varuscelli
Flashlight Enthusiast
I made a rather...well, serendipitous discovery while trying to create a diffuser for a ZebraLight H600. I've been trying to find something made of plastic like a milk jug that can be cut up for diffuser material without having the ugly yellow spot that typical milk jug plastic produces when used that way.
What I ended up finding in a near-accidental manner is a near-perfect diffuser naturally sized to fit exactly inside the bezel of the NiteCore TM11...and one that produces NO ugly yellow center spot in the beam.
For anyone interested, you'll need to invest about $1.99 (USD) in either Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls or Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. You'll end up with a breakfast or brunch treat for the family and a diffuser for your TM11.
Here's what you need to buy:
The "with Icing" part is the key, since the icing container that's inside with the rolls is where you get your diffuser. I'm pretty sure the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls also have the same translucent container, so buy according to your tastes.
Here's a shot of one of the empty containers and the diffusion disk that was cut from the bottom of another container (the entire bottom of the container is used, untrimmed except for cutting it away from the container sides).
The entire bottom end of the icing container can actually be pushed snugly into the bezel of the TM11 and used lamp style, although it is capable of putting out so much light as to be blinding. But it fits so well that the TM11 with batteries can be picked up by holding onto the lip of the container. It's that good a fit right out of the box (well, after washing the icing residue away). My personal intent is not to actually use it this way (not lamp style), but these two pics show how well the Pillsbury icing container fits inside the TM11 bezel...and that it can be used "lamp" style if desired...but the bottom disk of the container is the key piece for the diffuser.
All you need to do is take some small cutters and cut the sides of the container away from the bottom. This plastic is slightly thicker and slightly more brittle than the plastic from a milk jug (although brittle is a strong word, since it's not really breakably brittle, but gets little fracture marks if bent too severely). Standard scissors might be a bit difficult to use in cutting this material, but mostly because cutting angles are kind of tight in getting started. I used a kind of small snipper sort of like wire cutters or side cutters but with a rather narrow and short blades. Once you've cut the sides away, you can trim any excess from the bottom disk with nail clippers or small snips (whatever cutting tool you have that works). Do NOT trim anything away that decreases the diameter of the bottom disk. Trim away only the sides.
The bottom disk can then be pressed directly into the bezel of the TM11. To remove it, you can either unscrew the bezel or in your trimming you can leave a small tab of the side plastic untrimmed so you can pull it out by hand. The fit will be so snug that getting a fingernail under it to remove it might be difficult, although a blade from a pocket knife or the like would work...but unscrewing the bezel is probably the way to go.
You don't need to unscrew the bezel to place the disk in (just press it right into the bezel). I show the following pics only for clarity and size reference.
The TM11 with diffuser inserted, and one of the original icing containers (again, just for visual reference).
This inexpensive diffuser works great with the TM11 and with NO yellow spot as you get with the milk carton diffuser method. You might see a very slight hint of discoloration if you look carefully, but that's only for the white wall hunting purist. Personally, I see nothing in terms of true discoloration, especially in comparison to milk jug plastic. I'll try some wall shots later and add to this post for reference.
Hey, you get either free orange rolls or cinnamon rolls with this diffuser...or a free diffuser with the sweet rolls...depending on how you look at it.
Beamshots (distance of 20 feet from far waill, Canon 14mm lens used). First image without diffuser, second image with diffuser.
What I ended up finding in a near-accidental manner is a near-perfect diffuser naturally sized to fit exactly inside the bezel of the NiteCore TM11...and one that produces NO ugly yellow center spot in the beam.
For anyone interested, you'll need to invest about $1.99 (USD) in either Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls or Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. You'll end up with a breakfast or brunch treat for the family and a diffuser for your TM11.
Here's what you need to buy:
The "with Icing" part is the key, since the icing container that's inside with the rolls is where you get your diffuser. I'm pretty sure the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls also have the same translucent container, so buy according to your tastes.
Here's a shot of one of the empty containers and the diffusion disk that was cut from the bottom of another container (the entire bottom of the container is used, untrimmed except for cutting it away from the container sides).
The entire bottom end of the icing container can actually be pushed snugly into the bezel of the TM11 and used lamp style, although it is capable of putting out so much light as to be blinding. But it fits so well that the TM11 with batteries can be picked up by holding onto the lip of the container. It's that good a fit right out of the box (well, after washing the icing residue away). My personal intent is not to actually use it this way (not lamp style), but these two pics show how well the Pillsbury icing container fits inside the TM11 bezel...and that it can be used "lamp" style if desired...but the bottom disk of the container is the key piece for the diffuser.
All you need to do is take some small cutters and cut the sides of the container away from the bottom. This plastic is slightly thicker and slightly more brittle than the plastic from a milk jug (although brittle is a strong word, since it's not really breakably brittle, but gets little fracture marks if bent too severely). Standard scissors might be a bit difficult to use in cutting this material, but mostly because cutting angles are kind of tight in getting started. I used a kind of small snipper sort of like wire cutters or side cutters but with a rather narrow and short blades. Once you've cut the sides away, you can trim any excess from the bottom disk with nail clippers or small snips (whatever cutting tool you have that works). Do NOT trim anything away that decreases the diameter of the bottom disk. Trim away only the sides.
The bottom disk can then be pressed directly into the bezel of the TM11. To remove it, you can either unscrew the bezel or in your trimming you can leave a small tab of the side plastic untrimmed so you can pull it out by hand. The fit will be so snug that getting a fingernail under it to remove it might be difficult, although a blade from a pocket knife or the like would work...but unscrewing the bezel is probably the way to go.
You don't need to unscrew the bezel to place the disk in (just press it right into the bezel). I show the following pics only for clarity and size reference.
The TM11 with diffuser inserted, and one of the original icing containers (again, just for visual reference).
This inexpensive diffuser works great with the TM11 and with NO yellow spot as you get with the milk carton diffuser method. You might see a very slight hint of discoloration if you look carefully, but that's only for the white wall hunting purist. Personally, I see nothing in terms of true discoloration, especially in comparison to milk jug plastic. I'll try some wall shots later and add to this post for reference.
Hey, you get either free orange rolls or cinnamon rolls with this diffuser...or a free diffuser with the sweet rolls...depending on how you look at it.
Beamshots (distance of 20 feet from far waill, Canon 14mm lens used). First image without diffuser, second image with diffuser.
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as soon as they are done and i use the icing then i will have my diffuser :naughty:
