Wow, that is impressive: Just checked with the Trustfire X9 and it is around 10-12cm across at 1m and less then 1/4 as intense. That means your either getting 4x more light out of the XML (unlikely) or a huge % of it is being reflected into the hotspot which means that less then 30% of the light from the X9 is going into the hotspot.
Something that someone on another forum mentioned: Brasso, he used it to put a glass like finish on epoxy he was applying to furniture using a cloth. I don’t have any spear XMLs to try this on: anyone want to take one for science and give it a go? 8)
Brasso is a metal polishing compound and I’m not sure how it will react with the silicone dome. My guess is using Brasso with a felt wheel (in a dremel) is going to abrade the dome slightly faster than a bare felt wheel, and it’s most likely not going to improve on the optical clarity.
Check out the link (with translator): he mentions swapping in various XMLs (all on copper boards I think and something along the lines of “fritzl 15 mega”
@Xandre: Some people think CPF is better, some prefer BLF. Budget lights dont get much attention over at CPF and its the other way round for more expensive lights. Also, the management styles are very different. BLF is like a 60s commune, most people take care of their own and very rarely, someone (here the admin) has to chime in, while CPF is more of a matriarchy with Greta on top. Just like in the 60s, thats a pretty good base for conflicts. :P
One advantage of CPF over BLF: trolls get banned rather quick instead of being fed, like we can see here.
Please stop commenting in this thread about anything unrelated to de-doming. Those who posted prior comments in this thread that are unrelated to de-doming, please delete your own comments.
Thanks in advance for helping to keep the peace around here.
So I’d like to de-dome one… but here’s what I’m figuring. 10% chance of greatly improving throw, 40% chance of obvious throw improvement but output loss, 30% chance of greatly losing lumens with throw about the same, 20% chance of failure.
I might get brave and try my cheap drop-in…
I gave it a shot and it was somewhat successful. Removing the silicone material around the bond wires is really tough. One of the bond wires pulled off and that’s when I stopped.
I was using the tip of a razor blade to pick away the material.
M Stee , you must be a micro surgeon! Looks like you just barely nicked the phosphor on the upper right corner/edges. Amazing work. You have the ideal subject for before/after measures. Would be interesting to see what lumen is lost on that one.
I think you have to ask what you hope to accomplish. Most are looking for more/better throw. Is this the best way to get there? I’m not a big fan of the XM-L (excessive color separation). No desire to de-dome my XP-G’s or Nichia 219’s.
Take the time to do it as clean as possible. …but I could never ‘pull off’ what M Stee just did!
A lot of supposed problems with xml “color separation” are only exacerbated by reflector design. For example, some reflectors deflect the yellow to the corona, some to the hotspot.
Yes I have seen that on some beamshots (and the violet/blue spill), but my intro to the problem was with a ‘mule light’, no reflector at all, and using a 3C 5000K tint (my favorite XM-L when you put the colors back together). I was surprised by how the forward light was blue/purple, edges yellow. Knowing what to look for, I can see it now in the XP-G too, but it is not nearly so pronounced as the XM-L.
(I have XP-G neutral and Nichia 219 mule lights mainly for power outage use) Having funky color light gets to you after a few hours, These neutrals definitely add a level of comfort to the situation.
Slicing the dome off the XM-L really helped my 3C Mule light color separation problems.