A few ideas from some of you DIY types would be appreciated. This is kind of a funky project. I'm not sure whether I'll do it or not for sure but here goes.
I have a Uniquefire HS-802 however I don't really like reflectored throwers. I don't really like reflectors all that much period and I'm not a big fan of larger lights in general.
There's an aspheric around here that I ground down to about 40 mm last year when I had access to a beach grinder for another project and I ground down several aspherics of various sizes. This one will go about half-way down the head of the HS-802 and stops when it starts to taper. It's not quite to it's focal point however...it would need to get even closer to the emitter.
At this point it does have a nice round spot and since it's so far down the head it really cuts out any extraneous light. At this setting it doesn't throw any further than a 28 mm aspheric at it's focal point but the spot it puts out is quite a bit bigger. It's more like a recoil light in it's beam.
What would be the easiest way to mount the lens. I can't use a retaining ring. I think the internal diameter from where the lens is (from the front of the lens) to the end of the head (bezel) is about 42 mm.
I thought maybe some PVC pipe comes in that standard diameter (about 1 1/2"). I have no idea though if this is the case. If so I could cut a cross section off to use as a spacer.
The lens would be jammed into the restriction below and kept from moving forward by the spacer once the bezel is screwed on.
I haven't done a lot with epoxy other than using it to fill a hole. I guess it might be possible to epoxy the lens in place. The spacer idea would be easier and cleaner although probably not as secure.
Any thoughts/ideas on the easiest way to do something like this? The idea for this light would be to have a "spot light" with no spill to create glare and decrease contrast with regards to the subject.
I'm really just trying to get rid of or "re-purpose" lights that I don't particularly like. I just gave away my Sipik SK68 today so it has a nice home :) I know what kind of lights I like now and I want to keep them lean and mean :)
Edit: Put some more in the DIY thread, would you? That's right up there with "use scotch tape when you're supergluing to make the edges align perfectly".
Now that's a cool trick. Can you get putty epoxy in any hardware store?
In this particular case the lens is so far down the head that there aren't any threads so I would want it to stick if I use it that way. I like that method of creating a new bezel though where you can take it out afterward and work with it!
Putty epoxy sounds like something that is a lot easier to work with than the two part epoxy I used with a small dive light project where I took a small Rominsen, removed the tailswitch (thus creating a twisty) and needed to fill up the hole. It worked but putty would have been easier.
I have a temporary solution (I guess) to let me play around with the light like this for a while to see if I really like the effect. I used part of a cardboard toilet paper roll cut to size as a spacer. When I screw the bezel for the flat front lens down the lens presses against the cardboard roll which presses against the aspheric located half-way down the head. The narrowing part of the head below the aspheric keeps it from moving down.
If not for the cardboard tube however it would rotate out of the horizontal plane to the vertical and it could also fall toward the bezel of course.
Anyone know of a cheap host that would accept a 50 mm aspheric (which I already have) where the emitter could be about 30 mm from the lens. I think that's the approximate focal length. It would need to have a XR-E R2 in it as well.
Since I'm probably not going to get that lucky (but don't want to mess with soldering just yet) is there such a light where even if the depth of the head is greater than 25 mm it needs to be 50 mm 25 mm from the emitter. In other words I can cut the head down with a hacksaw if necessary and use the putty epoxy idea to hold in the lens.
I think this is probably a hard to find combination. I don't want to use a Mag and I don't want to try to replace an emitter.
I've heard people mentioning "shower head" lights. I'm not sure of the actual model and I'm sure an emitter replacement is required there.
I used to have a P60 that I used just for throw and used a 28 mm aspheric as well. I had both a plastic and glass aspheric but the beam quality was actually better with the plastic one.
Finding hosts for 50 mm aspherics is not as easy :)
Dr. Jones made a host for a 66 mm glass aspheric out of a cat food can but it was not very portable :)
There is a surprising (to me) ending to this experiment. The threads were long enough and tight enough that I was able to unscrew the tube from the head enough to get the emitter perfectly focused!
I just re-measured my existing aspherics as to the actual working part (as opposed to the lip or head) and the largest aspheric focused in a flashlight was 34 mm. This one is 38 mm so that's an 11% increase in throws.
Without leaving my neighborhood tonight I couldn't find a distance large enough to demonstrate (to myself) where the 38 mm could hit something that the 34 mm couldn't. I'll have to wait until I can get in the woods or mountains.
It's interesting to lay these two flashlights down turned on shining at a wall and then I add in the 18 mm aspheric Ultrafire.and look at the emitter images on the wall in 3 vastly different sizes.
Even with unscrewing the tube it doesn't wiggle or feel loose.
Hmm. Time to try to source some 1.67 high index lenses... (they go up to 1.72 I mismember, but when I was looking at glasses that last jump was brutally expensive)
You'd still need a wide lens with a similar focal length, but it wouldn't be nearly so large or heavy.