Made me a KL4 (sort of) Long w/pics!

[tvodrd]

Thanks to a fellow CPF'r I finally got my hands on a 5W LS- a V3T at that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif . A few weeks ago, I bought my first new Surefire in many years- an E2e. Love the styling, except for the, well, you know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif . Try to picture it in matching or mismatching HA, which it will become after I finish a couple other projects to warrant the $50 Lot minimum charge my anodizer gets me:

I started by breadboarding the Star and a BB750 board from Wayne Y. According to my Fluke, it drew .95A. Next came a 30mm optic from Wayne J, which I turned to .905" dia. and shortened to .425." The beam had a "squareish" corona, but the outer ring artifacts went by by. It was also a very bright white /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .

As thermal management was going to be a big issue, I filed a small aluminum sink to sit on the IC and diode that came to the same height as the inductor on the BadBoy and thermal-epoxied it down. Got some copper bar for the main sink and cut a pocket for the LS and a counterbore for the BadBoy. I lapped the bottom of the emitter and Arctic Alumina-epoxied it down. I also completely potted the BadBoy into the counterbore. (That was after determining its polarity /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .) The sink assembly weighs 33.3g- that's over an ounce of copper.

The front O-ring is from a m*ni m*g (not a standard dash #) In fact, the lens bezel is almost a clone. Bezel and body are 7075 T6. Lens is glass from Otto Frei. The sink is a light press fit into the body. The bezel will be sealed to the body with RTV.

I rubber-banded a thermocouple to the head, put in a new set of SF123s, twisted the tail cap and started the stopwatch. Beginning ambient was 74degF. After 5 minutes was up to 101deg. At 10 min, was 119deg and it felt kinda hot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif so I shut it down.

My first attempt at a beamshot. I unconverted my ancient 9p
(converted from a 6R/6P) back to a 6P and put in fresh SF123s.

This is from 5 feet and the 6P beam looked orange in comparison.

This puppy is definately a keeper!

Larry

 

[moses]

WHOOOOO!!!!!

Wow! Great job. That's some luxeon you've got there... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif


Is it really brighter than the standard 2 cell type Surefires as it seems in the photo? Glad to see your success in this project!

Again, congrats! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Moses

 

[Deviant]

NICE! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
I especially like the copper sink that the emitter is epoxied on. eveything is very neat.
any plans to make a KL5 for the SF 2 cell series? there will more mass for heatsinking. and the most important question: Any plans to makes these available for CPFers? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tvodrd]

Hi Moses,

Thanks! It blows the 6P away! Both lights were on a coffee table 5' from the wall. In use the "squareish" corona doesn't seem to matter.

Larry

 

[tvodrd]

Thanks, Deviant,

I have no aspirations to become a "pro modder." I am lucky enough to have access to the machine shop at work. An occasional "G job" is ok, but no way can I do production. I could make drawings/sketches available if there is enough interest and the pros could take it from there.

Larry

 

[PeterM]

[ QUOTE ]
tvodrd said:
Thanks, Deviant,

I have no aspirations to become a "pro modder." I am lucky enough to have access to the machine shop at work. An occasional "G job" is ok, but no way can I do production. I could make drawings/sketches available if there is enough interest and the pros could take it from there.

Larry

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't need to do production. I only need one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

 

[Y2Kirk1028]

119 deg! Ouch!...great mod tho.


Kirk

 

[CM]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Nice work, Oh the things us low budget modders could do with access to a machine shop. I did a similar mod using a KL1 using a V3T bin (did you get it from Arc?) also. See this post:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB14&Number=132860&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=all&vc=1

I ended up selling it recently to finance an A2. I'm having some regrets doing that since it is a very pocketable light. But my modded Arc LS 5W is slightly smaller and not much dimmer so I kept the Arc and sold the KL1 to some extremely lucky fella. Hope he likes it.

CM

 

[tvodrd]

Hi CM,
Followed that thread! (Me too chicken to take a heat gun to my KL1 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif) Not from arc, fellow CPF'r. This thing is "lumen city."- looking fwd to trying it out against the 9P out in the desert. Its too big for my EDC, but I got other plans in that dept. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif .

Larry

 

[CM]

tvodrd, I really like the use of Wayne's BB in that thing. It's probably more efficient than the buck/boost circuit in the KL1. I hope the KL4, when it comes out, uses a more efficient circuit. Their buck/boost design in the KL1, though very novel, is kinda lacking in the efficiency department.

Which leads naturally to the next topic--runtime graph of your creation?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[moses]

Larry,

Couple more questions:

1. I assume that a .95 amp, the batteries are drawing about par with a normal incandescent surefire? Meaning the batteries should last about 1 hour also?

2. How did you polish the reflector after you cut it down? My interest is just to be able to polish the lens scratches out of my own flashlights after a month of riding in my pockets.


Incidentally as to light temps, were you testing it indoor in a static position? I've found that slight movement of air (i.e. when using in real life walking around) reduced temperatures noticeably when compared to purely static tests. Of course, my tests were for smaller lights so may not apply to a large light like yours.
Thanks!
Mo

 

[JollyRoger]

[ QUOTE ]
CM said:
tvodrd, I really like the use of Wayne's BB in that thing. It's probably more efficient than the buck/boost circuit in the KL1. I hope the KL4, when it comes out, uses a more efficient circuit. Their buck/boost design in the KL1, though very novel, is kinda lacking in the efficiency department.

Which leads naturally to the next topic--runtime graph of your creation?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Wayne's circuit is DEFINITELY more efficient than the KL1. Great job, Wayne!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[belyo]

Please see my "Yet another KL4". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

BB750 and 5w SE (bin#U3V) are used for this MOD. And although a photo equips with the processed reflector of MINIMAG, the processing reflector of SureFire P60 is attached now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[tvodrd]

CM and Moses,

CM, your electronics knowledge greatly exceeds mine, and I will leave anything surface-mount to the pros also.

Looks like I gotta get the (Heuer, mechanical) stopwatch in and run down the 123s (10 min at a time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .)

Moses, no reflector- just the cut down 30mm optic. To polish the optic, I use 600 grit wet sandpaper, followed by 2000 grit (wet) and then commercial plastic polish. The heat test was mostly static in no breeze. At over a hundred degrees, the human hand becomes something of a heatsink!

Larry

 

[tvodrd]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif Nice belyo,
Bet yours is good for more than 10 minutes too. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry

 

[belyo]

Thanks, tvodrd. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Your MOD is very cool. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[tvodrd]

Burn time results.
I stayed up waay past my bedtime last night. Twisted the tailcap, and started the stopwatch, and kept it hand held. It got hot enough that I had to switch hands every couple minutes. I've never ran a BadBoy all the way down before- seems like it falls out of "regulation," I guess it switches directly to Vin. Bottom line is it is capable of continuous duty, though it gets very warm in the process.

At about80- 90 minutes (including the first ten with the
thermocouple) it stopped heating my hands but I didnt notice a decrease in output. Over the next ten minutes the output seemed to decrease slowly. Tonight I turned it on again and the beam is less bright than my Arc AAA LE, but still there "moon mode?"

Beam shot with Arc AAA LE after 113 minutes: (LE is the brighter one)

At over 2 hours, it's still emitting photons /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .

Larry

 

[Nerd]

2 hours!!! woo hoo..

 

[revolvergeek]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif