So many people make the SK68 clones, and so many like them, but …. makes me wonder why there isn’t a bunch of upgrades made just for them like a premium body, better lens, etc so people can pick the item they don’t like and change just that.
I’ve already got a new star in mind with a XP-G2.
My want list would be something like a better;
Lens, maybe glass?
Tail switch
Hi/Lo with no strobe.
Hi/Lo/firefly (thats a really Lo mode isn’t it?)
There are just so many lights, it simply isn’t worth catering for special mods for a single model. The sk68 is ok and good VFM, but it’s hardly the be all and end all of flahslights and torches.
and lets face it, on a £3-5 light, is it really worth spending £15-20 on parts? Even more so when you talk about premium body, new lens, switch, driver and LED. Once you’ve replaced all that, would there be any sk68 actually left?
The idea would be to replace just the part you like the least, the bump that makes you want to pick at it. A part about the same cost as the light, say $5 shipped, if it was a good improvement in quality could work I think.
Buy them as giveaways and mix and match parts for your favorite one or two. If you read through some of the old threads, there are ideas on parts swaps, extensions, etc. Some day I may try a 58, I think somebody posted they like that tail cap better than the small, smooth 68. I got a police light for an extension, but the head seems to be sealed on and I’m not tearing it up to toss. I’ll give it away and try something else.
My next keeper 68 will probably be a non-black and that will get some better but free/cheap internals.
If you really want to do some parts building/swapping, get a SolarForce L2M or similar P60 host/light.
They may be cheap, but I really like them. I wish there was a high quality glass lens available. That and an emitter change would make me a happy camper. I would need several though. One with a Nichia like Jack said, one with xpe2 or xpg2, and one with an mtg2 (just kidding, xml2).
I haven’t searched but if someone does (or lives near that surplus shed). Here’s what I measure:
Focal length ~10mm (slide moves ~7.0mm but the LED has some space over it. Mine also has an o-ring between bezel and lens that seems to be flattening out so the focus is a little blurred unless I unscrew the bezel a partial turn)
Lens diameter outside ~ 21.8mm and inside bezel is ~23.1mm
Lens diameter inside at convex section ~17.7mm and bezel opening ~17.8mm
Lens height ~8.2mm (total); height at lip ~2.5mm)
There are large and small bezel versions, I’m assuming mine is for the smaller/narrower lens.
Anybody tried polishing the lens (obviously won’t remove imperfections inside the dome)?
EDIT: Might be something out there … glass or plastic? diameter the outer or inner measure? coal length may be wrong …
Caution on polishing the lens, some “claim” to be coated to reduce reflections.
BTW I can’t help it, I like cheap hot rod cars, flashlights aren’t going to be any different, no matter what it costs. Sometimes a $3k car with a $12k motor is what floats your boat.
I agree about changing the body unless it's swapping SK-68 parts around. As far as putting money into it, there's nothing wrong with putting a lot more money into the light than its purchase price.
Looks worth a try. I will measure my lights and order one or two.
I wish they would list the focal length. The 5-60 degree and 5-90 degree don’t tell me much. Does the 60 and 90 mean with a small led right at the flat side, or what? The spot size is the led size divided by the focal length, so I don’t know how to interpret the 5 degrees. Is that aberration with a point source or is it with a particular led?
In one Sipik, the lens is well captivated and around 23 mm. In one of my UltraFire ones it is 22 mm and pops out. 8 mm thick. They vary quite a bit. These two heads are interchangeable.
Star arrived in the mail today, wow seems tiny, but measures 16mm. I got the pill out of one of my sk68 clones, but not the plastic ring or back “washer” looking reflector, but ID at the top of the plastic ring was 17mm.
Apart the design has some weaknesses, the pill goes into a very thin portion of the body “above” the heat fins, seems like a poor thermal path.
May take me some “serious” amount of time before I have a chance to do the swap.
Yes, it seems that wrapping a sheet of copper there to make the wall thicker and the head fit more snugly might keep the led cooler. Someone did that, on a TrustFire Z8 I think.
That too, but what I was talking about is more structural.
If you disassemble the SK68 clone the body is a tube of varying thickness, the thinnest part is top half inch where the pill threads in, and the cooling fins are below that overlapping less than a 1/4 inch of the fins. The part with the star is the very thin tube the zoom slides over which requires a gap between the parts, no real cooling at all directly out from it.
I’m going to guess heat will flow from hot thin alum area to cooler thicker alum mass pretty well. That said, improving the transfer from pill to body via that red hot rod example was a good idea. Next, is there a good way to tighten thread contact/transfer between pill and body?
Don’t forget get heat away from LED via some heat sink - that is more sink mass in the pill.
And also get heat out of light via hand/air - that is transfer from pill to body and out of body.
Of course heat sink compound around the pill will help. They warm up both in the head and the fins, unlike the Z8 that warms up just at the head. So heat does transfer across the gap to the head and along the thin body to the fins. But I think both could be improved with some thin copper. Probably take out the o-ring or spring that the head slides on, wrap copper, solder it maybe?, put some heat sink compound or grease.