Project Canceled
I know many more people would enjoy Modding Solitaire if there's an inexpensive light engine small enough to fit. I've only seen one kit ever offered for Solitare through CPF history, that was the Micro-Pill with Luxeon
offered by Lambda back in 2005 for $35: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/71568
After modding many solitaires, one of my most fav. was this one,
that was a "thrower" among my many floody solitaire builds. It was
based on Golden Dragon led: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/248797
I am trying to bring a new offer to CPF, a Solitaire Nano Engine kit based on Golden Dragon. I found a source from Panda land with a Nano Engine that almost fit Solitaire, it's only about 12mm. However, some filling is still needed, as the soli OD is 12mm but ID in the head is around 10.5 mm.
I am hoping to be able to offer it at <20/kit, CANUS Only.
Please post your interests in the thread, but do not PM me, my box is pretty full.
I'll answer all question here in this post, if enough interest, I'll do a pre-order thread.
The kit wil contain:
But I won't have examples & won't be able to help.
Here is an example that I installed a "Sample" kit I received into Solitaire:
The Golden Dragon Nano Engine with Aluminum reflector kit next to the Solitaire head for size reference:
I used a small sanding wheel attached to a drill to sand off the internal thread of the head first, so it'll be easier to go in:
The side of the engine has a circular plate that was glued to the heat sink,
I am referring to the section between the led & the IC Board.
Cut it with a plier & remove it. This will give you some extra room to fit in the head & also reduce filing efforts.
The next steps are fairly straight forward, fill down the reflector diameter, heat sink diameter & the IC board diameter so they all go into the Solitaire head. If you have file, you can do it with some patience. I used sanding wheel first & then finished it with a file. If you over file the board, you may damage it, so be careful & only file off what you need.
I also filed off about 1-2mm from the front of teh reflector to make it shorter.
Next, I cut the Solitaire just above the neck, used a step drill to enlarge the opening just a bit so that an AAA battery will:
1, Go through the opening easily
2, Will extend above the opening so that it can contact the positive center of the board.
After that, I simply inserted the neck into the head & glued them together,
make sure to push hard when you glue it, so when it's done,the rim of the neck is in firm contact with the negative ring of the IC board as seen in the photo above.
Now, the finished light sitting next to three others that I am going to compare the beam with. ITP TI AAA, Peak Shasta 3 LED HP & my 10280 mag Soli. also running Golden Dragon but with narrow optics.
Some of the advantage of this Mod:
1, You don;t need to mod the tail cap, the stock tail cap is now operating as twisty.
2, No soldering needed, only cutting, drilling & grinding are necessary.
3, It'll be a throwy beam with a tight spot, tighter than all my previous Soli. mods.
Beam shot to follow on the next post.
I know many more people would enjoy Modding Solitaire if there's an inexpensive light engine small enough to fit. I've only seen one kit ever offered for Solitare through CPF history, that was the Micro-Pill with Luxeon
offered by Lambda back in 2005 for $35: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/71568
After modding many solitaires, one of my most fav. was this one,
that was a "thrower" among my many floody solitaire builds. It was
based on Golden Dragon led: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/248797
I am trying to bring a new offer to CPF, a Solitaire Nano Engine kit based on Golden Dragon. I found a source from Panda land with a Nano Engine that almost fit Solitaire, it's only about 12mm. However, some filling is still needed, as the soli OD is 12mm but ID in the head is around 10.5 mm.
I am hoping to be able to offer it at <20/kit, CANUS Only.
Please post your interests in the thread, but do not PM me, my box is pretty full.
I'll answer all question here in this post, if enough interest, I'll do a pre-order thread.
The kit wil contain:
- Nano Light Engine with Single mode Boost driver for use with 1AAA regular alk or 1 AAA NiMH, 0.5A constant current regulation.
- Nano Engine will come already mounted with Golden Dragon LED
- An Aluminum Reflector pre-focused to the Golden Dragon light engine.
- There won't be other led options or multimodes, this is it.
- Can not use with 10440.
But I won't have examples & won't be able to help.
Here is an example that I installed a "Sample" kit I received into Solitaire:
The Golden Dragon Nano Engine with Aluminum reflector kit next to the Solitaire head for size reference:
I used a small sanding wheel attached to a drill to sand off the internal thread of the head first, so it'll be easier to go in:
The side of the engine has a circular plate that was glued to the heat sink,
I am referring to the section between the led & the IC Board.
Cut it with a plier & remove it. This will give you some extra room to fit in the head & also reduce filing efforts.
The next steps are fairly straight forward, fill down the reflector diameter, heat sink diameter & the IC board diameter so they all go into the Solitaire head. If you have file, you can do it with some patience. I used sanding wheel first & then finished it with a file. If you over file the board, you may damage it, so be careful & only file off what you need.
I also filed off about 1-2mm from the front of teh reflector to make it shorter.
Next, I cut the Solitaire just above the neck, used a step drill to enlarge the opening just a bit so that an AAA battery will:
1, Go through the opening easily
2, Will extend above the opening so that it can contact the positive center of the board.
After that, I simply inserted the neck into the head & glued them together,
make sure to push hard when you glue it, so when it's done,the rim of the neck is in firm contact with the negative ring of the IC board as seen in the photo above.
Now, the finished light sitting next to three others that I am going to compare the beam with. ITP TI AAA, Peak Shasta 3 LED HP & my 10280 mag Soli. also running Golden Dragon but with narrow optics.
Some of the advantage of this Mod:
1, You don;t need to mod the tail cap, the stock tail cap is now operating as twisty.
2, No soldering needed, only cutting, drilling & grinding are necessary.
3, It'll be a throwy beam with a tight spot, tighter than all my previous Soli. mods.
Beam shot to follow on the next post.
Last edited:
