Where to find cheap XR-E emitter (no star)

[andersonEE]

DX and Kaidomain have XR-E Q5 on premium star for ~$5 shipped, but I want to do a mag mod and can't find just the plain emitter for under $7. Anyone know where to look?

Thanks

 

[Armed_Forces]

You are apparently unaware that you can remove the emitter from the star. ??


..which begs the question (setting myself up here, lol) why would you be interested in the bare emitter?!

Have you been reading all those techno mumbo jumbo hot rod modded ultimate thrower my flashlight is brighter than yours nonsense threads??? :devil:


Stick with mounted emitters for your first couple mods. You'll save yourself a world of grief and aggravation, not to mention money!

 

[Armed_Forces]

dangit, I forgot to tell you this is in the wrong section!


See that

in the top right corner of your first post?

..hit that and when the dialog box comes up, beg forgiveness for interrupting their friggin' dinner, and ask them (while pleading not to be banned!) to move this thread to the appropriate sub-forum. Swear on your children you'll never do it again and then just lay low for awhile.


Good luck on that mod. :devil:

 

[Lynx_Arc]

DX and Kaidomain have XR-E Q5 on premium star for ~$5 shipped, but I want to do a mag mod and can't find just the plain emitter for under $7. Anyone know where to look?

Thanks

try posting in the marketplace, maybe someone has upgraded something and pulled an XRE Q5 off a light and replaced it with an XP-G R bin emitter.

 

[andersonEE]

I did look around for awhile to try to pick the right sub-forum, but I guess I did not pay close enough attention. Could a moderator please move this thread.

Also, I have done a few mods (2D P7 mag-mod, and other from-scratch flashlights with XR-Es on stars). I also did some research on removing the emitter from the star and from what I read, it is a somewhat difficult procedure that often ends up ruining the emitter anyways. I just figured that if DX could sell the emitter/star for so cheap, it should be possible to get the emitters cheap as well.

 

[Armed_Forces]

Anderson, did you "report post" like I said???

That will get the mods attention. Seriously.

..if you hurry, you can still make it before DM51 wakes up and starts making his rounds!


By getting it moved to the proper section more people will see it and hopefully chime in. This forum is mainly frequented by by actors portraying machinists and wannabe actors looking to get started on whittlin' chips so that they can one day strike it big in a hit TV show. We basically just hang around and spend huge sums of money on ridiculous machinery and tools so that we can post pictures of it on the internet and torment the next ******* so he'll have to take a second mortgage to get that fancy schmancy 5 axis CNC vertical machining center. oo:

 

[Armed_Forces]

Anderson, I don't know what you've read, but you can safely remove the emitter from a star in about 6-7 seconds with a pair of roach clips and a Bic lighter. You smoke don't ya??? ..so simple a caveman could do it!


The "trick" is NOT getting the emitter off the star, the trick is knowing how to properly solder (re-flowing) the emitter onto whatever substrate you have envisioned for this mod. It's much more critical and requires a bit of experience/know-how and something a little more precise that the a fore mentioned technique.

 

[vestureofblood]

Hi anderson,

Not sure how long you have been here but since your post count is still relatively low I would like to extend a formal welcome to CPF .

What exactly is your plan with this bare emitter any way? I use SST emitters bare quite often, but never XRE.

If bare is what you are certain you must have I could remove a few from stars that I have in the shop. Not sure exactly what bin they all are, but they should be good.

 

[precisionworks]

We basically just hang around and spend huge sums of money on ridiculous machinery and tools so that we can post pictures of it on the internet and torment the next ******* so he'll have to take a second mortgage

 

[andersonEE]

@Armed_Forces - Yeah I did report post right away like you suggested. And thanks for the tip. I have a bunch of xr-e on stars around so I'll give it a try tomorrow.

@vestureofblood - Thanks for the offer to help...but I'm going to try it myself. I'm going to do a mag-mod for my dad with one of H22A's Cree heatsinks. I was originally going to go with a P7, but I've done that before so I thought I'd try something new with the xr-e and go for longer runtimes.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I took an xre off a star using a propane torch and vice grips and a flat blade screwdriver. Not necessarily the best way but it worked.

 

[Mr_Light]

My method for removing CREE emitters from stars involves the following:
Clamp a pair of hemostats to the Star (although a SMALL pair of visegrips would work)
Grab the actual emitter with a pair or pliers and hold the star with attached hemostats so that the bottom of the star faces you and the hemostats are parallel to the ground (putting a slight twisting force on the star relative to the emitter)
I now point my heat gun (turned up pretty high) at the bottom of the star and wait for the star and the hemostats to drop off the emitter.
If you don't have a heat gun I suppose you could use a candle and heat the bottom of the star until the star and hemostats/visegrips to drop away.
The key is the slight twisting pull of the attached pliers will pull the star away the second the solder melts, protecting the emitter.

I've done this dozens of times and it works perfectly every time.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Note that you resolder-monkeys should dry out the LED before heating it to remove moisture from under the dome.

Also, the XR-E package can be modified to mount on conductive metal without shorting. Basically, you grind off the corners on the bottom - the little teensy dot on each LED contact pad is the through connection to the bottom pad.

 

[andersonEE]

Thanks Mr_Light. I'm going to try this only using a butane lighter instead of a heat gun. I'll just have to be careful not to damage the emitter with the flame.

For attaching the emitter to it's new heatsink, would it be better to use solder, or Arctic Alumina? I don't care about the electrical isolation, just wondering which would be the preferred method.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Thanks Mr_Light. I'm going to try this only using a butane lighter instead of a heat gun. I'll just have to be careful not to damage the emitter with the flame.

For attaching the emitter to it's new heatsink, would it be better to use solder, or Arctic Alumina? I don't care about the electrical isolation, just wondering which would be the preferred method.

Solder gives better thermal contact, but exact positioning is tricky with it. A thin layer of AA epoxy works quite well. If you leave the bottom contacts intact they can short out on the heatsink. AA isn't thermally conductive, but it's possible to press it out from under the contacts. Take a look at the heatsink and see if the contacts would touch it on their own.

In short, solder is less thermally conductive than aluminum, and AA even less so. But both are far better than the air gaps you're going to have. You want the thinnest layer possible for thermal compound of any type, really. Some people make jigs that press on the metal LED ring with a few pounds of force while the AA dries.

 

[vestureofblood]

Thanks Mr_Light. I'm going to try this only using a butane lighter instead of a heat gun. I'll just have to be careful not to damage the emitter with the flame.

For attaching the emitter to it's new heatsink, would it be better to use solder, or Arctic Alumina? I don't care about the electrical isolation, just wondering which would be the preferred method.

You cant solder it to that heat sink because its aluminum. IMO the best thing to use for thermal conductivity is Arctic Silver 2 part epoxy. Arctic alumina is not bad either, but the conductivity of the ASE is drastically better.


Precision, that picture of the seal is great.

 

[Tally-ho]

Anyone know where to look?

Here is a link to a non-exhaustive list of LEDs suppliers for your further researches:
http://loupiotesaddict.pro-forums.fr/amoureux-de-la-technique-f13/sites-pour-les-bricoleurs-t62.htm

 

[DM51]

..if you hurry, you can still make it before DM51 wakes up

LOL - moving to LED [emitters]

 

[doctaq]

i used a candle warmer to desolder an xr-e from the star, another way to do it is to get the smaller mcpcbs, on dealexteme they have the xr-e p4 on a 16?mm base, you can desolder that with a soldering iron and forceps