XM-L in a M2 bezel.

[brandocommando]

XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

So here are a couple pics of my little project I completed today. Overall I am really happy with how it came out! If anyone out there is interested I can post more detailed pictures and info of what was done, (basically a LOT of filing and sanding by hand.)

One question I had about this that hopefully someone will answer for me is, the way this ended up sitting the led is positioned just a little bit behind the reflector (you can sort of see the recess in the pic.)
What I was wondering is... Is that going to kill my overall output on this really bad or what? It is daylight still as I type but I am really looking forward to testing this bad boy out later tonight...

BTW... the XM-L (pill) is a 3 mode Nailbender 2.8A, that I pulled out of my p60 dropin from him and put in this new reflector.

This was my first ever flashlight "mod"... fun stuff!

 

[badtziscool]

That looks awesome! Where did you source the reflector? I was thinking about doing something similar with my m2 head but I didn't know where to get a reflector that would fill up the head.

 

[brandocommando]

The reflector I used for this project can be seen HERE. They are 2 for $6.00. As stated before, I had to file the crap out of the reflector. You need to be very paitent to do this. A dremel would probabally be a better bet, but I am in the middle of moving and could not find my dremel bits, so I just started in on it by hand. I used a vise and a half round file for most of the filing I did. I just kept filing more and more, until the reflector finally sat deep enough inside the bezel for the lens and bezel ring to fit. I also had to cut the back end of the reflector off, because the threads were the wrong pitch, and the pill would not screw in all the way forward otherwise. I removed the foam and a couple of retaining rings out of the M2, and I am only using the bezel, the lense, and the front retaining ring here. The M2 bezel itself was not modified in any way, and could be returned back to 100% stock configuration.
Also, there is no o-ring between the lense and reflector on mine. I could probabally file the reflector down some more and get it to sit deeper in the bezel if I wanted to fit one in there.
I bored the body out on this setup myself also, and there is no retaining ring/battery lip up front to stop the battery. The battery sits a little more forward than usual due to the length of the reflector. Therefore the tailcap spring did not make a connection when I assembled this light at first, so I am currently running a thin magnet on the back of the battery, and it works great.

Here are a couple more pics of the reflectors.

The 2 side by side (before and after.)

Keep filing until the reflector drops down about this far...

I had to cut the bottom of the reflector about here.

Here is an extreme close up of my wonderful filing job.

And here is how the whole thing goes together.

This project came out pretty good IMHO. I had no idea if this was going to work or not, but considering the reflectors are only 3 bucks apiece I ordered them just to play with. The fit is actually really good on the modified reflector and it is very solid and does not rattle at all once it is all assembled. Also, the reflector will only fit into the front of the bezel, so it needs to be put all together and then screwed onto the body (you can see a pic of the complete bezel/reflector/led assembly in the first post.)

 

[badtziscool]

Awesome write up man! Inspiration level 9!

 

[special_dx]

Just spotted this thread - I bet that is bright, nice work. I am really interested to know how you got on once it went dark.


By coincidence I bought the same reflectors to evaluate for my own M2/XM-L conversion a few weeks ago. I am lucky in that I have a small lathe and a limited supply of virgin copper bar. I came up with an idea to remove the larger bezel ring on my M2 without too much damage - I used a cheap adjustable 3-point watch case opener, the type for cases with screw in backs.

I also have a Cutter 32mm triple XM-L and matching narrow angle optic, but unfortunately it is slightly too big for the M2, I am thinking I might try to make a head for it with a taskled driver to fit straight on a Moddoolar cell tube. I am trying to work out if I can make a large copper pill that forms most of the head with a screw on aluminium or stainless portion to retain and seal the optic. The difficult part is locating the driver - maybe a Sandwich Shoppe product will fit.

Maybe I should get on with the M2 first - baby steps!

 

[brandocommando]

The flashlight performed very well actually. Throw was improved quite a bit, even though it was in an OP reflector. A smooth reflector would have been my first choice for this, but I could only find these OP ones that had suitable dimensions for the M2 bezel project.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

The flashlight performed very well actually. Throw was improved quite a bit, even though it was in an OP reflector. A smooth reflector would have been my first choice for this, but I could only find these OP ones that had suitable dimensions for the M2 bezel project.

Thanks for the great write up! And thanks to badtziscool for pointing me to this thread!

I just slapped a new M2 bezel with crenelated ring from Oveready on my Z2 and have been looking for a way to use a larger reflector to take advantage of all that otherwise wasted space. Oveready already did the hard part of removing the stock bezel ring so Im a step ahead there. I was really hoping that I would find an already (or Oveready) produced solution... Like a reflector that would screw into any typical P60 pill but I guess there isnt a demand for such a thing? It just seems that there is an awful lot of light wasted when using a typical P60 dropin with the LED adapter ring in place... Im no modder, but I will give this a shot. Thanks!

 

[brandocommando]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

UPDATE: I have long since sold that M2 bezel, (not really my style.)

But, I did keep the modded reflector shown above...

Low and behold, it dropped right into my new FM COOLY, and fits perfectly! (still no O-ring though.):shakehead

For a COOLY mod, I'd bet that you would only need to remove the top lip area off of this reflector. Originally I removed a lot of side material, because of fit requirements with the M2. With the COOLY, there is a lot more room inside the head. You would still need to cut some of the threads off of the end though. Because a standard pill does not screw in far enough due to the threads being a different pitch.

I still have the second brand new reflector that I have not done anything to yet. I will pull it out of my parts box and see what I can come up with. I found my Dremel bits too!! Hopefully the next one will look a bit nicer...

Added: Just came in from running this around in the back yard, and throw is improved considerably. I was comparing it with another XM-L in a standard P60 size reflector.

Both were driven @ 2.8A, and both were OP reflectors. This larger reflector produces a much more defined (and smaller) hot spot, and throws noticeably further.

I really, really, like this set-up.:thumbsup:

 

[Rat]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

Thanks for the heads up I will have to give one of these ago. If only somebody could come up with the same thing for the M3 head "I hate the foam"

cheers

 

[brandocommando]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

Thanks, I highly recommend it!
The COOLY looks awesome with that big reflector in there, it is hard to capture the depth in the pics. It is almost like it was made for it you know??? The hotspot is much smaller, and the throw is WAY better.
It's impressive, and a great match for the XM-L.

I will be taking the Dremel to the other spare one I have tomorrow, and will put up some more pics.

 

[brandocommando]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

OK here is the official update...

To do this for a COOLY it is basically the same as with the original mod. I took off just the outer lip, and while this allows the reflector to fit, it did not go deep enough. I had to start in removing some of the sidewall material. It fits great, but I still do not have an O-ring in the assembly. I could maybe get the O-ring in there, (same as before,) but I do not want to remove too much material. This was my last one of these reflectors and I did not want to ruin it.

**The O-ring that comes with this host is pretty thick. If I were able to source a thinner one, I could do an O-ring with this no problem... I am able to get the O-ring in here as it is, but the retaining ring does not screw in very far. I didn't like it sticking out, so because I don't plan on submerging the COOLY anytime soon, I just left it out for now.**

These reflectors are only 3 bucks each, so I will probabally just order a few more. I find the quality to be pretty good on them. Once again, HERE is where I order these from. You have to order 2 at a time, which is good because then you have a spare in case you goof up.

I ended up doing the majority of the work on my new bench grinder this time. It went fairly fast, but this is an all metal reflector and it gets hot!

I did do a few things a little differently this time...

Here is the reflector after I cut the threaded part down. Notice how there is no dimple in there like a normal P60 reflector...

Because of this, I trimmed the lip off of the XM-L pill as shown here. I did this to get the LED as far forward into the reflector as possible. If you choose to do this, make sure you don't damage the dome or the leads.

Here is the finished product, after I removed a bunch of material from the top end.

It sits in the COOLY this far at this point.

AND YOU"RE DONE!

I will try to get some beamshots up for you guys soon...

 

[Rat]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

Cheers I just ordered four. Wish there was a smooth version.

thx

 

[brandocommando]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

Cheers I just ordered four. Wish there was a smooth version.

thx

Cool, post some pics when it's done please, I want to check it out! I wish there was a smooth version as well!

I decided to redo the beamshots that were here because the U2 XM-L that I was using had a terrible green tint! I am now using (2) 4.2A XM-L's to compare the difference the "commando mod" makes. One is a smooth P60 reflector, and the other is my modified COOLY reflector.

The COOLY is on the left, and as you can see, even against a smooth reflector (on the right,) it produces a tighter hotspot. Outside, it a noticeable difference...
These results would be the same in an M2, because it is essentially the exact same mod!

Here you can see my 2 test subjects, (notice how much bigger the reflector in the COOLY is!)

Thanks for looking!

 

[Rat]

Re: XM-L in a M2 bezel, or COOLY!

Thanks for the pics. I will let you konw how I go with the COMMANDO MOD.
Not sure on the size of the cooly but a standard black platic bezel ring of a C2 fits the FM beefy fine it might fit the cooly and give you a little more room for the o'ring.

cheers