McR27XR - Aluminium dust.

[easilyled]

When I fired up the light that I put my new McR27XR from the Shoppe in,
I noticed that the reflector didn't have the usual "clean appearance"
but rather a "fuzzy" appearance reminiscent of when I've trimmed
reflectors but haven't cleaned the aluminium dust blown in from trimming
or sanding.

I then speculated that this may be because this reflector is a trimmed down
version of the McR27L.

With the advent of so many off-shoot reflectors for Cree and Seoul led's,
maybe rather than building new reflectors for these sizes from scratch,
existing reflectors are trimmed.

However there should be QC in place to make sure that the end-result
is clean otherwise the amount of reflected light will be impaired.

 

[McGizmo]

easilyled,

The McR-27XR that you got from the shoppe came from the factory that way. It was not a cut down version of another. I did some builds myself with cut down reflectors but did not provide any of these to the shoppe. There is definitely a Q/C issue with these reflectors on ocassion and I would guess that in most you can see some type of fiber or contamination in the surface, somewhere. I have mentioned this to the factory and will bring it up again. These reflectors are made off shore and I would not be surprised to find that their environment is well shy of ideal and dust free. This factory took over making the original McR27 and the original vendor which was state side had a better Q/C in terms of dust in the surface but in doing some reflectivity testing, it was clear that the new vendor was providing a reflector that had better transmission. The point was moot as the original vendor elected to tripple the price on me and obviously didn't want my business!

I have come to accept the flaws in these reflectors as well as flaws in other parts I get made. If I were to take too close a look at the parts I could easily reject the majority at times. This would get expensive and frustrating and could easily lead to not bothering with the stuff at all. :shrug: I know of no alternate for reflector vendor and they have been very receptive to my small orders and constant changes in design. I am a very small fish here.

With that qualification, I admit that there is a level of QC that needs to be maintained and I will ask the vendor to please "clean up their act"

Now there is dust on the surface of these reflectors that has got there after plating and it can be removed with air. Your description sounds like a contamination after plating. I blow off every reflector I use before installing it. The 27's don't come wrapped in tissue so they are more prone to dust and lint exposure than the other reflectors.

Bottom line, these parts are not flawless and do need to be cleaned in many cases. I will bring this issue up again with the vendor and perhaps we will see an improvement. Your speculation of the part being reworked and not properly cleaned at this end is very likely wrong but I can't say for a certainty that it is.

 

[easilyled]

Don,

Thanks for taking the time to reply so comprehensively.

The only reason why I commented on this particular reflector is that
for the vast majority of the time the reflectors are very clean and
free of any kind of dust when they arrive.

This one stood out in comparison and I thought it might
be worth bringing it to the attention of those who commission/order them
in case its a problem with that line of reflector.