I just want to share that the mini 01 is very easy to mod, I wanted to do this forever because this is the light I use the most.
The stock wire is to thin this should be upgraded on every light, too.
The pill can easily be screwed out. I heated the pill with a torch to weaken the glue, and then pulled out the driver.
The pill is smaller than 16mm so I grinded down a noctigon copper star(the copper sinkpads have still not arrived) a bit to fit on the pill. I scratched it a bit(see picture, be careful) so I had to polish it afterwards, the pill on mine was heavyly scratched so I grinded it a bit to make it better but they were too deep to reach a perfect result.
Soldered a XML2 U2 on it
and wired it up with AWG24.
Assembled and tested
And finally I exchanged the lens with an AR coated 18mm lens from intoutdoor.
Voila
Still need to get my skills up… but I have an extra BLF mini that I would love to swap a high CRI emitter into. I am fine with the output as is, but would love a warmer tint.
I am not sure of the gain…honestly I haven’t used it for more than three minutes but I feel way better with a light which is modded to its theoretical best. I like the lens too, especially as I ordered every lens from intoutd just for spare and today I found something which is worth to use one.
I just thought that it would be cool if the o ring would glow longer so I added a piece of GITD self adhesive foil from hobbyking below the reflector spacer. It works.
I threw an xm-l2 in my old trustfire mini-01. I forgot to specify a 14mm base and got the default 16mm.
It fitted in perfectly and has a thicker plate than the old t6 it replaced. Im surprised you needed to grind it?
I think the 16mm plate might be better, in the old one at least. I also broke the lens somehow and replaced it with an 18mm cabochon meant for crafts. Makes a nice wide pattern for working on the car after it ate a badger.
Nice,is this an bad focused aspheric lens? Have you upgraded the wires? This is the main needle ear…
I also have made an mini 01 with a dedomed xpg2 because sometimes I had the feeling that I need a bit more throw, worked quite well.
Also ordered some aspheric(from kaidomain I believe)but the aspheric was to much as the focused light wasn’t useful as a key light.
The xpg needed a small spacer which caused a gap between the body parts, so I grinded the battery tube a bit down. Just a gentle touch with a belt grinder and it was short enough(steel seems really soft).
I can’t remember perfectly but I guess there was some reason because I grinded it a bit.
The funny thing is my second mini has a 5modedriver…
and heres the torch. The cabochons used are much shallower than the average looking lens. They are kind of semi flat
on a white flat wall you can see artifacts (does that mean odd patterns?) but its so much more useful now it isnt just one tiny spot of intense light. Who needs such intense light in one spot, It seems like a waste/pointless.
It mean you loose light into imperfections of the reflector. You really use cabochon as a lens ? That is weird and you lost lot of light.
If you want more flood you should use wide angle TIR optic or frosted lens.
they cost 10 pence as apposed to £2-£4. Its a good quick fix and super cheap for a pocket light. This is the DIY section on a BUDGET light forum after all ha ha
The stock light is floody enough for me but everyone has a different taste.
I guess another cheap option for a pure flood would be diffuser film on the stock lens…
I still have my nini01 with xml2 on my keys, never really used the xpg one as the brightness isn’t enough for me.
The aspherical beam was tight but also had these bluish parts in it like your picture showed, so it was double ugly for me. Normally aspherical lenses are used without reflector, because this makes ugly things.
I want to try this but how do you exactly pull out the driver ? only pulling out not unscrewing ? Also I wonder if the driver is still secured without the glue ?
It’s like every other light.
You can use a small screwdriver to push the driver through the wire hole of the pill or use a screwdriver as a pry bar a bit from the battery contact side.
