Sold/Expired E Series Long Throw LED Head - Sign-Up/Interest thread - [Closed]

This is a sign-up list for a long throw LED Head to fit Surefire E series hosts. As this is the first time I have done anything like this it has taken me some time to get organised. I think that I have it sorted now. I am sure someone will let me know if I am not doing this right ... there is bound to be something I have overlooked!!!

I will not be asking for payment until a head is ready to be shipped, so please indicate if you are just interested, or committed to buy and wish to go on the list. If there is enough commitment I will have some of the components CNC'd and make the rest myself. As I can only buy the optics in batches there need to be at least 18 orders to make a run viable. And as I would do this in my limited spare time, you will need to be patient too!!!

I am offering these as an assembled head plus a custom heatsink/can.

NB. No LED or driver - I wouldn't wish my soldering skills on anyone else .... if you can not assemble your own light engine, there are excellent modders out there who would do one for you.


The heads would be just like these ... maybe a bit darker!!







Specifications:-
Headshell - 6082 aluminium ... Hard Anodised - natural. Fine bead-blasted prior to anodising to give a silky smooth finish.
Lock ring - 6082 aluminium ... HA or raw finish - as preferred.
Collimator - Carclo 2-degree ... modified or standard - as preferred. Modified gives slightly tighter focus and helps throw.
Protective window - CR39 optical resin.
Heatsink/can - All alloy one-piece or separate heatsink/can - as preferred. Electrical connection is via the body-to-head thread. Ground is via a screw terminal in the top of the heatsink. Accepts 0.55" driver boards.
O-ring sealed - Not submersible but weatherproof - depending on the host.

Price £91.00 GBP + Postage

UK Recorded delivery £1.95
Royal Mail "International Signed For" airmail service to:-
Europe £7.89
Everywhere else £9.76




Photo gallery .... Hosts shown for illustration only!!!





In pictures 3 and 5 the light grey head on the 18500 body is only sandblasted - as a trial prior to anodising ... not how a run would be finished.


Beamshots .... same exposure used for each shot per set .... daylight white balance.

At 1 metre.


At 20 metres.


At 160 metres.




Please note:-
Usable with Lux lll's and Lux 5W. The above beamshots should give you the idea. Although these collimators can be made to focus the Cree XR-E any advantage is debatable and that mod' is NOT part of this project. Reasons can be seen here .
The collimator has a slight gold/yellow tint which may not be acceptable if you are particular about the tint of your LED .... looks good otherwise.
The HA colour will NOT match the Surefire finish....as I understand it, there is little control over colour matching when hard anodising, and I hope the look is acceptably unique.
Compatibility with other heatsinks is not known. As can be seen in the pictures, the LED is mounted on a short pedestal - necessary to avoid the solder tabs fouling the back of the collimator.
This head is just for throw .... the spill is untidy and useless, but this is not a problem in practice as the eye adjusts for the hotspot.
I doubt that this head would outperform a well souped-up M@G, but it IS a LOT smaller.


Still interested? Then please state your preferences (finish .. heatsink .. collimator) when you post. If you have previously shown interest in this thread .... please post here if you are still interested, and the time of your original posting will place you in this list. Any suggestions or constructive criticism will be welcome and considered, and changes incorporated if appropriate.

If there is enough interest for a small run then production can start in January.



Thank you for looking, and, interested or not ..... Merry Christmas.
Colin.

Re: E Series Long Throw LED Head - Sign-Up/Interest thread

I'm on the fence. For anyone that is wondering it comes out to be $196.74 in US currency.

I am regrettably closing this project due to lack of interest. Not surprising really I guess, due to the high asking price for a head of limited appeal.

I would like to make known why this would have cost this much, just in case anyone thinks I was out to make a fast buck.

Making these myself was not an option as it takes me over seven hours of machining per head, and from the initial response I anticipated a run of maybe 20 or so. Based on this number the biggest cost was the CNC machining. I chose to source only from the UK for reasons of practicality, but the quotes I obtained were all high. They ranged from £34 to £88 per head!!!

So the total costs per head would have been (in rounded figures):-

Head CNC £34
Heatsink/can £9
Collimator £17
Bead blasting and anodising £11
Window £4
Total £75

The other £16 would have paid for O rings, packaging etc, and to myself for a couple of hours modifying the collimator.....about £5 an hour!!

Regardless, I have enjoyed doing this project, and appreciate the feedback I received along the way. I also have a couple of extra heads for my torches.

C'est la vie.

On to the next project.
Colin.

I thought this project was a nice addition to further expand the E series. While not to my uses, I was hoping others might have such a use to make it so.

I do want to say :goodjob:
Onto the next.

I'd have to recommend bringing this project up again when the next generation of leds comes out.

Too bad. I would have loved to see such a head go into production.
I don't own any Surefires or multi-cell lights, but this head would be the reason for me to grab a Pineapple from Argentina and a Flame-throwing head from the UK.
I love throw and to show-off to people what an L.E.D. can do.
If you ask me, please reconsider.

Regards, George.

p.s. Consider getting a price-quote for larger quantity by CNC.
If you can get the price down, the interest will go up.
PM-sent.

Your hard work is not undone just because it could not be done right now.
Any CNC Chop in EU should work, atleast I think so.

PM sent.


Pablo

Good to see Peu chimed in
(need I say more ?)

Very impressive machining, but where's the big house Colin? It looks like it might be closer to Bath than Bristol. Not yours is it?

I see you like to do a bit of cycling. Ever thought about developing a simpler/cheaper solution to what Ktronik has done? Maybe something like the new Dinottte 500l. Use some (hopefully) standard tubing. Machine some finning on the out side. Some sort of end cap and bezel. Heat sink to fit into the casing for mounting star PCB's and triple lens units from Carclo or Fraen.

Post the details on something like the Singletrack World forum and I am sure you would have loads of orders.

Aww, too bad these didn't come to fruition. Having recently picked up an E2D, and had a VG body for some time, I really like the size of the E-series and like the idea of more offerings available for the body, similar to the aftermarket support for the G/P/C-series bodies.

Welcome to CPF Helius ... nice to have another local member on the forum

Regrettably the house is not mine - it is on the Blaise Castle Estate near Henbury, Bristol.

Nice idea for the bike light, but some other CPF'ers are working hard on similar ideas at the moment and I would like to see their projects succeed.
Also I have plenty to do, and not enough time to do it :sweat:


jsr ... thanks for your interest. This project is on hold for the moment as the Cree XR-E's and Seoul P4's have not proved suitable with this collimator. Hopefully another LED may prove compatible.



Colin.

Colin, good luck in your search for a new LED.

I'm looking forward to seeing the next evolution of this, and hoping it makes it into production.

From you beamshots, this new head is quite a performer. But IMHO the head is a bit 'chunky' . I have E-series bodies and TCs, but these are mainly edcs. I appreciate that reflector design is important to get the output desired, but this head with its physical size should be suited to M3/M4 size bodies rather than the e-series. I would consider if the size of the head is like the KL1/KL4 size heads, the shorter even better (sizewise).
No offense intended....just my 2 cents

Well IMO it looks great, and i can appreciate the work that went into it. £34 for the empty shell is more than reasonable.