jamesmyname
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
- Messages
- 63
Hello everyone,
I'm a big fan of the Sipik SK68 AA light and the various clones. For less than $10, it's hard to find a better price to quality ratio. The build quality is decent, it's completely modular, the flood-to-zoom function works decently, and perhaps best of all, it's a real pocket rocket with a 14500 battery.
I started with a Sipik-branded SK68 from DX. I then got a couple more clones, also from DX, then a couple 3-mode versions from Amazon, which happened to be Ultrafire brand. Of these, I'd say the Sipik is the highest quality. Ultrafire is next, and the unbranded ones are noticeably lower-quality; however, all are acceptable and the components are interchangeable between the brands.
Before I get to the mod, here is the light disassembled. You can see the several interchangeable components, including the characteristic plastic aspheric optic. Note that I chose one of the no-name brands for the mod. It's fairly close to the Sipik in quality. I don't know what LED it uses, but they are different. You can't see it here, but under the ridge of the pill, next to the threads, the Sipik has an O-ring. This light does not (the ring you do see is a metal retaining ring for the zoom function). I didn't try disassembling the switch or pill any further.
Ok, so that's the light, and now on to the mod. For this (my second mod ever, by the way), I chose to shorten the battery tube and slightly bore it out to accept a single CR2 3V primary battery. I figured I would get similar performance to the light with a 14500. The key difference is that the CR2 is 3V and the 14500 is a nominal 3.6V. They are both around 750 mah capacity.
I believe it would be possible to further bore the tube out for a CR123 battery, but I wanted to keep it simple and also benefit from the shorter CR2. I don't actually own any CR123 batteries or lights (yet), and I didn't see this as being much different than running it with a 14500. It would only be slightly shorter, after all.
So to perform the mod, the first step is to cut out a section of the battery tube. After disassembling everything, cut off the tube near where the switch would be, taking care not to cut into the threads. I made my cut at about 11mm in from the tail end (measuring with the switch removed). The second cut is easy. I just cut flush with the part where the body becomes thicker for the cooling fins. You'll end up with a section about 22mm long removed. Here is a pic of everything, with a CR2 and regular AA for perspective.
After much filing due to poorly-done hacksaw cuts, I used J-B Weld (the "kwik" version) to attach the two pieces back together. Since J-B Weld is non-conductive, I made sure to leave some of the bare aluminum touching between the two pieces. I also used a cutoff disc to score the two pieces in numerous places for better J-B Weld adhesion. A neat trick was to put the AA battery in the light to make sure the two pieces were perfectly aligned when I clamped everything together. The final result seems like a strong bond, if not a little ugly due to my inexperience with J-B Weld.
Next, I had to bore out the inside of the battery tube to accept the CR2. I wrapped a 1/2" drill bit with electrical tape and chucked it into my drill. I then cut a strip of 220-grit sandpaper about 2.5" long and just wide enough to cover the inside of the tube. I taped this to the drill, making sure I didn't wrap it in the opposite direction of the drill rotation. After going through about 8 strips of sandpaper, I was done. In retrospect, I should have just gone to the store for rougher grit sandpaper, but I used what I had. A glove helps, as this generates a lot of heat. Also, make sure you rotate the tube as you go so your tube doesn't become oval shaped.
That's it! Here is the CR2 version next to an unmodified one, flood and zoom mode. Oh, and I reattached the clip for fun, but it doesn't work very well now.
The CR2 modded light is about 1" or 25mm shorter than the AA version. Overall length in flood mode is just shy of 2 3/4" or about 70mm. I have fairly large hands and when held in an overhand grip, with my fingers wrapped over the light, the length runs from the outside edges of my index to ring fingers. It's actually quite natural to use like this. A cigar grip works ok due to the indent near the tail, but not as well as with the unmodified version. Brightness is close to a 14500, and much better than a 1.5V or 1.2V AA. Yep, it's even more of a pocket rocket now!
In closing, this was a quick and easy mod for an inexperienced modder like myself. The Sipik SK68 is a great light to play around with. Some other options would be:
- shortening / boring for a CR123 (I 'think' it's possible).
- sacrificing a tube to create a 2xAA body (I may try this one).
- removing the extra thickness of the body and adding a simple window lens to create very small, powerful mule.
- and of course, a driver or emitter swap, which should be pretty easy since the light has a removable pill.
In fact, I think I'll make some combination of the above my next modding project. I'm already drooling over the thought of a high-CRI 14500 or CR2 mule. Sorry for the mediocre pictures and all the text, but I hope this is inspiring for you!
- James.
I'm a big fan of the Sipik SK68 AA light and the various clones. For less than $10, it's hard to find a better price to quality ratio. The build quality is decent, it's completely modular, the flood-to-zoom function works decently, and perhaps best of all, it's a real pocket rocket with a 14500 battery.
I started with a Sipik-branded SK68 from DX. I then got a couple more clones, also from DX, then a couple 3-mode versions from Amazon, which happened to be Ultrafire brand. Of these, I'd say the Sipik is the highest quality. Ultrafire is next, and the unbranded ones are noticeably lower-quality; however, all are acceptable and the components are interchangeable between the brands.
Before I get to the mod, here is the light disassembled. You can see the several interchangeable components, including the characteristic plastic aspheric optic. Note that I chose one of the no-name brands for the mod. It's fairly close to the Sipik in quality. I don't know what LED it uses, but they are different. You can't see it here, but under the ridge of the pill, next to the threads, the Sipik has an O-ring. This light does not (the ring you do see is a metal retaining ring for the zoom function). I didn't try disassembling the switch or pill any further.
Ok, so that's the light, and now on to the mod. For this (my second mod ever, by the way), I chose to shorten the battery tube and slightly bore it out to accept a single CR2 3V primary battery. I figured I would get similar performance to the light with a 14500. The key difference is that the CR2 is 3V and the 14500 is a nominal 3.6V. They are both around 750 mah capacity.
I believe it would be possible to further bore the tube out for a CR123 battery, but I wanted to keep it simple and also benefit from the shorter CR2. I don't actually own any CR123 batteries or lights (yet), and I didn't see this as being much different than running it with a 14500. It would only be slightly shorter, after all.
So to perform the mod, the first step is to cut out a section of the battery tube. After disassembling everything, cut off the tube near where the switch would be, taking care not to cut into the threads. I made my cut at about 11mm in from the tail end (measuring with the switch removed). The second cut is easy. I just cut flush with the part where the body becomes thicker for the cooling fins. You'll end up with a section about 22mm long removed. Here is a pic of everything, with a CR2 and regular AA for perspective.
After much filing due to poorly-done hacksaw cuts, I used J-B Weld (the "kwik" version) to attach the two pieces back together. Since J-B Weld is non-conductive, I made sure to leave some of the bare aluminum touching between the two pieces. I also used a cutoff disc to score the two pieces in numerous places for better J-B Weld adhesion. A neat trick was to put the AA battery in the light to make sure the two pieces were perfectly aligned when I clamped everything together. The final result seems like a strong bond, if not a little ugly due to my inexperience with J-B Weld.
Next, I had to bore out the inside of the battery tube to accept the CR2. I wrapped a 1/2" drill bit with electrical tape and chucked it into my drill. I then cut a strip of 220-grit sandpaper about 2.5" long and just wide enough to cover the inside of the tube. I taped this to the drill, making sure I didn't wrap it in the opposite direction of the drill rotation. After going through about 8 strips of sandpaper, I was done. In retrospect, I should have just gone to the store for rougher grit sandpaper, but I used what I had. A glove helps, as this generates a lot of heat. Also, make sure you rotate the tube as you go so your tube doesn't become oval shaped.
That's it! Here is the CR2 version next to an unmodified one, flood and zoom mode. Oh, and I reattached the clip for fun, but it doesn't work very well now.
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In closing, this was a quick and easy mod for an inexperienced modder like myself. The Sipik SK68 is a great light to play around with. Some other options would be:
- shortening / boring for a CR123 (I 'think' it's possible).
- sacrificing a tube to create a 2xAA body (I may try this one).
- removing the extra thickness of the body and adding a simple window lens to create very small, powerful mule.
- and of course, a driver or emitter swap, which should be pretty easy since the light has a removable pill.
In fact, I think I'll make some combination of the above my next modding project. I'm already drooling over the thought of a high-CRI 14500 or CR2 mule. Sorry for the mediocre pictures and all the text, but I hope this is inspiring for you!
- James.
