PCC
Flashlight Enthusiast
This mod has been in the planning stages for about a month so far. The plan is to modify a Pelican M6 into a super thrower using the Ahorton aspheric lens by making a thread-on pill that threads onto the existing threads on the M6 body so that the heat from the LED can transfer to the body and head more efficiently. The other thing was to make an adapter ring to allow the aspheric lens to be locked into place and not move. Another planned mod was to bore it for 18650s, and, finally, a conversion from the momentary and twist to stay on to a forward clicky. Sadly, I had already changed the tail cap to a McClicky previously and had not documented it so I will not get into it here. The LED used is an XR-E taken from a Surefire L2 driven at 1.4A using a single-mode AMC7135 driver. On to the pictures:
Here's the M6 and the Ahorton aspheric.
The first thing I wanted to get out of the way was to get the aspheric fitted. The lens drops right in after you remove the stock reflector/lamp assembly and stock lens, but, it flops around loosely so I chucked some Schedule 40 PVC into the lathe and went to work. The inside diameter is almost right so I just lightly bored it to remove the casting marks then cut down the outside to fit the M6 head.
Here's the aspheric fitted with the PVC ring in place.
The next order of business is to bore the light out for 18650s, but, first I had to measure the diameter of the grooves to ensure that it would work to begin with. The smallest diameter grooves measured at 19.65 mm and the plan was to bore it to 18.65 mm, which is what Oveready bores Surefire lights to. Here's the body, taped up and mounted to the lathe, getting centered in the chuck.
The first few passes are light skimming cuts to even out the bore. The second picture is looking through the through-hole in the head stock at the inside of the tube with the boring bar doing its job.
Success!
Here's a look at either end of the tube. The head end has a raised lip to prevent the 18650 from sliding through the body and it also means that there's a ledge that the pill can screw down to as a stop so I didn't want to bore it through.
Here's the 1" copper piece that will be cut into the heatink. First, you neck it down to the diameter you need it to be.
Then you thread it to fit.
I missed taking pictures of the next few steps because I was concentrating on getting this light done. Needless to say, I got the machining done and this is the result.
The black ring on the outside is the rubber gasket used to seal the lens on Solarforce bezels. The black inner ring is some stick on foam tape that I have placed into the heasink to eliminate a copper colored halo that was showing up in the outer part of the beam.
Here's the completed light, ready for action.
Here's the M6 and the Ahorton aspheric.
The first thing I wanted to get out of the way was to get the aspheric fitted. The lens drops right in after you remove the stock reflector/lamp assembly and stock lens, but, it flops around loosely so I chucked some Schedule 40 PVC into the lathe and went to work. The inside diameter is almost right so I just lightly bored it to remove the casting marks then cut down the outside to fit the M6 head.
Here's the aspheric fitted with the PVC ring in place.
The next order of business is to bore the light out for 18650s, but, first I had to measure the diameter of the grooves to ensure that it would work to begin with. The smallest diameter grooves measured at 19.65 mm and the plan was to bore it to 18.65 mm, which is what Oveready bores Surefire lights to. Here's the body, taped up and mounted to the lathe, getting centered in the chuck.
The first few passes are light skimming cuts to even out the bore. The second picture is looking through the through-hole in the head stock at the inside of the tube with the boring bar doing its job.
Success!
Here's a look at either end of the tube. The head end has a raised lip to prevent the 18650 from sliding through the body and it also means that there's a ledge that the pill can screw down to as a stop so I didn't want to bore it through.
Here's the 1" copper piece that will be cut into the heatink. First, you neck it down to the diameter you need it to be.
Then you thread it to fit.
I missed taking pictures of the next few steps because I was concentrating on getting this light done. Needless to say, I got the machining done and this is the result.
The black ring on the outside is the rubber gasket used to seal the lens on Solarforce bezels. The black inner ring is some stick on foam tape that I have placed into the heasink to eliminate a copper colored halo that was showing up in the outer part of the beam.
Here's the completed light, ready for action.
. And I'll do it before anyone else does: do you have some beamshots 
