well, I guess I had one on the brightest setting for too long, because the dome just desoldered and fell off
Any way to fix it? Or must I order a new one (or maybe a batch, if this is going to happen often :-|).
Losing the dome is not necessarily the end of the led or did the emitter desolder from the star? You might leave it off, coat the emitter with led seal, or reseat the dome. If the emitter lights but only dimly, it is dead. I like to think if modding like vengeance, dig two graves, or, buy twice what I need. Unless I’ve done it before I’ll probably find a way to screw it up at least once. When testing, I like to have drivers and emitters sinked at all times as they heat up very quickly. I wish there were some way to tell you every possible way to screw up and how to avoid it but that’s not possible and kills the excitement anyway. Welcome to modding. You have a good idea, keep at it.
The emitter desoldered from the star. I’ve found some videos showing how to do reflow soldering. Can I try that with a kitchen stove?
Yep, that's how I've done it.