Any way to "realign" luxeons in Surefire E2L, L1?

I've received a few Luxeon Surefires with badly aligned LEDs. I heard of some folks managing to realign them...

Is this possible without brutal damage to the flashlight head?

Not sure. The way I aligned my EL1 was by sending it in to SF. They sent me a brand new one.

hmm, I've heard of some folks doing it themselves -- main reason I ask is, after calling Surefire, *every* LED model is backordered for "up to 6 weeks".. whee..

I'm guessing you're talking about the "old style" L1 and KL1 heads. Both have a hex nut at the base. The old KL1 had four ribs along its length. Both used an optic (NX05?) which gave more of a flood pattern than the new optic in the new heads. The new heads have a relatively tight beam which seem to be optimized for throw.

The best advice I ever read was to fill a small pan with water. Put it on the stove, and bring it to a boil. Dunk the head in bezel first, just up to the edge of the bezel ring. Leave it there for about thirty seconds, then pull it out and try to twist off the bezel ring with a rubber glove. I found it helpful to try to quickly dry the head before twisting. Be careful not to get burned. I'm not sure if this works because the heat breaks down the black loctite, or if it's simply because the bezel ring expands from the heat. The expansion might be enough to give you enough play to get the ring off. If you leave it in too long, maybe the whole head heats up and it doesn't work? I dunno...

After you break the loctite, you can usually loosen and tighten the bezel ring at will. Loosen the ring and tap the sides of the light to re-position the optic. Tighten the ring back up. The optic will almost certainly shift while tightening. See if you got it aligned correctly. Repeat ad nauseum. Be careful about repeatedly tightening up the bezel ring. I'm not sure if you're applying undue stress to the Lux emitter. I think the back end of the optic may be supported by the emitter, and I don't know if it's a good idea to keep applying force to it. You might be better off just replacing the optic with a McR-18 reflector, or keep the stock optic but use some kind of diffuser.

None of this applies to the "new style" L1 and KL1. I thought they typically came with fairly good alignment, but maybe I'm wrong. Good luck!

Nope, unfortunately this is a -new- L1, that is quite, quite misaligned. Unfortunate because SF's backorder is to the point where even -they- dont know when they'll get 'em in.

I hear the new L1/KL1 head is quite difficult to open.

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=75894
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1101682&postcount=24
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=121944

In my experience of New KL1, it is really difficult to disassemble the head without any damage. Don't try it. It's a terrible work.

hmm. I wonder how much the misalignment can really diminish the effective output of the thing....

I suppose you take your chances with this stuff....