Swapping LEDs for new bins - Epoxy problems!

So I ended up destroying the light engine on my D-mini while trying to remove the emitter (don't worry, Ricky is a great fellow and he's going to hook me up with another for a great price!) because the epoxy just wouldn't let go of the darn PCB. You guys have any tricks for weakening the hold that thermal epoxy has on an emitter or star? I have some acetone which I thought might be the ticket, but I wanted to see if any of you wise light sages out there had any other methods.

A hot blade on my butane soldering iron works well for removing LEDs.

I've found that heat softens most epoxies and makes removal a lot easier. I use a soldering iron to provide the heat.

c_c

You can also let it run for a while, the Led will provide the heat by itself

Best regards

____
Tom

Daekar said:

So I ended up destroying the light engine on my D-mini while trying to remove the emitter (don't worry, Ricky is a great fellow and he's going to hook me up with another for a great price!) because the epoxy just wouldn't let go of the darn PCB. You guys have any tricks for weakening the hold that thermal epoxy has on an emitter or star? I have some acetone which I thought might be the ticket, but I wanted to see if any of you wise light sages out there had any other methods.

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How messed up is it? Maybe it's salvageable. Do you have a pic?
Stefan

Whenever I am trying to break loose an item held with epoxy, I find I have better luck keeping things intact if I pry sideways on the items instead of trying to pry them apart with a pulling motion. If you can get a firm grip on the parts, a twisting motion seems to work best.

DonShock said:

Whenever I am trying to break loose an item held with epoxy, I find I have better luck keeping things intact if I pry sideways on the items instead of trying to pry them apart with a pulling motion. If you can get a firm grip on the parts, a twisting motion seems to work best.

Click to expand...

Agreed. But so far I've gotten off every Luxeon I've tried by prying with a dental tool, in conjunction with heat when necessary. Haven't tried getting a Cree loose yet, though.

c_c

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys... I'll definitely give those a try next time! :thumbsup:

StefanFS said:

How messed up is it? Maybe it's salvageable. Do you have a pic?
Stefan

Click to expand...

Well... it doesn't LOOK too bad on the surface... it's just that I accidentally ripped out of the leads out of the PCB which is inside the thing, and I can't get to it. Well, that and the edges got bent up. It's probably salvagable but I wouldn't trust it right now. I'm going to keep it to see if I can use it later but my schedule is hectic right now so I don't have that kind of time at the moment. I've got a bare engine coming in a week or so from Ricky, so it shouldn't be a problem, I'll be back up to full strength on lights again.

Daekar said:

Well... it doesn't LOOK too bad on the surface... it's just that I accidentally ripped out of the leads out of the PCB which is inside the thing, and I can't get to it. Well, that and the edges got bent up. It's probably salvagable but I wouldn't trust it right now. I'm going to keep it to see if I can use it later but my schedule is hectic right now so I don't have that kind of time at the moment. I've got a bare engine coming in a week or so from Ricky, so it shouldn't be a problem, I'll be back up to full strength on lights again.

Click to expand...

Well, now you have the oppurtunity to swap the driver to something with a little more power, like 1000 mA. When I take drivers out I insert a slightly bent thin screwdriver or something like it into one of the holes for the wires. You can feel when the screwdriver rests on the contact ring at the edge inside the pill. Then put the pill in a vice and gently tap the driver with it's ring out of the pill with a hammer. Take the ring off from the driver (desolder it from the driver). Attach leads to your new driver and put it (17 mm diameter) in the ring and solder it like the first driver was soldered. Then you push the new assemly back into the pill. I used the AMC7135 x 3 driver in mine with a two level click switch. I took that one out for a multimode circuit. It's already has wires soldered to it and it's jumpered, I have no use for it anymore. If you want it send me a PM and I'll send it to you. You'll need to attach the contact ring to it from your old driver. This circuit is dimmer with primary cells, but with an Q5 on LiION you'll get over 13 000 Lux in throw!
Stefan

StefanFS said:

Well, now you have the oppurtunity to swap the driver to something with a little more power, like 1000 mA. When I take drivers out I insert a slightly bent thin screwdriver or something like it into one of the holes for the wires. You can feel when the screwdriver rests on the contact ring at the edge inside the pill. Then put the pill in a vice and gently tap the driver with it's ring out of the pill with a hammer. Take the ring off from the driver (desolder it from the driver). Attach leads to your new driver and put it (17 mm diameter) in the ring and solder it like the first driver was soldered. Then you push the new assemly back into the pill. I used the AMC7135 x 3 driver in mine with a two level click switch. I took that one out for a multimode circuit. It's already has wires soldered to it and it's jumpered, I have no use for it anymore. If you want it send me a PM and I'll send it to you. You'll need to attach the contact ring to it from your old driver. This circuit is dimmer with primary cells, but with an Q5 on LiION you'll get over 13 000 Lux in throw!
Stefan

Click to expand...

Wow! That sounds tempting... I'll have to think about it though - I was planning on the MRV being my throw-monster, I want to be able to use the D-mini as a more runtime-oriented light with an 18650 in my PEU body. I figure 550mA and a Q5 should give me what... 140 lumens? And it'll be flat-regulated for 4-hours, that's the thing for me. I might consider redoing the driver in my M1 though... Hrmm... I'll let you know what I decide, thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it! :twothumbs