un-potting a Hikari JC5607?

My shipment of 'poor man's 1909 bulbs' arrived today. :devil:
Oh, but all was not as it should be...

someone took my perfectly good bulbs and shoved them inside an mr11 glass enclosure with reflector, then sealed up the bottom with plaster.

I've written to the seller as my transaction receipt indicates G4 bi-pin JC type and includes correct image of bi-pin bulb, not this mr11 bulb with reflector I received. But as these bulbs cost less then the shipping, I imagine I'll buy more rather then return these.

The bulb I tested, with a perfectly centered filament, works fine, very bright, brighter then the stock reflector can contain. Powered by 8 depleted duracell 2650's light came through everywhere, barely a hotspot on the ceiling in comparision to the huge pool of light radiating from my hand. So I'm not using these stock, it needs a real reflector to harness the amazing luminosity. Also (mind you this was depleted cells) it overheated the enclosure and the glass turned frosted for ~30 minutes afterwards (you can see it has cleared up in the above pictures)

Any suggestions for un-potting, practical or otherwise, please let me know. I have 10 left to free.

*update - seller has responded with an apology and said he would shipped out the correct order today. That would be a great resolution (2nd set free), I'll wait to see what arrives in the mail.

Further, I was not asked to return the mr11 bulbs. I expect I will have a go at un-potting them later this evening.

Use a Dremel with a cut-off disc installed to carefully grind through the reflector glass that surrounds the base of the bulb.
The potting material can be slowly scraped away from the base of the bulb with the sharp edge of a retractable utility knife's blade.
Always wear eye protection when using a Dremel.

I have been using my 5607 for weeks now, with no problems at all. As a matter of fact, I sent 10 to my Flashaholic buddy in Philippines, and he finally received them after a 19 day wait. H is dying to get off work, and for the sun to go down!

This bulb is rediculous. I just received a FM c head c tail body with extensions and a KT1, so I popped the 1185 in there to directly compare it to my Megalennium 5607 with Softstart. Absolutely NO comparison whatsoever. The 5607 really puts out the 2300 lumens you expect.

Even if you do get the right bulbs, and not the reflectorized version, you will undoubtedly have to deal with filaments that are off-center. Of the 50 JC5607 bulbs I have (40 now, you're welcome Mikey), 14 have filaments that are off-center. that's a big %. Of course, all I had to do was tilt the bulb to the side a little, and the filament was centered.

I'm posting to say thank-you, and I did follow-up with your suggestion. Unfortunately no results yet.
That's some impressive glass. Cut-off wheel didn't go so well yet:
1) lots of debris, a near constant stream of abrasive spewing off the wheel
2) lots of heat, the debris stream was glowing, smoldering hot
3) burned through 1/2 a disk, did not breach the case yet, and may have made it 1/2 way through the first cut to breech the lip.
I was doing this in a bin to contain the debris (it's cold outside so I worked in the downstairs kitchen). I've got thinner cut-off wheels to try (this was a re-inforced wheel with a weeve, may go straight composite b/c its thinner profile). Or I could try the larger "7 cut-off disk on my power drill, it'll be a bit awkard but I'm not breaking out the table saw with cut-off wheel for a t3 bulb...
lastly I might just bag it and smash it. Positioning blocks on either side to stop the platform, I should be able to crush the outer lens without trauma to the bulb.
Sorry, this message was me planning to myself.

jslappa said:

I have been using my 5607 for weeks now, with no problems at all. As a matter of fact, I sent 10 to my Flashaholic buddy in Philippines, and he finally received them after a 19 day wait. H is dying to get off work, and for the sun to go down!

This bulb is rediculous. I just received a FM c head c tail body with extensions and a KT1, so I popped the 1185 in there to directly compare it to my Megalennium 5607 with Softstart. Absolutely NO comparison whatsoever. The 5607 really puts out the 2300 lumens you expect.

Even if you do get the right bulbs, and not the reflectorized version, you will undoubtedly have to deal with filaments that are off-center. Of the 50 JC5607 bulbs I have (40 now, you're welcome Mikey), 14 have filaments that are off-center. that's a big %. Of course, all I had to do was tilt the bulb to the side a little, and the filament was centered.

Click to expand...

some of the bulb that jslappa send have different diamater bi-pin. some of them goes in the MN bi-pin rather smoothly. while some will not budge. BTW. THANKS A LOT FOR THE JC5607!:twothumbs:twothumbs:twothumbs

I put one in a Mag3D that previously is using a 1185 and FM's reflector and 9AAx3D battery carrier.and compare it with another Mag3D with a 1185 in it! all I can says is HOLY SXXT!!! the JC5607 is clearly the winner. No contest for the 1185!

Why not just get one of these: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/160915

They're a little pricey at $29.50, but it seems to be worth it to get the reflector with it. As you said, the reflection is better than from a stock maglite. Plus, by the time you go through 10 lamps, you'll have gotten your money's worth. Who knows, you may like it better than the bi-pin version.

-John

+1.

It's going to be very difficult for get that bulb out I think. And you risk harm to yourself doing it. (Popping the bulb, like a little glass frag grenade. Or glass dust from cutting the reflector).

If you have the right bulbs coming, just wait for those. Keep these Mr11's in your stock for now. Maybe you'll find a use for them, like an Mr11 mag mod, or someone else, who is looking for one.

Let me tell you what I learned from de-potting a number of 200w HI-111 MR-16 bulbs.

Rather than cutting the MR-16 housing, I used a very fine dremel bit to remove the bulk of the potting compound from the bottom and top.

Getting closer to the bulb, I switched to an exacto knife. Through trial and error I learned that running the bulb and heating the potting compound just before further work with the exacto makes it 2X easier to remove. Other external sources of heat may also have the same effect.

With slow and careful precision it took me roughly 10 minutes per bulb. And because of that work I now can use some pretty exotic hotwires.

I hope that helps!

few updates - true to his word the seller shipped me the correct order (no charge) so now I'm well stocked for the Hikari (heh, I also recieved my Litho123 bulbs from early dec. the same day. Wow)

-it's the regular JC5607 so no need for any other socket, it G4 and fits G4

-reason I need to free these for hotwire use is that the enclosure can't take the heat. When I tested it in 8aa m@g the enclosed lens turned cloudy and the reflector frosted over and soon the whole thing would have just been cooking itself ---this was with-out m@g bezel attached just in tailsanding 'candle' configuration.

-I had another shot with a thinner dremmel cut-off wheel and I wasn't happy with all the glowing embers flying off.

What about baking it lens-down to outgas the potting compound?

This could make a pretty decent Polaris build, if the outgassing can be fixed.