Full Blown DIY - Pull your ITP AI apart Guide

Well , ever since converting a ITP A1 to XM-L , there has been a steady flow of PM's , so here is as detailed guide to pulling your ITP A1 apart ...



Lets start with a 3 mode ITP A1 -



I did say detailed right : Ok I use a needle [ sewing ] to pull the O ring out from the lens ..



Slowly it goes



Saved the O ring for the lens .

Next we will try and save the factory driver :

The driver is a press fit into the pill , and if you cant wedge it out as is , well I drill a hole !!!!!



With the dead driver from my first mod , I work out the safest place to drill





With the hole drilled , one now has leverage to pull the driver out ,



Now be as careful as possible using brute force to rip the driver out GENTLY !!!



Untested - but hopefully still alive



Looks strong , but its almost as strong as a soft drink can , I put some pliers into the holes , and then apply heat ...



Very old micro torch - with enough power to melt Aluminum ..
Heat the head till it smokes and gently try to twist out the driver - get heavy handed and you will damage it ..

Just heat it up more and more till the glue lets go , and remember to be gentle here or you may have to kiss the pill bye bye [ its soft as butter ]



Here , the pill came out , check out the molten LED !

Sometimes , you might be lucky , and get away with less heat ..

Now remember WARNING ! the Head will be hot , possibly several hundred degrees Celsius , I have some old heavy duty gloves from my Aluminum Die Casting Days , and I tell you , they sizzle when unscrewing the pill .

So there you have it ...

This light will become XP-G R5 and use the original driver ...

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?316328-ITP-A1-EOS-XM-L-U2-Mod

Thanks for the walk through! I've been wanting to hop up my A1 EOS as well, this might just be the motivation I needed to get it rolling.

Emitter melting times!! woooo

Thanks for the tip about where to drill, thats some knowledge obtained at the expense of the first light but should save a few more.

Thannks old4570 for the very informative guide. Its on my to do list.:thumbsup:

I'm in the process of doing a similar mod on an A1, but I'm starting with an empty stainless host that I bought off the Marketplace. I don't have the original driver so I'm going to have to use a different one. I was planning to use an xp-g r5 and a 1.4 amp driver from shiningbeam. The driver looks like it will press into the pill. Do I need to electrically insulate the driver from the pill so it will only make contact when the head is screwed all the way down? On my aluminum A1 the threads are anodized, but on the stainless one there doesn't seem to be any coating on the threads. I'm new to modding and lights in general, so maybe I'm missing something here. Any thoughts on this, or will it work if I just press it in? Thanks

No - The factory driver is almost oval in shape ..

This is so as to make contact with the lower part of the body ...

A normal round driver , may need some solder pads to contact the lower body well , or you may have some serious issues with how the light runs .

Look at the picture of the driver , it almost has little wings on it , these are there for contact ... [ dont exist on normal round drivers ]

So you may need to replicate them on the round driver ... [ Aftermarket ]

Other than that , should press fit OK