XR-E Q-3

The Q is one of my favorite lights, and my EDC for the past 18 months.

The driver is bone stock, and the reflector mod is very straight forward. I also made a new heatsink. The stock lead wires are not long enough, so I replaced them with some teflon coated wires.

Here are the dims. for the heatsink .834" O.D. x .716" I.D. x .330" in height. I pressed a copper disk into the top of the ring so I'd have a flat surface for the AA epoxy.





TB

TB,

I am a great fan of the QIII reflector.
I presume the base of the reflector is resting on the Cree.
I do not see any insulating material to protect from shorting out.
How are you handling this?

*******
Everyone are looking for "Q3" binned Cree and he is giving some flashlight instead :lol:

Amazing how well the Q3 works for this. I did the same thing, but I swapped out the stock driver with one from the Dorcy AAA that was kind of popular a while back. I did put in a slight magnifier in place of the lens so it has a beam pattern much like an Inova on steroids.


Nice build TranquillityBase.

:goodjob:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1712598&postcount=29





This was about 18 feet to the window.

Dude,

Where did you get the lens?

Bernie

I scavenged it from an old camera lens, maybe a movie camera (like a super 8 or something). I don't throw much away. Got lucky on the size. Check Goodwill or some used stuff store. Cheap enough. Love the big spot the Q3 has now. I've got a big lens I'm going to try in a 3D Mag sometime.

Anglepoise said:

TB,

I am a great fan of the QIII reflector.
I presume the base of the reflector is resting on the Cree.
I do not see any insulating material to protect from shorting out.
How are you handling this?

Click to expand...

I don't think it touches, but to be safe, I cut a paper donut for an insulator.

I drilled the reflector with an 'I' drill bit, and turned the length down some...not sure how much, but you can see there's still some of the ridge remaining.

TB

I can provide reflector length measurements later tonight, if anybody wants to know.

TB

Yes,
I am interested in finding out more on the interaction with the base of the reflector to the XR-E.
So things do not rattle around, you must have the parts in firm contact.
Did you mate the reflector hole to be a push fit with the Cree built in reflector ring.
If not , then surely the base of the QIII reflector will sit firmly on the +and -
solder points on the cree. I would presume some sort of insulating washer needs to be there.

Anglepoise said:

Yes,
I am interested in finding out more on the interaction with the base of the reflector to the XR-E.
So things do not rattle around, you must have the parts in firm contact.
Did you mate the reflector hole to be a push fit with the Cree built in reflector ring.
If not , then surely the base of the QIII reflector will sit firmly on the +and -
solder points on the cree. I would presume some sort of insulating washer needs to be there.

Click to expand...

The Q-3 circuit is held firm with a threaded plastic lock-ring, and the reflector threads into the bezel.

I did have one Q-3, in the past, that didn't have the lock-ring, it was held in place with the reflector...I don't think Nuwai did this with a large number of the Q-3 lights.

I'll post more photos later tonight, and list a reflector measurement.

TB

I have a very early QIII and its LE firmly mates to the bottom of the reflector.
Understand the new ones are different hence my misunderstanding.

Anglepoise said:

I have a very early QIII and its LE firmly mates to the bottom of the reflector.
Understand the new ones are different hence my misunderstanding.

Click to expand...

I've thought about that...There's enough room for a spacer ring to hold the LE firm. The reflector is still threaded to the bezel on those earlier models correct?

You should end up with the same results in the end, you'll just have to take a carefull measurement for the spacer ring height.

TB

The two reflectors I modified, measure to .6075" and .604" long...I didn't bother with any measuring when I was removing length...the lip (looks like a washer at the led end of the reflector) is a good visual reference point...I can't see any real difference between the two.

The stock reflector length is .629", at least the one I have left to measure, is that length, so .020" to .025 is a safe bet, for a nice beam pattern.

TB

TranquilityBase,
Thanks for the exact measurements, most people don't add those. I have a Q3 that I am going to put a Cree in. I am waiting to see if the HA3 Q3 group buy is going to happen. If it does I am going to buy a couple more, and do the same.
Mike

vetkaw63 said:

TranquilityBase,
Thanks for the exact measurements, most people don't add those. I have a Q3 that I am going to put a Cree in. I am waiting to see if the HA3 Q3 group buy is going to happen. If it does I am going to buy a couple more, and do the same.
Mike

Click to expand...

You're welcome Mike...

The Q3 really is a perfect light for the Cree.

Just make sure you drill the reflector from the inside out, so the burr is pushed to the outside of the reflector...then sand down, or turn the reflector to length.

TB