KL1 mod

Hey all,

I know I've posted a lot on KL1's over the past year and it kind of got to be boring. There's only so much that you can do to them, but I got a special request from someone and just wanted to post it.

A fellow CPFer asked me to mod and strip his KL1. What I mean by "strip" is that he wanted the anodizing removed.

For the specs, it has a TWAJ emitter running at ~700mA with an SO17XA reflector. The finish is bare aluminum. When I got the anodizing off, I was pleasantly surprised by the satin type finish.

Here are the pics:

First the business end.


Now some body shots.




I don't know if you can see it in the pic, but the ethching is still there.

And now for the obligatory beam shot. It was just in my shop bathroom aiming at the ceiling.



On the left is the KL1 running on an E1e body. On the right is a modded KL4 running a Q3J at 1A on an E2e body being fed by a Pila 168S. Surprisingly, the E1e on 1 cell was brighter.

Thanks for looking.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif Tony,
The similar mod you made for me was superb /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif and had been my EDC on an E1e body. I made a cordura belt sheath for it and my phone. I really like the bigger hotpot of the so17xa reflector. The KL1/SWAK/700 gets more use than my stock-KL4/E1.

The KL1 is also brighter compared with another Chop-modded TXOK/L1/so17xa. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
left:L1 // right:KL1


What I lack is that McGizmo McE2s tailcap... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

neg

akula88,

I'm glad to hear it. The KL1 truly is a work horse of lights. Sort of a jack of all trades.

May I know how did you strip the HA off? I have a modded KL1 that needs to be stripped nekkid /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Flashlight,

In order to do a thorough job and avoid damaging anything, you'll need to disassemble the KL1 completely. The lux and circuit must come out for my method. Once you get it apart, soak the parts in a solution of water and lye. I use Red Devil drain cleaner. About two teaspoons in a cup of water does it. I soak for a minute initially. If I need to soak some more, I do it 30 seconds at a time.

You have to be careful because once the anodizing is gone, the solution starts to eat the aluminum.

Yeah I know my first attempt at HA stripping a tailcap ended up like this. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif


Did you scrub it after soaking? How much would you charge to diassemble & strip a modded (by CM) KL1 head?

Cyril,
Pls fill me in /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif, but I thought that you can still get KL1-SG (Satin Grey)? So why the need to go for an HA stripping?

The stripped Surefire doesn't look like SG, it has kind of a bead blasted look to it.

Johnny, he want it in bare aluminium. He want it as rare as possible to show off to us, to make us jealous yet envy at the same time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[ QUOTE ]
albert said:
Johnny, he want it in bare aluminium. He want it as rare as possible to show off to us, to make us jealous yet envy at the same time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif Albert /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif I just like bare AL & not HA /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif You're the one who likes to show off your lights by dangling them without pouches from your pants belt /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif And anyway, it's not that 'rare' as someone already has one & I'm sure a lot of people will be asking Chop to do these for them as they look so nice /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

This's the only way i carry my EDC.



Photo courtesy of Don. (Thanks, buddy.)