Modifying CMG Infinity

[Bmccue1964]

I love my Infinity! However, I would like to remove the black paint around front of the light to improve the reflectivity of the LED. In otherwords, create a reflector.

I'm nervouse about sanding the metal around the LED for fear of damaging the LED itself.
However, I can't figure out how to remove the LED from the front portion of the light.

Any suggestions?

 

[Darell]

Those who polish them simply do it around the LED. Those little buggers are pretty tough, just keep the sandpaper off the top of the thing (scratching the side doesn't matter much). BUT - I'll also tell you that I polished both of mine, painstakingly, and really saw no difference in light output. IMHO it really isn't worth the effort to polish the "reflector."

 

[mikep]

I put a small peice of sandpaper in there, making sure the non-scratchy side is toward the LED. I just twisted the paper around with my finger. Once the paint was removed, I polished the reflector by putting a Q-tip in a drill, loading it up with Dremel polishing 'rouge', while protecting the LED with a plastic soda straw.

 

[vcal]

I've got a few different Infinity lights around here, and the color of the LED you ordered will affect whether you get a wide or narrow beam, I've found out. That, in turn will affect my decision whether or not to take 30 min. or so to really polish the reflector.

Basically if the LED has a narrow beam-save your time. Wide beam-definitely polish it (meter measurements on my wide beam ones went up almost 20%)

p.s.-the world's superlative metal polish has to be Flitz!-together with the Q-tip/drill method described in above post, you can make that reflector surface look like new chrome.

 

[Gandalf]

I took the easy, 5 minute route, and simply painted the 'refletor' with glossy white paint. It helps a little.

IMHO, the only CMG that puts out enough relly *useful* light is the turquiose one. I bought a white (nearly useless, except for emergencies) and a green (too much color distortion) before I got the turquoise one. It'd pretty decent, although a pretty poor imitation of an Arc-AAA! That's what I carry and use, now. But the CMG is a very tough light that has it's place. For camping, it's excellent, inside the tent.

 

[Bmccue1964]

The painting route sounds the easiest. Thanks!

BTW, I'm happy with my white infinity. I took it for a walk through the woods (no moon) the other evening and found the output acceptable for walking.

 

[Darell]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bmccue1964:
found the output acceptable for walking.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Be careful if you ever do buy an Arc AAA. It'll scare you!

Oh, and I'd like to put my good word in for Simichrome too. I use Flitz as well, and I can't tell the difference in the two polishes. I just use whatever is nearest.

- Darell

 

[cave dave]

I've considered using that aluminum tape you can buy to repair your muffler. Havn't gotten around to it though. Seems alot easier though.

 

[Darell]

Shoving it in there so it looks good may be tough though. Installing something rectangular (the tape) onto a conical surface isn't as easy as it may seem.

- Darell

 

[Lux Luthor]

Don't waste your time trying to get the LED out from either the front or back. I dissected one a long time ago which you can read about if you go back far enough in the posts. The PCB with inverter and LED on it is epoxied in, and there's no way to get it out without destroying the PCB.

I've found polishing the "reflector" has some small effect. What is really needed here is an ARC AA. I know I would buy one, and I think many other people would too.