SureFire KL6 Luminus SST-50 Mod

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darkzero

darkzero

Flashaholic* ,
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
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If you have ever opened up a KL6 head you will know that these must be the easiest SF heads to open, unscrew three screws & you're in. You will also know that the large head is deceiving as it does not have a very good design for heatsinking but then again for what it was configured for it was perfectly fine.

The heatsink is very thin, very similar to the U2's heatsink, & only makes contact to the head where the three mounting screws are. I filled in the head a bit for more contact area & added a copper slug (thanks to wquiles who supplied the copper which I also passed the generosity on to the owner).

Hope the owner enjoys!


-SureFire KL6
-Luminus PhlatLight SST-50
-Shining Beam 3 level 8xAMC7135 driver
-Max 2.8A, Med 720ma, low 80ma


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I originally planned on using a modified Tri-FLuPIC wired in parallel which did not work out the way I had hoped. I modified the Tri-FLuPIC using 15 400ma regulators which gave well over 6A on high but it could not handle the heat & the PIC started to act funny. Really wish this would have worked.

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I hope a more suitable high power driver will be available soon so I may persue this head again if the owner is willing to do so.

Thanks for looking!
 
:faint: soldering all those additional chips looks like a nightmare

great build DZ :thumbsup:
 
DZ,

Is this the original pill found in a SF KL6?
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Sorry, I don't know anything about SureFires, but this in not the quality soldering job or construction I would have expected for a premium flashlight. What a HUGE improvement in your design, and the added copper heatsink. Now that's the quality I would have expected originally. Beautiful work as always!
 
DZ,

Beautiful mod! I love the custom heatsink. I'm tinkering with custom HS myself, but with only simple hand tools (hacksaw, drill, file, dremel), it's a nightmare. They never come out clean and smooth, but it keeps me busy and the results are functional.

Thanks again for sharing!!

Hill
 
Nice mod Will! :goodjob: :thumbsup:

Did you get the SST-50 from Fred?
 
:clap: :twothumbs :party:

Looks great, Will. I can't wait to add her to my KL6 herd, which already includes an X-Bin, a K2 TFFC, and a Diamond Dragon. This one should be the strongest of the bunch. I love that reflector!

:thanks:
 
Thanks fellas!


Aircraft800 said:
DZ,

Is this the original pill found in a SF KL6?

Sorry, I don't know anything about SureFires, but this in not the quality soldering job or construction I would have expected for a premium flashlight. What a HUGE improvement in your design, and the added copper heatsink. Now that's the quality I would have expected originally. Beautiful work as always!
Click to expand...


Yes it is. Actually I don't see anything wrong here. Nothing wrong with the soldering job IMO. Sure it may not look "pretty" as some may expect but I see no reason for SF to make the extra effort to make it look "pretty", especially on any production light. As long as it's a good solder joint & it functions as intended, that's all that matters. The everyday user will never even see the soldering.


Icarus said:
Nice mod Will! :goodjob: :thumbsup:

Did you get the SST-50 from Fred?
Click to expand...

Hello Freddy. :wave:

Yes this particluar one I purchased from Fred.
 
Wow! She just arrived, Will, and is most impressive. I rushed it together, and hit the wall with it. It came on in low, I stepped it up to high, and my jaw hit the floor!

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I didn't even have to compare it to my other KL6 builds, or my other SST-50 lights. It's brighter, and more perfectly focused than any of them, hands down. One of the other SST-50s is a 3000K High CRI D36 drop-in measured at 500 lumens out the front, and this thing is substantially brighter.

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Fantastic build, Will. Unless we can figure out a way around the driver problem and insufficient heat sinking, this may be the 'best and brightest' upgrade for the KL6. The only other build with a beam quality near this is the Milky Diamond Dragon, but it's not even close in brightness.

:thanks:
 
Awesome, great to hear & see Donn! :twothumbs If you run it continuously on max for a while you'll see that it actually heatsinks pretty well & you should have no issues running it on max for a period of time.

This is my first experience with a KL6 & you are right, it's got an awsome reflector that I really like as well. I'm happy it works so well with the SST-50.

Hope a better driver become available so we can really pump more power to that SST-50. :grin2:

Love how that light looks, that oring you added at the tail really finishes it off too!


Here's how she looked during the stay with me.

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