My first mod

OK, it's not really my first mod but this is the first one that's even remotely difficult (required soldering, etc).

I had a broken Opalec NewBeam laying around and was about to pitch it. The poor thing was missing one pin and both of its plastic retaining studs. Inspired by the masters here on CPF, I decided I would try to save it by shoe-horning it into a Brinkmann Nexstar 2AA.

So, Dremel tool in hand, the first thing I did was carefully remove the raised plastic platform on the back of the Newbeam so that I could solder some wire to the two pins. Once the back of the module was flattened and the pins fully exposed, I soldered wires perpendicular to the pins and then covered the whole thing with a hot glue gun (it wasn't pretty, but I didn't have any epoxy handy).

Then I removed the bulb holding assembly from the NexStar (the retaining clip was a PITA to get out for some reason). After considering various ways of attaching the Opalec's wires to the assembly, I finally came up with this:



I decided to drill a couple of small holes in the top of the bulb holder and run the wires down and solder them to the existing positive and negative contacts.



Because the positive contact is taller than it used to be (thanks to my ham-fisted attempt at soldering /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif) I had to shorten the spring in the tailcap a bit.

After that it was just a matter of carefully sliding the bulb holder / NewBeam back into place, then sliding on the Opalec's retaining and then the bezel. The head is locked into place via Loctite thanks to a pervious (failed) mod, otherwise this mod would've been a bit easier.

Here's a link to the parts prior to assembly.

The bezel, ring and newbeam assembly about to be installed.

And a head shot before the bezel is fitted.

The NewBeam's retaining ring O.D. is a mm or two smaller than the NexStar bezel's I.D. but the difference isn't really noticeable and the "guts" are rigid enough that NewBeam doesn't rattle or move at all.

I know, it's minor league mod, but given that its the first time I've used a soldering iron and only had a dremel tool and hot glue gun to work with - I think it turned out OK. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jon

Nice work. Those Newbeams aren't bright but they are useful.

Wilkey

Thanks Ginseng. Again, it's really not that impressive but I sure had fun with it.

And no, newbeams are not super bright but they are bright enough to be useful without hurting dark-adjusted eyes.

I think this one will sit in my car's console underneath the parking break. The size, amount of light and tail-clicker make it perfect for checking the clock on the dashboard at night. Any excuse to use a light, right? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jon

Ingenious and resourceful.

Great mod,
Better to re-use your parts, throw in a few bucks and enjoy the result. My 2D MM+ R2H Mag was my first "real" mod and I will keep it for that reason. Congrats and hopefully we will get to see more in the future.

Thanks guys. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif My next mods will be simple Mag 2Dto3C w/ 1w LS's direct drive. Just need some decent heatsinks and some AA.

Jon