Thank you. I have done other installs with preflowed emitters without an issue. Those were from Simon but this one was ordered from Kaidomain. This emitter isn’t further blackening.
Is isopropyl alcohol safe for HI emitter cleaning?
Another question: was this a 5000K SFT-40?
I bought one 5000K from Kai but this SC31 one is a 6500K. The 5000K on 20mm is going into an SD2 with one of Kai’s 8A, 22mm drivers. I have another SFT40 in my L2 driven by a MTN FET+1 and it works without issue so a dirty surface is more certainly the culprit.
I recently discovered a damaged LES at almost maximum current while testing a SFT-40 5000K. This happened to me only with the 5000K one, not with 3000 or 6500 K.
The LES on my SFT-40 looks almost the same as in your case. In general it is unlikely that flux residue is present on pre-soldered LEDs (I never encountered it), but maybe you got simply unlucky…
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Isopropyl alcohol is safe but it will not remove the black residue, and if you rub it you run the risk of further damaging the phosphor layer. I would left it as it is, what should’ve burn is already burnt.
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However, as black surfaces heat up quickly, especially with such high radiation densities as with a HI-LED, there is always a risk that the burnt areas will tend to become larger…
Unfortunately I would say, such an LED is damaged and shouldn’t be used for longer, especially if a reliable light source is needed.
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Lucky for me, @RMM has 5000K SFT40s in stock!
I would recommend to swap the damaged LED with a new one.
And never touch the LES!
- Baked Convoy S21D @300°C for 90 minutes.
- Heat-treated SS bezel and clip with a butane torch for 5-10 mins.
Turned out nice - really liking the colour
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Wrapped with aluminium foil or not?
Not. I’ve heard people doing that. What is the foil for? Make it hotter?
That turned out like it was anodized…gorgeous!
Other than the tailcap turning out a bit darker, would you say the overall color change is uniform, including on the opposite side?
I must say, although this shade of Bronze is very appealing, I would be torn about changing that particular shade of Blue, which to me is equally appealing.
If you decide to bake another Blue Convoy, perhaps consider a version that gradually transitions from the Blue to the Bronze. That would look sweet!
NOTE:
This project turned out so nice, I want to nominate the addition of a new category to the Old Lumens Contest.
Would the membership be interested in a category for modifying flashlights, headlamps and lanterns with DIY anodizing, painting, baking, wraps, etc.?
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I don’t have 2 same flashlight for test.
I read people uses aluminium but I don’t know why.
This is a work-in-progress. I previously disfigured the stock reflector on my Convoy M1. I found a TIR that’s a great fit diameter-wise but quite a bit shorter than the reflector. As such, I would need to shorten the bezel by about 6mm (in the pic I think you can see the bezel is much taller than where it sits on the body relative to the end of the body). I believe I could shorten the base of the bezel, remove some of the threads (to clear the body o-ring) and there would still be enough threads on the bezel to screw-in to the body.
No beam shots but the TIR works pretty nicely with the XHP 50.3 I have in there. In testing it out I also realized the purple AR glass hurts the tint quite a bit on this one.
If anyone is interested, it’s a Ledil TIR. I got it from Digikey. Link
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The 35mm TIR from Convoy would also work if you shave off the perimeter a bit. I have a 3 deg clear I’m planning to put into a M1 XHP70.3 HI and I will share the pics once it is realized.
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Maybe instead of shortening the bezel, add some height instead by use of copper discs/washers as a spacer? So the mcpcb is ‘pushed up’, if you get my meaning?
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Thanks. I do think it turned out rather nicely. It’s a good thing that the S21D also happens to be one of my favourite lights of all time - a part of my permanent collection. So this ‘custom’ job makes it extra special to me.
I have tried baking the grey coloured convoy lights before, but the hue did not change much. It became slightly paler is all. But maybe it needed more time in the oven.
I would be very interested in seeing this. Looking at the measurements, it seems you would need to take off at least 2-3mm at the top, which doesn’t seem like too much.
Nice!
I like this host. A bit thick but simple. I had an S12 with an XPL-HI 5000K with one of the first drivers - a faulty one that reset the memory mode. I bought an 8A buck driver and it’s hot 
It eats up the battery in 1,5h. 
I have a question, where did you get the clip?
The clip is the standard convoy screw in clip. It’s the one that is usually used for s2+ and similar models. The holes line up
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