Hello guys I was wondering if i polish the TIR lens of my D2 will it effect the beam? I want it to be more focused. Now I have replaced the TIR with my nitecore T5’s aluminium reflector, but i am not liking the beam profile.
Polish where ? TIRs rely on the point plastic and air meet to produce the internal reflection, any damage to the surface of the tir with dust or fingerprints will destroy that critical interface and reduce efficiency so be very careful only handle with gloves or tweezers around the outer mounting edge. Polishing the front will be ok but polishing the back will only make things worse.
Edit: dedoming would make a big difference to the beam. That’s what’s I’d do first if it was mine…
wanted to polish the front, the frosted part. Will it make any difference?
Several people have been polishing their frosted triple 20mm Carlco lenses but not sure I’ve seen any beamshots, I’ll probably try it sometime soon.
Well here it is after about 10 minutes of work, this started out as a carlco 10511 frosted narrow, I polished the frosting off (not done yet), I plan to keep going with it and swap it out for the 10507 I have in the light. Stock the 511 made to wide of a spot for me, I hope it ends up somewhere between the 507 and the 511.
before-
after (work in progress)
Stock frosted-front 10511:
same 10511 back in the same light with the front face polished:
edit: mouseover version
What are the techniques for polishing? I mean the process. Thanks in advance
I use 600 grit paper, wet, then jeweler's rouge. For the final polishing it helps to have a way to spin the TIR with a drill - on the 3-ups that's easy, you just make a mandrel with a 3-up board and a machine screw. For a single TIR, well... go invent something. I've never had to polish a single.
Heres mine threw the process, I made a mini project out of it.
I dont have any before pic’s of the 511 in the light, just a pic of the 507 vs. the polished 511. I like it and will be keeping it, its IMO the best option for my preference in the way I use my light. Also note 2 of my emitters are dedomed and the 507 is lightly burnt in some spots but it didnt effect the beam.
First up I flattened the lens on 500 grit paper, it took some work, the middle area in front of the individual optics was a fair bit lower than the outter ring. I did all steps by hand.
Then I moved to 1200grit paper and from there went to my custom made 2-side spyderco ceramic 8” stone, one side 4,000 grit the other side 10,000 grit, I started on the 4000 side.
(sorry no pics of these steps)
then finally finished up on the 10,000 side and had this
507 on left, polished 511 on right
Had I taken more time with it I would of moved up to green then white compounds on printer paper but whats the point, this is my EDC, it gets the snot beat out of it every day, it would never last so this is more than good enough plus it gets rid of those stupid dirt collecting divots in the face of the 507.
507, you can see the burned spots but it was at the very bottom rim below the emitter
polished 511
Erm, don't sand the front face flat. It's convex for a reason. Just spin it with a drill against the sandpaper, held to the TIR with your finger. Polish with jeweler's rouge on a cotton ball or soft cotton cloth (old socks whose elastic has died or are full of holes work great).
How do you clean the tirs? Just wash them?
I have some clear which really look ugly in moonlight mode because every fingerprint or tiny piece of whatever lights up…
I wash them with shampoo and a very soft modeling paintbrush. Blow dry with compressed air.
rezwan, your Quantum D2 comes with the Flood 34° optic.
Veleno designs also used to sell the older Quantum models with the Spot 24° optic.
You can try emailing him to see if he has any of the spot optics to sell.
Micromesh make a kit for polishing plastic. It’s designed to remove haze and scratches. Contains a variety of abrasive papers that finish plastic very well. It’s the perfect sort of kit to take a lens from frosted to clear.
If you’re just removing fine hairline scratches I’d use an automotive plastic polish and a soft cloth.
Thanks cereal_killer and comfychair for sharing the process. A de- domed xpg2 and the polished lens will look great or i can swap the xpg2 with the new xpl and keep the aluminum reflector.
It’s really a choice up to you, about the only thing that won’t work is an XP-L under a TIR (since the dome is larger than an XP-G dome it won’t fit under XP optics but you said XP-L in reflector so your good).
If say do something different and go XP-L!
I have an unrelated to the OP question about micro mesh- do you think it would polish out some scratches from the glass on my iphone? Stuff’s expensive and I’ve never even handled a piece, is it aggressive enough to cut toughened glass?