World's brightest Ti-PD?

If you are a McGizmo purist, hit the back button. You will not want to see this Ti-PD modification. Otherwise, check out the mod that I did for a CPF member who asked for his Ti-PDS to be turned into a "WOW" light.

This Ti-PD now sports a Lux-RC 334 10 watt triple XP-G light engine rated at 1075 lumens. To push the lumens forward, it is using a narrow Carlco triple optic drilled for tritium vials. The tritium vials are green 1.55x5mm vials fresh from Bart. The first two levels are very similar to a modified TI-PDS, with an output of approximately 8 and 260 OTF lumens. The low and medium will provide you with illumination very similar to a standard Ti-PD. High is for a wow factor at more than 800+ OTF lumens. The piston and twisty still work, but to advance a level you must back off instead of tightening. The high level can only be used for short bursts, as the thermal protection kicks in. The heat can't dissipate into the head quick enough. (If this were an aluminum PDIII, it would likely last considerably longer on the high level.)

The heatsink is turned aluminum, shaped like an inverted top hat. It is press fit into the head for optimum contact, and uses thermal paste for extra heat dissipation. Because the light engine contains the converter and LEDs, I made a custom PCB, and turned a brass contact ring on my lathe. The piston contacts the ring in the same manner as with a stock PD, minus the kilroy for low. The levels are activated with a touch of the piston, or twisting the head.

Profile shot of the light.


Straight on view of the optic.


From the top.


Contact area with turned brass ring and custom PCB. I had some fun with this.


Drilled optic with bright green tritium vials. (Night setting on point and shoot Samsung camera, long exposure.)


Low beam. Medium and high were not playing well with my camera. (Beam is not textured, ceiling is stipple textured.)
We don't have any white walls in our home, so a white wall shot is impossible.

nice mod, wow

Brilliant!
Congrats to both of you

Before I attempt to trade for this light...can you describe the UI a bit better?

Does the light no longer have a push and push harder as a basic idea?

obi

Obijuan Kenobe said:

Before I attempt to trade for this light...can you describe the UI a bit better?

Does the light no longer have a push and push harder as a basic idea?

obi

Click to expand...

The light is like a twisty with a piston. When using the piston, you push to turn on, release and push again for the next higher level. For twisty mode, you tighten, loosen and tighten again for the next level. The basic concept of the light was to have a two mode light like to original, with another level for a wow factor. I left the light running on medium for about 10 minutes, and thermal protection didn't kick in.

dude I love that custom PCB!

Very impressive Derek.

You said that its a triple-XPG light engine rated at 1075 lumens in the first post.
Does that mean that it could still be about 20% brighter with XP-G2s?

easilyled said:

Very impressive Derek.

You said that its a triple-XPG light engine rated at 1075 lumens in the first post.
Does that mean that it could still be about 20% brighter with XP-G2s?

Click to expand...

Not now. The XP-G2 LEDs don't play well with the Carlco triple optics. Until someone makes triple optics for the XP-G2, I would rather have the lower output with a nice looking beam.

Really interesting.

datiLED said:

Not now. The XP-G2 LEDs don't play well with the Carlco triple optics. Until someone makes triple optics for the XP-G2, I would rather have the lower output with a nice looking beam.

Click to expand...

that is interesting. so I guess it's because the XP-G2 leds have a narrower beam angle (that's what it's called iirc?) and the carlco optics just aren't optimized for it yet?

I love how this mod is breathing new life into the classics. I have a Ti PDS - is this something that I could ask in the future please?

Very nicely done!!
That custom brass ring and PCB are sweet!

mohanjude said:

I love how this mod is breathing new life into the classics. I have a Ti PDS - is this something that I could ask in the future please?

Click to expand...

Yes. If you are patient. I am taking a short break from modding for a while to catch up on some existing projects. When I am caught up, I will entertain other projects such as this.

Man. I love seeing these classics being updated with modern internals. VERY nice work on this grail classic!

Derek, can't thank you enough for the AWESOME craftsmanship you exhibited in this project! It is definitely the "Coolest light " in my stable! Hard to believe you crammed all those "goodies" in that little head and it functions flawlessly like everything you have ever done for me! Thank You my friend...I do appreciate your efforts above and beyond the norm! You are the BEST! I also am the proud owner of the "Coolest Haiku" Scott Clawson (Milky Spit) ever made but that one took over a year to build! As a side note....Thank You Don... Mr. Mc Gizmo himself for offering us such innovative titanium creations to expand upon! Without a good foundation....no mods matter!

Here is my latest triple mod. Aluminum PDIII with 6.5W Nichia 219 Lux-RC light engine. 567 emitter lumens of neutral light. The light has a narrow clear optic drilled for tritium vials, but the owner is installing the vials himself. High level can be used for more than 3 minutes, though the head gets pretty hot during that time.

Another nice mOd, someone is lucky.

Agreed, nice work! Where do you get the engines? His site just seems to be about his own light.

Geogecko said:

Agreed, nice work! Where do you get the engines? His site just seems to be about his own light.

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I ordered several light engines before the site went off-line for parts. Since then, I have been in contact with Serge, and he will sell the light engines by e-mail.

Ah, okay, so is there a user manual for those things?