The hacking bug strikes again.... (E1e potential upgrade....)

I just purchased an E1e from beam_me_up in BST, great light, arrived in perfect shape, the E1e is a great little light, the perfect pocketable size, excellent SureFire fit and finish, and the little MN-01 15 lumen bulb actually puts out a surprising amount of light for it's diminuitive size

there are only two minor annoyances i've found with the E1e, very minor annoyances....

first off, there are minor artifacts in the spillbeam, they're scattered shadows from the filament support legs, only really apparent when WWH'ing or WCH'ing, in normal use, they're not an issue at all

secondly, the 90 minute runtime is a limitation of the inefficiency of the incan bulb (and i'm a definite incan fan, this inefficiency is just a fact of life with incans)

Yes, i could have purchased an E1L , but the LED head adds too much length to the light, one of the big attractions of the E1e to me was the compact size of the incan model, i also prefer the beam pattern of a reflector, the TIR optic in the LED head has a good deal of throw, but i like a nice balance between hotspot and spill

so, to get to the point of my thread, i was playing around with my spare G&P 3W Luxeon lamp assembly, it turns out when i removed the E1e's head and held the G&P module against the E1e's body, it illuminated, slightly dimmer than the incan, but usable

so, i unscrewed the "pill" from the reflector, removed the MN-01 bulb from the reflector, and lined the pill up with the E1e's reflector

to my amazement, it *almost* fit inside, i can actually screw the pill in about a half a turn, and the reflector of the E1 looks deep enough to swallow the pill......

so, the question is, what is the best way for someone with no lathe to reduce the diameter of the pill housing, i don't think i'd need to remove too much aluminum from the edges of the pill, the threading will definitely need to come off, and this will most definitely render the G&P module unusable in it's intended light, i'll also need to cut a few turns off the spring at the base of the module (maybe put a solder blob on it instead), but i'm willing to sacrifice that module in this experiment, if i can shoehorn an underdriven Lux3 into the E1e i'll get a much longer runtime, a reflectorized beam pattern, and the durability of LED, and still be able to switch back to the incan beam for outdoor use or when i need more power.......

is it as simple as taking my time with some heavy grit sandpaper, i also have access to some benchstones, as well as a Black and Decker rotary tool, and a 3000 RPM bench grinder with a rough grit wheel and a wire wheel......

anyone with a lathe willing to machine the pill down so it'll fit inside the reflector well?

any other ideas?

It's tough to take down the size of a pill since you have to be careful of the working parts, the LED and you have to be consistent so the LED is aligned.

Having said that, it should be possible. Sandpaper and grinder should both work.

If the E1E LA is threaded, you might be lucky enough to simply run the G&B through a die to cut new (deeper ) threads.

lumens factory now makes a lamp assembly for the e1e which is brighter but with a 65 minute runtime, and 15 hour lifetime for the lamp assembly. it's a good price and it's about twice the torch lumens of the stock e1e. This might not interest you but it's my new edc!

Also note that there has been some interest in putting the Fenix P1 head into the E1E bezel, and it has worked with good results.

Here is the first thread (using a lathe):

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=144932&highlight=e1e

Additional pics:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/145160

Here is the same mod, except done with a dremel:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=146767

Looks like i may have to purchase a spare E1 head from Lighthound to mess around with, as machining down the pill won't be as simple as i thought....

i have my Cree UVMiniMag here at work, it has a similar exposed emitter like on the G&P pill, so i held it inside the E1 head to see how it would fit....

i forgot to compensate for the tube inside the E1 head that surrounds the "neck" of the incan lamp assembly used in the E1, in order for a pill to work as a drop-in, i'd have to machine off the neck of the reflector, and i'm not about to screw up a perfectly good head

D'oh!, just checked LH's site and he's out of them, the experiment will have to wait....

well.. if you do get it to work- it will probably be a lot brighter if you run it on a RCR123 (3.7V) cell. I'm pretty sure the unit only has a buck regulator in it, so as soon as you drop below the LED VF you are direct driving off the cell, which would happen from the get go on a regular CR123, (at 3V it would be pretty dim but still probably useful light)...