Howdy, P60 modders!
I found a nifty reflector, which makes my EDC (501b/3D XM-L/2.8A 105c) put out a lovely beam.
I’d really like to build another P60 with this reflector! Unfortunately, I now have no idea from where it came! :zipper_mouth_face:
It’s OP, with the bottom ring big enough to surround the LED:
And it has a nice ring around the LED to mash the heat sink into the pill:
The weirdest part is, apparently the Parabola isn’t constant, as there’s always a “ring” reflected inside:
(mouseover for more; click for a “fly-over” view…)
Anybody seen one? Yes, I looked at all the places from whom I’ve bought anything, and they’re not showing anything like this. Maybe it’s out of stock, maybe it’s a screw-up, maybe I dunno. I’d really like to find another one.
I’ve broken my EDC, but I’ll post beam shots after I re-solder it if anyone wants to see. Basically, it puts out a large central ball of light, with a smooth transition through the weird Cree color rings, but with a smooth even brightness changes. It fills a darkened room (or hung ceiling or crawl space or closet) with light without burning one small hole in everyone’s eyes. And yet there’s enough light OTF to “throw” farther than I can use it.
Okay, you guys blow me away, but I need your help. If you happen to know where to find one, please LMK with a link? If you have one you don’t need, I’m buying. I don’t trust the pictures, even of the things I’ve bought which are still listed, but I’ll trust your experience and recommendation.
Thanks for reading!
Dim
I bought from FT empty drop in. it has the flat ring too.
Thanks. That does seem likely, and I’ve bought some stuff from FT…
The “down the throat” shot doesn’t seem to show the reflector very well. Does the one you bought have the ring in the reflector?
You can see why I don’t trust the pictures…
Oh, if you mean the ring on the inside of reflector, I don’t think mine have it. It looks like the reflector has 2 different curves measurement…
Yes, exactly. It may be a serendipitous defect, but it works really well with an XM-L.
If you click on the last picture, you can see the ring better, with the camera moving through the best angles.
Thanks for checking! 
The flashfairy dropped the only one of it’s kind into your lap, getting rid of the evidence as it were. So there you have it, no more like that exist anywhere in the 7 known worlds and furthermore, in all of the 21 essential kingdoms that kind of irresponsible parabola are outlawed.
Good luck!
You wanna come over and kick my dog while you’re at it? 
I’d say it’s an upgrade. It’s the best P60 XM-L reflector I have, of a half-dozen at most. (not any kind of “expert”, to be sure)
I’m not usually this “lucky”…
I see the line where it looks to be 2 separate pieces, just wondering. I haven’t found any that don’t have a flat area around the emitter…your doesn’t and I like that. If you find more of em please feel free to link em, or just get an extra for me and let your dog bring it over, I’ll “reward” him before sending him back. 
Comfy might know, he showed me one from FastTech that has a great beam profile but it’s not for a P-60 but rather a 20mm style straight outer wall drop-in. Like for the Convoy S6 or something. I DID actually use it in a P-60, but a highly specialized all copper one with silver plating that seemed to be perfectly mated to that reflector.
For me, one of the keys to the one you have is the absence of the flat area around the emitter.
I’m pretty sure it’s one piece! It would be hard to sputter it w/o showing the cut line, IMNERHO… Not that I could explain the groove if I wanted to.
That used to bother me. I had almost worked it out, then you and Bucket got busy on that home-spun Paraboloid…
I get the flat spot now, I just don’t like it. But y’all made it plain to see how hard it is to put the focal point near the apex.
I believe (and you know how I feel about that), the different curve near the apex would (or could) make it possible to have that proverbial focal-point cake and eat the full Paraboloid too…
It’s also possible that this is it:
Manafont 26.5mm Aluminum OP Reflector
… but I still can’t be sure. Unfortunately I un-bagged everything as it came in…
I keep hoping someone actually has one with some provenance — so I don’t just repeat myself & buy one each of all the possibilities. Next time I promise to document everything and keep better records.
Here’s a dog who knows how to have fun:
I see what you’re saying, but it’s been pointed out by the owner of a company that makes reflectors that the emitter has an emission angle of 125º or 115º and as such, the surrounding area immediately adjacent to the emitter doesn’t get any direct light from the emitter. Just isn’t possible as that would take a greater than 180º emission angle. So it doesn’t seem relevant to have that flat area, what it DOES do is make the outside of the entry too wide to clear the pads. Without the flat area, this isn’t a problem.
I’m for hating the flat area as much as the next guy. At best, it looks like some rookie engineer just said “F-it” and stopped work. How much extra would it cost to get him to finish it?
The flat spot underneath the reflector seems to be a bigger problem than the flat spot inside, unless you want to guarantee single-mode operation… The plastic insulators are just as bad as the flat spots they “fix”.
Looking for this one, I found several that do not have a flat spot on the inside but do have a huge, pad-smashing underside. How hard would it be to relieve the underside to clear the pads?
I think the trick is to overlay a Parabola on the Spectral Power Distribution chart so that they cross at some significant level of power. But that doesn’t explain how to get ONE color OTF instead of the weird Cree Rainbow…
This funky-ring reflector seems to diminish that effect somehow.
Obviously it’s not in China…
Maybe the flat area has the effect of moving the led further into the reflector. If the parabola continued all the way to the hole the led would be positioned further back. The compound curve might accomplish this but start the curve far enough up the reflector to affect the beam.
Maybe not “Maybe”…
The point source of light belongs at the focal point of the reflector. An LED provides a “field”, not a “point”. That’s why I think we’re all in a rabbit-hole over this… The flat-bottomed ones look to me as if they were designed for Incans, not LEDs. Ergo, irrelevant, as Dale said.
The flat spot essentially cuts off the apex of the Parabola at the focal point. If it went to the full curve, it would be too deep to fit the Host. What it seems to say to me is, “This Parabola is too big around!” But keeping the 26.5mm OD, while turning to an LED-sized hole at the focus, leaves a parabolic cross-section which (probably) makes an ugly beam. Welcome to the well-trodden bottom of the confabulation rabbit-hole!
This.
If it can take the Lurid Lavender outer region and somehow blend it with the Rotten Cat Urine Green halo, I will take up my cross and follow the guy who designs it!
Until Osram discovers Output or Cree masters Color, that is!
