Masking Tape = Best almost-free temporary to semi permanent diffuser

I know, I'm slow to discover things, but just in case this turns out to be a great discovery (I doubt though) I have to share this!

So I was looking for a home made diffuser for my AAA lights, couldn't find any caps small enough to fit over. saw some masking tape in my bag so just stuck a layer over the light and wala!, best diffused beam ever!, the beam is even more uniform and bright than my stock nitecore filter diffuser. Even with 2 layers it still looks good!.

Pics in Dropbox link, light used was lumintop tool on 10440

https://www.dropbox.com/s/48dm0ha4mbrd1j8/IMAG2865.jpg?dl=0

For a low-power light that's probably okay. I'd be cautious about using it on a high-lumen light. That tape is acting like a filter, keeping the light and heat inside the head of the light. Not an issue on that small light, but on a 1000 lumen output it might overheat the LED.

Not bad for an improvised diffuser. For something more semi-permanant, try DC-Fix - it's a sticky-back film sold as window privacy material. The 'sand' stuff works really well with fairly low losses. It's use has been well documented here on CPF.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

For a low-power light that's probably okay. I'd be cautious about using it on a high-lumen light. That tape is acting like a filter, keeping the light and heat inside the head of the light. Not an issue on that small light, but on a 1000 lumen output it might overheat the LED.

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Unless you're taping up the entire bezel, I would not worry about heat, since you only need to cover the tip as much as a standard diffuser would cover the bezel so I don't see how terribly it will affect heat transference as compared to diffusers that covers similar area of the bezel. unless we're talking about those with diffusers that screw in to the bezel, that would be best as it doesn't impede heat transference.

gravelmonkey said:

Not bad for an improvised diffuser. For something more semi-permanant, try DC-Fix - it's a sticky-back film sold as window privacy material. The 'sand' stuff works really well with fairly low losses. It's use has been well documented here on CPF.

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Yeap I did read about those when trying to find similar topics before posting this thread but no specific mention (that I could find with my noobz search skillz) of masking tape. The plus side is, I'm pretty sure almost everyone would have at least a roll of this stuff at home. Can't beat the almost free factor of this :thumbsup:

Btw, I found a pen cover that fits the light, same colour and material like a bottle cap, but I find that it cuts down light too much.

xzel87 said:

Unless you're taping up the entire bezel, I would not worry about heat, since you only need to cover the tip as much as a standard diffuser would cover the bezel so I don't see how terribly it will affect heat transference as compared to diffusers that covers similar area of the bezel.

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You could be right. My worry is that the masking tape is absorbing much of the light, which is then transferred to heat. With high-power lights, this might heat up the head. But I could be totally off-base with that reasoning. It would be interesting to measure the temperature with and without masking tape (on a high powered light), to see if there's any difference.

If I was going to improvise a diffuser, I'd use something more transparent than masking tape. Like some of that "invisible" scotch tape (which is milky white). I think it would let more light through than masking tape.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

You could be right. My worry is that the masking tape is absorbing much of the light, which is then transferred to heat. With high-power lights, this might heat up the head. But I could be totally off-base with that reasoning. It would be interesting to measure the temperature with and without masking tape (on a high powered light), to see if there's any difference.

If I was going to improvise a diffuser, I'd use something more transparent than masking tape. Like some of that "invisible" scotch tape (which is milky white). I think it would let more light through than masking tape.

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I could see heat being a problem on a small light in a high lumen or even a "turbo" mode. But I would suspect that the glue from the tape would begin to melt and gunk up the light long before the led overheated.

WalkIntoTheLight said:

You could be right. My worry is that the masking tape is absorbing much of the light, which is then transferred to heat. With high-power lights, this might heat up the head. But I could be totally off-base with that reasoning. It would be interesting to measure the temperature with and without masking tape (on a high powered light), to see if there's any difference.

If I was going to improvise a diffuser, I'd use something more transparent than masking tape. Like some of that "invisible" scotch tape (which is milky white). I think it would let more light through than masking tape.

Click to expand...

Well I did try scotchtape, it was too clear to diffuse properly and the light wasn't even. Why don't you try it out yourself with the masking tape, of course don't use hot running lights, but as far as I'm concerned only lights on extended high modes or turbo modes run would ever get THAT hot.

rch02474 said:

I could see heat being a problem on a small light in a high lumen or even a "turbo" mode. But I would suspect that the glue from the tape would begin to melt and gunk up the light long before the led overheated.

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Masking tape doesn't have enough adhesive to begin with, that's why people use it as masking tape, doesn't leave any residues. I could be wrong though, especially under real hot situations :devil:

Don't get me wrong, if the light in question has a stock diffuser or a 3rd party proper diffuser, I would go for it in a heartbeat as this masking tape thing is more like a I-need-to-create-a-flood-light-beam-now! situation.

Besides, if one had the money to purchase high powered lights, it would most definitely come packaged with some sort of diffuser, or the extra price to purchase a filter is minimal compared to cost of light itself

I'm going to do a comparison between stock filter diffuser and masking tape using my MT21A on Turbo, will update with pics.

Surefire has used diffusers for years on their highest output incan flashlights, where all, or most of the heat comes out the front. I've not experienced the high 4-5 + thousand lumen LED flashlights, and heat might be an issue, maybe, but there would certainly be some good heat sinking to handle than kind of power, and again,.most of the heat does not come out the window using an LED flashlight.

Bill

As promised, here are comparison shots between masking tape and NFD25 Nitecore Filter on my MT21A on Turbo.

Camera settings are: 1/25sec, f3.5, ISO100 (that's why pics are kinda dark forgot to manually make it higher, sorry), AWB

Masking Tape


Nitecore NFD25 Filter Diffuser


Cannot be seen clearly in image but the masking tape has an almost 180 degree angle flood beam. I'd guestimate the Nitecore filter to be 165-170 degree flood.

Actual real life image is actually much brighter than in pic.