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mule excitement

yaesumofo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 21, 2003
Messages
3,701
Location
Eastern Pacific, LAX DM03 sw actual
Today was a cool day. My wife received a Mule of her own directly from the mule master Don himself. Thanks Don.
Before this happened I had decided to make my wife a mule from spare parts. A Cpfr was kind enough to give me a black aleph mule head surplus to their needs. So that also arrived today.
So along with my first Mule a oil can Mule with a Nichia emitter driven at 280 ma..single level. I now have a Black mule head which is now at home atop a stock aleph single cell body and clicky. In fact this is the Aleph I bought which was the very first Cree flashlight available that I know of it came from the shop. Basically I switched out the head from the stock Aleph (CREE) head and reflector with a Aleph Mule head. So as it is now it is a pure Aleph mule. and it is very cool. I think it needs a two level switch. More on that later. Now it was not a direct to aleph approach that I took. I pulled a whole bunch of aleph and surefire bits and pieces out and have been playing all day with it. Wow what a waste of time!! no really. I tried a bunch of different bodies In the end the best looking and most functional is the aleph. In a close second is the Vital gear VG1(I think) because it has all of the same pluses that the aleph has and is a little smaller.
I have chosen to go with the aleph configuration because it works and it totally matches. I have taken a lousy image for you to look at ...Like you need to see one but there may be somebody new who hasn't seen one of these before:
alephmulecr.jpg


Here is the business end:
mulealephheadcr.jpg


I am of two minds about this. While I like the idea of a carbon fiber or glow or agate disk here There is something really revealing about seeing the raw emitter board. Most people never look and have no real idea what a cutting edge LED even looks like. You know like a watch with a sapphire window back so you can see the works? Well I sort of look at the Mule head like that. I added a glowing O-ring It fits perfectly and will help to find the light if dropped while on and it somehow magically switches off in mid air in the dark. At least with the glowing O-ring you have a slight chance of finding it under those specific conditions.
Besides the after glow is cool.
I thought about mounting an tritium thingy on the driver board. At least it will always be able to be found and the aleph window will protect the tritium thingy. Pretty good idea NO?
So in order to perfect this light I think I need a 2 level switch or a multi level driver. The 3 level unit the shoppe is selling seems to always be out of stock and a bit no very pricey for me anyway.
Ideas for a modded 2 level clicky are welcome.
OK that's it this boring post is now over If you stuck with it for this long I salute you. thanks and have a great day.
Yaesumofo​
 

Kiessling

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 26, 2002
Messages
16,140
Location
Old World
Aren't there some bizarre shapes of tritium thingies around? There certainly is room in that head, and it could be freaking awesome :cool:

Agreed on the bare look btw ... The ti Mule will be left bare and techie geeky .... :D
 

datiLED

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
2,022
Location
Atlanta, GA
Very cool. I like the utilitarian look of the light. It is very "down to business", and looks like a light that will get a lot of use.
 

yaesumofo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 21, 2003
Messages
3,701
Location
Eastern Pacific, LAX DM03 sw actual
The other idea I came up with today is to make a clear epoxy disk and imbed 3 or 4 of the tritium bits into it so it would show the guts and have the glow of the trit....Hmmm
Yaesumofo
 

PatS

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 1, 2006
Messages
25
Location
Georgia
Will the 2 stage McE2S switch work in the mule?

If it does, I will probably order this and the NG 750 CREE LE.

The shoppe has both of these in stock, at least right now.

I am expecting my Mule to arrive any day, and need to get a light engine for it.
 

yaesumofo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 21, 2003
Messages
3,701
Location
Eastern Pacific, LAX DM03 sw actual
It will work if you mount the aleph mule head on a single cell aleph body and then mount the 2 stage switch on that set up.
I have no idea if the 2 stage switch can be mounted insted of the clicky which is installed in the aleph mule don is selling. Since the switches uesd in the aleph mule Don is selling are clickys, the 2 stage clicky may be a better choice, I do not know if it can be mounted as a replacment for of the stock clicky I assuem it can be.
Yaesumofo


Will the 2 stage McE2S switch work in the mule?

If it does, I will probably order this and the NG 750 CREE LE.

The shoppe has both of these in stock, at least right now.

I am expecting my Mule to arrive any day, and need to get a light engine for it.
 
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JohnTz

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 29, 2008
Messages
412
Location
chicago
yaesumofo, did you ever build a clear disk with tritium inserts on it? Just curious to hear if it worked. I am thinking about the same thing for my new oil can mule from Don. I wonder if something like that would fit in front of the GDup LE and the lens.
 

yaesumofo

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 21, 2003
Messages
3,701
Location
Eastern Pacific, LAX DM03 sw actual
No the tritium lites disappeared enroute along with $20.00 I sent.
I am looking for some more of them but as you may know the small tritium inserts are hard to find.
I have developed a new technique which I think blows away epoxy for the job.
I made a mule disk which glows in the dark with the stuff.
Have a look at the Hi tech materials thread I just created for info on that.
I have an idea which I know will work really well. All I need is a couple of tritium inserts.
Feel like donating a couple to the cause? If you do I will make one for you.
The idea is to use this Liquid Polymer clay stuff I found. It accepts a pigment but normally finishes hard and clear. so holding tritium inserts is easy.
I would want to mount the inserts to a carbon fiber disk with the polymer stuff. Anyway I know it will work. I just need some new tritium.\
Yaesumofo

smallSACRVER3.jpg

yaesumofo, did you ever build a clear disk with tritium inserts on it? Just curious to hear if it worked. I am thinking about the same thing for my new oil can mule from Don. I wonder if something like that would fit in front of the Group LE and the lens.
 
Last edited:

JohnTz

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 29, 2008
Messages
412
Location
chicago
O.K. I will try to find the tritium. What dimensions do you think will work for the inserts?
 

0dBm

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
153
(New member here trying to learn)
How is the power supply electrically connected to the LED in the photo below? Is the underside of the LED connected to the top side?

Here is the business end:
mulealephheadcr.jpg



 

schiesz

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 28, 2006
Messages
1,380
Location
Lees Summit, MO
(New member here trying to learn)
How is the power supply electrically connected to the LED in the photo below? Is the underside of the LED connected to the top side?

Yep, the Cree LEDs such as this one have the contacts on the bottom. They need to be re-flow soldered to the board. There were some people that cut a corner off the emitter package and connected to something under the 'cut' when these first came out, but I haven't seen that done for a little while.

Under the board shown here, there is typically a converter board that supplies the power. This is all packaged in a Aleph XR can, that can be screwed into various Aleph lights interchangeably.

schiesz
 

JohnTz

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 29, 2008
Messages
412
Location
chicago
Still no small trits. The smallest I can find so far have been the 6mm ones. I'm still looking.
 

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