Marc,
Two extremes but I keep a Streamlight Stinger in my truck and the Plight in my pocket. I love the Olight, but at full power, it lasts about 3 minutes (5 IF it were a brand new battery) I do dig the lens in it…I assume this is the TIR? I don’t know how I would go about getting that lens unless those are available somewhere?
I have read about the host technique, i maybe stupid for this, but I just want to jump into this. No doubt mistakes will be make, version 2 will be better, but it’s just how my stubborn brain works.
There are many things about the guts of this I’m flexible on, i could drop down to 600 lumen as max output. 1000 is pushing it for this small of a Torch, but there are no shortages of them out there in this family i will call Hyper light (like hyper car)
I love weld ing, this is where Torch got his name (my dog) he just loves flashlights and lasers. I have no shortage of videos of him with one hanging out of his mouth. Yes I am very careful with it (blinding him and battery access) we rescue German Shepherds…he was a sad story but is now spoiled!spoils
Love the info coming from you guys, it’s changing my design, but for the better for sure.
Hum, generally the pill is where the MCPCB with the emitter(s) sit and on the inferior part you will fit the driver!
Take a look at this thread by kiriba-ru! Low-cost copper pills, spacers, optics, drop-ins (Updated 23/10/2022))
He machines pills and spacers so maybe you can take a look at those!
They are normally made of brass or copper, sometimes alluminium! Ti pills…I don’t know! Maybe DB Custom made some as he also loves Titanium!
With a triple board with XPG2 or XPL emitters, with a Carclo 10511 TIR optic, with a H17F driver, with a Samsug 30Q or Vapcel 1100 battery, you will surely put lumens out of your flashlight!
BTW, Steel Flame is a “brand” of flashlights or pocket clips? Couldn’t find the flashlights :zipper_mouth_face:
So the “pill” is a heatsink? Sounds like I need to put thought into negating heat. Regardless of Ti or SS, i could connect heat sink to case and vent to outside world.
Steel Flame just adds some rock in roll style to some pretty amazing torches…I’m going to read through this thread closer and see what the parts list looks like now and post that up for further examination.
Thanks all!
Meaning that I’d rather not push an LED to its limits unless it’s got lots of thermal mass, lots of cooling, etc.
Meant “more conservative”… did I type “mode conservative”??
TIRs come as narrow as 5° to 8°, but they do spread out the hotspot a bit, a smoother transition vs solid disc of light.
Just “blurs” the hotspot some, as mentioned above with the TIR lenses.
Total internal reflection.
They also blend light coming from the LED a lot better, all but eliminating tint-shift, rings, etc.
“Pill” is short for “pillar”, what you build as the guts of the light.
Think of a can without the lid. The LED gets mounted on the bottom (facing out), and the driver goes into the hole where the lid would be. Then the pill screws into the case.
Nowadays, for better heat transfer, the head itself has an integrated shelf, the LED gets stuck on that, and the driver goes into the back of the head.
Still, I’d do as was suggested, build a light from an S2+ host. Throw what you want onto the pill (easy to modify), and that screws into the tube. Changing reflector to TIR, or one TIR to another TIR, is as easy as unscrewing the pill popping out the old whatever, popping in the new whatever, then screwing in the pill again.
Then, make your Ti tube with internal threads to fit the pill, and you’re done.
Like this:
from https://www.fasttech.com/product/1277401-convoy-s2-diy-edc-led-flashlight-host .
(S2, not S2+, but just as nice, and a bit throwier.)
The brass thingies are the pill and retaining-ring for the driver.
Lightbringer,a bit of a buzzkill, but probably a solid idea. I mean, i think I can get a solid frame work from you guys, but maybe I’ll have some great version 2 idea from the experience so version one will never happen…well sort of. We’ll see.
Honestly my biggest hurdle is learning the characteristics of each part. I don’t think I want to make 8 different variations of electronics/leds/lens.
Don’t think of it as building a V1 version, think of it as a better way for us to impart our knowledge to you 
And i can’t imagine you wouldn’t make your own pill if that’s the route you decide to go down, you may decide a fixed shelf is a better option or come up with a completely different solution! After all, it’s your flashlight design so you’re not limited to copying existing designs.
The electronics are pretty easy to install and change tbh, even i can do that bit, and if you start with a good set up you might not want to change anyway.
As for parts, Lightbringer has suggested a Samsung LH351D, which you’d need on a 16mm DTP board, and a 20mm 5 or 8 deg TIR optic. 5 deg is throwier but i personally think 8 deg is better balanced. You can then compare the TIR to the reflector that comes with S2+ host. For the driver i’d suggest a 17mm 6x7135 Biscotti or similar based driver (though obviously open to better suggestions). 6x7135s will give you a maximum current of 2.1A, which gets you close to the brightness you’re after while keeping temperatures manageable.
Those will give you a very nice starting point. Not being in the States i don’t know what’s available or where to order from though, other than Mountain Electronics, so hopefully someone else can help with that.
5 mins max from your Olight doesn’t sound right at all, what batteries have you tried with it? Your dog sounds awesome though, glad he found a good home You’ll have to post a video of him at some point.
Light bringer & Marc…I am not discounting your suggestions at all, but can you tell me if this is a workable setup or what’s not workable about it?
Driver: Dr Jones h17fx w/lucidrv2 7135+GET
EMITTER: 3 FREE XP-L HI-intensity v2 3a led s on noticgon 3do McCoy
Lens: 10507
Batteries: 18350 11man (x2)
Switch: McClicky
Pill to be designed based on what that needs to be negated and case it is put into.
Thoughts? TBH, there mAybe redundant parts of missing components….I wouldn’t have the foggiest! Please don’t take any of my input here that I know better…it’s ALL based on what I’m reading and how I translate that (wrong or right)
Happy to offer information i think is relevant, what you do with it is entirely up to you 
What’s your intention with the 2x18350s? And is this for an S2 build or are you going straight for fabrication?
I believe I read the 18350 is a 1000May battery. Would ONE even take the 3 led s to max output? And for how long? Oddly, my dog has about 3 shells of old flashlights/laser. They are very modular made of a click style and cap, battery area and the head is composed of 2 parts. They appear to be very similar as recommended for testing.
Here’s the thing, if I see what works in design, i will have preconceived ideas and afraid it will alter my clean slate head. I really don’t know much about complex flashlight housing. At any rate, i will be able to go either way. Does “my list” work?
The H17f is single cell driver. What part of the US are you from?
I totallly get this. So:
The driver matches the LEDs (i think, the ‘FREE’ and ‘McCoy’ in the description don’t seem to relate to the product).
The 10507 optic matches the LEDs (i think).
The batttery is a weak point.
The 1000mah (mah=milliamp hours) means it will deliver (in theory) 1000 milliamps (=1A) for 1 hour. However, this will be measured at a much lower current delivery than your driver would need for the higher modes, and the mah rating is no indication of how well a battery copes with higher current draws. Not all 18350 batteries are the same and very, very few (i can’t actually name any) are capable of supplying the power required to run your setup properly. (It may be that your current 18350 is not up to running your Olight, hence the poor runtimes on max).
Using 2 18350s in series won’t give you 2000mah, it will double the voltage to more than the driver can handle.
A Samsung 30Q 18650 battery is the same diameter and just under twice the length of the 18350 (shorter than 2x18350s) but has over 3 times the mah capacity, and crucially will be able to deliver enough power to do your driver justice. The Sony VTC6/VTC5A have slightly less capacity than the 30Q but can also deliver the power, and something like the Sanyo GA will deliver slightly less power than the 30Q but have a very similar capacity.
3 centimetres seems like a lot of extra length to carry but it allows for a vastly superior performance.
An 18350 will technically work if you want to stick to a smaller size flashlight though, just not nearly as well.
That said, the driver running on a powerful 18650 will generate in the region of 30watts of heat, which is a phenominal amount for a flashlight of the size you intend, you will have major heat issues with the higher modes. The 18350 will restrict the power in higher modes but the smaller size means there is less metal to dissipate the heat, so it sort of evens out, you will still have major problems.
Copper is the best metal to dissipate heat size wise (weight wise i think aluminium is best) so bear that in mind. Titanium is my favourite metal though so bear that in mind too
What he said…
Alright. I will go with your guys suggestions on initial setup. When I find the things I like/don’t like, it will be easier to pick those things out…hopefully w/p trashing the entire setup. Flashlight size is very negotiable right now, but keep in mind these “hyper flashlights” are made to be kept on you, in your pocket. Once you hit 3.5 to 4”, that’s really pushing it.
Every torch is a compromise, size vs runtime vs heat vs power vs reliability vs cost vs ease of use etc etc, what you choose to compromise is a very personal choice so go with what you want to do, and at this stage i think trying to nail the electronics when you don’t have much experience of them is going to detract from the fun of building your own torch. The 18350 setup is a good setup, it will work well. The 18650 will work better for the reasons mentioned but if you’re not going to carry it because of the extra size, or it kills the fun when making it, it’s pointless. Or maybe look at incorporating an extension tube so you can use both sizes, or save that for V2.
Don’t lose sight of the enjoyment in this
18mm Li-Ion cells come in 18350, 18500 and 18650 sizes, so you can change the length of your light by making another battery tube.
If you can bear the length of an 18650, that’s the one to go for, because 18650s have the best performance per unit weight and per unit length.
18650s were the standard size to go inside laptop battery packs for years, so all the research & development went into that size. They also contain more of the active chemicals as a percentage of their volume than the shorter sizes do.
I’m going learn the ropes with a sacrificial host. I can get a S3 on Amazon, but honestly this Thorfire seems a bit more my style. (1000 lm higher spectrum) I guess I’m not a flashlight purist. Would this host be doable to mod and get the hang of this flash light thing? Or is it Convay only?
Thanks guys.
My host choice