What did you mod today?

WillyD · 2018-04-29T03:09:43.000Z

Made a copper spacer to upgrade to XHP35 HIs on my TM16GT. Still need to do some more filing on the MCPCBs before they will line up with the reflector.

pinkpanda3310 · 2018-04-29T05:27:07.000Z

DB Custom:

I modified a 4.25” bar of 6061 T6 into a LOT of shavings! It was only 1.75” long but still, the pile of shavings took most of 6 hours. What a mess I have!

Lol, I’ve made a flying birds nest before. Made me jump :person_facepalming:

MRsDNF · 2018-04-29T08:55:20.000Z

Agro:

DB Custom:

PinkPanda, that little striped light looks pretty dang sharp!

Personally I consider it one of the best looking lights around. I would be delighted to have a BLF special looking like that. Though it would look way better as a twisty.

+1 on the others. That is one real nice looking torch.

DB_Custom · 2018-04-29T13:07:25.000Z

WillyD, nice mod on the TM16, if I recall correctly doing similar to mine produced some 7000+ lumens and a nice beam profile. Too bad I had to sell it…

CNCman · 2018-04-29T14:07:50.000Z

WillyD
Sweet mod, looking fwd to see it completed.

Henk4U2 · 2018-04-29T15:09:01.000Z

A C8 host was eating dust on a shelf when djozz offered to do a groupbuy for some ZWB2 filters . Well, he did not have to twist my arm to get on-board. Plus I ordered a 3rd-gen LG UV-emitter from Simon. From previous tweaking on other C*’s I still had a C8 size smooth XR reflctor from Fasttech. To sum it up: I used a LD-1 driver from member led4power in DD-mode. There was a snag, however. The reflector was about 1mm shorter than a regular C8 reflector.
So I made myself a shim All I needed was one copper Canadian cent, a lapping stone, a small round file and an ounce of elbow-grease. When that was over I could assemble the lot, and this was the result.
A Convoy C8 Black Edition!
It has turned out to be a real (UV) thrower, but I am not able (yet) to show it to you, because White Walls Won’t Work

WillyD · 2018-04-29T19:56:04.000Z

DB Custom:

WillyD, nice mod on the TM16, if I recall correctly doing similar to mine produced some 7000+ lumens and a nice beam profile. Too bad I had to sell it…

Appreciate all the pointers you provided as well. I sort of wish I would have gone with 26mm boards as the pads would have been further away from the reflector openings. If I do get this to work, I’ll be using a lot of Kapton tape. As soon as I get my Texas_Ace lumen meter, I’ll get a measurement :+1:

CNCman:

WillyD
Sweet mod, looking fwd to see it completed.

Thanks. Honestly, I should have had this done by now, but I keep putting it off. A little more filing on the MCPCBs and on the reflector and she’s ready to wire up.

Henk4U2:

A Convoy C8 Black Edition!

No no…you mean it’s a ‘Murdered Out’ C8 Looks pretty cool!!

The_Last_Katun · 2018-04-30T14:36:26.000Z

Today I modified an X8 (trustfire X8, but without the “trustfire” trademark);

I replaced the LED, from XML to XHP50 and replacing the drive with this one. (one mode version)

I left the original SMO reflector and to eliminate the central black hole I sanded the front glass, in its perimeter (as you can see in the picture) the black hole disappeared. I feel satisfied.
I also changed the button with a forward; I can use it for research and for signal

Now add these two photos: the first is the light of the X8 at a distance of 6 meters, the exposure is automatic; the second I obscured in “post-production” a little to highlight the center

the shadows are due to the presence of an arched door.

djozz · 2018-04-29T22:47:10.000Z

^ good thinking!, that is a innovative way to solve the donut hole problem without loosing too much light!

Mike_C · 2018-04-30T09:02:30.000Z

Yeah, good idea. The black hole is completely gone? Or still slightly visible but much better? Could maybe a ring of DC-Fix do the same job?

The_Last_Katun · 2018-04-30T14:48:16.000Z

Mike C:

Yeah, good idea. The black hole is completely gone? Or still slightly visible but much better? Could maybe a ring of DC-Fix do the same job?

Before emerying the glass I have tried with a plastic art ring, adhesive, semitransparent and it does the same thing. I have chosen to emery because the plastic was absorbing heat

ToyKeeper · 2018-05-02T03:28:57.000Z

Today I got Anduril running on my BLF GT. This mostly involved adding pin7 voltage support, adding GT buck driver support, and doing a bit of calibration.

So now it runs on D4, Q8, FW3A, and GT.

As sort of a side effect, I think the GT’s moon level is lower now… not that that matters on a thrower.

djozz · 2018-05-04T23:24:59.000Z

^ Hmm, it will never be the furthest throwing moon….

Today I swapped in 4 Samsung LH351D leds (4000K 90+CRI, obtained from member AEDe) into a Q8, and while at it swapped in pretty switch leds.

Compared to stock the beam looks good,the spotsize is virtually the same. As in my other LH351D builds the tint is best at full power, and becomes a bit yellower when ramped down and even slightly greenish at lowest powerlevels. But nothing serious, one (as in: the tint-snobs) gets more and more sensitive to tint over time. While not whitewallhunting the illumination it gives is plainly wonderful.

With phosfor-bronze tailsprings and fresh 30Q’s the light draws at max around 18 amps, the output at 30 seconds is 4600 lumen (4750 at switch-on). Very nice for leds of this light quality!

(left stock Q8, right with LH351D)

Edit: some Q8 lights came with AR-coated lens, I tried one on this modded Q8 and it is not good for the tint: it takes away rosiness + adds more yellow. Unlike CRI, tint is very easily influenced by optics and coatings.

contactcr · 2018-05-04T20:38:54.000Z

No spring bypass!?

Lightbringer · 2018-05-04T20:40:05.000Z

djozz:

Compared to stock the beam looks good,the spotsize is virtually the same. As in my other LH351D builds the tint is best at full power, and becomes a bit yellower when ramped down and even slightly greenish at lowest powerlevels. But nothing serious, one (as in: the tint-snobs) gets more and more sensitive to tint over time. While not whitewallhunting the illumination it gives is plainly wonderful.

So in a light that in general pulls less current (TK05, SP10, etc.), it’d probably be better to use a B instead of D, for the higher current density (smaller chip), eh?

I was thinking that initially, but hearing about it in this case kinda solidifies it for me.

djozz · 2018-05-04T20:48:55.000Z

contactcr:

No spring bypass!?

Springs were replaced with thick phosfor-bronze springs which have one-third the resistance of a steel spring but the resistance is not as low as a by-passed spring.

BlueSwordM · 2018-05-05T00:32:52.000Z

@djozz, why did you have to do the mod before I did?

You should’ve waited until I did mine :+1:

Also, I have the Kaidomain AR lens, and there seems to be a reverse tint shift happening. The tint actually gets better with the Kaidomain AR lens.

djozz · 2018-05-05T06:24:16.000Z

BlueSwordM:

@djozz, why did you have to do the mod before I did?

You should’ve waited until I did mine :+1:

Also, I have the Kaidomain AR lens, and there seems to be a reverse tint shift happening. The tint actually gets better with the Kaidomain AR lens.

Sorry :innocent:
That is good to know about the KD lens, I will have to get one then.

DB_Custom · 2018-05-05T13:59:08.000Z

Recently built a parts-bin light, or as a fellow member called the Light-on-Cash build as it was sort of inspired by the Johnny Cash song One Piece At A Time.

This was built using various bits I’ve had for years. Courui D01 head and lens, Convoy L6 reflector, Solarforce M8 pill with a Convoy C8 battery tube bored out for a Sanyo 20700A cell. I made the tail cap and head adapter to make it all come together. Driver is an old FET of Wight’s design with a simple L-M-H UI. An SIR800DP was used for high power, it pulls 8.91A at the tail for 2028 lumens out the front. Low is 100 lumens with Med a little over 600 if I recall correctly. (not at my computer, wife is still sleeping)

It was a bit of a challenge getting the M8 pill opened and consequently using it without modification but I managed. Actually built it to use an IlluminationMachines faceted reflector but ended up liking the L6 reflector better in it. Still need to make some adjustments to optimize that change.

contactcr · 2018-05-05T19:46:36.000Z

Put a new XHP70.2 in my Convoy M1 and proceeded to drop the bezel and lens and it broke in two. Then, I was looking at my Emisar D1 like, hmm how close is this lens to fitting… Proceed to remove the bezel, the lens slides off the top and this one now has 2 chips in the lens. Not a successful modding day.