I put a McR-17XR in my L1D CE, no more rings

(I apologize to the moderators if this should have been in homemade & modified)

The beam turned out well. No more dark ring or artifacts in the hotspot.
Also, there is no hole in the hotspot when you are close to something, reading for example.

I had adjusted the beam prior but I had the McR on hand from another project so I decided to try it last night. It's staying in the L1D now:laughing: When I bought the McR reflector from the Shoppe it was $12.00

The original reflector came out easily. There are two holes on the back of the reflector to engage. I used a pair of needle nose pliers that I filed the ends down to pins.

Using Sanyo 2700's my original lux readings were (Head adjusted for ring)
Turbo: 983
Low: 117
Med: 453
Hi: 843

Lux readings with McR-17XR
Turbo: 1,143
Low: 138
Med: 527
Hi: 986

An increase in lux is never a bad thing:laughing:

For the prior project I had removed about 1.6mm from the lense end of the reflector and champhered the 12.7mm dia shoulder at the emmiter end. I suspect that an unmodified McR might fit in the light. The L1D gained 1.5mm in total length. The large O-ring in the head is still seated so I expect that the original water tightness remains intact. The lense end of the reflector is supported completely by the lense so you have to be careful about not tightening things down too hard when you are done (there is a 1mm gap between the edge of the reflector and the bezel). The McR reflector sits directly on the CREE aluminum ring so you could (maybe) crack the ceramic wafer below it if tightened to hard.

Also, the spillbeam area decreases some but it was worth it for me.

Hope this is helpful to some of you.

I stuck a McR19 in my L2D. The diameter of this reflector is exactly perfect for the head I.D. But of course it must be drastically shortened at the front to fit and the only reasonable way to do this is in a lathe. Beam is much improved and I imagine mine looks exactly like yours...I like the light a lot better now.

Dan C

In case anyone didn't already know, a stock McR18 doesn't work. I just tried it. It can't sit low enough on the Cree to get in focus, and you end up with a dark hole in the middle. Maybe if the small end of the McR18 were sanded down, or if the opening were enlarged enough to fit around the Cree's metal ring, it might work. But it certainly isn't a drop-in replacement.

I was fairly happy before, it's a nice light. Somewhere along the line I must have turned into a white wall hunter (maybe 95%). The beam pattern is very nice now.

Is it difficult to access the reflector?

Jasmes said:

Is it difficult to access the reflector?

Click to expand...

Twist the two halves of the head really hard. If you're either very strong or somewhat lucky it will screw open.

Keep in mind that this voids the warranty.

discoverEDC said:

Using Sanyo 2700's my original lux readings were (Head adjusted for ring)
Turbo: 983
Low: 117
Med: 453
Hi: 843

Lux readings with McR-17XR
Turbo: 1,143
Low: 138
Med: 527
Hi: 986

An increase in lux is never a bad thing:laughing:

.

Click to expand...

So the MCR-17XR actually increases both beam pattern and throw? :wow:

The beam pattern is very very good. Throw increased for me but I originaly adjusted the head to reduce the dark ring and that would have decreased throw some in the first place so I am almost back to what others are reporting for unmodified L1D's.

Sounds good enough to try that when I receive my L1DCE, thanx!

I've got my L1D-CE now, and I'm considering this same mod. discoverEDC, can you show us some beam shots and front end shots with the reflector installed? you mentioned you trimmed 1.6mm at the front but you also mentioned that it's now 1.5mm longer, so a stock mcr17xr will be 3.1mm longer? If possible, and not too much of a hassle, can you also show us a reflector length comparison thanx! :goodjob:

Will this work on p1d-ce?

Senses; I'm not certain I'm allowed to post attachments. I will take some digital pics w/in the next 7 days and then see about posting. The beam pattern is very nice now. If you didn't shorten the reflector the light will get approx. 3mm longer, someone earlier in the post (Dan C) mentioned using a McR-19 that fit the diameter exactly but they didn't say if it was standard or XR (for cree).
timcodes; It probably would but... You would have to get the head open and remove probably 50+% of the front end of the reflector to get it to work. Do I think it would be worth it, in a word, yes. I filed the front end of my reflector down. I placed a standard metal file flat on my workbench and just worked the reflector back and forth, rotating it every so often to keep it even. If you do this long enough you will get to where you need.

I just received my MCR17XR today, it doesn't seem like focusing very well, can you post some pix of the beam shot and assembly? And how can you possibly keep the reflector in the middle? thanx