How much can I sand Off?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Hi guys I have bought this driver from Fasttect thinking it was 15mm but found out it was 17mm.

How much can I sand off?

2

Possibly all the way to the green but any components that connect to the ground ring must still do so. Hopefully the ground ring extends a bit under the green solder mask but if not then you would need to either leave a bit more intact or jumper from the ground ring vias(holes) to any components that get disconnected.

3

So I can Sand up-to the holes?

4

The copper ring has to stay continuous on both sides so that any components that connect to ground have a path to one of the holes. That’s your criteria for how much you can sand. The holes connect the ground ring on the top with the one on the bottom

5

If you shine a light from the back side it’s easier to see how much copper there is in the top ring and which parts are connected to it. A light with a small lens (<16mm) works best.

6

Rufusbduck thank you for the advise I sanded it down, there was still the golden ring on the component side.

Modded my Lidl lights with Samsung cool white and warm white Leds. The Cool white led fell off while taking off the reflector, had to do my first re-flow with a soldering iron. Also I ripped out the wrong driver and had re-solder it back on.

Now I have 3 lights with Cree xpe and 2 Samsung leds.

7

What are the Lidl lights you speak of? My local hasnt had any modable lights EVER!
Nice one with the soldering iron reflow.

8

They had a few with XPE leds they came in 2AA and 3AA for about £5. I will post some pics and beam shots. I bought 3 of the 2AA lights. Hollow pills, plastic lens and reflector but not bad for £5.

They have XP-C leds.

9

Here are some pic for you hopback.

XPC(CW) and Samsung (CW) and (WW)

10

Thanks again guys now I have modded my Ultrafire MCU-C7 which had a XRE led, took me hours to sand down a 4* AMC7135 2-Group 3/5 Modes LED Flashlight Driver (Nanjg 101-AK-A1), but the effort was worth it, but I cannot completely close the head as the reflector is touching the led or wires not to sure which one.


Cree XM-L2 T6-3B 10W 1100LM 5000-5200K Neutral White LED Emitter on 16mm Base Plate

How ca I resolve this issue. I will post pics later.

11

You’re churning out the mods at the moment :slight_smile:

Would a bit of tape stop the shorting out? Try this and maybe file down the solder a bit as well.

Cheers for the photo of the Lidl lights, not seen them in our local.

12

Thanks, your the man, worked a treat. Filed it back a taped it up. Looks almost closed as I cannot see the green o ring.

I'm thinking of changing most of my XRE to either xpg2, samsung or xm-l or 2.

I will keep my tiablo A7 and the 2 copies as XRE as they has the prefect beam fore the XRE.

I have to get the xpg and xm-l reflectors and Leds.

13

FWIW I use kapton tape for this. It’s orange, thin, very high temp, and doesn’t typically rub through unless it becomes cut/split.

14

Old lumens did a thread topic on ultra thin solder connections to prevent reflector shorts(everyone has had ’em).