Hi all,
After a long wait, my firefly finally arrived yesterday night (Bought from http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?419969-100pc-Left-Titanium-Firefly)
It is bigger then how it looks, but it feels premium! Nice weight and beam as well, only complains are it feels a bit rough, and the metal tail cap is really rough and sticky
I've been looking for a nice AA sized host to play with for quite alwhile, the last being my Thrunite T10T, which was built into a MTG2 (Build thread here http://goo.gl/Q5irYG)
I spent some time playing with the light and afterwards, its mod time!
First up, really need to get it shiny and smooth, heres the condition of it right as i received it
First, the tail clip, really unique tail clip, mirror shined with green compound
After about an hour of polishing, starting with 400 grit, 800 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit, autosol and a round of dremel with green compound, here it is all shined up
Next, disassembly, all the parts except the copper heatsink are not threadlocked and is accessible with a strong pair of tweezers
First thing to fix, the tail cap and switch, I did feel the metal cap is a bit sticky and rough at time, so a quick work with a round diamond file and 400 grit sandpaper fixes this, I no longer get sticking presses
Also, I wanted to change the reverse clicky to a forward clicky (I prefer forward clicky switches as it allows momentary)
Taking apart the switch assembly reveals a reverse clicky with several metal gaskets and a rubber cover (for waterproofing)
This rubber cover tore upon disassembly, probably something wrong with it, so temporary I have lost water proofing capabilities until I can get a replacement
The switch space is small, so I had to file the forward clicky switch to a diameter to match the existing
However, after matching the size, I found the tail sticks out too much, preventing it from tail standing and switching off properly
So I decided to remove the board and make my own thin board, using the metal gaskets that came with the switch and some tape
Here is the "build", a small copper tape was pasted to the spring to allow it to reach the switch
The new switch
Do note a lot of adjustments is needed, especially to get the light to off! After fitting in a lot of pieces of rubber, it now works flawlessly, I can now operate the light momentarilly or switch modes by half pressing
Next up, the light and driver
The LED (Nichia 219b), is a PITA to remove, I did not realise the LED was actually not reflowed to the board, but reflowed to the entire copper heatsink, meaning the board is plastic and only serves to deliver current
While this makes excellent heat sinking, it does make it really difficult to remove, i ended up destroying my 219b completely trying to remove it
This means there is a "knob" in the middle of the pit.. a quick brush with a dremel removes it
I removed it to mess around with an XHP50 (my original plan), but i found out the amount of space within just does not permit that kind of thing, for one it keeps shorting everywhere and the head cannot completely screw back
So the next thing was to file the optic and triple star. the optic i used is a frosted medium (since using a clear optic with so much material removed will result in a ugly beam)
I used a metal file to the optic to shape, then finished it off with a diamond file and 1200 grit sandpaper
I didn't know if the whole assembly would fit, but surprisingly it does, in fact is FITS so well, it was as though this light was designed to put triples in!!
Look at the space with the optic and triple star in!! Just enough space to screw the retaining ring back in
Luckily, the heat is concentrated on the outer edges, and the design of this light does not permit a center heat sink, but it does sit or wrap around a copper core, and when completely scewed in, the copper heatsink touches the back of the star
I applied thermal compound and screwed it in, kinda looks a like a laser build
LED is done, next is the driver.
The stock driver comes in low, medium, high and turbo, no memory
However, I prefer more versatility, so the guppydrv was the way for me, it has 22 preset modes which I can change on the fly
I opted for a 7135 driver instead of a FET as a FET seems to affect color temperature and CRI for some reason
In my haste to assemble the light, I forgot to add more 7135 chips to the driver, so the total current is 3amps, the driver does need to be filed slightly to allow it to fit
The way the light is designed, the driver has to added last as it is much easier.. so this requires two sets of wires, one from the LED and one from the drivers..
I soldered them together and used shrink tubing to insulate them, then simply twist it close. there is ample space to allow for twisting of the wires in both the heatsink and driver portion
Spring also cut shorter to allow for more room for the battery
And.. done!! Now a triple 219b with 22 modes and forward clicky, perfect!!
Light is now brighter and much more floodier, very pleasing tint and the repaired clicky tail now feels very premium
Am waiting for my tritium vials to arrive, in the mean time will use the steel rods for now
Joining the triple family
Thanks for reading!!
After a long wait, my firefly finally arrived yesterday night (Bought from http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?419969-100pc-Left-Titanium-Firefly)
It is bigger then how it looks, but it feels premium! Nice weight and beam as well, only complains are it feels a bit rough, and the metal tail cap is really rough and sticky
I've been looking for a nice AA sized host to play with for quite alwhile, the last being my Thrunite T10T, which was built into a MTG2 (Build thread here http://goo.gl/Q5irYG)
I spent some time playing with the light and afterwards, its mod time!
First up, really need to get it shiny and smooth, heres the condition of it right as i received it
First, the tail clip, really unique tail clip, mirror shined with green compound
After about an hour of polishing, starting with 400 grit, 800 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit, autosol and a round of dremel with green compound, here it is all shined up
Next, disassembly, all the parts except the copper heatsink are not threadlocked and is accessible with a strong pair of tweezers
First thing to fix, the tail cap and switch, I did feel the metal cap is a bit sticky and rough at time, so a quick work with a round diamond file and 400 grit sandpaper fixes this, I no longer get sticking presses
Also, I wanted to change the reverse clicky to a forward clicky (I prefer forward clicky switches as it allows momentary)
Taking apart the switch assembly reveals a reverse clicky with several metal gaskets and a rubber cover (for waterproofing)
This rubber cover tore upon disassembly, probably something wrong with it, so temporary I have lost water proofing capabilities until I can get a replacement
The switch space is small, so I had to file the forward clicky switch to a diameter to match the existing
However, after matching the size, I found the tail sticks out too much, preventing it from tail standing and switching off properly
So I decided to remove the board and make my own thin board, using the metal gaskets that came with the switch and some tape
Here is the "build", a small copper tape was pasted to the spring to allow it to reach the switch
The new switch
Do note a lot of adjustments is needed, especially to get the light to off! After fitting in a lot of pieces of rubber, it now works flawlessly, I can now operate the light momentarilly or switch modes by half pressing
Next up, the light and driver
The LED (Nichia 219b), is a PITA to remove, I did not realise the LED was actually not reflowed to the board, but reflowed to the entire copper heatsink, meaning the board is plastic and only serves to deliver current
While this makes excellent heat sinking, it does make it really difficult to remove, i ended up destroying my 219b completely trying to remove it
This means there is a "knob" in the middle of the pit.. a quick brush with a dremel removes it
I removed it to mess around with an XHP50 (my original plan), but i found out the amount of space within just does not permit that kind of thing, for one it keeps shorting everywhere and the head cannot completely screw back
So the next thing was to file the optic and triple star. the optic i used is a frosted medium (since using a clear optic with so much material removed will result in a ugly beam)
I used a metal file to the optic to shape, then finished it off with a diamond file and 1200 grit sandpaper
I didn't know if the whole assembly would fit, but surprisingly it does, in fact is FITS so well, it was as though this light was designed to put triples in!!
Look at the space with the optic and triple star in!! Just enough space to screw the retaining ring back in
Luckily, the heat is concentrated on the outer edges, and the design of this light does not permit a center heat sink, but it does sit or wrap around a copper core, and when completely scewed in, the copper heatsink touches the back of the star
I applied thermal compound and screwed it in, kinda looks a like a laser build
LED is done, next is the driver.
The stock driver comes in low, medium, high and turbo, no memory
However, I prefer more versatility, so the guppydrv was the way for me, it has 22 preset modes which I can change on the fly
I opted for a 7135 driver instead of a FET as a FET seems to affect color temperature and CRI for some reason
In my haste to assemble the light, I forgot to add more 7135 chips to the driver, so the total current is 3amps, the driver does need to be filed slightly to allow it to fit
The way the light is designed, the driver has to added last as it is much easier.. so this requires two sets of wires, one from the LED and one from the drivers..
I soldered them together and used shrink tubing to insulate them, then simply twist it close. there is ample space to allow for twisting of the wires in both the heatsink and driver portion
Spring also cut shorter to allow for more room for the battery
And.. done!! Now a triple 219b with 22 modes and forward clicky, perfect!!
Light is now brighter and much more floodier, very pleasing tint and the repaired clicky tail now feels very premium
Am waiting for my tritium vials to arrive, in the mean time will use the steel rods for now
Joining the triple family
Thanks for reading!!