Help the newbie

[nfetterly]

Nice thread! I helped another newbie (KellyGlanzer) about a week or two ago jump into McGizmos, he was looking for a LS20 & LS27.

Brian1911, I highly recommend the PD style lights from Don - only available now used. If you want more lumens than the older LEDs emit then there are several folks here on CPF that will upgrade the LEDs.

Although I must admit my Haiku XR-E has earned it's place in regular rotation.

 

[Brian1911]

You have to teach me abbreviations before using them. :confused:

PD?

So it is possible to upgrade the LED in these lights some day down the road when they become brighter etc? I am sure by then I will be buying whole new lights that are built. :twothumbs

Once again I thank all you guys who helped me here. There are too many names to list but I do appreciate all the time put into this thread and hope others come along and learn from it as well.

Pretty soon I will be seeing what all the fuss is about, I cant wait!

 

[Henk_Lu]

PD = Piston Drive

They are neither twisty nor clickies or both in one light, as you want it.

The light has a piston inside and on the board you have a positive contact and a kilroy (that's how Don calls a u-wire for contact). At the tail the piston looks like a Clicky, if you push it gently, the battery inside it makes contact and the light goes on low. If you push harder, the light will go on high and if you release the piston if will shut off again.

You can also turn the head like a twisty and the light will first come on Low, further on at high. If the light is on low, you can push the piston to get a momentary high.

The concept is ingenious, Nitecore used it later on for their EX10 and D10 with some electronic features, Don held it KISS. I have several of those lights now, the most unusual are the LS20/27, the LunaSols, which have 3/6 little LEDs (3mm?) around the reflector for Low and one big LED in the middle for High (all LEDs shine on High). Perform a search for them...

Be carefull, it always begins with one light, you'll want more and they are expensive. McGizmos are highly addictive and I fear it's already too late for you!!! :broke:

EDIT : As for upgrading, it is always possible to swap the LED and you'll find a few talented modders who'l do it even on a McGizmo. That's your choice, I'm personnally not (yet) a fan of it, at least not for custom lights. I have sent a light back to Don though with a problem, he'll fix it and I wouldn't mind an upgrade on that specific one. All my other McGizmos will stay as they are, my philosophy is to keep them as the artist designed them. As time goes by, newer and better LEDs appear however and if Don built the same lights today, he'd surely use a newer (better) emitter, a serious modder can do that for you and in terms of usability a good light will become even better.

 

[run4jc]

I will have to find out what sort of scotch brite and rouge works. I know there is different kinds out there but where do you find the stuff?

Scotch Brite, rouge, soapy water - everything works, but I keep this stuff around for cleaning and polishing metal and it leaves a nice shine and a protective layer - WENOL

It's amazing the amount of black oxidization it removes when you clean with just a dab of this stuff. A tube will last forever. On 'cleaning day' I'll take my Thorpe wrench ( see you followed the link to Amazong ;)) - remove the clips, and shine 'em up with the Wenol.

OCD? Probably. Care for my stuff? Definitely!

:twothumbs

 

[tino_ale]

[...]I have a set of Thorp wrenches but my set of Hudy are better. They are just amazing but expensive.[...]

When you mentionned having $300+ in hight quality RC wrench I immediately thought you must have HUDY. Same here. They last forever.

I have the HUDY standard hex set, the 1/16" tip fits perfectly.

Thorp have excellent tips too but are less "luxury" tools and don't have replacable tips AFAIK

One also needs to learn not to overtighten screws and some clearly have a problem with that among the RC crowd

 

[Brian1911]

To think a year ago I was making fun of you guys being on here talking about lights.

I need a light now that can be for home that will be stupid bright and light up the little punks who lite bottle rockets off at night. My Surefire E2DL did pretty good but I know Mcgizmo can do better. Lets see, whats next?

Is there a pill I can take to stop this?:shakehead

 

[run4jc]

Is there a pill I can take to stop this?:shakehead

I sure hope not!! lovecpf :twothumbs :crazy: :crackup: :grouphug: :party:

 

[McGizmo]

Off topic a bit but I purchased a Hudy set of drivers a couple years ago and was impressed with the machining of them and the fit of the actual drivers, but.....

There is no size indication on the ones I have and ironically the 1/16" driver had issues of the shaft spinning in the handle when I would use it! Yeah, use another driver to tighten the set screw that holds the drive shaft in place.

The Thorpe has the retro look of a large plastic handle but I do find it more comfortable in my hand and it doesn't spin! :nana:

 

[Brian1911]

Got the light, very cool.

Ok, so how do I use the switch to go back and forth between low/mid/high? I noticed with light presses before it clicks it will switch around but it seems to come back on where you left it last not always back to high.

Also I noticed a couple little things I wanted to ask about. The lens being sapphire I assume it is normal to see crystal looking lines through it when it is on. Lastly does it matter if the LED is slightly not center in the reflector? I think the only reason this is noticeable is because the reflector funnels down to a small hole making it more obvious to focus on the LED to where as my Ra Clicky has a rather large opening in the reflector. Actually looking at the Clicky I think its about the same its just harder to tell since the space is much bigger where its LED sits.

Thanks guys.

Now I have to wait until dark. :twothumbs This things looks darn sweet. Since its so space age looking it looks as if it should do more so i think I am going to come up with a story about it.

 

[ninemm]

To get it to switch back between the levels you can lightly depress the switch in quick succession. Once you get the level you want fully click and it will then remember that level after you have turned it off. Hope that makes sense. :)

 

[Brian1911]

To get it to switch back between the levels you can lightly depress the switch in quick succession. Once you get the level you want fully click and it will then remember that level after you have turned it off. Hope that makes sense. :)

Ok, got it. So I need to be sure and leave it on high so it comes back to that all the time.

Any input on the 2 other things I mentioned?

 

[ninemm]

Ok, got it. So I need to be sure and leave it on high so it comes back to that all the time.

Any input on the 2 other things I mentioned?

My Haiku XRE is at home...so I'm not sure about the lines you're describing in/on the lens. In regards to the possibility that the led is slightly off center, that shouldn't matter much as long as the hot spot (center of the beam) is centered. Shine the light on a wall and if you can't see any off-centeredness then you should be fine. Even if you could, in actual use it would matter very little. (I think: I'm not an expert or senior member so take my thoughts/comments with a grain of salt)

 

[McGizmo]

Brian1911,

The converter was designed and programed to remember the last level selected and come on in that level. The sapphire windows are not as clear as the borofloat or other glass windows typically used in flashlights. I don't know if it is flaws or occlusions or what it is in the crystal but you can see some glow and flares for want of a better term. This is really noticeable now in the Makai window which is 3 mm thick and in front of a larger and more collimating reflector.

There is a limit to how far off center the LED can be relative to the reflector but there is no tight, hard centering mate between the two so the LED can be somewhat off center from the reflector. When I assemble the head, I do the best I can to seat the reflector down and centered but there are other forces resident in the assembly that can override my good intentions. :o

 

[Brian1911]

Its all good. I bit my lip and with a little finesse I centered the LED perfectly. It was several minutes of light finger pressure to move the reflector one way or another.

The Sapphire is actually pretty cool looking. I can just see a few lines in it at just the right angle. It sort of what you would imagine a crystal to look like and since it is mineral that makes perfect sense.

So the cool thing about sapphire is it doesnt scratch but gives up some clarity?

Thanks for the reply.

PS amazing ship times. Ordered Friday and to me on Monday in California. :twothumbs

PSS

The wife was told that this was a give away from Toyota being that I just bought her the car, lol. I figured as soon as it enters her head that I bought a expensive toy I had best pull out the reminder she got the new car 2 months ago. :) Sad part is that toys come to my house weekly I run out of excuses.

 

[McGizmo]

.....

So the cool thing about sapphire is it doesnt scratch but gives up some clarity?

......

Not only is sapphire very difficult to scratch, it won't chip easily or break because of some unseen chip at the edge. It can also stand up to much greater external pressure than typical window glass. You do sacrifice some in transmission losses.

 

[Henk_Lu]

Its all good. I bit my lip and with a little finesse I centered the LED perfectly. It was several minutes of light finger pressure to move the reflector one way or another.

The Sapphire is actually pretty cool looking. I can just see a few lines in it at just the right angle. It sort of what you would imagine a crystal to look like and since it is mineral that makes perfect sense.

How did you do that, to center that LED?m Have you removed the light engine and "moved" the reflector from below? :thinking:

My McGizmos have all clear sapphires to my eyes, but I have one of an HDS that has like a line of fine vertical scratches going through the lens. As you describe it, they can only be seen well at the right angle. That way I'd always recognize my light among a dozen of the same built! :D

 

[Brian1911]

How did you do that, to center that LED?m Have you removed the light engine and "moved" the reflector from below? :thinking:

My McGizmos have all clear sapphires to my eyes, but I have one of an HDS that has like a line of fine vertical scratches going through the lens. As you describe it, they can only be seen well at the right angle. That way I'd always recognize my light among a dozen of the same built! :D

Yeah the reflector from the bottom side has wiggle room due to being surrounded by O rings so just some finger pressure back and forth to settle it did the job.

The sapphire looks perfectly clear head on but with the light on and held at odd angles you see strips of crystal looking lines. The lines arent scratches they are thick bands the width of the lens.

I got to play with the light last night and it is darn cool. It doesnt throw as much as my HDS but almost. The cool thing is that it lights up an area entirely that can be more useful for some things. Even on Mid I can actually use the light it puts out to walk the lawn and see things instead of a focused ball of light just in the center. So far I love it and realize each light serves a slightly different purpose.

 

[Henk_Lu]

Yeah the reflector from the bottom side has wiggle room due to being surrounded by O rings so just some finger pressure back and forth to settle it did the job.

The sapphire looks perfectly clear head on but with the light on and held at odd angles you see strips of crystal looking lines. The lines arent scratches they are thick bands the width of the lens.

I got to play with the light last night and it is darn cool. It doesnt throw as much as my HDS but almost. The cool thing is that it lights up an area entirely that can be more useful for some things. Even on Mid I can actually use the light it puts out to walk the lawn and see things instead of a focused ball of light just in the center. So far I love it and realize each light serves a slightly different purpose.

I wouldn't dare to take the light engine out, I remember Don told me... that it's not so easy, I don't remember any details.

Your description of the sapphire suits what I see on my lens, I have no idea how those "lines" appear, must happen during the process when the sapphire builds up. If I have the choice, I always preffer sapphire to any glass and that just because it is sapphire! Don's lenses have only coating on one side, which I also preffer as I managed to rub off the exterior coating on a HDS twice already. I wonder why you need the hardest and toughest lens if you apply a sensible coating (on the outside)?

The Haiku is the most universal light compared to the HDS, wide and narrow beam. It has just the best beam I can imagine out of an XP-G and it is very bright. I'm waiting for the 2-cell Makai now, that's the thrower from McGizmo, I'm sure I'll love that as much as my Haikus. If you own these two lights, you have more or less everything you'll ever need. The SunDrop may join, as it is a very special light and a Sapphire to hang around your keys is nice as well of course... :poke:

 

[fyrstormer]

The light engine just unscrews. Nothing to be afraid of. As for centering it, as Don said, there's a physical limit to how crooked the reflector can be, so you're not going to damage the LED against the edge of the reflector hole even if it's not centered perfectly.

Brian, not only is the sapphire lense hard to scratch, but it's a single crystal and strong enough to withstand hitting a rock if you drop the light on gravel. Considering how indestructible the rest of the casing is, and considering how easy it is to scratch the reflector inside, it's well worth the 5% opaqueness to keep the fragile parts as safe as possible.

On the off-chance you do crack a lense, replacements are available from either Don or The Sandwich Shoppe, so it's a pretty safe bet there will be replacements available for the foreseeable future.

(of course, I'm paranoid, so I bought replacements ahead of time. :devil:)

 

[McGizmo]

The light engine just unscrews. Nothing to be afraid of. ...

Yes, nothing to fear but you do need to be sure you don't loose the small O-ring that seats between the reflector and LED. If you hold the head upside down the O-ring should remain in the cup on the backside of the reflector.