Nice work MtnDon 
Can you tell me more about your hot plate, I need to make something with better temp control.
Nice! I have some TIR optics coming from… fasttech? Sounds right. And the driver I ordered from Quadrupel is finally tracking stateside, after 28 days of the tracking not updating. I’ve yet to decide what LED I’ll put in, though. I have a pair of 5D XM-L2s from Hank to hopefully successfully get one into my Olight S1. Maybe the other will go in here…
Also, you are such a Canadian with those Robertson-head screws 
The reflow plate is very simple. I cut and rather crudely bolted together four layers of 1/8” thick x 2 inch wide aluminum strap. I drilled three holes in the sides of the stacked plated to fit the heater elements. The heater elements are replacement parts for some 3D printer. I found them on Aliexpress. I clamp the two bolt legs in a vice when I want to use it.
I use a DC power supply for power. The three elements are connected in parallel. In warm weather such as now I find that setting the output to 6.0 VDC is about right; I need to step it up when the shop is colder. The elements draw about 4.8 amps at that setting and the plate heats up the mcpcb fast enough w/o damaging the emitter. I use another warmed aluminum plate stack to move the mcpcb to for a gradual cooling. It was just trial and error with the finalized numbers written on a note and taped inside the cabinet door as I can’t remember details like that very well. Not fancy but it was cheap and works for me.
I’m impressed you know the name. When we moved I packed the entire workshop, nuts, bolts, hardwood lumber, etc. Everything! Some hardware I had in large numbers. Thirty-five-plus years later I still have some assorted “Canadian” screws. I do like those square drives so much better than phillips.
I ended up with some Robertson drywall screws. I hate the phillips drive with a burning passion. Mostly I’ve ended up with torx-drive stuff, though.
Simple mod:
Replaced the XML2 U3 1A on the On The Road 311 for a Luxeon V2 4000K on led4power MCPCB.
BEFORE > AFTER
Love the “after”.
Ahah, thank you 
I also prefer the after, this led and tint in particular are great
BTW, when I pointed it - before and after - to the lux meter, the Luxeon V2 gave me slightly higher results. Is that normal? Can it be related to the more intense hotspot?
Yes, that’s exactly it. If lumens were the same (and they are likely higher with Luxeon V2), it’s a smaller emitter so it’ll be a bit throwier.
Thanks MtnDon for that info 
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I tried using one of these cheap hot plates with no luck, temp control lets it get too cold and then too hot. I may try fixing it or trashing it.
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Thanks for confirming it Scallywag! :+1:
Even in “ultralow” mode it seems brighter, so the tighter hotspot will definitely play a role here !!
Now…I’ll have to order a driver to make it “perfect” (even though I actually like a bit the current driver / configuration)
Yeh, lotta those use thermostats, not actual temperature control. I still have a space-heater with clicky-type mechanical thermostat with at least a 5° hysteresis. So it’ll go full-tilt ’til the room gets too hot, then by the time air on the back end cools down enough to let it turn on again, the rest of the room is quite chilly. So you sweat, then shiver, then sweat, then shiver, etc.
One of the best heaters I had was a Pelonis with 4 discs. Problem is those discs crack, and when loose, spark(!), and at one point blew white smoke like one of those old-timey bubblegum cigarettes.
The control module was a thing of beauty, though. It would regulate heat by adjusting fan speed from nothing (ie, let the discs just sit there at a low simmer) to full-tilt and there’d be blazing heat coming out. And adaptive, so no on/off, just perfectly proportional.
Anyhoo, if you can bypass the thermostat, you might use a “dimmer” type switch, and an IR thermometer to tweak what temperature you want and how fast to get there. It’s more manual than automatic, but it’d work.
converted a 2008 vintage task force 2c to 219c 4000k and 1 26650.
back then these were all the rage.
single mode.
took out the boost converter and added a .5 2w resistor for about 1.3a on a fresh cell.
a spacer made from dowel rod finishes the job.
makes for a simple,reliable,pwm and rfi free light.
due to the spring loaded emitter plate these will never be flamethrowers due to heat.
its fine at this level.
Skilhunt E3A LED swap and LH351C slice
Stock Cool White is 102 lumens, just under 6000K CCT and above BBL. Looks mostly white but a slight light blue hue to beam. Not my taste but I didn’t really care cause it was getting removed no matter what.
The anodizing and machining is excellent, definitely the best i’ve seen on an AAA light ever. One thing I dont like is the threads are stiff. It’s very hard to operate one handed. Since it only has one mode maybe it’s OK. It seems like it uses the same TIRs you can find on the Yaji aliexpress store but I didn’t confirm this yet.
Mod time, liberal use of kapton tape just to keep stuff from falling off:
Fail #1: Try to channel heat through brass button. Nothing bad happened but I gave up when the heater was around 215-220. Not sure if heat path wasn’t good or if they used lead free.
Fail #2: (not pictured) try to use soldering iron on brass button from the bottom. Duh, brass button wants to come off instantly, had to re-center it after it slid.
Success: Preheat from the bottom, used the hemostats to keep it in place and keep everything pressed on the brass button and then I used hot air from the top. I dont think I ruined the LED but it definitely took more heat than I expected.
I ended up slicing a LH351*C* 4000K 90 CRI. Since it was sliced it already had some 60/40 solder on it and I put a liberal amount of flux paste between the old Skilhunt solder and my 60/40 tinned and sliced LED. It went on much easier. I’m not certain the original solder on the pad fully melted but at the very least it’s flowed on top of their solder if not completely re-flowed. Oh well it’s <250 mA and I’ll redo it if it fails.
Now it’s >90 CRI and 63.5lm - bigger drop in output than I thought but it makes sense going to NW+sliced+high CRI
Two mods today:
Mod 1: swapped the XPL HI 5000K in my previously modded Wowtac A6 for a 4000K one from a Convoy S2+. The mod was easy with no issues.
Mod 2: swapped the cool-white XPG2 in my Wowtac W1 for a 4000K Nichia 219C 90 CRI originally from an EDC18. This mod was hard because the W1’s bezel was held on with red threadlocker. That sucker just didn’t want to come off. I finally got it off with a table vise, some pliers, safety walk tape, and a lot of elbow grease. Unfortunately, in doing so the pliers scraped up the bezel and top of the head.
Oh no 
I recently did an emitter swap in a W1 for mbp and there was no sign of threadlocker. So I bought one for myself with intentions of modding it. Just came in today. Yup, mine is glued tight. Ugh. Me and this bezel are about to do battle! :smiling_imp:
Edit: got it with channel locks using leather welding gloves to protect the Wowtac W1 which came away unscathed.
Driver details: linear regulator is a OCX OC7141. MCU is a PIC (SOIC8 footprint). Charging controller is a TP4067.
Received two Sunwayman V11r w NW XM-L
modded the left one to sw45k
on 16340
stock xml makes 350 lumens
sw45k makes 270 lumens,
minimum is 0.03 lumens
sw45k has 23% less lumens, but 30% more CRI Ra
sw45k hotspot is 67% brighter on target
sw45k has 400% more CRI R9 (Red)
Try to add some thermal mass between heater and pcb. Even 50gr copper spacer makes difference.
CNCman, or use an ordinary pan and maybe some (very thin layer) thermal grease. I’m always recycling the grease from the MCPCB. Check temperatur with IR thermometer and watch solder after 180 or 220 °C to not miss the melting point by too much time. After unsoldering the MCPCB you’ll know if solder is leadfree or nice.
You must have quite a collection of rotaries by now!