I must have had it cross-threaded or something, the first 4-5 times I tried. I just tried again though, and it threads together just fine. So, nevermind about that.
I think I’m leaning toward Nichia 219 in this light. I don’t mind losing ~20% of the lumens in exchange for high CRI; I mostly use the lower levels anyway.
I’m running Nichia 219B wih Dr Jones Lucidrv 3.0A driver, love it, though I suppose you will customize it even more!
I’m using the 5A2 which I think I like as much or more than the 219b. As another option.
I’ve got a working light now, but ZOMG the switch mechanisms in this light are finicky!
Most of my build time was spent getting the switch to work. I never did get the stock switch to work well, and since I was planning to replace it anyway I just went ahead and did it. I used a BLF EE X6 switch for it, and moved an A6 sample tail to my X6 and a Convoy S2+ tail to my A6. The other end of the S2+ is used for testing firmware, so it doesn’t need a tail. S2+ > A6 sample> X6 -> Rey Ti.
The BLF EE X6 switch mechanism fits and is nicer, but I had to cut my own rubber boot to fit… and it’s extremely sensitive to small twists of the switch retaining ring, which can’t be tightened as far as I’d like. So, it can be twisted sometimes by simply screwing the light together with a battery installed. I may be able to adjust this by removing more rubber though.
The other thing is… the light can’t tail-stand, and I don’t have a simple way to fix it. Even if I thread the outermost parts in as far as they’ll go, the switch still protrudes a little. It’s only a fraction of a millimeter, but it’s enough to make the light change modes while tail-standing. It seems that the non-threaded part is slightly wider than the threaded part, so as soon as it hits the body threads it can’t go in any farther.
This might be something to work around by putting a really thin o-ring between the power button and the ring which holds it, but that once again makes the underlying rubber boot require different dimensions…
But the light is nice overall, especially the outer appearance and the two copper pills for single or triple emitters. It looks like I might even have room to put a lens or o-ring in front of the optics.
Nope nope nope nope nope! Too warm! 
I like about 4700K to 5200K, which rules out all 5* tints and pretty much eliminates 4* too. This Nichia 219B triple at ~4750K is about as warm is I care to go.
Mine was a bit stiff at first too but after twisting it on and off a few times it loosened up. Could probably use a bit of lubricant too. 
Check the back of the TI button to see if it’s flat or if it has some un trimmed metal. That might account for 1/2mm or so and make sure the rubber post is trimmed back the correct amount.
Good advice on the lube.
Galling is a real concern with titanium lights, and to a much lesser extent with other materials. It is a plastic transfer or shift of material that takes place while the part is manipulated with two surfaces in contact. I have seen galled threads that might as well have been welded together.
This is a potential problem with the mating body tubes most of all. Do not force them or violently work them together without lubricant. If they begin to seize up it sometimes works to just let them rest for a while, then try again.
Care should be taken in threading switch retainers and pills as well. A galled part can really get stuck!
I measured the light with a full Efest purple 18350 v2 cell (rated for 10.5A), and am pretty happy with the results:
Considering that my other Nichia 219B triple maxes out at about 1800 lm with a high-amp 18650 cell, this is pretty good! It puts out about 80% as much light with a much smaller power source. I didn’t even bypass the spring.
With a brand new never-charged cell at ~3.7ish volts it, was still getting 1100 lm on turbo… which isn’t bad either.
I don’t expect to be using it on the high/turbo modes much though, since this tiny battery will fall over after a few minutes of that. Also, the titanium host doesn’t handle heat nearly as well as aluminum or copper, so the smaller cell will help me avoid melting the internals.
Thanks! I didn’t know that could happen.
One of the first things I did with this light was to clean the threads, slather them with SuperLube, then twist back and forth to smooth out any roughness. It’s still a little gritty because it’s titanium, but it’s far better than it was dry.
I have to take note of the quote “it’s still a little gritty because it’s titanium”. This is a common misconception. Titanium threads are not inherently gritty. This might come into play because someone cut the threads too fast and left burrs.
My Texas Poker, made by Photon Fanatic, has loads of .5mm threads (5 individual pieces to this light with 8 areas of threading) and they are like butter. Titanium to titanium and Ti to Cu, doesn’t matter, all the threads are smooth as silk. So it has to do with how the threads were made, not the fact that it’s Ti.
Edit: if one cares to smooth up the threads, a polishing compound can be applied and the threads worked repeatedly, clean it up and do it again, clean it up and apply some silicone grease like Nyogel 760G.
Also note that the switch retainer (and button) is steel. Not ti
So the button sticks to a magnet? Does a convoy magnet ring fit? Dang, should a’ lifted the one in the geocash box.
Good advice on the polishing compound Dale, I’ll try that.
I think most machinists would agree with DB. Titanium threads are not inherently gritty.
But galling or seizing of threads can occur, even with properly machined threads. This is true of aluminum, stainless steel, and other metals. Depending on the alloy, titanium is a particular offender, given the properties of the material under pressure. It is springy and tends to adhere.
Paul at Photon Fanatic no doubt takes great care to have smooth threads. In fact I just got a titanium retainer ring for a Mac’s Custom from Paul and it has wonderfully smooth threads. I would not be surprised if Fred used polishing compound to ease the threads on DB’s light, especially as it is a bespoke custom built to a high standard.
The machinists at the shop where I hang out are not particularly fond of working titanium. I once heard that titanium is 17 times more costly to machine than Aluminum (which, granted, is a easy material to work.) Titanium eats up tooling. It requires “best practices” to cost effectively machine. Thus, the shops that are trying to build to constrained budget are more likely to create problems in the finished product.
That said, my Reylight threads seem to be just fine. In fact they seem to be getting smoother as they are worked and as the Titanium develops a fine film of oxide on the outside surfaces. Can’t wait to see what the Ti X6 is like!
It’s really nice having a light designed to hold a triple, and it was helpful having plenty of room in the pill for the wires. I did a pretty sloppy job of attaching a brass post to the driver, but it seems to work well regardless.
Tomorrow I need to open it up again to reflash, now that I’ve had a chance to get a feel for this individual driver. It needs its timing loop calibrated since it runs a bit slow, and the low mode bumped up a couple lumens, and I should fine-tune the switch a bit more… maybe even put a trit in if it’s sunny outside. But building and tweaking is at least half the fun!
Coders are lucky people! They have fun. (Even at work.)
You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we’re playing a game. It’s a business, it’s our job, but I don’t think you can do well unless you’re having fun.
— Derek Jeter
Hi ToyKeeper. It’s funny, I have 2 hosts, the first one went together fine. The second I put together last night, would not screw together, then I noted your response, relubed it and did some twisting and it now works fine.
Note, I had a similar issue with the button retainer. Some lube, and twisting, and you should be able to tailstand (hopefully I didn’t go too far and shred by o-ring).
In any case, I got the stock switch to work, used a 14mm flat (6mm tall?) boot with most of the nub cut off, now it’s waterproof, no rattle, and pretty good feel. I needed to put de-oxit in my switches, because they are pretty lousy and I had one that tended to ghost (turn on by itself). Not great switches. Looking forward to swapping them out.
My first one is a triple Nichia 219B with a 3.0A Dr. Jone’s circuit. The second is a miser, single Nichia 219B with 1.4A Dr. Jone’s circuit.
BTW, how does one post pictures here? Do they need to be hosted on Photobucket or such?
Ah, thanks!
I use Photobucket, but not often these days…