P7 mag with donut hole. How to fix?

I have a P7 Mag I modified with an H22A P7 heatsink, and filled the channel in with epoxy, so, unfortunately I can't drop the reflector below the P7 (I was originally using a KD Aspheric, but ended up hating it, because of the lumen loss, and I didn't like the window-pane throw, though it threw (still easily visible by my eye) for ~ 1/2 mile).

The donut hole is non-existent at ~ 6-7 feet, but past that, it starts showing up. Is there any way to fix that? If I have to remove some epoxy, how should I go about doing that, without damaging the P7 (using Devcon 2-ton epoxy)?

I'm waiting on a WF-500 reflector that I'm gonna mod to fit in the Mag, so if there's no "quick" fixes, I'll just go with using the WF-500 reflector, instead.

~Brian

bstrickler said:

I have a P7 Mag I modified with an H22A P7 heatsink, and filled the channel in with epoxy, so, unfortunately I can't drop the reflector below the P7 (I was originally using a KD Aspheric, but ended up hating it, because of the lumen loss, and I didn't like the window-pane throw, though it threw (still easily visible by my eye) for ~ 1/2 mile).

The donut hole is non-existent at ~ 6-7 feet, but past that, it starts showing up. Is there any way to fix that? If I have to remove some epoxy, how should I go about doing that, without damaging the P7 (using Devcon 2-ton epoxy)?

I'm waiting on a WF-500 reflector that I'm gonna mod to fit in the Mag, so if there's no "quick" fixes, I'll just go with using the WF-500 reflector, instead.

~Brian

Click to expand...

Sputter your reflector, you'll loose throw, but no donuts! The WF-500 reflector works nice, I've got one, took a while to make it fit properly. I used a die grinder and cut off wheel to grind down the threads on the outside of the reflector.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12229
Very happy with this reflector, you will need to remove some material from the top edge so the bezel sits correctly. Google search http://www.google.com/search?q=12229+&sitesearch=candlepowerforums.com
Norm

bstrickler said:

I have a P7 Mag I modified with an H22A P7 heatsink, and filled the channel in with epoxy, so, unfortunately I can't drop the reflector below the P7 (I was originally using a KD Aspheric, but ended up hating it, because of the lumen loss, and I didn't like the window-pane throw, though it threw (still easily visible by my eye) for ~ 1/2 mile).

The donut hole is non-existent at ~ 6-7 feet, but past that, it starts showing up. Is there any way to fix that? If I have to remove some epoxy, how should I go about doing that, without damaging the P7 (using Devcon 2-ton epoxy)?

I'm waiting on a WF-500 reflector that I'm gonna mod to fit in the Mag, so if there's no "quick" fixes, I'll just go with using the WF-500 reflector, instead.

~Brian

Click to expand...

I've found in my Mag mods using a P7 that the edge of the reflector opening should be just about even with the top of the LED's case to give the best beam pattern. So I'm not sure that you need to be able to go "below the P7". It sounds to me that you may have focused your beam to give best quality at close, testing ranges, rather than at operational ranges. I've found that if I adjust the reflector position to give a tight beam at say 1 meter, then the beam has a donut at longer distances (e.g., 7 feet or more).

This holds whether I use the stock Mag reflector or a KD OP reflector, both with 15mm openings.

So my suggestion is to try something easy first. Re-adjust your Mag head/reflector to focus the beam for best quality on a white wall at a longer distance, such as 7 feet (I don't think that 7 feet is any particularly special distance, so any distance on that order is probably sufficient -- 6 feet, 8 feet, 10 feet).

Now assuming that you are using the stock Mag reflector, beam quality will mostly likely be so-so for a P7 (I've found that the beam quality is quite good for a single die emitter like a P4). But I've been able to eliminate the donut. If you do want a smoother-looking beam, then a 15mm opening KD OP Mag reflector (ProductID=5632) works well. It is a simple drop-in -- no filing or other tweaks needed.

You have my recommendation on the DX reflector as well. It's aluminum, it throws good, it floods good. It sits on the black plastic rim of the led. I don't care how much people have deal extreme or love it, its a good product and it fits the mag. On my 1D p7 mag, there was a little gap between the bezel and head that I filled in with an o-ring.


Some people might say to file down the edge of the reflector to make it fit. Don't bother. If you can file it down perfect like on a lathe, that might work, but most of us have a hand file. It's impossible to do it evenly and the reflector sits crooked. I broke a P7 doing this. The reflector say in their crooked and when i tightened the bezel, it clipped the corner of the rubber dome and tore it to shreds.

Using it as is, is perfect!!!

Also see this post: http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3036000&postcount=4

The poster used a KD1844 OP reflector and seems happy with it. Note, however, that this product also seems to need some end user filing. If this is a turn-off, then KD5632 looks to be the drop-in reflector choice, at leastwhen sourced from the usual KD or DX vendors. The price, though, is significantly higher than the two reflectors that need a bit of filing work.

Norm said:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12229
Very happy with this reflector, you will need to remove some material from the top edge so the bezel sits correctly. Google search http://www.google.com/search?q=12229+&sitesearch=candlepowerforums.com
Norm

Click to expand...

I like this reflector also. Only the LED dome sticks out of the hole. The bottom of the reflector can sit close to the top of the black plastic around the dome but shouldn't actually touch and put pressure on the LED.

You can also cut the bottom of the mag reflector more to help get it focused.