MascaratumB’s entry – Old Lumens Contest 2019 - Modified Light Category [FINISHED on 8th February 2020]

Giveaways and Contests
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Finished mod photo!

PRESENTATION
Hi BLF!

So… I don’t have the skills and / or tools to enter the categories “Machine Made” or the “Hand Made” lights in this year’s Old Lumens Flashlight Modders & Builders Challenge 2019.

But, as this year’s competition has a “Modified Light Category”, I decided that I will enter and (try) do something!

If everything goes well, by the end of the deadline I should be able to present a modified flashlight.

I don’t foresee an extreme mod (don’t expect much from me!!!) nor a very technical one, but I’ll do my best to honor all the people building and modding lights in this forum, in this competition and in the “flashaholics’ world”!

More than that, knowing a little bit of Justin’s (Old Lumens) work and mods, I’ll just do my best to honor his legacy make the light work again after the mod :smiley: :innocent:

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This is how I’ll organize myself:

Post #1 – Presentation + Starting Point + Modding Plan

Post #5 – Evolution of the flashlight modification (with photos and text for each “phase” in a bottom-up evolution/ sequence)

Other posts – Well, whenever I do something new, I’ll make a new post and I’ll channel the updates onto the post #5, to have a place where all the information is gathered. Latest updates will be in the top of the post #5

Please, don’t expect too much from this! Just have fun, and… try to learn from my mistakes :smiley:

DISCLAIMER 1 : Oh, as you can see in this thread this mod is a “long-time” intention that I hope to concretize now :innocent:

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STARTING POINT

AIM: turn an Amutorch VG10 into a Quad flashlight

The flashlight was reviewed here: “REVIEW”: AMUTORCH VG10 – 18650 – 1200 Lumens

MODDING PLAN
This flashlight currently has: How I want it to be?
- Forward Tail Switch - Forward Tail Switch

This is also a table to let you know the materials I will be ordering/using, suppliers, and amounts involved (to be shown later …) :stuck_out_tongue:
Other stuff not mentioned here, I may already have it or I may add it later! I’ll update the table when needed!

Material Status Supplier Price
Samsung LH351D Will not be used in this mod! Received AEDe 6€ (4 x 1,50€)
22mm Driver with Bistro Received Lexel ~13€
Tritium Vial Received AliExpress 7,63€
UV Glue (and 9 leds UV flashlight) Received AliExpress 5,39€
Brass pill + ring Received kiriba-ru 10€
Carclo 10622 Received kiriba-ru 1,50€
Quad Noctigon MCPCB Received kiriba-ru 3€
Luxeon V on L4P MCPCB Received led4power 17€
Pocket clip Received AliExpress 8,49€
GITD Quad Gasket + GITD tube Received CRX ~10€
*Leather
Needles
Thread*		 Bought local shoe cobbler and haberdashery ???
1,80€
???

DISCLAIMER 2: as the things will take a while to arrive, this thread may be “still” for a while in what concerns “modding action”! Still, feel free to post comments or questions!

Thanks for watching and good luck to all competitors!

And thanks to the OL Contest Team for putting this together!! :beer: :+1:

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Great idea! I have pondered turning a Thorfire VG-10 into a quad, so it will be nice to check out your progress and gain some knowledge on the process. Good luck to you!

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Happy you’re taking part :+1:

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Thanks! Well, it is not a revolutionary idea, but will be a nice mod to do, specially because it is a thing I’ve been wanting for a while :wink:
There are some nice examples of quad VG10s around, and I hope this one ends up well!

Major difficulty will be with the driver, I guess,but I’ll need to have it in hands to perceive it if it will fit well or not! :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks again and in case you decide to do the mod, good luck too :wink:

Thanks mate :wink:
Let’s see how this goes! It will not be a Fritz quad, but hope it will end up well :wink:
Thanks!

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FINAL UPDATE #11 - 8th February 2020

For more details, see this post

The process of modding the Amutorch VG10 is now finalized!

This is a comparison between my initial modding aims and the final configuration :stuck_out_tongue:
Here:

This flashlight was: How I wanted it to be? What it is!
- Forward Tail Switch 1- Forward Tail Switch
2- Orange or Green tail cover
3- Bistro UI
4- 22 mm driver
5- 4 x Samsung LH351D 5000K 90 CRI or 4 Luxeon V 4000K 70CRI
6- Noctigon or Led4power MCPCB
7- Carclo 10622 or 10621
8- Titanium Stainless Steel pocket clip
9- Leather handle
10- Glowing gasket
11- GITD piece inlaid in the tailcap
12- some extras to be thought :p		 1- DONE
2- DONE (Orange)
3- DONE (configured on mode 9)
4- DONE
5- DONE (Luxeon V)
6- DONE (led4power)
7- DONE (Carclo 10622)
8- DONE
9- DONE (call it “sleeve”)
10- DONE
11- DONE (orange tritium vial)
12- DONE (copper bead + lanyard, wood support, holster)

Some photos:

Beam Profile!

The luminosity evolution :wink:

In the wood support :smiley:

And now, some glamour photos of the set! :heart_eyes:

Thanks for the all the comments and tips given here, and thanks for the opportunity to participate in the Old Lumens Flashlight Modders & Builders Challenge 2019 !

Update #11 - 6th February 2020

For more details, see this post

From CRX arrived a GITD gasket and a GITD tube and as soon as I got them I installed them :partying_face:

The installation took me a while because the optics were not fitting the MCPCB very well, so I has to pull the MCPCB up, install the optic + gasket, and then “unglue” the driver to pull the wires down again. Then I mounted the head and glued the driver again :wink:

I also installed the GITD tube in the holster adding an extra piece of thinner “paracord” in 2 empty holes. I opted to put it in that place because it will help me on locating the holster if needed.

Update #10 - 4th February 2020

For more details, see this post

I made a holster for this light!
I also attached the lanyard to the clip :wink:


Update #9 - 29th January 2020

For more details, see this post

This week arrived another piece for this flashlight!
The clip :wink:

Update #8 - 27th January 2020

For more details, see this post

Did some more work during the weekend!

1) made a bead for the lanyard (and started to make the lanyard)

2) made a leather cover for the tube and part of the head

3) put some varnish on the wood support

Update #7 - 22nd January 2020

For more details, see this post

The Luxeon V 4000K 70CRI on a quad mosX from led4power arrived and I soldered the driver wires to MCPCB.
The soldering process was a bit hard, I guess I need a new soldering iron tip :zipper_mouth_face: Or maybe it was due to my lack of technique to solder them perfectly :smiley:
I used 3 pieces of cork to lift the MCPCB a little bit to make ir easier to solder the wires! This can be my registered technique from now on :stuck_out_tongue: :student:
Below the MCPCB I applicate thermal paste. When mounted…it worked :partying_face:

After soldering everything I also drilled 2 “holes” in the pill through the back, using the shelf’s holes, in order to fix the pill with the 2 original screws that were holding the original Led MCPCB. This made it easier to fix the driver with UV glue (thanks for the tip Skylight!)

Update #6 - 20th January 2020

For more details, see this post

Some more updates from the last days!
Last Friday I received the copper pill + brass ring + optics (+ noctigon quad MCPCB) from kiriba-ru!
So, I gave it a try to mount everything in the flashlight’s head, in a provisory way, specially to check dimensions and fiting.

Please note that the Noctigon MCPCB will most probably NOT be used in the build, as I am waiting for a led4power MCPCB with 4 Luxeon V Leds installed.

Below I will show the pill’s and ring’s dimensions and the “experimental” mounting of these elements.

Mounting it up and…. :zipper_mouth_face:
As the Noctigon MCPCB is tall, there is a gap when everything is mounted. I believe this gap will be reduced or even extinguished when the led4power is put onto the pill, still, I had to file the bottom of the pill a little bit reding in about 1mm. Later i will see if it works properly

I also had to modify the head, creating a hole in the center of the shelf to allow the driver’s wires to pass. I used my Parkside drill and some bits to help me on that! That shelf is thick :weary:

As mentioned on the post, I solderd 4 leds onto the MCPCB.
I used solderding iron and electric stove. I don’t have solder paste, so I had to use solder wire and the clean/add/clean…. in order to fill the spaces for the leds to reflow correctly.

Update #5 - 15th January 2020

For more details, see this post

Some stuff arrived this week and some work have been done in the flashlight and the wood support :wink:
I’ll present it below!

WOOD SUPPORT
I decided I would do something more to the wood support, so I picked my pencil, the pyrography pen and some different tips and did this:

FLASHLIGHT
I just installed the orange tritium vial.

Update #4 - 10th January 2020

For more details, see this post

This week I received another component for this mod: the DRIVER!

This is a 22mm driver, double sided from Lexel, with Bistro OTSM Firmware.
As I still don’t have the pill, the optics nor the LEDs to complete the MOD, I just experimented the Driver to check if it worked fine, specially due to the differences in diameter and “architecture” if compared to the original driver.

a) Installing the spring and wire in the driver (tinned the bottom and the spring with some solder and then installed)

b) How it looks in a provisory way

Update #3 - 12th December 2019

For more details, see this post

I had some time tonight and made a little bit of the flashlight mod! The first and most insignificat part :smiley:
I replaced the rubber cap!
The original was a black one, and I put an orange one. I had to cut some pieces of the orange rubber cap to make it fit above the switch and white spacer.
Below you find the photos of how the light is composed in the tailcap and the “mod”.


Update #2 - 12th December 2019

For more details, see this post !

Filing, drilling, escavating the wood.

This is it’s current state! My aim is now to drill/file the bigger hole and make it even! That will be a “light window” :wink:

Update #1 - 6th December 2019

For more details, see this post !
Got some materials and made the first work for this mod!

Materials

Sawing the wood piece

After sawing for a while…I got this, and I got the first casualty in this mod :stuck_out_tongue:

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I like the table of materials and how most of the suppliers are blf members :+1:

Looking forward to the build :slight_smile:

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Thanks pinkpanda! Well, that’s a think that will help me to organize myself and that will also let people follow the path! It will not be a big thing but I thought it would be nice!

And yes, I tried to value the community skills and products, as they have the “answers” for my “needs” in this mod :wink:

I may be bothering them with this, but it is a way to value their work!!

Thanks to all of them too :slight_smile:

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Update #1 - 6th December 2019

Yesterday I got some information about the pill + ring and driver.
Pill & Ring will be done/sent to me within the next 2 weeks;
Driver will probably be sent within the next week, depending on Lexel’s workload.

I also managed to find some stuff I needed to the mod “outside” the flashlight. I went to shoe cobbler here in the city and they sold me some leather and waxed thread for the handle. I also got a needles kit.
Fortunately, yesterday I also managed to get a piece of wood for an eventual extra within the scope of the flashlight mode. There was some tree maintenance near the place where I work and I managed to get a “good” piece of wood! It is still to be assessed if it will be good or not as I work on it. I may need to pick another type of wood for what I need…

I’ve worked on it for a while with the available tools (hacksaw and my Sanrenmu knife, and gloves, of course).
Here are the things I got and the work I’ve done so far!

Materials

Sawing the wood piece

After sawing for a while…I got this, and I got the first casualty in this mod :stuck_out_tongue:

Lesson 1: try to saw with appropriate tools :nerd_face:
Lesson 2: use adequate materials for the things you want to do… :zipper_mouth_face:

Stay tunned for the next episodes :wink:

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Oh. My. Goodness. This is not the build I was expecting :nerd_face:

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Ahah, don’t expect too much, this all may end up wrong :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’m looking forward to your mod MB. :beer:

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Thank you MRsDNF! :wink:
Will update some things soon, although not much from the flashlight itself :stuck_out_tongue:

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During the last days I made some more “woodwork!!! This isn’t complete yet!
For those wondering what this will ”eventually” be, it will be a flashlight support that I intend to use in 2 different ways!
When it is done, I will join check if it is indeed viable to use it and I will shown its purpose in the overal mod :wink:

Not having proper tools, this is what I’ve done using what I have and that is show in the photos.
Filing, drilling, escavating the wood.
In the last photos you’ll see that the woodpiece has a whole. Well, there was a “knot” there that I ‘had to’ escavate to avoid some aesthetic malfunction and it was also in purpose to use the wood for my second purpose that I will show later;)



This is it’s current state! My aim is now to drill/file the bigger hole and make it even! That will be a “light window” :wink:

Stay tunned :stuck_out_tongue:

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:slight_smile: :+1:

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:beer: :nerd_face: :sunglasses:

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I see a pipe. :+1:

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This info may not be of use right now, but seeing what you were doing with the dremel and sanding sleeve reminded me of these. Kutzall makes some super burrs for removing wood, carving with wood. There are different shapes and degrees of coarseness. When they fill up with wood dust use a torch and burn them clean and work again. 1/8 and 1/4” shafts available. They do have sales every so often. Also good are their discs for angle grinders and their hand rasps.

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Ahah, maybe a pipelight :stuck_out_tongue:
That would be a nice idea, yes :student: And with an hot rod like,it would be….smokin :smiling_imp:

Thats MtnDon! Those seem quite nice tools! Unfortunately I don’t even have “dremel” (as in the good ones!).
This is my tool that you see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZhzatfIFKs
It’s a cheap one, and I try the best I can with the bits it has (and some others I was offered last year).
Those bits (burrs?) the Kutzal has would be handy in this case! Thanks for pointing them :wink:

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I had some time tonight and made a little bit of the flashlight mod! The first and most insignificat part :smiley:

I replaced the rubber cap!
The original was a black one, and I put an orange one. I had to cut some pieces of the orange rubber cap to make it fit above the switch and white spacer.

Below you find the photos of how the light is composed in the tailcap.



Also, a justification of my options: Due to the “architecture” of the tailcap, shaped for a tall and fat forward clicky switch, and due to the diameter of the PCB, I will not use a Reverse Clicky Switch (lighted or not) in this flashlight . You can compare how different they are below. Also, I will not bypass the spring. The 4 Samsung or Luxeon will already drain a lot of juice from the cell, so I will avoid more power drain!

For those wondering about the wood piece, here’s a glimpse of what I want :wink:
BTW, the clip used in the flashlight is not the one I will use for the final mod.

And here is part of the reason why I will want the wood support !
The rubber tailcap doesn’t allow the flashlight to tailstand correctly, so, putting it into a “hole” will help to maintain it in “candle” position when needed!
Also, I will use a white cap from a liquid yoghurt to make a diffuser when I want to put the flashlight into the wood structure uspside down :wink: It will act like a “lantern” instead of a candle.

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Keep up the good work MascaratumB! I like your creativity and all the pictures you post. :+1: