Like vw said, heating the mcpcb with a broad tip on the iron will cause the epoxy to release with some applied pressure. This is why I use Arctic Alumina Thermal Epoxy instead of Arctic Silver or JB Weld, the AA releases if you have to change something.
I got my TM16 in and simply swapped the XP-L’s for XHP-35’s, it’s making a bit over 7000 lumens. Pretty sure I didn’t mess with the cell configuration or the driver.
Thanks for the tips guys, I’ll work on it this weekend.
I didn’t like Nitecore’s UI and wanted to push it harder, so I am using the body of the light which was previously isolated to bring 4.2v to the driver while the LEDs see 16.8v. It wasn’t hard to convert and works pretty well.
Modded my life and my paycheck, now that I delivered the final uni essay 
JK, JK.
Nothing so far, light-wise, although I’ve been vaguely considering buying a pair of Biscotti drivers to put on the S2 and C8 that I have now. Both old models have the “meh” 3/5 firmware, and while the C8 doesn’t bother me - thrower and all -, the S2 certainly does, as I use it as an utility EDC and that means times when it’s on for at most two seconds, something the 3/5’s ON-time memory doesn’t agree with.
I’m slightly less unsure now that I’m practically out of my undergrad and will soon be able to dedicate the time to learn how to solder and flash well (right now I’m afraid of busting up what is by all means still a decent torch), but I’ve been also considering just buying a new S2 with Biscotti, and the new model J-Dub said is the up and coming C9.
Jack, the ability to reverse direction in TK’s firmware is priceless, especially in a smaller tube light that’s EDC. This means that you can turn it on it low, move forward to med say, then reverse to the 2nd level without having to run all the way up through Turbo to get back to low. It both preserves night vision and protects cell run time. Bistro brings thermal regulation to the table and has more options on setting modes as you wish, from 1 to 9 or anywhere in between.
When building triples or quads that just flat need reliability, I like to use the A6 firmware. For single cell lights that can use some broader mode controls, Bistro is my go-to choice.
What firmware, Dale? Never heard of it.
Also, I’m not familiar at all with the A6 or Bistro firmwares like I am with Biscotti (or like to think that I am ). Can you point me to a thread that covers them?
P.S.: Not interested in building any multi-LED emitters - a single one in a good reflector works well for me ATM - but I’ll keep that info in mind. lol
’preciate it, CRX!
ToyKeeper wrote the A6 firmware for a group buy on the Eagle Eye A6 initially, then it went into the Eagle Eye X6 group buy that sold some 1400 units. For the Kronological group buy on the X6/X5 lights (the X6 in solid Stainless with a copper finned head section and the X6 in pure solid copper) she wrote the Bistro firmware. These were the first mechanical clicky lights with the ability to reverse direction, avoiding having to go up through high and Turbo to get back to moon. Very popular firmware!
She then developed Bistro Mini (afterwards named Biscotti) for Convoy lights through Jdub and Simon to help Simon step up to his A game. The reversing feature, sadly, is not in Biscotti.
Edit: We shouldn’t forget all the early work done by Comfychair, MattAus, Wight, Richard, WarHawkAVG and others in taking the Qlite driver and modifying it to use a large MOSFET. These folks changed our game and ToyKeeper has been instrumental in refining the UI. Some serious time and hard work went into all this early on to get us to the FET+1 driver we know today. With so many new people coming in for the big group buys, a lot of this is lost on the large new population here at BLF.
Agreed. I am thankful for the great drivers and FWs we have now. I feel like a short history write-up of their development would be pretty interesting.
I worked on a clone of the Small Sun TY Z29 about 3 years ago, put a big core of solid copper under a quad. Always had flickering issues. This morning I was looking through pics and saw that build so I pulled it off the shelf and started checking it out. Seems that they put a strong thick magnet in the tail cap and I had put a copper plate with a bypassed spring on top of that for the negative contact. Problem was the magnet was too thick, my copper plate sat on top of the magnet and the cap was anodized under the magnet, so ground was iffy. I put a copper spacer on the shelf above the magnet, then the spring loaded copper plate, followed by a copper washer and now the battery tube screws down tight on pure copper while the magnet won’t rattle around. She blasts it out, no flickering! And get’s hot poste haste!
Edit: How remiss of me! It’s got an old early style FET driver in it with TK’s ramping firmware. The MOSFET is the big Vishay 07N02. lol Now the ramping is smooth and certain, no flickering. Yay!
Pics from the original build, November 2014…light is unbranded, nothing on it at all.
This was back before the lathe, everything was done with a cordless drill and a rotary tool, some file work. 
Glad to finally have her running solid, need to test output…. looks like I have two XP-L HD and two XP-L HI on it now, don’t remember that but that’s what’s in there under the optic.
Edit: 3150 lumens on a rested older Samsung 30Q showing 4.17V
Oh yeah, Shhhhhh! still wearing the cervical collar and am not supposed to be doing anything!
im just done building a MELD RGB nitecore tube. pretty much exactly the same as tterev3 (Building the ultimate keychain light!)
Not an easy build because of all the tiny components. It toom me about 3-4 hours but its well worth it.
it really is the ultimate keychain light
Finished the stripped and polished Nitecore P12. Not perfect because it has some very deep scratches but I’m happy with it.
First crack at modding some hosts pretty happy with the outcome
Well i was gonna mod two Thorfire C8s.
One with a XHP50.2 led and H1-A driver for my dad. And the second one was gonna be my first MT-G2 light also with a H1-A driver.
But when i take the first C8s apart i find that the led shelf is very poorly machined, only making contact in the middle of the mcpcb.
I quickly take the second C8s apart to see if that one is the same, but that one is propely machined perfectly flat exept for the dimple in the middle but that is not a big deal.
I have sent a mail to Banggood to see if they can help me.
Now i have to decide what flashlight i build first. For me or my dad, hard to decide haha
You have to use the 7th tab (the sunset picture) and insert your photo into the window that pops up, use a percentage like 100% in this window so the photo is resized to fit the window of the viewer, necessary for those that use their smart phones)
That is what i was doing 
Used the “code” you used and it worked, i must have used the wrong url…
Thank you for the help :+1:
That is so true :+1:
Build your dad’s first, to dazzle the non-flashaholic with his new toy
Replaced the XPL HI 5A2 triple in my Jaxman E2L host with an XPL2 triple.
As expected, the beam pattern is much floodier than before. This is actually quite nice. A great close-inspection light with the best heatsinking available in a tube-type light.