Rothrandir
Flashaholic
user swappable luxeons is an idea i've had for a looong time. i first concieved of the idea and implentation well over a year ago. after designing it and beginning to machine it, i concieved of a better method, and decided to abandon the swappable idea for the first light (now known as the d-lux)
in addition to interchangable luxeons, i wanted to make interchangable converters also. i considered ways to do this, but none of them were very doable with my resources. i talked with jtice, who was interested in the idea, and we decided that it was possible, using minimag innards.
the luxeon is placed directly onto the heatsink, inside a donut-shaped ring, which provides electrical power to the leads, and holds them in place.
the luxeon itself is held in place by the pressure of the optic, which keeps it firmly against the heatsink/body for good thermal contact.
the converter system consists of 2 parts of a minimag switch assembly. the bottom (the part found inside the minimag) acts as an outlet for the top (the part that snaps onto the top of a minimag), which is used to deliver contact. the 2 prongs hold the system in place, and keep it from rotating
the outlet portion is on a spring system, and when the converter module (a converter inside an ecan, with the minimag top on top) is placed in, it protrudes out, so that when the body is screwed in, it maintains good electrical contact as the spring contracts.
the optic (either nx05 or frean, nx01 or mcflood should work also...) is held in place by a threaded retaining ring, which keeps firm pressure along the oring to make it waterproof, and keeps the optic perfectly centered.
this system seems to work quite well, but i've got better ideas as well, which i unfortunatly don't have the means to impliment /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
here is a shot of the top, where the luxeon goes. the grey stuff in the middle is arctic silver compound.
note that it is imprinted with a + and a -, to indicate polarity.
here it is with a luxeon (5w cyan in this case, but i think it's actually blue /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif)
note how the solder forms to the leads of the luxeon. this was done by using tape to mask the bottom, and blobbing on as much solder as i could, then lathing it off. you can se that i accidentally bumped one of the solder corners with my iron, and unsmoothed it out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
an oring goes over the lead area to make sure they are in good contact.
here is the retaining nut. it's made out of white delrin, and will eventually get a couple coats of glowpowder for cool effect /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
(note the threads are a little dirty...)
here it is with a (dirty) frean lp optic inside. i generally prefer nx05, but the frean does a better job with 5watters (which is the only emitter i have right now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif )
there is the retaining system in action.
here is the converter module, but as you can see, it's not a converter inside /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
i don't have any converters right now, so i made a dd one.
you can see that it's sticking out quite a bit. when you screw it onto the body (surefire, mclux, or custom), the spring contracts, and it goes on quite flush /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
here is a shot at the top of the module.
i apologize for the blurry picture.
here is the inside of the converter system. you can see that it's a minimag plug, with the tabs establishing electrical connection. the spring system is underneath this part.
here is the head on the e2e body.
here is the whole thing on an e2e body (notice the gap is larger with an nx05 than with a frean)
here is a shot down the bezel. the optic is dirty, so it doesn't look all that good, i need to get some new optics...
the lens is a custom ucl lens, from www.flashlightlens /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
and here's proof that my crazy ideas work! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
and here it is on an e2e, running a cyan (blue?) 5w with a directdrive module on 2-123's.
interchangable luxeons, converters, optics, lenses, and bodies... is that modular or what?
in addition to interchangable luxeons, i wanted to make interchangable converters also. i considered ways to do this, but none of them were very doable with my resources. i talked with jtice, who was interested in the idea, and we decided that it was possible, using minimag innards.
the luxeon is placed directly onto the heatsink, inside a donut-shaped ring, which provides electrical power to the leads, and holds them in place.
the luxeon itself is held in place by the pressure of the optic, which keeps it firmly against the heatsink/body for good thermal contact.
the converter system consists of 2 parts of a minimag switch assembly. the bottom (the part found inside the minimag) acts as an outlet for the top (the part that snaps onto the top of a minimag), which is used to deliver contact. the 2 prongs hold the system in place, and keep it from rotating
the outlet portion is on a spring system, and when the converter module (a converter inside an ecan, with the minimag top on top) is placed in, it protrudes out, so that when the body is screwed in, it maintains good electrical contact as the spring contracts.
the optic (either nx05 or frean, nx01 or mcflood should work also...) is held in place by a threaded retaining ring, which keeps firm pressure along the oring to make it waterproof, and keeps the optic perfectly centered.
this system seems to work quite well, but i've got better ideas as well, which i unfortunatly don't have the means to impliment /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
here is a shot of the top, where the luxeon goes. the grey stuff in the middle is arctic silver compound.
note that it is imprinted with a + and a -, to indicate polarity.
here it is with a luxeon (5w cyan in this case, but i think it's actually blue /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif)
note how the solder forms to the leads of the luxeon. this was done by using tape to mask the bottom, and blobbing on as much solder as i could, then lathing it off. you can se that i accidentally bumped one of the solder corners with my iron, and unsmoothed it out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
an oring goes over the lead area to make sure they are in good contact.
here is the retaining nut. it's made out of white delrin, and will eventually get a couple coats of glowpowder for cool effect /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
(note the threads are a little dirty...)
here it is with a (dirty) frean lp optic inside. i generally prefer nx05, but the frean does a better job with 5watters (which is the only emitter i have right now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif )
there is the retaining system in action.
here is the converter module, but as you can see, it's not a converter inside /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
i don't have any converters right now, so i made a dd one.
you can see that it's sticking out quite a bit. when you screw it onto the body (surefire, mclux, or custom), the spring contracts, and it goes on quite flush /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
here is a shot at the top of the module.
i apologize for the blurry picture.
here is the inside of the converter system. you can see that it's a minimag plug, with the tabs establishing electrical connection. the spring system is underneath this part.
here is the head on the e2e body.
here is the whole thing on an e2e body (notice the gap is larger with an nx05 than with a frean)
here is a shot down the bezel. the optic is dirty, so it doesn't look all that good, i need to get some new optics...
the lens is a custom ucl lens, from www.flashlightlens /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
and here's proof that my crazy ideas work! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
and here it is on an e2e, running a cyan (blue?) 5w with a directdrive module on 2-123's.
interchangable luxeons, converters, optics, lenses, and bodies... is that modular or what?
