Im really excited to see how this will turn out. The flashlight in its current configuration looks like what we call a “showerhead”. A weak flashlight with a ton of leds. Looks like 5mm leds. I think I got the hint in your photo. Theres “519A” written on the page. Cant wait to see what you come up with.
Yeah, these are 5mm ones, allegadly from Nichia. For it’s age (from around 2003-2005) and it’s construction without using high power LEDs it is surprisingly bright, with around 64 lumens at 3.5 Volts and 1.05 Amp (which can be expected for using standard alkaline batteries), also the light quality is surprisingly decent, with very rosy tint (duv -0.0111) and CRI over 85. Back in this time Ledlenser was well known for their LED lights, at least here in the EU.
The beam on the hand is not so nice, it is just blue surround by neutral white spill, even without high operating current.
Here is the spectral data for this old beauty in original state, for those who are curious.
First problem I have to solve is the switch. I have to completely redesign the original plastic case where the switch is sitting in. First prototype is currently printing.
The original is specially designed to fit into the battery tube.
I finally redesigned and printed the new box for the switch. That took longer than I ever thought.
Yep, I’m definitely not a product designer and engineer.
Looks quite nice despite my old printer seems to have some problems with PETG. I was never able to get proper bridging, no matter what I tried.
This is how the switch box is looking in the light. On the right all failures and test prints.
9769K! My gosh, how LEDs have changed for the better!
Looking forward to seeing this build, I grew up around the time that LedLenser was the new kid on the block and were superior to Maglite as they were producing small form factor LED lights.
Never thought I would actually need this stuff from middle school
In 3D builder the switch box looks like this:
I printed the battery tube. This light will fit two 21700 in series, which fit perfectly.
Then I designed a ring or frame which holds the glass lens firmly in place. Hopefully the lens will arrive next week.
Cool thing is that these small holes (very characteristic design from Ledlenser) will glow while the light is on:
Then I tried to remove the old low-power LEDs from the pill. This was not as succesful as I thought, and I discovered something which was quite unexpected:
Looks like a full container of hand cream.
I don’t know what this white paste is needed for. It looked like thermal paste, but I assume this was for watertightness or something like that, maybe to avoid corrosion? Don’t know. The 5mm LEDs were connected via the removed PCB.
Removing this white stuff wasn’t that easy. After 15 minutes it looked like this.
After first cleaning I soaked this white stuff in paint thinner. This removed almost everything of it. Then I put the pill into new paint thinner a second time, hopefully it will dissolve some of the potting compound which is around the LEDs so I can get the whole stuff out. I will let it sit there for at least one night.
Due to the refraction index of this thinner the LEDs looked quite funny, like their lenses were completely removed. Normally the yellow LES is visible for the entire LED lens surface.
For now I cannot do anything more (except for pre-designing the frame for the driver PCB and removing the old LEDs) because I have to wait for all parts to arrive. The LEDs and MCPCBs are already on the way.
After soaking the LEDs for more than 2 days in paint thinner, not much has changed. At least the potting compound around the LEDs was a little bit softer as before, but that was all. Since I want to reuse these LEDs at some point destructive methods like smashing with a hammer weren’t an option, so I was very happy that the LED removal was at least a little easier.
With some force I was finally able to break the LEDs free:
After over 30 Minutes (!) this was the final result.
And this is the ring for the pill, made of (relatively soft) brass.
I then had the annoying task of removing the edge on the inside of the ring. This was done with good old-fashioned manual work and a classic file.
An eternity later…
I got the switches.
To make the switch box fit for the new switch, I slightly had to change the design. After some more test prints and even longer fine-tuning I got this:
The switch feels great and works like a charm.
Making the adapter ring for the driver, on the other hand, was much quicker.
That’s all for now. Hopefully I get the needed stuff in the next two weeks.
Some parts are surprisingly arrived. Without any notice or a chance to redirect the parcels or leave a drop-off point request, because in my tracking app was nothing shown. Yeah, really cool to see the packages roaming around in the staircase. Not.
This includes the brass pills. And contrary to my assumption, the metalworking company even supplied the correct dimensions I ordered. This was anything but clear beforehand (due to the vague item description), but there weren’t that many alternatives to this supplier.
And I have prepared a special tool for an additional (very important) work step. This serves to maximize the precision of the post-processing I have to do.
(Note to myself: the printer is slow. Really slow. I need a new one.)
Perhaps you have an idea what this tool could be good for and which component it is for.
Hopefully the last parts I need arrive in this week. And hopefully I can finally built the light completely in the next weekend.
I had to swap the side of the screw-in pill to get the largest possible contact surface for the LED boards. However, this also means that I need a different front glass to ensure the correct spacing. Another two week wait, another additional cost… but unexpected things are also known from this project
I had to file the pill to get the proper diameter for pressing it into the ring. This took almost two hours… Then I was able to press the pill in.
After pressing it in:
Then I had to polish the surface. This took another two hours.
Finally, I got this.
The delivery with the rest of the required stuff is late. No idea when the stuff will finally arrive. Ordering the front glass will delay everything by a few weeks anyway…
As soon the rest of the stuff arrives, I will reveal the function of the special tool I designed two days ago.
