With all this talk about frosted acrylic, frosted glass and the new composite texturized lenses by FlashlightLens.com, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Here's an easy way for all you incandescent afficianados to dramatically improve the beam quality of your Mag torches in flood and spot mode.
Materials:
1. Small jar of Armour Etch hydrofluoric acid glass etching paste
2. Synthetic bristle paintbrush
3. Rubber gloves
4. Lightbulb
Method:
1. Clean bulb capsule with alcohol to remove oils
2. Brush on a thick layer of Armour Etch
3. Wait 5-7 minutes
4. Wash off acid paste with running water
5. Install bulb in torch
6. Enjoy!
This first picture depicts the improvement in spot mode. On the left is a Mag2C with a KPR112 on 3x123. Bright but very obvious spot artifacts. A bit washed out in this photo but you can see the filament shape, and all sorts of swirls and arcs even tightly focused. On the right is the frosted bulb, a KPR118. The spot is extremely even, blending relatively smoothly from spot to inner spill to outer spill. The closest thing I have that it looks like is a 1W LS through an NX-05 optic. Below is a picture of the Armour Etch ($9.50 from a craft store) and a clear and frosted bulb.
The second picture is of the two lights in medium wide flood. You can see the dramatic improvement in illumination quality. While not quite as efficient a diffuser as the SF holographic diffuser filters, it is still pretty darn effective. The diffused spot looks a different color and dimmer than the clear bulb because the KPR118 bulb is not overdriven like the clear KPR112. I did not have an extra KPR112 on hand to do a direct comparison but it would be closer than what you see here.
At wide flood, the Mag hole is still there, but much softer. Obviously this mod would not work for LEDs but for anyone wanting an easy method to smooth out their incandescent beams, this could be it. While I did not do it (I only have one Borofloat lens) you could also etch a glass lens and achieve pretty much the same effect.
Wilkey
restored 12/21/06
Materials:
1. Small jar of Armour Etch hydrofluoric acid glass etching paste
2. Synthetic bristle paintbrush
3. Rubber gloves
4. Lightbulb
Method:
1. Clean bulb capsule with alcohol to remove oils
2. Brush on a thick layer of Armour Etch
3. Wait 5-7 minutes
4. Wash off acid paste with running water
5. Install bulb in torch
6. Enjoy!
This first picture depicts the improvement in spot mode. On the left is a Mag2C with a KPR112 on 3x123. Bright but very obvious spot artifacts. A bit washed out in this photo but you can see the filament shape, and all sorts of swirls and arcs even tightly focused. On the right is the frosted bulb, a KPR118. The spot is extremely even, blending relatively smoothly from spot to inner spill to outer spill. The closest thing I have that it looks like is a 1W LS through an NX-05 optic. Below is a picture of the Armour Etch ($9.50 from a craft store) and a clear and frosted bulb.
The second picture is of the two lights in medium wide flood. You can see the dramatic improvement in illumination quality. While not quite as efficient a diffuser as the SF holographic diffuser filters, it is still pretty darn effective. The diffused spot looks a different color and dimmer than the clear bulb because the KPR118 bulb is not overdriven like the clear KPR112. I did not have an extra KPR112 on hand to do a direct comparison but it would be closer than what you see here.
At wide flood, the Mag hole is still there, but much softer. Obviously this mod would not work for LEDs but for anyone wanting an easy method to smooth out their incandescent beams, this could be it. While I did not do it (I only have one Borofloat lens) you could also etch a glass lens and achieve pretty much the same effect.
Wilkey
restored 12/21/06
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