McLux PDIII Mule

I recently received a request to convert a McLux PDIII to a Mule. This was the perfect opportunity to use my new lathe to turn down some aluminum. I made a heatsink that was the same external dimensions as the McR20 reflector, mounting the Nichia 219 LED close to the window. Some Arctic Silver thermal compound helps with the heatsinking, though the mass of the heatsink itself is likely more than enough.

McLux PDIII Mule and reflectored light. Both were modified with a Nichia 219 LED.


Close-up of the Mule heatsink and LED.


Another head shot of the Mule PDIII.

Very nice! I'd love to see it in action. Do the scallops in the bezel show in the beam? How close to the lens does the emitter sit?

very nice.... as always ;-)

scout24 said:

Very nice! I'd love to see it in action. Do the scallops in the bezel show in the beam? How close to the lens does the emitter sit?

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The scallops don't appear to affect the beam. It is simply a floody circle. The emitter is about 1.5mm from the lens.

Nice and clean, that looks great.

How about pictures of the turned-down head from the side?

fyrstormer said:

How about pictures of the turned-down head from the side?

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I don't think the head was turned down.

I think Derek used the phrase "turning down some aluminium" in regard to creating a heat-sink.
Since its the same dimensions as the McR20 that it replaced (according to the original post) then the head must still be the same dimensions.

Ah. I guess I misunderstood. I thought he made the head shorter to compensate for the lack of the reflector, and cut new bezel threads into the shorter head.

The aforementioned lights are in my possession and i think that they are a great improvement over the stock configurations.
The PD mule is perfect and surprisingly shows no signs of artifacts/shadows in the outer edge from the crenelated bezel.
The reflectored PD came out very well also. What really stands out on this one is the lack of multiple fading rings on the outer edge of the beam. I say this because my HICRI Haiku has said rings and for close up work they are somewhat bothersome.

A very personal & sincere thank you goes out to datiLED for taking on this project and completing it in a timely and professional manner.

What's more to say, two lights modded with fantastic HICRI emitters coupled with old school PD driven two stage goodness. Flashlight nirvana oo:.

Very nice work, looks nearly identical to my P60 mule drop-ins I've been working on. The mule is perfect for close-up work, the even illumination always makes me smile every time I use one.