Little ORB RAW mod ;-)

Hi,

after having so much fun in modding my LionCub I looked for another playground...
I like plain stright lights so I ordered my ORB without the tritium vial because I think it destroys the clear surface.
I was surprised to get the light without the vial but with the milling for it...
Today it was time to mod the ORB to fit my tastes and now both parts of the ORB are having exactly the same diameter from front to end:



While measuring around with the parts I also had a CR123 cell in my hands. I realised that it would be possible to make a CR123 Body for the ORB head which would not need to be thicker but just 8mm longer.
So you know what you will see next from me ;-)

Jochen

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

That is slick /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
But the bezel must now be as thin as a sheet of tin foil??

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Wow. Nice work. Im curious as well, what was the overall thickness change in the outer wall?

Shane

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Wow Jochen, you're doing great work. These mods aren't subtle, they're like night and day.

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Hi,

I did not make the front part thinner but the batterietube thicker. So no problem with thin walls at all ;-)

In the meantime I made the next step, I spun up my lathe again and machined a CR123 batterietube for the ORB:



Nice to see that the CR123 ORB has nearly the same dimensions than a KI. Finally it is 57mm long, just one millimeter longer than the KI, diameters are both 20mm.
And also here no problems with thin walls, they are still 2mm thick.
I did not yet make any runtime tests, but I believe it will perform much better than the CR2 version ;-)

Jochen

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Damn. A CR123 tube with my ORB would be a nice little bonus with the two-stage mod. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Now if only I had a second Orb RAW to mod this way...

Does it affect the brightness any? Battery life's definitely got to be better than 12 minutes, though.

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Thanks for your kind words!

The light produces full power output for 20 minutes. Then the light is very usable for another 20 minutes and it is still on after one and a half hour ;-)

Jochen

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Excellent mod! Put me down for one of those. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Jeff

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Another really great mod Jochen /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

When should you make your first flashlight creation ? I'll first in line /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Awesomely creative.

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Hi,

I am really glad you all like the way I am wasting my sunday time ;-)

Sure I could make a small run of CR123 batterietubes for the ORB, but I believe this will not be possible because of the copyright situation....

But Pascal, you are right.
I am having so much fun at the lathe and am already thinking hard about making a complete light from the scratch.
It will definitively be a CR123 light as big as a CR2 light ;-)
It will for sure have a downturned McR-20 reflector as well as an UCL lens and it will be made completely by hand and not by CNC. As I am loving the KI I will have this in mind for the upcoming design
But I am still very new to flashlights at all and have to learn a lot, especially in LightEngines, before I can start. And I do not yet know if it will be a DD, regulated or even one with a UI.
I also do not know much about anodising or eloxation so the first run will probably be bare Aluminium.

But, as told above, the idea is quite new and I will need some time to get organised to do such work.

Thanks Jochen

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Jochen /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Your creativity seems to be rising every day now ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
bernie

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

I'm not sure what copyright you are worried about - a threaded tube is hard to protect. OTOH, I can't imagine Orb worried about something that would sell more lights...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/takeit.gif

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Yah, I dont think Orb would mind, But, why dont you send them an email and ask. I mean, you're making an aftermarket accessory. As far as i know you don't need any special copywright permission for that. you can just say it's a CR123 tube that "works with" the Orb Raw.

Shane

Re: Little ORB mod ;-)

Hi Jochen,

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

go ahead, the orb raw is so simple, thats why its so beautiful,
but yours seems to be almost nicer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sssh.gif

Cheers
Ralf