Talk about PERSISTENCE… but I guess a lot of us have “been there”. Good job, ouchy!
Nice result! This gives me hope for all my unfinished stuff. :bigsmile:
Thanks comfy. I’ll have to check what kind of measurements this thing has. I also have to ponder on how I’m going to approach this thing. From here, it’s all logistics.
Clear the trace right up next to the emitter, then cut the remaining trace so the pads are not connected. Wire it inside the hole in the reflector, in other words, the wires will show in the reflector. I did this with an SBT-70 in a HD2010.
The MT-G2 might work better in that HID reflector, remember that it's a lot of little dies, not a point source at all. Parabolic reflectors are very floody with the MT-G2 so this one might actually let it have a hot spot and some throw.
That’s what I’ve been thinking about. I can’t decide whether to grind down the Noctigon, or widen the hole in the reflector. I’m a kitchen table modder, so I don’t have much in the way of tools. I figure that if I botch the reflector…I’m done. If I botch a Noctigon…I’ve got lots more.
In my mind, I was thinking on stacking one or two sanded down Noctigons to give it height. The reflector focuses, so if it’s a bit too high I can lower the emitter by twisting the head. Everything will have to be measured and mounted perfectly so the reflector can spin around the mounted Noctigons without rubbing.
This is not going to be a rush job. Most of it will be squinting and scrutinizing.
I put the 20mm Noctigon on top of a 20mm Comex after sanding the mask off the Comex. I hear ya, and if you can fit it in there without messing with the reflector I'd do that too. Just make sure the reflector isn't spinning on top of the silicone that sits flat on the substrate, it'll end up messing up the dome.
Those little silvery packages the die comes in? I cut a square into a piece of that to fit over the emitter like a centering ring, use it to make sure the reflector doesn't touch the pads. Makes a nice thin insulating disc. ;)
Actually, I want the reflector to be spinning around the outside of the entire Noctigon. Basically the stacked Noctigons would be up inside the reflector. It’s all just theoretical at this point.
You need to mount the LED on a temporary pillar, and poke it up into the reflector and see how it behaves and if there is a 'best' focal point and how far up that point is. Only after you know where that point is will you know if/how much of the reflector needs to be chopped off the bottom, and if that amount of cut will enlarge the hole enough to fit completely over the 20mm star.
Might take some work to make that happen but will almost guarantee you'll be pleased with it in the end.
The LED doesn't have to be driven hard enough to need real heatsinking, you can stick it on a wood dowel and drop it in from the front, it doesn't have to go in from the backside. Power it with something that'll light it up but not drive it hard, like two CR123s.
Thanks guys.
My brain is starting to hurt. I’ll do more pondering tomorrow.
What are the dimensions of the reflector?
like my first mod…the burned part.
The problem as I see it, is that HID doesn't rely on heat sinking. I guess the heat must just transfer out of the bulb like incandescent.
There is no heavy heat transfer area that moves the heat to dispersal fins. It is no more than a thin battery extension tube. There will be no where for the heat to go except the length of the thin battery tube. It will be hot to hold, and will heat up the cells as well.
Near the top, the tube is machined a bit thinner with a thin ridge that was left to retain the bulb retainer. Therefore, there will be a gap between a pill sleeve and the tube.
I'm also worried that a tight pressed in pill like Comfy's could distort the thin tube and affect the tubes ability to thread back into the head. This is not a heavy built light.
I'm just thinking out loud here. This may be a long mod.
I'm also wondering if an MTG may put out more heat than this host can handle. I'm worried about the cells being locked inside an oven. An XML would probably make this mod a lot easier, but the end result could be average.
I think I'll take the tube to Home Depot and play around in the plumbing section.
After all that discussion you’re going to look for a thermal management solution in the plumbing section? Like some thin copper pipe? :~
I guess it’s not as unique or anything, but a heatsink in the style of the H22A or BriteLumens maglite heatsinks seems like it would get the job done better than anything else. They are slip-fit.
Both of those guys use machined columns. To avoid that you could do a press-fit column. On this forum Bucket has shown press-fitting a copper core and then turning the whole heatsink down in order to make a column. I’d say you could attempt to do a press-fit column and just leave some sticking out the end (start with a taller column than heatsink).
If you do anything to cool down an incandescent bulb, it will get dimmer. That's why they have heat insulators inside instead of heat conductors.
I went to Home Depot today and picked up some odds and ends. (sorry wight)
Part of this fixture had possibilities, so I hacksawed it in half.
Whatever I'm going to do, I need a smooth even interior to start with.
Nope. It's a tad to big to fit.
I forgot to take a picture of my last step, which was to use the cutting disc on my dremel and cut a lengthwise line through the fixture creating a small gap, hoping that would be enough to force it in.
I didn't think it would work. It just wasn't going in. I was pounding on it with a hammer on a two by four. I finally made a hash mark on the side, and saw I was slowly making progress.
I was at the point of no return, so I kept flailing away until it was all the way in.
The biggest relief was when the head threaded back on with no side effects. I was afraid of distorting the tube.
You can see where the lengthwise cut has rejoined itself.
This is never coming out. It's as good as being an integral part of the tube As you can get. Now I have a smooth interior to work with that is also solderable.
What exactly I'm going to do next...I'm not sure. Baby steps. I have some ideas, but they change from minute to minute.
nicely done