Heads for Umbilical torches - No tools

demonic69

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Hi All.
I was just wondering if there are any decent heads knocking around for umbilical torches, maybe from DX etc? Ideally empty heads that can be populated with Pill, driver, LED. Even cheap heads that can be pillaged/upgraded.
I don't really have access to the tools required to mod mags etc, though I may have enough to drill and tap for an agro gland.

Cheers
 

Packhorse

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Cut the switch section out of the handle with a hacksaw, glued the handle into the head with JB weld or the like.
Put in over sized Orings and a thicker lens plus a MR16 halogen. But you can buy custom made LED heat sinks for C and D sized mags these days.
 

sharkbite

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Matey...

I have been toying with the idea of getting one of these:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/diving...ht-kit-2-18650-4-cr123a-4-16340-29069?item=16

....bit hard to describe since DX seems to have removed pictures from their products...

but ..... you can unscrew the head and the tailcap....

if the head and the tailcap have the same thread, you could pretty well make a tool-free head out of that...
or you could use a suitable piece of pvc plumbing to do the job....

these lights are pretty good for the price - making it into a canlight would mean you could make one
with an increased burn time (they only burn for just over an hour in standard trim)

I have one - but can't tell you if the head and tail are the same thread, as the head is on so tight i can't unscrew it :-(
 

demonic69

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That sounds like a plan Packhorse. I'm assuming you just drill and tap the back end for a cable gland? I've got a new switch idea in mind so I don't need to worry about a collar or anything.
I was actually looking at similar torches a while back Sharkbite. That looks like it would work great if you could get a cable gland to fit.
I can see the images on DX fine though, including the one with the body and tailcap separated from the head. I reckon you'd just need to apply some heat to break the bonds of the threadlock.

I'm quite surprised no industrious member of CPF has started machining simple heads, I reckon there would be a very high demand for them and can't imagine them costing more than around £30 if you had access to the tools and could produce several in one go, I may be way off though.
 

demonic69

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This from DX may also be a perfect candidate, the threads look very similar and there are plenty of Orings
135409
 

Klem

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Maglite heads are the go for simplicity. Plenty of ideas to be found on previous threads.

CPF members do machine heads for sale. Packhorse is one of them.
 

Packhorse

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Yeah there are plenty of us here on CPF who offer either complete custom light heads or modified heads.

While the mag is a favourite the W300 is IMHO a better option. Its slightly narrower but has a really good deep smooth reflector.

I have a few completed heads here for sale. a MCE based one and a SST-90 one.
 

sharkbite

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As it happens, i am working on a tool-free head made out of a non-diving SSC P7 flashlight -
the one i have only drives the P7 to just over 1A so it significantly underdriven.

will post pics when its finished, but the idea is to remove the driver circiut, beef up the heatsinking capability
by putting thermal grease on the driver pill threads, directly soldering the umbilical cable to the driver pill,
putting a gland on the tailcap to act as a strain relief, and filling the battery compartment with potting epoxy so it cant leak.
(note this renders the unit unservicable as well)

i am yet to work out how to improve the water sealing of the lens end.

i plan to get a 2800ma driver and house that in the battery canister since it will be too big to fit in the head.

cannister is made of 50mm australian PVC drain pipe.
 

Klem

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Canister torch made from 50mm Aussie drain pipe;
4XMLcanisteropen.jpg


Only trouble is it requires machining work on a lathe.

Same size torch without separate canister and press-fit head w' O rings (using 50mm PVC pipe). Concept torch so only went for one dive;
LightSabresmall.jpg
UpdateSabre1.jpg

Decided to glue the head to the pipe and put the access port at the back using standard 50mm fittings but with a machined O ringed plug. Normal 50mm joins have only one O ring and not designed for diving pressures, so I can vouch it will work with normal fittings, until one dive when it doesnt!
SabreMkIIa.jpg



35W HID using 50mm drainpipe, no machining this time;
IMGP4071-1.jpg


Two smaller torches using 50mm PVC pipe, again no machining. Be careful however if using the supplied single O ring in standard 50mm fittings. The one on the right needed opening with an auto air filter clamp after a dive. For some reason the dive made it a tighter fit. I swapped the normal O ring for a larger one. Both torches worked until I gave the left-hand one to a mate, who then showed me a couple of dives later it had flooded. Might have been the design, or might have been user-error.
sizecomparison.jpg


The 50mm Pipeworks fine against water pressure.
 
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sharkbite

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Nicely done Klem!

I have a triple-t6 module that i am itching to put in a head - only it seems that the heat-conducting path is a long way from the
driver and LED's (heat has to go all the way up the reflector)
what happens is the metal of the head is only warm, when the LED end could fry an egg...

does the maglite solution have some direct contact with the pointy end of the module
so that the heat conduction path to the water is shorter?

cheers,
 

sharkbite

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Klem - i solved the threaded-inspection-cap leaking problem thus:

the o-ring that comes with the cap is too small and too hard - it will move inside the
cap and won't seal properly....tightening doesn't help as you just can't get it off without a monkey wrench.

Solved by buying a thicker o-ring made of nitrile - 3mm thick, i think,
but large enough so that it can't be removed from the cap without cutting it...

no leaks so far on my 10W video light.

i have a triple t6 module that i would like to put in a head...
what worries me about it is that the heat has to travel all the way up the reflector
before it comes close to water....
how is the heat conducted away from the pointy end of the module in your maglite solution?


cheers,
 
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demonic69

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I'm wondering if the bulk of the cheap diving lights have a similar thread where the body attaches to the head, those that will unscrew. If so a simple screw in plug, threaded for an Agro and sealed either with Orings or sealant, would be fairly easy, for someone with the right tools, to mass produce out of alu or even delrin/ABS.
 

Klem

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Klem - i solved the threaded-inspection-cap leaking problem thus:

how is the heat conducted away from the pointy end of the module in your maglite solution?

,

The top torches use a solid lump of machined aluminium heat-sink that fits the inside the head tightly. Thermal grease fills whatever surface does not mate on a macroscopic level and I assume when the sink heats up it expands for an even better seal/path to the outside. You don't need much surface area to the surrounding water but you do need an efficient path from your emitters. The top torches use 4*XML at 3A each (42watts). You can't use these torches on High outside water for more than a few seconds. Underwater they are fine.
4xml.jpg


The smaller bottom torches use two types of drop in's. One from Terralux that needs no machining (TLE-300, 12Watts), while the other is a '1200lumen' 5*XR-E from DX. It's more like 900lumens when you factor the inneficiency of the driver but it's a great thrower for 16watts. You need to machine both the drop-in and the inside of a Maglite head to make it fit and guarantee a thermal path. The details of the machining needed to fit it into the head found here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?307610-1200-Lumen-2D-Maglite-Mod

I've tinkered with those DX 3*XML drop-in heads. I find them floody and the driver underpowers them. If you want their full 1,000lumen/emitter potential you will need to change out the driver for a more powerful one. This is what the inside looks like...
XMLdriver.jpg
 
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sharkbite

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Dude -

This is a truly machineless head - an old MTE SSC P7 with the original driver removed and replaced with a 2800mA unit.
The gland fits nicely into the hole from the (removed) clicky switch. Note it is only there for strain relief - the barrel
of the head is filled with potting epoxy.

The business end of the standard torch is too hard to seal from dive pressure, so i plan to find a suitably sized plastic
cap of some description, place that over it and fill the gaps with silicon. pics of that to follow...



2316631360055225526S600x600Q85.jpg


2823382280055225526S600x600Q85.jpg



2725632330055225526S600x600Q85.jpg


BTW - thanks Klem for the "cutaway" photo! - that tells me there is little difference with heat conduction paths as long
as it is solidly mated up the business end - which i can do without tools on the (non-maglite el cheapo k-mart sourced) head that i have.
Agree that the t6 head will be floody and underdriven- but that is actually what i want - so all good.
The handy thing is the triple t6 will burn for more than an hour on a (less than $30) 2.2ah SLA and will stomp on any halogen light less than 50 watts....
 
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350xfire

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Hey Pack, what size orings do you use to replace the stock ones on the W300? I may try one out... Of course those are $45 vs a $16 Maglite...
 
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Packhorse

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The stock Orings are fine as far as size goes. Although I think I did change one out behind the lens because it just seemed to be the wrong diameter.
They are the softer O rings that ultrafire seem to use. And they do seem to be poor quality so I swapped them out for 70 duro ones.
 
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