Modders care to show off?

[techwg]

Hey there. I was thinking about people who modify their lights, "customize" one might say lol. Who here has modded their light and what did they mod and why. Also could you show a picture of your handy work?

Modding is something I have never done, so I would like to see what other people have done, whether its complicated or simple I do not mind.

 

[Noctis]

I haven't done any mods myself, but I did find one that was very interesting:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=238745

 

[techwg]

Wow. Hope it can take the temperature well enough.

 

[Noctis]

Not likely.

I'm trying to do something similar but not as extreme. I've ordered a Nailbender SST-90 drop-in that will be straight wired with 24 gauge wire in a Surefire 6P host with an IMR 18650.

Hopefully I'll be able to get 5-6 amps out of it and maybe 1300 emitter lumens. With lots of Arctic Silver 5 and enough copper tape to make it a tight fit inside my host, hopefully it'll put out at least 1000 OTF lumens for about 20-30 seconds.

Hardly practical, but it should be pretty fun, and I'd definitely want to get some beamshots of that.

A definite friend impresser...or they'll think you're weird.

 

[techwg]

LMAO very true. I guess something that powerful could be very useful in the right situation though. However 30 seconds does seem pretty thin.

 

[Hill]

Hey there. I was thinking about people who modify their lights, "customize" one might say lol. Who here has modded their light and what did they mod and why. Also could you show a picture of your handy work?

Umm...not to sound sarcastic, but isn't that the purpose of the "Homemade and Modified Flashlights" forum :thinking:? Not every thread has pics and details of mods, but many do. Just hang out and poke around for a while and you'll find plenty of cool and innovative :devil: builds.

 

[dirtech]

Search this site for mods and you can find many great pictoral guides for doing mods and learn a bunch. I knew nothing about soldering, electronics, or LEDs when I got here not that long ago and I've successfully modded a 2D maglite, many P60 dropins, driver and emitter swap in a surefire P60L, and some driver swaps in other random lights. Its not that hard to do some of these basic things and its fun and satisfying.

 

[Fallingwater]

I bought a L-Mini, first generation, from ShiningBeam.
I didn't like the beam, so I removed the Cree XR-E and put a SSC P4 in its place. Then the driver died (it later resuscitated, but I now consider it unreliable), and I replaced it with a 4xAMC7135 two-mode driver. This is how it currently is.
Problem is, AMC buck drivers aren't the best choice for 1x18650 lights, as they only stay in regulation for a short time when the cell is fully charged. This means that they basically act as current limiters for a short while, then the light is direct driven, losing output as the LiIon cell loses charge. But that was the only two-mode driver I found, so I used it anyway.

I just ordered today a fully regulated, 1A-max, selectable-mode driver (you solder to different points to choose how many modes you want; I think I'll keep it in three-mode low-med-high) and a XP-G R5 LED that should go well with the existing lambertian reflector. Both are going in the L-Mini, and should result in quite an awesome flashlight.

Find pictures and more here.

 

[ma_sha1]

Only Novel things interest me, so my best mod is always the one in the ideation stage, hasn't being made.

My next fav. would be those just finished, the freshness hasn't wear off yet:

Nitecore D5 - The smallest piston drive flashlight ever
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...25#post3321725


Got throw? Franken MagDEFT SST-50 >115,000 Lux @ 1 Meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=268894
.

The sig. line has some of my previous work:

 

[F250XLT]

Umm...not to sound sarcastic, but isn't that the purpose of the "Homemade and Modified Flashlights" forum :thinking:? Not every thread has pics and details of mods, but many do. Just hang out and poke around for a while and you'll find plenty of cool and innovative :devil: builds.

Exactly................Every thread in this sub-forum is about modding and customizing lights, start sifting through them and you will definitely find what you are looking for.

 

[darkzero]

You could also start with the entire thread that is linked in my signature. Lots of good stuff in there.

Modified Flashlights Reference DataBase

 

[F250XLT]

You could also start with the entire thread that is linked in my signature. Lots of good stuff in there.

Modified Flashlights Reference DataBase

Gold Mine......

 

[techwg]

Thanks, i'm gonna have a look at that thread.

 

[Fallingwater]

Still, this could be the thread for mods that aren't prestigious enough to go in the database thread.
For example: 3-AAA, 9-LED "20000mcd" direct-driven cheapie from DX turned into a semi-regulated light with a modified 1xAMC7135 board and a 18650 cell...

http://sadpanda.us/images/126125-TRHFDAE.jpg (big pic so no img tag)

Only problem is, adding the board took away precious space from the inside. I could have gotten around this by using a 18500 cell instead, but I only have two and they're very old, and I don't like them much anyway because they lose a lot of capacity for the smaller size. So I just mounted the LED and driver boards further up, which caused the LEDs to protrude from the head.

http://sadpanda.us/images/126126-4L79O91.jpg

I need to put a lens on the LEDs, or they'll eventually get scratched into uselessness.