What material is that lens on XP-Gs?

25 minutes ago I was standing in the basement at my mini lathe and trying to fit an XP-G on a 14mm star onto the heatsink for my new pocket rocket project. Then it slipped out of my hand and fell from 1,5m on the concrete. I looked at it and saw a huge flat dent on top of the led. I thought like "ahhh crap what a waste..." and put it on the shelf.

20 minutes later I looked at it again and I was like WTF??? THE DENT WAS COMPLETELY GONE!
How is this possible? Is that rubber or what is that lens made of?

It is silicone rubber.

Silicone.

Thanks.
Now that I now this I can drop it a few more times without the fear of destroying it. I dropped a few XP-Gs and XM-ls but somehow they all managed to land on the star not on the led. Somehow leds fear my hands and always want to jump to death. :thinking::mecry: Maybe I should reduce the current or mount them on a soft pillow or something like that...

Soft pillow might not be a bad idea. :laughing:

I did knock the dome off of a Cree by accidentally dropping it onto a hard tiled floor one time. Un-domed another while trying to remove it from a heat sink. I was using a heat gun and my hand slipped and knocked the dome off with a pair of tweezers. I usually have good luck with the tweezer/heatgun method but you have to be really careful not to touch the dome till it cools, lesson learned.

On a good note, both the "dome-less" LEDs still seem to work fine. :shrug:

I find working over the top of the bench instead of in front of it helpful. Sounds obvious but it is surprising how easy a bad habit like slouching back in chair while working for just a few seconds can become a few minutes. Seems like that's when I fumble the M1.0 screw or whatever else I don't have as a spare. Best I stay out of the lab.