There was a mod grab bag giveaway the other day, I did not see it in time to get in. But, it got my gears going, sometimes hard to do.
I am looking to build a good assortment of drivers, leds and maybe rings and such. I have always had an interest in good lights but finally decided it was time to replace my old Fenix lights with new 18650 lights. I love a nice beam, with some spill and good modes from ML to 100% and no disco modes. My first 2 new 18650’s were canned lights a Jetbeam BR10 and Jetbeam HC20 and I really like them. But, I wanted to do more and make a better light… So, along came a couple of real Ultrafire WF-502B’s and a Solarforce L2n and my P60 addiction was started. Now I am considering an Convoy thrower host and maybe a larger host yet.
So, what should I keep in a kit?
17mm and 20mm drivers with plenty of 7135’s, maybe a FET driver or 2. I really like the Mountain Electronics programmable driver, I picked up one of their dropins configured the way I wanted it and love it.
A few Noctigon mounted LEDs, maybe some cool whites for throw, some neutral whites because it makes things look good. These would be in 18mm and 20mm.
A few extra tail switches to solder in. Some solder wick for backing up springs, some good silicone wire for drivers and a few various threaded rings maybe from donor lights. Oh and a couple of SMO and OP P60 sets.
I am starting from scratch, so ideas are welcome… If you want to part with a pile of stuff, that would be good for starting out please let me know.
Oh, BTW I do own a good soldering station but do not have a hot air reflow yet.
How’s your eyesight? I can’t mod without my magnifying lamp. Exacto knife. Check out some of the Minimag mods, the AA’s are fun to chop for 14500/14650 EDC’s and can be bored to work with 20mm single/triple optics. Get some Noctogons or sink pads since most of the LEDs we use will fit their various sizes. I keep from 10mm –32mm copper boards handy. Silicon insulated wire is more flexible, Teflon coated is stiffer but thinner so I keep both handy as well. Look into the various battery sizes available and decide if you want to size lights that way. My kit has 10180, 10280, 10440, 14250, 14500, 14650, 16340, 17650, 18350, 18500, 18650, 26500, and 26650(also 26700), so there’s not much I can’t consider doing. Check out the modding links thread, it’s stickied in the DIY section.
That goes without saying, at 50 I have bad eyesight and have since I was 4. I always have one around and I do have a good stand based unit for fine work. I have a couple of MiniMags that I am going to experiment on, have read many of the threads on various sites about them.
Silicone and teflon wire are both a must, I build my test leads out of large guage silicone for flex and good jacket properties.
Will a hot air reflow gun be good for mounting LED’s on bases? I have not ventured into mounting SMD devices yet.
Hot air reflow is nice but really only a necessity if you plan on assembling drivers from bare boards and even then not an absolute for most projects. Reflow of LEDs can be done several ways that don’t require HAR.
My kit has a lot of stuff, good and bad, that has been accumulated over the past few years.
Qlite or Nanjg 105C style drivers, 2.8A variety; you can remove 7135 chips if you want less power.
AK-47 and 101AK style drivers. I also like to keep a couple of low-voltage drivers available as well for AA primary or NiMH cells.
I'm also a fan of the simple single-mode 7135 drivers at FastTech (https://www.fasttech.com/p/1127404). Again, I prefer the 4-chip variety as I can remove extras as needed.
Some spare P60 pills, along with reflectors for both XM and XP sized emitters.
A few spare PCBs, aluminum, the cheap non-DTP copper ones, or the good DTP boards. It's good to have spares. Both XP and XM sizes, 16 and 20mm.
Spare emitters, XP/XM/whatever. Either mounted, or not, provided you have #6 above stocked.
Glass lenses; 20/28/42mm. For EDC, P60, and C8 type hosts.
Extra Thermal paste. I like to keep a few of the smaller tubes on hand, sealed, as the larger tube always dries out before I'm done using it: https://www.fasttech.com/p/1341200
Extra shrink wrap for both 18650 and 14500 sized cells. For repairing cells with damaged wrappers.
Spare reflectors: a spare C8 style, a couple EDC-sized reflectors, and whatever else you accumulate.
I'm not shilling for FastTech, and those aren't affiliate links; just the site I've purchased the referenced product from in the past.
I've soldered for many years; I've always used a cheap Wal-Mart or Harbor Freight soldering iron. Never needed a nicer station or a Hot Air setup. I've reflowed emitters easily using just the soldering iron.
That is a laundry list! Thanks, I see that I am thinking along the correct lines. Now, just have to start getting my hands on stuff.
I am just entering the world of light mods, not sure how fast I will move from here. I do not have a lathe or mill, so will not be doing heavy metal mods and will have to work with things like stock pills.
Used for the positive contact on drivers; also, bend the large side over, then solder the SMALL side to a 105c driver in place of the tiny spring. Helps with lights that are slightly too long to make good contact with the smaller factory spring.