Express you interest in parts for Aleph lights.

[kenster]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

Don , that is very cool! :twothumbs But I have been there & done that a while back with this 123 size Ti version which actually now takes a 17500 cell. Uhhhhh, and where did I get the inspirational idea to even try such a thing? Yes, obviously not my single brain cell that thought of it. :green:

Ken

 

[LED Zeppelin]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

I love the Aleph line. IMO it will never go out of fashion.

Count me in for a couple of anything Aleph that is to come.

 

[McGizmo]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

Kenster,

Aside from a few 1x123 packs and clickie tail caps, I have not had a chance to play in the Aleph Ti game. You got me there! :nana: If head material is ignored, I been there and done that too with an Aleph Mule head as well as a SF L1 "dumb" mule head.

When the GDuP becomes available, I do hope to get a few limited production Ti Aleph lights going. The primary thrust though will be in aluminum and if I can support or help Wayne and Cindy in any manner to those ends I will do so. The E series program is so diverse and so many existing components and providers available gives it strength beyond any other platform that I am aware of. The biggest hurdle as Wayne has mentioned is that of economies of scale and identifying items of significant interest where demand will reasonably meet the supply size required in production.

The "x2" converters provided two levels of constant current to the LED and the improved efficiencies here became my primary focus pulling me away from the Aleph series. The rapid developments and changes in LED's seriously undermined the stability of any project that would entail large quantities of parts and the resulting and required longer runtime in the market. As Wayne has stated, the GDuP will now bring the Aleph light engines to state of the art and allow for rapid and reasonable upgrade and evolution of Aleph based heads. We have both felt and discussed that once LED's got past 100 lumens of output it was time to consider the three speed. The time has come and actually been here for a while.

The sample Aleph Mule shown above doesn't enjoy the efficiency on low that the PD mule does but aside from that, the soft and easy momentary activation of low and high is very kind to the user and such a solution will be much easier on the pocket book for anyone already involved in the Aleph/ E series platform. Stick a GDuP LE in there and the Aleph Mule has one leg up on the PD Mule in terms of speeds. Obviously this GDuP is not limited to just a mule either! The XR can is simple and sound in construction, IMHO, and although at present it is host to just the XR MCPCB, there is no reason it can't host a Seoul MCPCB or Rebel MCPCB for that matter. There is all kinds of potential for existing as well as new Aleph heads. Frankly, the prospects are overwhelming!!!

 

[jch79]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

When the GDuP becomes available, I do hope to get a few limited production Ti Aleph lights going.

Very cool, Don!

:thumbsup: john

And yes, I read your entire post... but that sentence stuck out the most!! :nana: :twothumbs

 

[Russki]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

I glad this thread went that far.
I told you, there is demand.
We need supply to building new lights.
P.S. Don new Al Mule head outstanding.:twothumbs

 

[mahoney]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

I would like some more Aleph parts too, particularly the standard tailcap. I don't find the McTC style as comfortable except with a flared body, which is also no longer available.

Once the CNC files are written, I don't see why small runs of pieces (say 50) should be so much more expensive than large runs, is it a plating batch issue with the anodizers? If so would it be more cost effective to offer the items bare? Granted I'd rather have a black tailcap than a bare one, but a bare one's better than none.

 

[starfiretoo]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

:thanks: for starting this thread and all the wonderful input. I too would like to see the S27 from the PD line migrate into the Aleph line. The 27mm reflector is my favorite and the possibility of a rebel tri-lux in the same package is exciting.

I do hope that a supply of Aleph components be made available to us kit builders who do not have the ability to handle the manufacturing aspect of construction.

 

[Russki]

I changed name for thread, since there is so mach input.
Thanks you all.

 

[dat2zip]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

I would like some more Aleph parts too, particularly the standard tailcap. I don't find the McTC style as comfortable except with a flared body, which is also no longer available.

Once the CNC files are written, I don't see why small runs of pieces (say 50) should be so much more expensive than large runs, is it a plating batch issue with the anodizers? If so would it be more cost effective to offer the items bare? Granted I'd rather have a black tailcap than a bare one, but a bare one's better than none.

You are absolutely correct more or less.

Assuming we use the same shop a re-run is less expensive than the initial run. That is a true statement. What can impact the price is the type of shop was used. if we used a high volume shop then the larger the quantity the better the price. Unfortunately, a large volume shop could end up charging a non linear amount as the volume goes down.

On the other hand if we used a smaller shop then the smaller quantities might come out a better price and as volume increased the price might level off and not be as low as a volume shop would be.

This all assumes we would go back to the same shop as before which is probably not the case. If we don't use the same shop then we would pay the one time setup fee to program the CNC over again no matter what the quantity is.

I'm not the mechanical person here, so, this is iffy asking a EE to order metal parts.

We are looking into it and checking prices and whether the original shop is willing to run smaller runs or whether we have to source a new shop all together.

I do know the logistics is not a cut and dry simple formula. There are many factors in this equation.

Any Aleph parts that were run offshore would be a nightmare to work with them again for smaller quantities. I don't know how many times we have had to have offshore redo it to get it right and I'm in no way going down that path for smaller quantities. Even 50 pieces is not worth pulling your hair out.

That for sure means any parts that were run offshore would incur the NRE and setup at a new place locally. I know of one offhand and that would be the A3 head. It was not run here in the states. The batch that we did get some of the heads were not 6061 as they anodized differently and we ended up scrapping those.

I think the realistic focus would be going forward and any parts that have future usage regarding the GDuP or other new drivers would be the most likely candidates for replenishment if any at all.

As it stands we might restock most of everything, but, logistics, financing and risk all need to weighed out and the time/effort to manage handling the machine shop is in many cases not trivial. Questions arise, deliveries get lost, orders fall behind schedule and of course there is always the demise the parts are not to spec and the logistics to have them redo is not only time consuming, but, can add $$$ since it's possible to eat it and pay for it again.

Top that off with having to anodize them after that and you add another variable that could spell disaster if the parts after anodizer no longer fit if the build up is more than spec'd which can easily happen if the anodizers first don't strip/etch down before plating back up the net build up could make the parts a pile of scrap metal.

Wayne

 

[mahoney]

No wonder you're not in a hurry to go through that again. You really need a good local CNC jobshop.

I never imagined any of the parts were made offshore, yes for that only huge orders make sense. And it's a big risk.
It's hard to control quality from so far away. I worked for a clothing manufacturer in the 70s when the offshore boom was just starting. Our QC Dept. regularly rejected whole lots of garments on arrival, sometimes maybe 5 out of 250 would pass QC. I didn't think it was ever going to be proffitable compared to making garments here...but we all know how that turned out.

Stupid question perhaps, but is it necessary to anodize the threads? They are all covered in normal operation. It would mean making up some screw on and screw in masks, but you would save the step of cutting the anodize off the ends of the tubes, and eliminate the risk of dimensional change

 

[Nebula]

Re: Aleph 2 head?

Don and Wayne - oo:, I really enjoy the Aleph line and look forward to its continuation, be it through new runs of the originals or through entirely new iterations. :thumbsup:. Kirk

When the GDuP becomes available, I do hope to get a few limited production Ti Aleph lights going. The primary thrust though will be in aluminum and if I can support or help Wayne and Cindy in any manner to those ends I will do so. The E series program is so diverse and so many existing components and providers available gives it strength beyond any other platform that I am aware of. The biggest hurdle as Wayne has mentioned is that of economies of scale and identifying items of significant interest where demand will reasonably meet the supply size required in production.

The "x2" converters provided two levels of constant current to the LED and the improved efficiencies here became my primary focus pulling me away from the Aleph series. The rapid developments and changes in LED's seriously undermined the stability of any project that would entail large quantities of parts and the resulting and required longer runtime in the market. As Wayne has stated, the GDuP will now bring the Aleph light engines to state of the art and allow for rapid and reasonable upgrade and evolution of Aleph based heads. We have both felt and discussed that once LED's got past 100 lumens of output it was time to consider the three speed. The time has come and actually been here for a while.

The sample Aleph Mule shown above doesn't enjoy the efficiency on low that the PD mule does but aside from that, the soft and easy momentary activation of low and high is very kind to the user and such a solution will be much easier on the pocket book for anyone already involved in the Aleph/ E series platform. Stick a GDuP LE in there and the Aleph Mule has one leg up on the PD Mule in terms of speeds. Obviously this GDuP is not limited to just a mule either! The XR can is simple and sound in construction, IMHO, and although at present it is host to just the XR MCPCB, there is no reason it can't host a Seoul MCPCB or Rebel MCPCB for that matter. There is all kinds of potential for existing as well as new Aleph heads. Frankly, the prospects are overwhelming!!!

 

[dat2zip]

Let's look at the Aleph parts. Assume you want an A2 head. What Light Engine would you use? Are you planning on using a Cree or Seoul as neither of these really fit in the A2. You'd have to shim the Seoul on the standard LE and the Cree is a no go for the A2.

The Cree as well is a no go for the A1 or the A3 head.

Given the above no go would there still be interest in more heads of the current configuration.

Those of you who have posted and have expressed an interest if you could clarify your thoughts in this thread. I'd like to know what your plans are and more importantly how many you are thinking about? 1?

I would be hard pressed to make a run of 50 when there is demand for one.

Where would you like us to invest in? Replenishment of existing stock or moving the Aleph line forward and offer new configurations to take advantage of todays LEDs and drivers?

Thanks,

Wayne

 

[mahoney]

I'd like more standard tailcaps and flared bodies, although only a few of each.

The Aleph 19 is just about perfect with the Cree and would be hard to improve on, I'd be interested in a "mule" head, but having put the Cree in both the McR19 and McR 27XR, yes the 27 is a better beam, but the beam quality to diameter ratio is such that I would not be interested in a McR 27 head for the Cree, others may have a different opinion.

The Aleph 2 is a good head size, and a nice reflector for the Rebel would fit in there. It is also a good fit with the Seoul. Perhaps building on the XR can theme, offering heatsink boards the right thickness to make an LE for the Seoul, Rebel, or whatever new LED comes down the pike would make a run of Aleph 2 heads worthwhile

 

[MorpheusT1]

For me the parts that are most interesting:


Standard Tailcaps
A1 + 27L Head...The New K2 would fit?
A3 K2 LE?

If those wont work with The New leds i dont see a point in making a second run since you need to be an experienced modder to take advantage of them.

Flared bodies 1x123 and 2x123 (Maybe with McGizmo Ti Clips)Atleast threaded for them.Dunno if the Clip will work on the 1x123)

I say bring on the new stuff and do a rerun of the Standard Tailcaps and some of the popular tubes.
Some New addition Aleph heads are welcome aswell



Benny

 

[Russki]

I was under impression that McR20-S can be used in Aleph 2 head,
just like in PD light.
I would be also interested in head using McR-27XR.
The beauty of Aleph series is that parts can be easily replaced or interchanged, and new parts, heads, est. be used in old flashlights.
I am interested in future development of new parts for Aleph.
:laughing:

 

[greenstuffs]

Fair enough too many risks involving in a new Aleph run however I would like to see the 27lt head with 1/2 cell body and mtct in titanium please.

 

[LED Zeppelin]

My personal favorite is the A1 head, but I've bought them whenever they came up for sale and would only order 1 or 2 more.

Of the existing parts, I like Benny's idea of flared 2 cell tubes with tapped clip holes, offered along with mating clips. Again, I have some or made some of them so I'd only take a couple.

A single cell flared tube with a bezel down clip would be awesome as well. This would be a new part and I'd like 3 or 4. Not sure if it would work though, the clip would have to be pretty short. I've bolted clips to the tail for single cell lights and that may be an option, especially if a clicky is used.

The standard Aleph tail is the classic, and will probably sell well if restocked. I'd like a couple more if they become available. How about a couple tapped holes in the shroud of the tail that can accept a clip?

I would advance the line with new offerings that have widespread applications. A 27L head would work with most emmiters so that makes sense. I'd like 2-3 of those, and a couple of mule heads if those are offered.

Even cosmetic changes would generate sales from members who have functionally identical parts (as long as they were improvements).

 

[mfrey]

I'd like to see an A1 or similar head in HA natural tailored to the McR-27XR reflector and the XR-Can.

 

[dcjs]

I also want McR27L-compatible head kits. Heck, I wanted to have an McR27L/1x123/1000mA-light so badly that I modded my Maxlite to accept that reflector and battery!
While this is a killer combination for a pocket rocket, it still is something of a work-around and the head&light engine combination only works on 17500 tubes (bored out Maxlite body) or with a spacer, and I'd much prefer a "regular" head that can be used on different tubes.

In fact I just can't see how any self-respecting flashaholic could not want an McR27L Aleph head. :thinking:

 

[Nake]

I would like some bare aluminum Aleph parts. I see an A19 head is there, need the rest of it. I just got an Al A2 put together and I like it.