Inexpensive modding kit?

[Freedom]

@Rufusbduck

With a $50 temp controlled iron in your kit you won’t have to suffer with a UI or tint you don’t like. Your favorite host can be all of them instead of just the one least annoying.

I pulled the above from a current thread, did some searching and ‘still’ (somehow) came up with the following question:

Has anybody ever put together a detailed list of what one would need to get in to modding?

Obviously I’m $50 in right from the start. I have no ‘little’ anything tools save perhaps a cheap Harbor Freight dental pic style kit. Spending a lot on this kit is not really the goal if cheap tools will get me by and I wear safety glasses for when they break.

I’m basically tired of having too many lights which no longer work or those which intermittingly do with outdated ‘mind blowing’ emitters for their time (see the Q5 in Nitecore’s first thrower, etc.).

The question for me seems to be twofold:

Will the price of lights or even the availability of modding parts explode/implode given recent geopolitical political overtones (and why not have these tools to begin with)…or does having enough lights already (sorry to offend) and the ability to pick up a NW AA light ‘now’ for $17 that’ll do 400 lumens using a single Eneloop ‘finally’ satisfy me?

It’s the big boy toy syndrome:
Yeah, I would have never had the fun previously had I waited…yet I never realized just how fast technology would have allowed me to travel moving forward (God willing) had I done just that.

Perhaps one would have had to grow up watching black and white TVs with no reception and nothing to watch anyways to understand.

[MILSPEC]

50 bucks will give you a basic modding tool kit if ordered from the free-shipping retailers. my initial investments were soldering iron (18-25), good wires (2-3), couple Cree emitters (2-3 ea), good 1 bay charger (LI100 for 3-4) and 1-2 batteries (2-3 ea).
edit: good drivers go for 3-6 each.

driver program kit and cable about 7-9 bucks.

In the era we live in now a lot of value can be had for this kind of money.

[The_Miller]

Djozz made a real nice modding post wth detailed description of all he uses. let me go find that now
yes

Making a muggle flashlight: limited modding of the Supfire A2

I have done this mod two times now because after modding it is a great flashlight to give to non-flashoholics: lots of wow for the output and throw, they love zoomies anyway, and USB-charging inbuilt so it needs not giving a charger as well. And I wanted for some time to post a mod with every step included with lots of pictures, because in modding threads the for experienced modders basic steps are often left out (I do), and perhaps this encourages people who are new to modding a bit. The mod i…

nice!

[CRX]

Inexpensive modding kit?

Those three words don’t really go together :laughing:

[Lexel]

Soldering iron
Sn60Pb37Ag3 rosin flux core

Wires AWG20 teflon

Good LED like Cree XPL V6-3D or XML2 U3-3D on Noctigon DTP

Good Driver, depending what you like on UI and how hard to drive the LED
DD+7135*1

Good thermal paste like Arctic Silver 5 3.5g

AR coated lens

This should be enough for basic modding

Just replace parts you want, a LED swap with a nice neutral white tint plus AR lens is often a big improvement, with low costs

[Woytas]

Hmm, that depends on what you want to mod. For Mi7 I just bought a magnet with 3m tape and I count it as a mod.

Soldering iron with some tin lead is also very useful in various tasks. Then drivers, led’s, whatever you value.

[Freedom]

Thank you very much for the suggestions (including the comment from my possible shirt tail Scottish ‘relative’ on any kit ever being properly described as such).

Immediate help from Poland, Germany, Scotland, France, (???)…you guys (gals) are great.