AvroArrow
Enlightened
This is my first completed mod (I started an O-sink one earlier, but am waiting for a couple of LDO regulars to finish it off). It's nothing really new per se, but I found that during my research to build this that pics really help out newbies like me a LOT. This is basically just like KevinL's Mag3X mod (where I got the idea from), except instead of using a 3C Mag, I'm using a 3D Mag, which I learned changes the recipe a fair bit.
First, you can't use SO20XAs since they're too tall, nor can you use Stars for the same reason, and you can't use a thick aluminum heatsink for the same reason again because there is a lot less depth in the D head. So what I ended up using was a 3/16" thick copper heatsink made by b2eze, 3 emitters, 3 Fraen optics, 3 SO17XA reflectors. I used the thinner copper disc because although aluminum dissipates heat faster, copper transfers heat even faster (that's why high end CPU (80-100watt applications) heatsinks are all made from copper instead of aluminum).
I first cleaned the copper disc with 99% isopropyl alcohol. As you can see on the tip of the Q-Tip, that was probably a good idea.
Next are the ingredients, all purchased and shipped very quickly from PhotonFanatic.
Next I seated the emitters upside down in the ingenious polycarbonate spacer disc provided by b2eze for perfect 120 degree spacing and applied a thin layer of Arctic Alumina Epoxy onto the metal slug of the emitters after cleaning them off with alcohol too.
Then I placed the copper disc on top of the assembly and clamped it together to allow the epoxy to set for a couple hours.
After letting the epoxy cure, I screwed in the PR base adaptor and proceeded to wire up the whole thing. Excuse the cruddy soldering job, soldering is not my forte.
Next is some test fitting of the Fraen optics and SO17XA reflectors.
Fraen
SO17XA
As you can tell from the pics, I was really worried that the SO17XA setup wouldn't work because it was sticking up a fair bit, and when I first tried to screw down the bezel, it wouldn't screw down all the way. So I just tried harder /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif , and when I finally screwed it all the way down, the polycarbonate lense bulged out a bit, but it worked. After trying them both out, I prefer the beam characteristics of the SO17XA. It had a smaller and tighter hotspot, with clearly defined sidespill. Very similar to a QIII, but bigger and brighter obviously. And you don't notice the 3 separate beam patterns until about 1ft away from the wall. The Fraen setup gave a noticably bigger hotspot, but less defined, and the sidespill kinda just tapered off from the hotspot. I'd post some beamshots, but I'm still trying to figure out good manual settings for my Canon A80. I can't seem to capture the light quite right. So if anyone has some tips on photographing beam shots with Canon digicams, please feel free to advise me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Hope this is helpful for another newbie like me in their build.
First, you can't use SO20XAs since they're too tall, nor can you use Stars for the same reason, and you can't use a thick aluminum heatsink for the same reason again because there is a lot less depth in the D head. So what I ended up using was a 3/16" thick copper heatsink made by b2eze, 3 emitters, 3 Fraen optics, 3 SO17XA reflectors. I used the thinner copper disc because although aluminum dissipates heat faster, copper transfers heat even faster (that's why high end CPU (80-100watt applications) heatsinks are all made from copper instead of aluminum).
I first cleaned the copper disc with 99% isopropyl alcohol. As you can see on the tip of the Q-Tip, that was probably a good idea.
Next are the ingredients, all purchased and shipped very quickly from PhotonFanatic.
Next I seated the emitters upside down in the ingenious polycarbonate spacer disc provided by b2eze for perfect 120 degree spacing and applied a thin layer of Arctic Alumina Epoxy onto the metal slug of the emitters after cleaning them off with alcohol too.
Then I placed the copper disc on top of the assembly and clamped it together to allow the epoxy to set for a couple hours.
After letting the epoxy cure, I screwed in the PR base adaptor and proceeded to wire up the whole thing. Excuse the cruddy soldering job, soldering is not my forte.
Next is some test fitting of the Fraen optics and SO17XA reflectors.
Fraen
SO17XA
As you can tell from the pics, I was really worried that the SO17XA setup wouldn't work because it was sticking up a fair bit, and when I first tried to screw down the bezel, it wouldn't screw down all the way. So I just tried harder /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif , and when I finally screwed it all the way down, the polycarbonate lense bulged out a bit, but it worked. After trying them both out, I prefer the beam characteristics of the SO17XA. It had a smaller and tighter hotspot, with clearly defined sidespill. Very similar to a QIII, but bigger and brighter obviously. And you don't notice the 3 separate beam patterns until about 1ft away from the wall. The Fraen setup gave a noticably bigger hotspot, but less defined, and the sidespill kinda just tapered off from the hotspot. I'd post some beamshots, but I'm still trying to figure out good manual settings for my Canon A80. I can't seem to capture the light quite right. So if anyone has some tips on photographing beam shots with Canon digicams, please feel free to advise me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Hope this is helpful for another newbie like me in their build.