Heat is probably a Bad Idea. I keep mine in a sealed jar, heating a sealed container of gas definitely a Bad Idea. Heating an open container will boil off the volatiles which for all we know is the part of the gas that does the magic.
I was reading an article about removing silicone, from a link somewhere here on BLF, and that mentioned doing that, but unfortunately, I don’t have an ultrasonic cleaner.
60C wouldn’t be enough to turn it into a bomb. Just keep it outside in the sun or put a candle under it. I know it’s hot as hell in the US atm, so it would probably work well.
Mine is in a sealed jar also, and I noticed that everytime I open the jar, there’s like a “whoosh” of gas escaping. Yeah so, I probably won’t be heating that jar up, either inside or outside of my house. My wife is already complaining about the gasoline older in the garage… and is threatening to banish to it :)!!
I wonder if all of our wives think we’re like “nuts” :)!
Hi,
Ok, here’s the XM-L and XR-E (I think) after about 4 hours:
XM-L:
XR-E:
I had to do some very careful cleanup, using a wooden toothpick, to knock off some of the remnants.
Edit:
Haven’t tested yet :)…
Tested both the XM-L and XR-E, and they’ve both working (still)!
The XM-L is not bad, but the XR-E has a very greenish tint…
Hi,
I tried another one, an XP-G2 from IS. This time, I pre-poked a small hole on top of the dome before soaking, and the dome started falling apart within an hour. I left it in for awhile more (like 4 hours) and looking from outside, most of the dome was gone, so I pulled it out.
But, it appears that there’s a thin, uneven layer of clear stuff still on the surface of the emitter. After rinsing the emitter, that was still there.
I tried it in a light, and it lit, but the beam was kind of dim, and there’s an ugly “swirl” in the center.
I suspect that thin cliear uneven layer of stuff is causing that, so I tried re-soaking the emitter for an hour or so more, but it’s still there.
I don’t want to try to remove the layer “manually”, because the emitter is so tiny, and I’ll probably botch things up, so should I just re-soak it again, for a longer (maybe much longer) time?
Edit: I decided to re-soak it again. Started about 20 minutes ago, and will leave it until, hopefully, that layer of “stuff” on top of the emiitter itself, comes off by itself.
Edit 2: It doesn’t look like that layer of whatever wants to come off 
:
Does anyone have any ideas about this? Is the material for the domes for the XP-G2s different from the other emitter types?
Edit 3: And, still getting the ugly “swirly” beam, and lux of “only” 47477 (47.4 Klux) :(…
Edit 4: I’m going to re-soak the XP-G2 again, so in the meantime, I decided to put an XM-L T6 (I think) that I had dedomed earlier, into my shorty STL-V6, and measured lux, and WHOA, I am getting 122508 (122 Klux)! This light is DD now, and measured with 1xKK26650, partly charged, and it now out-throws my poorly-performing stock BTU Shocker :)! Plus to me, it’s a nice beam with a pretty decent-size hotspot and spill.
Now thinking that I should just forego the badly-dedomed XP-G2 :)…
I’ve learned to drop them in the jar with plenty of petrol before I go to bed, & when I wake up, the magic has happened. ie; don’t be impatient 
They’re either off completely(more often than not), or slide off easily. Any bits left on don’t come off with additional soaking - it’s out with your choice of stiff drink to steady the hands, a magnifier, & something small to knock ’em off.
Like Fmc said. Leave it overnight. If residue remains get a aerosol ofcancheap electro cleaner from somewhere and spray that vigorously on it. If it does not come off soak again and repeat. I've de-domed in diesel oil most times and it works really well with this method. Hope you have better luck soon.
FmC and Ledsmoke,
I guess that “patience is a virtue”, but apparently it’s not one of MY virtues. Ok, so I’m leaving it in the gas and will see how it goes. I had actually tried earlier to try to ‘prod’ the stuff off, and I did get some of it, but not all, and the emitter still works. Will post back.
Hi,
Just removed the XP-G2 from the gas, and it looks pretty good (and it works):
There’s still a little “stuff” around one of the wires, but I’m not touching that. The surface of the emitter looks remnant-free.
As I said, I’ve tested the emitter, and it does light, and seems pretty white still. I haven’t tried it in a light yet, as I’m not going to remove the dedomed XM-L from the STL-V6, so I have to figure out in which light I can try this emitter :).
You can safely leave them in the gas basically forever, there's no such thing as 'too long'. To test that I have one I left in for more than a month, and took it out every few days and tested it. No change from how it was when the dome first came off after the first few hours.
Hi,
Thanks, yes, I understood that, but as I said above, I’m not too good on the “patience” part. Anyway, it turned out pretty well, only from eye-balling the emitter, but I still need to figure out which light to try it in to be sure :)…
Thanks again comfy…
I like the XPG2 in smaller reflectors . . P60 is a decent way to try it, especially if you have spare parts (which I don’t ).
If you’ve got a smaller light you want to freshen up, give it a try. If you have something C8 sized and other C8s, that would be another good way to see the difference and have some utility with the different LEDs for different needs.
Has anyone tried a dedomed XP-G2 on an A60? I think it would be a good upgrade. 
I did my first de-dome with the gasoline method .
Success !
I took one of the famed Manafont/Ultrafire 3 mode T6 P60 dropins and submerged the emitter in a shallow pool of gasoline while still attached to the pill itself . I made a little rack out of a piece of coathanger wire to keep the emitter from hitting any thing and simply set the pill emitter side down in about 1/4" of fresh gas . This kept the driver from entering the gasoline .
About 24 hours later , the dome had floated off completely with no residue . The adhesive under the star had swelled out around the star so I scraped off the excess . I set the pill aside for another 24 hours to dry it out .
With the original reflector , the beam has really changed . The tint is now quite yellow and it seems as if the tint shift across the beam is greatly reduced . As expected , the profile of the beam is much throwier . It seems to throw about 50 ' further then before . There is less spill , but still enough to be useful .
I just did this as an experiment , for my uses the change to the beam profile was counterproductive , I prefer a floody beam profile . As far as the tint change , I don't believe it renders true colors any better . It sure was an easy mod , though .
This method works great! Thumbs up to those of you who thought this up. :bigsmile:
I didn’t have any gas in the gas can, so MEK was used as a substitute. First I put two cuts across the dome in an “X” shape. Then dropped it in a small container and watched under the microscope as the dome cracked along the incisions and literally popped off in four small pieces. It only took about 30 minutes, then I went back with a sharp x-acto knife to scape away a small amount of leftover residue. I want to try another one, but this time let it sit for awhile longer.
I’m just curious what effect a harsh solvent like MEK will have on the phosphor. From what I understand, just having the phosphor exposed to air will shorten it’s life expectancy. Is there any truth to that?
I did. But the beam was too small to be useful as search light, in the end I reswap with dedomed XM-L anyway.
Oh! 
So its not a good idea then.
Thanx Pulsar13!
Has any one tried to de-dome a nichia 219? If so, what effect on the color did it have.
In regards to ceiling bounce readings being different for different beam shapes, i don’t believe the beam type affects this at all. You can easily test this by performing a ceiling bounce with one light by holding it low down to the ground, creating (relative) flood, and then quickly moving it up to even just an inch from the ceiling, creating an intense spot. If you keep your head turned away from the light and stare at the same part of the floor you should see no change in brightness throughout the full movement.