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

MascaratumB · 2019-12-28T01:43:16.000Z

pinkpanda3310:

Nothing wrong with stainless clips. There’s a reason the market is full of them

Yup true I opted for that for a matter of budget and because the Ti clip wouldn’t add an “extra” to the mod, aside the look and the final value.
So I went to AliExpress and searched for a SS one! I just hope it fits well
Maybe I can give it a personalized touch when it arrives

MascaratumB · 2020-01-10T22:58:32.000Z

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.

Some photos below of this experience.

1st, the original elements of the flaslight

2nd, the driver to be installed for this mod

3rd, the structure of the flashlight that I will probably will have to mod to make the wires pass throught the shelf

4th, the new driver experimentation
a) How it fits and how it will look (without the spring)

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

c) How does it look in a provisory way

d) There shall be light

So far, so good!
My biggest concern with a double sided driver was the possibility of the 7135 chips get in contact of get smashed when the battery tube attached to the head. However, the diameter of the whole bunch of chips is smaller than the battery tube inner diameter, so they fit well

Now, my biggest concern will be…how to keep the driver in place, once its’ diameter is smaller than the head hole. Maybe some solder? Epoxy? Any thing ti “press-fit it?

Any clue in this is appreciatted!

Some more info:
The pill and optic are already on the way (status: in Portugal)!
I decided that I will use Luxeon V 4000K Leds on this mod (status: ordered from led4power this week).
The UV glue and the tritium have shipped, as did the pocket clip!

Skylight · 2020-01-11T20:23:12.000Z

Nice build, MascaratumB. :+1: I’m eagerly waiting for beamshots. I really like the quad Luxeon V setup.

MascaratumB:

[…]
Now, my biggest concern will be…how to keep the driver in place, once its’ diameter is smaller than the head hole. Maybe some solder? Epoxy? Any thing ti “press-fit it?

Any clue in this is appreciatted!
[…]

You could bend a solid copper wire to a circle with the right diameter (fit it in the flashlight before soldering) and solder it on the back around the 7135’s on the outer golden ring. That is how I usually solve the too small driver problem.

If the copper ring is too big to fit and you have used 1 or 2mm diameter copper wire you can cut away some copper outside. With the right diameter and the ring soldered well you could try to press fit the driver.

If the difference is less than one millimeter you could try to increase the diameter with some glue.

MascaratumB · 2020-01-15T22:15:23.000Z

Skylight:

Nice build, MascaratumB. :+1: I’m eagerly waiting for beamshots. I really like the quad Luxeon V setup.

Thanks Skylight I guess I am eager for those too Fortunately led4power (Neven) found some that he could solder onto a MCPCB so I’ll be able to concretize my plan and use Luxeon V Leds! They are on the way already!

Skylight:

[…]If the difference is less than one millimeter you could try to increase the diameter with some glue.

Hum, I guess I will try this last option due to the space between the driver and the head wall! Maybe using some UV glue while pressing it can solve my problem.
If not, I will have to opt for other way :zipper_mouth_face:

Will see when I get the Pill and Leds Thanks for the tips :+1:

MascaratumB · 2020-01-15T22:50:49.000Z

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

Orange tritium vial and UV glue + 9 UV leds flashlight arrived

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:

After this I tested if the flashlight fit well into the support’s hole, both with and without the white cap (from a liquid yoghurt bottle).
And voilá no problems fitting it and keeping it balanced
So far I’m happy with this work

FLASHLIGHT
About the work in the flashlight, I just installed the orange tritium vial.
Used some white tape outside the tailcap, put some UV glue, then inserted the tritium and put it under 2 UV flashlights during around 30minutes.
Perceiving that there were some holes and potential bubbles (CRX warned me about it ) I had to press it and to add more glue to fill the holes/gaps.
In the end, the work is not perfect, but it surely is done. This is my first tritium installation.

Final result: no UV light > UV Light > dark and no UV light

More to come, as soon as other things arrive

MascaratumB · 2020-01-20T23:35:55.000Z

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.
It will only be used (with 4 Samsung LH351D 5000K 90CRI leds) in case the order from led4power doesn’t arrive in time.

Still, given this possibility, I have “soldered” 4 leds onto it in aloing process.

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

As mentioned on the top, I also solderd the 4 leds onto the MCPCB, in case the led4power Luxeon Vs don’t arrive in time!
I used my solderding iron and my electric stove. This took a long time, because 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. Not the best or the prettiest, but they work

And…it is almost all set

MtnDon · 2020-01-20T23:41:14.000Z

Great! The important thing about the led’s on the mcpcb is that they all work. Pretty is not as necessary as function.

MascaratumB · 2020-01-21T01:51:53.000Z

MtnDon:

Great! The important thing about the led’s on the mcpcb is that they all work. Pretty is not as necessary as function.

Eheh, I guess so My skills on reflowing are not the best, but as long as they work, I won’t mind!

Thanks for checking in

pinkpanda3310 · 2020-01-21T02:13:54.000Z

If the led’s work first time after reflow i’m usually ecstatic This has been a pretty good mod overall. Any beamshots yet?

MascaratumB · 2020-01-21T02:18:20.000Z

pinkpanda3310:

If the led’s work first time after reflow i’m usually ecstatic :partying_face: This has been a pretty good mod overall. Any beamshots yet?

That’s my reaction too
Nop, no beamshots yet as I will wait for the Luxeon Vs to arrive! Just noticed they arrived to Portugal today! So maybe I receive them next week
I am anxious to receive them

Thanks for checking

Skylight · 2020-01-21T05:35:19.000Z

The mounted quad looks like this host was made for it.

With this copper spacer the flashlight should get quite a bit heavier and able to take up some heat.

MascaratumB · 2020-01-21T18:08:03.000Z

Skylight:

The mounted quad looks like this host was made for it.

With this copper spacer the flashlight should get quite a bit heavier and able to take up some heat.

Yup, this light is quite heavy with the pill inside (+ ring and the rest…), so it will probably handle heat very well, transfering it onto the self and even the head’s walls.
I am very curious to weight it in the final to see how much it has increased

I am also thinking about any way to make it more balanced, i.e. making the tail “heavier” Maybe I will make some hand made copper beads meanwhile :smiling_imp:

MascaratumB · 2020-01-22T18:07:25.000Z

Well, yesterday another thing arrived: the Luxeon V 4000K 70CRI on a quad mosX from led4power!!
And I put my hands at work

I mounted soldered the driver wires to MCPCB.
Here’s how it looks before soldering. Please note that with everything on the right place in with the mosX MCPCB, the gap when the bezel is screwed is smaller, although it still exists. However, I will not file the pill more than I already did.

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
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
Below the MCPCB I applicate thermal paste.

When mounted…it worked

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!)

Last photo before assembling Only glowing gasket, the pocket clip and the screws for it are missing!
Then I will also make the leather “wrap”, but this is the core of the flashlight if nothing else is possible
I may do some extras (beads) if I have the tools and time

MRsDNF · 2020-01-22T18:17:39.000Z

Close. Coming along nicely MascaratumB.

MascaratumB · 2020-01-22T18:25:01.000Z

MRsDNF:

Close. Coming along nicely MascaratumB. :+1:

Thanks MRsDNF
Yes, slowly but comfortably becoming a “moded” flashlight

From now I will only have to practice sewing

MtnDon · 2020-01-22T19:18:30.000Z

Looking good.

MascaratumB · 2020-01-22T22:24:09.000Z

MtnDon:

:+1: Looking good.

Thanks
BTW, the “wood” part will be nothing like your creations :heart_eyes:

Skylight · 2020-01-23T07:55:18.000Z

This is a powerful upgrade for sure.

You are welcome for the small tip about the glue. I’m glad if it works out and I could help you a little bit.

MascaratumB · 2020-01-23T10:42:49.000Z

Skylight:

This is a powerful upgrade for sure. :smiling_imp:

You are welcome for the small tip about the glue. I’m glad if it works out and I could help you a little bit.

It surely is
I was first trying it with a protected Odepro 3000mAh (that is not that bad), and on Turbo….it simply shut off :o
Then I used a Sony VTC6, not even fully charged and….booomm, blast of light :smiling_imp:

About gluing the driver, that was an easy thing, just dropping some UV glue drops between the driver’s edges and the head wall and cured a bit with UV light! Simple and effective. Lets see how it will work when It use the light at full power

Thanks again!!!

MascaratumB · 2020-01-27T12:44:16.000Z

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

_

1) After a post last week, I remembered I had a copper rod and decided to do a small bead for the lanyard I will use in this flashlight.
I was going to use my small battery powered drill but I realized it would take forever, so I asked my father some help with his Black&Decker and the metal bits! Took only some seconds to drill a hole :o I would take a week with mine and my files
I used the files you see in the image to “carve” those 4 grooves along the bead! It took a while but looked nice, IMO!

Here’s the result!
I also started to make a lanyard that will only be completed after putting the pocket clip on it
The lanyard uses black 7 inner string paracord, and has a diamond knot in the end and snake knots along lanyard.

_

2) I also used some time to make the handle/cover for the battery tube and the head. I used some leather and waxed thread I bought in a cobbler nearby.
Used a kitchen fork to make the spaced marks and used some regular needles to stitch it.
It is not the best stitching ever, but it will survive! It is hard to use this material without experience

_

3) Last but not least, I applicated some spray varnish on the wood support! It looks shiny now