Small sun ZY-T08 mod II - The Next Generation

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Well known flashlight, modified so many times here on BLF by members, and even by me. It was my first serious mod and since I sold it I had to get my hands on the ZY-T08 again. It is mainly a thrower, with excellent shape and dimensions, just the right size for me, with good heatsinking and a great modding potential. I got this one from FastTech and it was very nice, much better anodization then previous one and no flaws what so ever.
First time I modified Small Sun I made a thrower and it was an excellent one.

This time I made a small difference….

Enjoy…

1. Small Sun, OP reflector, Maxtoch MCPCB, XHP-70 N4 3B, LD-M2 (9A), AR Lenses. What have I got myself into?

2. Dremeling inside the body to gain room for battery holder using lathe tools mounted on my bench drill.

3. One side done, time for the other one.

4. Dremeling done!

5. Car filler putty applied and inside body painted in mat black oven paint.

6. Made a 3,5mm fiberglass plate and cut contact boards using original parts to get correct shape and dimensions.

7. I’m really picking my brain at this point on how to stuff all the 18 AWG wires inside. Contacts are made from 2mm copper plate.

8. Getting there…

9. Added a central contact, wire going trough copper.

10. Other side.

11. Almost done…

12. Omten switch is mounted directly on the contact board, all i have to do is solder the wires.

13. Holder done, car filler putty applied and sanded, everything painted mat black. Rods are made of 5mm brass and bolted hard.

14. Nice looking holder. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

15. Batteries inside. I wont be using different ones, these were available at that point.

16. Works perfectly. Hope it can take 9 Amps.

17. Holder inside the body. Fits like a glove.

18. Switch side adjusting. I need to raise the lid and make space for the Omten switch.

19. Inserted a plastic washer between the switch and the rubber boot. Rubber boot will allow some squeeze when head and body are tightened together. It should provide enough force to make a good contact. For this to work, heights of the components must be spot on.

20. Epoxy putty applied and sanded to the right height.

21. Lid is extended by few millimeters. Again, painted mat black.

22. Contact board parts, 2mm copper. This should fit the cavity where the old driver was pressed.

23. Something like this. I need to wire this thing to make it work…

24. 18AWG wires going trough copper, LD-M2 needs two of them for the positive contact and one for the negative.

25. Getting there…

26. Done! Battery holder side.

26. Drivers side.

27. Inside the head…

28. Lots of debris, but you get the point. Contact board is 1mm lower then the outside lip of the head. This way the body can be tightened all the way. No worries there.

29. Reflector adjusting. OP reflector is few millimeters narrower then the original one. Epoxy putty applied, time to make it a little bit wider.

30. Carefully dremeling…

31. Lip is done. It should fit and center itself inside the head.

32. In its place. Again the height needs to be adjusted to accommodate “O” ring and 2mm AR lens.

33. Lower part of the pill is cut.

34. Upper part is sanded down.

35. Six 1mm copper circles ready.

36. Soldered.

37. This chunk of copper is bolted on top.

38. Another six 1mm copper circles prepared and one ring to hold them down. This should fit inside the pill.

39. Almost done…

40. Done! This one goes on top.

41. Another one including the ring is soldered from the inside. All combined adds to 100 grams of pure copper. That is a badass pill.

42. Happy times! Feels like Christmas.

43. Assembly day…

44. Testing phase. Moonlight at 0.02A and 5.06V.

45. Low at 0.18A and 5.30V.

46. Mid at 1.80A and 5.97V.

47. High at 8.95A and 7.24V at the emitter. Wow! I can’t ask for more, it’s a complete success!

48. Looking trough the welding glass.

49. Well centered. I’m using a custom made centering ring. That is the only thing made outside my workshop.

50. What a nice flashlight, on it’s way to be my favorite.

51. White ceiling beamshot. Cross is not visible but there is tiny dim spot in the center. Power of the XHP-70 at 9A is astonishing!

I tried to make some outside beamshots but failed miserably, it is yet for me to learn how to make decent night photos so sorry about that. There wont be any at this time.
All I can say that this is a powerhouse! I was truly blown away by the amount of light emitted from this flashlight.

Did you like my newest mod? Please comment, I’ll answer any of your questions. Thanks :beer: .

2

1 word: amazing!! im jealous at your skills

3

Respect… :beer:
Very nice mod . You did awesome work there .

4

nuff said

Cheers David

5

Wow - stunning! Everything painted and polished up like that, it has all the finishing touches.

What did you use for smoothing/polishing all that copper, plus I see even shiny aluminum?

6

:heart_eyes:
:heart_eyes:
:heart_eyes:
You are at the moment a complete unique category in BLF: taking budget flashlights and mod them so well thought-out and beautifully, while spending lots of time on the job, that they become works of art!

7

:beer: .

Up to 2000 grit 3M sand paper and then Autosol metal polish. It a messy job, my hands were greenish for days.

8

Outrageously awesome work there! Very well done, no detail left out. Your final finish and fit is just exquisite! Such patience, and obviously you put a lot of thought into where you wanted to take it.

Well Done!

9

Thanks djozz for your kind words, I’m especially proud of this one. It was the hardest one I made so far.

10

That one should be in the Old-Lumens Hand built challenge, you’ve got plenty of documentation in photo’s, give the a shout out and see if you can add it in…

11

How does the beam compare to your JM30?

I’m really quite jealous. I can make some bright lights, but they’ll never be as finished and beautiful as this

12

Thanks Dale, I learned a great deal of things about LED’s and Flashlights reading trough your posts and builds :beer: .

Don’t know if I can qualify since this is production flashlight.

13

It is far more brighter and smoother, the tint is also to my taste. Something between moderate thrower and powerful flooder but no hotspot in the distance. It is a bigger and deeper reflector then that one in JM30 which is quite shallow. JM30 is a pure flooder.

14

The polish job on the copper alone is incredible! WOW! :beer:

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Did some beamshots, they are crappy ones taken from a cell phone. Sorry but I couldn’t do any better ones with this camera.

1. Control picture - distance around 70 meters

2. High (9 Amps)

3. Control picture - distance around 25 meters

4. High (9 Amps)

I’ll do some Head/cooling fins temperature measurements tomorrow and post the results.

16

Wooow just Wooow i imagine the time taken just to redesign this flashlight, nicely done, you made me really wanting to remod mine, also i haven’t seen an awesome modding like this in a while and yes as you said Next Generation :+1:

17

Incredible!

Great work.

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Sorry, but of course it doesn’t qualify because it’s a production flashlight, but I got so caught up in how drastically you changed it I lost track of the small details of the scratch build thread. lol

19

:open_mouth: Beautiful work Cula!!!

20

Orsm mod. I’m looking forward to seeing this on the big screen when l get home.