Before:
After:
I sliced half of my dome off, then scraped underneath the dome opposite the wires. I don’t know if it helped, but I held the blade to the burner on the stove (electric) before I started prying up. Once I had it pulled halfway over the phosphor it wasn’t budging any more, but don’t panic. Just kept poking into the meat of the dome that was left and pulling back and it finally came off.
I took the de-domed X9 out with the STL last night, and the real world shining at distant trees test certainly confirms the smaller spot, neutral tint, and increase in throw.
Best methode i know.
Andi do it again with my torch. (DX SST 90 Reflektor 7,3 cm)
XM-L U 3 cooper – 220 KLUX @ 4,9A
Xandre
That's insane! Congrats on the mod Xandre. I love what you guys are doing except it feels like something is missing... What is it now? Oh yeah:
Beamshots Beamshots Beamshots!
Please :-)
Hi
sorry I am a horrible photograph,and i didnt have a good camera.
But in two weeks is a “Torch.Party” in my garden.
Andi is also there .
Then we make some beamshots and comparison with some other torches.
Xandre
If you completely remove the dome, will the LED’s phosphor degrade? Is LED Seal needed to prevent that?
Andi, what do you use on top of your de-domed XML’s?
I’m not messing with success, it’s staying bare.
Some German guys had great success with acetone to dissolve the silicone that holds the dome onto the emitter. Drop into some of that nasty stuff, wait 30-60min and pull off the dome.
I read somewhere that the adhesive holding the dome on the emitter, is the same stuff used to hold the phosphor on the die, so any use of solvents would just strip off the phosphor. These results prove otherwise though, were there any problems with the phosphor layer becoming thinner or falling off with this method? Sounds like a great way to de-dome.
Any takers on the acetone method? Coz if it works, that'd be probably the easiest method yet.
I do have extra XM-L, and I do want to dedome it - BUT, I don't have pure acetone, only some junk nail polish remover which is definitely NOT PURE. Don't know what's added in there, but very poor result if used as acetone substitute.
I wonder though, if the silicone comes off with heat though, why can't we just boil the whole star?
In my continued attempts to get a good polished surface I think I am now polishing the phosphor layer. The lux dropped to 97 kCd after last attempt. I still think a much better result will be gotten if you leave a well polished totally clear surface and a little more than 1 mm dome aboce the phosphor.
Still learning here so bear with me.
I was wrong!
I tried the trick Xandre has told us about that Andi does. Running the flashlight till it is freaking hot and then peel off the dome with my fingernail. It turns out there WAS a thin layer of dome left. I got it all off except a little around the bonding wires.
Now up to a steady 125 kCd.
I LOVE THE BLF! WOOT!
Update: Reflector position critical! Just fiddled with it and although warm now (on for 5+ mins) i get a steady 145 kCd! Woot!
Gratulations!
But @moment i think, a cookplate is better, because on some flashlights the heat is not enough.
Then heat dome, not the star.
Next i will try Chemicals. >)
You are a madman Andi. I love your work!
BTW:
Have you tried XML T6 on copper star from DX.COM? I have very very good experience with them. And good color/tint too even with dome! I wish they would bring the U3 bin on the copper star. Solid copper rocks!
And my beam is not fully "together" (sorry I forget english words when excited) at 5 meters. At 7,8 meters I measure 2690 lux meaning I have ~ 163 kCd @ 1m! YES!
Ok, you guys convinced me to go ahead & peel the rest of the dome off my T6 3C XM-L (in the craptastic SMO P60) I put the solder iron tip next to the LED, and used magnifier, tweezers, & X-acto knife to carefully peel it off. It never got hot enough to melt the solder. There is still some spooge around the bonding wires I’m not messing with, but the chip is entirely clear.
I was finally able to focus a decent hot spot with this reflector, though still ringy.
I am quite sure I left all the phosphor intact as this thing is really warm now. It looks to be 3500-4000K now, I don’t know, it’s the warmest LED I have. If I do another, I’ll start with a U2 1A or such, and hope to end up at 5000K. This color shift is fascinating; somehow the average light must be traveling through more of the phosphor(?) And this warm shift continued when removing the last .35mm of the dome too.
I heat the board directly and its firmly attached to a heat sink. I heat the board quickly with high
heat enough to melt the adhesive holding the dom and i use tweezers to pull it off. Now your using heat as well, only to a different location and completely different approach. I cant say i would suggest this but perhaps if you try this method before putting your iron to the dome itself.
I haven’t killed or scratched one LED yet ( by this method) but i have killed plenty of diodes…
I fiddled on with that reflector positioning and now I get a steady 168 kCd after 30 sec and initially when turned on it gives about 183 kCd.
Now I wait for xml 2 led with even more impatience! Muahahaha!
EDIT: Corrected some strange spelling....