Originally posted by whiskypapa3:
Bud LIGHT?? Surely a true modder would be drinking a nice light ale poured into a Bud Light can. Now that's a mod!!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Ok, you caught me; there was some AmberBock involved.
First, not every IL SE made will be this bright. This one (mine) is using an unknown BIN Luxeon brighter than Q2H. This is the last of the first SE Luxeons I received, from the same bunch that registered over 5000 Lux in a Cyclops mod.
Not all bad news though, other SEs are reading 350 to 500+ Lux depending on their disposition. Also, remember light meters measure peak readings taken at a point. So, all readings are higher before the reflector gets its rework. Smoothing the beam means taking some of the bright blotches and blending them into the dark blotches to come up with a smooth beam (averaging the light output). So a light with an unmodified reflector may get readings in the high 700+ Lux (measured at a bright blob) but after smoothing may only give readings around 450 Lux. So the amount of "smoothing" employed will affect peak readings; same amount of light output, just spread out more.
Krylon sputered dimpled reflector modification - this works quite well, but be warned, it is a one way trip for your reflector and can not be undone.
Krylon sputtering involves using the clear Krylon acrylic spray to lightly coat the reflector surface with splotches to form a dimpled surface. It is important to note that we are not painting the surface with an even coat. That only results in a blurry picture of the beam artifacts. We want a speckeled or blotchy appearance.
This photo shows what a sputtered reflector on the left looks like compared to an untouched one on the right. Notice the difference in the reflected light between the two. The one on the left has a textured look compared to the smooth mirror surface on the right. These are full size Mag reflectors used in the photo as I couldn't get the camera to show anything using the smaller Brinkmann AA reflectors.
I've built several of these units to date. While this one certainly has the highest readings, swapping reflectors between them also chages the peak readings. So its a matter of how much smoothing is employed and which reflector is used with which SE Luxeon.
Some SE Luxeons/reflectors need more smoothing than others and therefore will measure lower. The actual visible difference when using the lights is minimal.
So, while this process is still new, still being worked with, it has had great results and shows future promise.
I'll post the sputtering process for those interested as soon as I figure out how to explain all the things that can impact the results.
And, for those of you that asked to buy, thank you, but this is more of a sneak peek at what's to come after the Holidays are over. Much work needs to be done in controlling the sputtering process to acheive consistent results. I've had the luxory of having several hundred Brinkmann AA reflectors to experiment on, so I've charged ahead with no fear, but need to get some control methods in place for consistency and optimizing output vs. smoothness.
