Richard I’ll get some pic’s of my reflector today (not home now). I also opened the hole up but more than “a bit”, I actually removed the entire bottom of the reflector so the entire Noctigon16 can be seen when looking straight down in the head. I feel the reflector is [after being modified] almost identical to the stock reflector in my new olight SR51, it took a couple times to get the star glued down perfectly centered but not only is the beam perfect there is NO possible way it can short out on the reflector.
I also modded the part where the pill & reflector interface and like I mentioned I modded the top of the bottom lip of the reflector so it can screw farther up into the head (and therefore also had to add a copper positive contact ring.
Wow, I've ground the pill a bit to make it sit deeper before, but never that much! I'll try opening up my sacrificial reflector a bit more to see what I can see.
I’ve just started messing around with the fine adjustment of reflectors but it seems like what we need is a MCPCB with a raised boss that the LED mounts on.
Just the footprint of the LED die, raised about 2mm above the rest of the PCB, would also allow clearance for soldering.
I can't remember if it was ouchyfoot, Comfychair, Oldlumens, or some/all of them that I've seen do this before. The cut a small copper piece to use as a raised pillar for the thermal pad, then made the electrical connections. Now that you say that, I've got something to try... ;-)
When I can, I always prefer using thermal compound instead of adhesive but if you're cutting the hole out that big chances are you'll need to glue it.
It depends on the profile of the reflector, as to where it sits in relation to the led and it also depends on the led. MT-G2, XM-L2, XP-G2, Nichia all need a different height, as well as domed versus de-domed. Every reflector is different and every combo will have different needs.
It should be safe to say that in order to have the room, (height), needed to experiment, the led has to sit higher than the rest of the star. I usually cut copper pieces that fit between the led and the star pads, to raise the led off the star, allowing me to open up the reflector, so it will fit down over the substrate, (if needed). Then a custom centering ring is also needed.
Every build is different and it's best to experiment outside the light, by putting the star on a chunk of aluminum, powering it up and then trying different heights of the reflector in relationship to the led and dial in the height you need, for the nicest beam and/or highest lux reading, depending on if you want a thrower or a smooth overall beam.
I’m almost embarrassed to say this following a post by the master of Mag-Lites but on my 4D Mag build I filed down a Sinkpad to the point it fits within the hole in the reflector. Fine tuning the focus is as simple as a twist of the head.
What sort of heatsink setup did you use that allowed the reflector to cam? I have my first ever mag 2D sitting in query right now waiting for me to decide what to do with it and a focusable light would be awesome.
ETA:
I just found a nice trick to not blind yourself when looking for the donut, hold an anti-static bag in front of your face and look threw that. Pretty useful for anyone like me who doesn’t care for lower modes on my throwers.
Easier than the time when a MT-G2 I have dedomed its self and I had to use my welding helmet set on the darkest setting to check for any damage to the die.
I purchased the heatsink from Moderator 007, think I got the last one he made. You could do the same thing with one from H22A over at CPF.
You have to cut the tower off the original switch to make room for the heatsink. Once that and the wiring were done I filed the sinkpad down below the size of the hole in the rebel reflector. I mounted the sink so the reflector just bottoms against it when the head is screwed down all the way.
All assembled just unscrew the head to the proper height for focus.
This is the metal reflector light. So you moved the pill up about 1/4”? I could machine a piece of copper or aluminum to mount to the top of the pill and machine the reflector down to make it fit.
Did you do that yourself DBC? I think I’ve seen photos of that setup somewhere but not sure who did it.
I’ve thought about trying it myself, I could probably cut a piece small enough and rig up some wire for the + and - connections. What I know I would not be able to do is get the top and bottom sides parallel.
I did this for an HD2010 last year, also cut the inner head so the pill would seat about an 1/8” deeper. There was no danger of the reflector shorting and the focus was good on it.
Eyeball it and guesstimate.
But seriously, I usually try the reflector over the emitter I plan to use and get a good idea of the beam profile in action, then do what I have to do in order to get the correct distances. Fortunate for me that I have a good sense of measurement from what I see and can usually hit it based purely on that alone.
I’ve been known to look at my parts, then go outside to where I use a dremel and do my cuts, take it back in the house when I’m convinced it’s right and it just fits. That’s happened so often I just take it as a blessing and run with it.
I have done a ton of these and I simply take a round file and file out the entire flat bottom of the reflector. Then I use a good thermal epoxy and use a 16mm noctigon or sink pad it will then fit down around the sinkpad and can be focused perfectly. Also for maximum throw you do not want to get rid of the doughnut hole completely. About 18 inches seems to be pretty good. You can tell because the light actually focuses perfectly that way at a farther distance. Right now when I do these I use two 2.8 amp drivers. The throw is simply unreal for this size light. It will smack down a stock TN-32 or even the new TK61.
The flat bottom on any of these drivers can be removed to allow more light to reach the reflector. Also on just about any type of SST-50 or SST-90 light this is needed to properly focus a de-domed XM-L2 or XP-G2.
If you don’t want the hassle of putting two drivers together you can also simply buy a FET driver and run them that way. 5amps is great on this light, same thing for the HD2010. Although I can get much more throw out of the T08.
I added a spacer that is 1/4” thick and swapped the AL star the came in the light for an dedomed XML2 on a noctigon. It looks like I need to remove most of the spacer, I had to screw the pill out .21” to get it to focus. It is brighter that it was, the spot I get running direct drive on one cell that’s at 3.8v blows away my jacob A60.
1/4” thick copper was used to make the pedestal, the contacts are from sheet copper. Once everything was cut to fit the pad, I clamped the 3 pieces together and filed top and bottom for flat equal surfaces. Reflowed the entire assembly, including emitter, simultaneously. To ensure no shorts, I cut a strip from a soda can and folded it over into a “c” shape that fit around the pedestal and between it and the connection pieces, then slid it out when finished.
Cutting off the rear of the reflector also has the same effect as moving the LED farther forward. Might be easier on some designs, it will really depend on the light.
