I’ve been slowly trying and acquiring all the different 519A available so I figured I might as well try the 219b while I was at it.
s2+ conversion, from metal to rubber button
I am waiting on a tan s2+ host from Richard and I’m planning on doing the same thing. This will be my first s2+ and I am personally not a fan of the metal switch on my z1.
Did you just drill out the tail cap, or did you use a different method? I measured my rubber button at about 5/8” and unfortunately I don’t have any drills bigger than 1/2”. I have been wanting a set of deming drills for a while.
I enlarged the hole 16 mm with this
and with the dremel I enlarged the inner recess for the rubber button
It is my favorite LED, I hope you enjoy them.
the ones from Hank are a good choice, they are D220:
It probably would just be easier to just bake a black S2+ (link here) to make it tan rather than doing this to have a rubber (silicone) switch. But I applaud this mod since I’ve thought about it many times myself!
I actually have an black one coming from Simon that should be here any day now. I’ve thought about baking my black S21A, maybe I’ll finally try on the black S2+.
I just finished my first multi emitter build. I turned my S21A into a quad with 5700k 90cri LH351D leds. I had to make the spacer, since apparently S21A spacers aren’t for sale any longer? I also stacked a .036 ohm resistor on the driver, getting just over 10A on high now. The worst part of the whole build was sanding down the Carclo optic to fit.
Awhile back we were discussing enlarging the metal-clicky hole accurately…maybe not terribly important. Difficult to use a regular drill bit and keep it centered while enlarging an existing hole sometimes, and there are no step drill bits that have the right diameter and also enough height in the step to handle the thickness of the tail cap in that spot. Looks like the price has gone up but I got one of these mechanic’s step reamers and it’s just about perfect. Made here in the US, very well ground and high quality steel. The 9/16” is a hair too big for 14mm but it fit ok into the S2+ that I tried it on. Next step is 5/8” which is pretty much spot on with 16mm, which is perfect. And the next two steps are still narrow enough to fit inside the tail cap if need be. If someone made one of these cheaper even with lesser steel like so many of the step drill bits on the market, it’d still be good enough for this light work on aluminum. Also very handy for some automotive and machinery work, tough enough to bore into hardened frame steels and tow hitches, etc. Has tri-flats milled on the shank for hand drill use (but use it smart…). This company Consolidated Toledo Drill has been around a long time, good stuff…these days they market under Norseman and Viking rather than their original CTD label. They’re up there with Champion, Triumph, Rocky Mountain Twist, etc. for top quality drill and cutting tools.
I’m also going to buy one of these NOS Irwin metric step bits soon. Great price on them although they’re bulk (probably surplus from aircraft or another industry) so they might come with a ding on them. This particular metric arrangement seems the best to me…still the standard short step height, though. Drill Hog has a similar ti-coated one for more money (and they’re a dubious operation….but)
6mm - 18mm
https://drill-hog.myshopify.com/products/drill-hog-6-18mm-metric-step-bit-multi-drill-bit-mm-unibit-m7-lifetime-warranty (much more expensive on ebay and not presently on amazon)
Oh yeah, Norseman drill bits are awesome. I’ve been eyeing their mechanics length Magnum bits for years, but I don’t do enough drilling in hard metals to justify the expense. I also like the look of their new Vortex bits.
I forgot I actually got a 2pc step bit set free from Harbor Freight a couple weeks ago. Obviously it’s nowhere near the quality of Norseman and the steps are a lot closer together, but I think I can still make it work.
Months ago I picked up a Thrunite T2 I came across at an estate/garage sale. $5 with the thrunite 21700 cell. There were a few small marks from having been used. It had an XHP70 or maybe a 70.2…. I am uncertain. It produced a horrible colored beam.
Today I finally got around to what I wanted to do to it. First I had to unscrew the bezel. Thrunite uses just enough red threadlocker to make it difficult. I chucked the head between 2 wood blocks I cut for the purpose.
(I drilled a hole in a 3/4” thick piece of pine, then cut the wood in half through the hole. I tried 3 hole sizes and one worked best. Then clamped the assembly around the head and in the bench vice. After heating the bezel end with a hot air gun I was able to unscrew the bezel, using a leather glove.)
I did have a mishap, and did think to take a photo. After removing the bezel, lens and o-ring the reflector did not want to budge. So I rapped the end on the workbench surface in an attempt to knock it free. Nothing happened so I rapped it harder. This light did not take kindly to that! The machined and threaded front end of the head is so thin that the first two or so threads broke off! (Male threads on the front end of the head with female threads in the bezel.) Damn! The first thought I had was that it was a good thing I paid only $5 for it.
I went ahead with the plan to replace the xhp70. My emitter choice was a FC40 in 4000K in CRI95 which I bought from rngwn some time ago too. I already knew the T2 used a 12 volt driver… I learned that somewhere. That worked out okay.
But with the front threads missing and the end now not quite square the bezel would not tighten down on the 0-ring and lens. The bezel could not be screwed down far enough. Anyhow to make a long story short I filed the front end of the head flat and square. I used double-stick tape to mount the bezel to a scrap of wood and used the bench belt sander to sand some material off the back end of the bezel to make it shorter. Sticking the bezel to the wood allowed safer handling of the smallish bezel and preserved my fingertips. Removing the material allowed the bezel to screw on further and tighten against the lens.
So I am happy. The light output is soooo much better than the xhp70.2. The OP reflector provides a good amount of spill and the hot spot is as wide as I like it without a sharp demarcation between spill and hot spot. I can see that I now might actually use that T2.
They’re well worth it, even in plastics or normal steel and soft metals. If you ever get the whim, check out Edge of Arlington (eoasaw.com I think)….they’re a distributor and if they don’t have it on the site they’ll order it quickly at no extra charge. They seem to have the best prices on most items (for what you can find online). I got a set of the acrylic 60° bits from them after considering it for…years and years…and they were great to deal with. I can usually get better prices from a local supplier so it might pay to makes some calls if you have anyone reasonably nearby. Like I just picked up a set of screw machine length bits for about half through this supplier vs. what I was seeing anywhere online.
Those Vortex bits are pretty awesome. I’ve talked to two shops (auto body and sheet fab) and they both said they love them and haven’t torn them up yet. One is using them only in 18v drills so they’re getting some abuse, but looking at a few of the worn/used ones they looked really good. Interesting grind on them. I doubt I’ll buy any for myself but I can see these being fantastic for sheet and thin plate - better than pilot point types like the box store brands have been pushing for awhile (those have their place, though). I’m curious who invented that Vortex step tip design…probably not Norseman but maybe. They’re still plugging along at their factory but I was sad to learn that some years back they had to start sourcing their M7 steel from China…still cut, ground, and finished here, though. Comparing to some older ones I got in the 90s, these new china-steel ones seem to be every bit as good, so that’s a relief. The devastation of the North American steel industry is just incredible, affected so many things. I’m not sure where the other US bit makers get their steel but most of them seem to only do M2 or M3 standard stuff. The M7 moly has always been kind of exclusive to CTD I think, and it’s not sooooo much better, but for hand work it does excel. In a press, not a big deal really, and not better than cobalt for where cobalt shines.
Nice work, Don! ….can you fix the bezel with a helicoil? 
There are enough threads on both pieces that it tightens up okay. The light is probably 1.5 to 2 mm shorter now. Helicoil would be impractical given the dimensions (thickness-thinness) of the materials.
Where the threads were cut for the bezel to thread on the head material seems to be slimmer than some other lights. That threaded area on the T2 measures 0.5mm to 0.8mm thinner than the same spot on an Emisar and a Sofirn light I had handy. That thin section fractured when I rapped the head with bezel removed. Assembled it is probably just fine. Thrunite doesn’t want anyone taking their lights apart for any reason.
I was kidding…not sure they even make helicoils that large even if the thread could be matched. That’s pretty…impressive?…that the threads split like that so readily. It’s possible that - assembled - it could still break like that although with more metal supporting the load (plus the absorption of the loctite) it might not. But you showed the light who’s boss!
Often I take what I read as completely serious. :person_facepalming: That has embarrassed me before.
Just a small mod - I added a lighted switch to my copper T3. I decided not to use the clear rubber boot that came with it since it blocked more light than the ones I got from KD. Which meant I needed to lengthen the switch button like I did with my T2 mod.
I had a hard time removing the switch retaining ring until I realized it loosens counter clockwise (like it should) as opposed to the S2/S2+/S3/S8/C8 etc.
I was planning on slicing the 3000K 519A dome down to 1mm to bring it to 2600K, but it was already nice and rosy so I left it as is.
I repositioned the Omten switch since it was not centered and increased the resistance to 15K since it was way too bright stock. I made a clear washer from a plastic container that I cut out with a Dremel. The green lighted switch draws 0.11mA at 4.1v, so 1.1+ years on the 14500 battery.
1 Thank
Very simple mods. The lamp has a dedomed 519 2700k and the Swiss light has a dedomed 519 3500k. Just some good, clean fun.
