IT'S ALIVE!!!

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I finally got my modded M6 working!

Refer back to this post: So, what do I need to mod this M6? where I asked how to mod the M6 to be a light cannon. Well, after Cereal_killer helping me out at nearly every step of the way, I got it assembled and running!

What was done:

- added wire to tail springs for lower resistance

- removed original LED star

- installed 3x XM-L2s on 16mm copper Noctigons w/18 AWG wire

- stripped out all components from original board except FETs and build solder bridges where resistors used to be

- installed driver provided/programmed by Cereal_killer with original driver running in slave mode now

  • Milled out the backside of the reflector a LOT to provide clearance for the new LEDs

I was stuck on how to mount the Noctigons and nearly gave up until I re-read this post: Supfire M6 - resistor mod (Update testing XP-G2s on copper in post 59-60) but I didn’t have thermal adhesive. What I did was I put the reflector in with no LEDs and scribe a circle on the base. From there I applied a tiny amount of thermal grease, I figured the clamping force would spread it out. Then I took a tiny amount of JB Kwik to the top and bottom of each Noctigon and placed them onto the base and quickly put the reflector in, lined up the LEDs, and clamped it down for about an hour. It worked, and those LEDs aren’t going anywhere.

It’s quite bright, brighter than my very lightly modded TK-75 is currently. I don’t have any way to tell lumens but I’m pretty happy with the result. And I got really lucky in that the LEDs are positioned just so - no donut rings or odd hotspot shapes. I don’t have any in-progress pics unfortunately.

I would not recommend this as a first flashlight project. It was mine, and if it weren’t for Cereal_killer providing tons of help, I don’t know if I would have finished it before I gave up.

2

congrats

3

Nice story and conclusion. Its good to read about joint efforts.

4

I’m really glad you got it together, with this mod under the belt you should be able to handle some simpler builds and emitter/driver swaps no problem!

5

Quite a leap, thumbs up!

6

Thanks all!

7

Nice… hmm, maybe I need to talk to C_K regarding my 3 M6s :slight_smile:

8

So did it cost you less doing this mod yourself than paying rmm to do it for you?

9

It did cost less, but unless you truly enjoy this kind of stuff I would consider RMM’s premium money well spent.

RMM charges $40 (from what I remember) over the cost of the M6. I spent $20.37 for the XM-L2s on Noctigons, something like $8 (I think) for the driver, and $6 for the silicone wire as I had to get it from a hobby store. Couple that with the large amount of time I had to spend getting the reflector milled out. I wound up saving something like $5.63, so in my opinion RMM’s service is downright cheap. You could save a little more by reflowing the existing XM-L2s as I bought pre-mounted ones, you could buy a cheaper driver or program it yourself, and you can buy larger spools of silicone wire to cut the cost per foot down.

I do get the benefit of saying I built it myself and I learned a lot in the process. But I bought my MM15vn pre-modded from Vinh, and it was nice having it ready to go.