Oops, this is what happens when you get a little curious. What do you think ladies and gents? Should I dedome for science? I've always wanted a Zebra with a little more throw.
EDIT: I used the yellow tool (its some type of soldering pick) in the first photo to very carefully work both the pointy and flat ends along the inner edge of retaining ring along the glass until the ring worked loose. The glass is only a couple of mm thick so you cant really use it for leverage. Everything is press fit so no glue or threads. The reflector sits on a shelf in the body, and never touches the LED (no butterly spacer required). The o-ring helps hold the reflector into place, and then the retaining ring presses the glass up against the o-ring, forming a seal between the glass and body. It's a pretty neat setup, just difficult to open.
If I go through with it, I'm going to use methyl acetate (non-acetone nail polish remover). I'm 4 for 4 recently using it to dedome a XP-E, two XP-G2s, and a XM-L. I'm thinking of using a small bottle cap, and filling it enough that the SC52w can sit upside down in it, so that only the dome is in the liquid.
Sep 3rd Update
The LED is now bathing in the nail polish remover. I ended up using the cap from a travel-size toothpaste tube. The outside of the cap is recessed and is deep enough to hold some of the liquid, and fully submerge the emitter. I filled the cap to the top, and then lowered the SC52 over it; the excess liquid displaced by the dome simply runs over the top, and completely bathes the emitter without contacting the other electronics or the potting inside of the flashlight. Wish me luck (I hope that I can remove all the liquid that will seep between the bottom of the emitter and the circuit board before I apply power.)
Sep 4th Update - Dome off!
After a lot of bathing, and some very careful toothpick work, the dome finally let go from the phosphor, and I was able to scrape off the last pieces of it. I tried my best to leave the ESD wire and two bond wires intact. The two non-wire corners of the phosphor look a little thin, and I think I made a small nick in the center of the phosphor, but hopefully they won't affect the tint too much.
I have NOT powered it on yet.
I hit it with a hair dryer for a minute to help drive off any moisture that made it between the LED and the circuit board. It's not dark here yet, so I'll give it a few more hours to dry, and then I'll stick in an Eneloop and see what happens. If it works then I'll have some before and after beamshots up later. If it doesn't work, well I haven't thought that far ahead yet!
Sep 4th Evening Update - Some blue in the beam, but it at least works
I definitely nicked the phosphor on a couple of the edges. There's some blue artifacts on the beam when white-wall hunting,
The beam is also way more yellow-brown now (as to be expected with a dedome). This mod is probably better done using the cool version of the LED so that the tint ends up at neutral, instead of starting at neutral and ending up warm.
It'll be dark in a couple of hours, so I'll do the before and after beamshots then.
I'll post beamshots after it gets dark.
Beamshots
Taken at about a 20 foot distance.
Olight M2X L2 Dedome XM-L2
Convoy S2, XP-G2 Dedome, 1.9 Amp, SMO Reflector
Zebralight SC62w
SC52w Stock
SC52w Dedomed
Initial Thoughts
The dedomed SC52w definitely has more throw than stock. It's not a dedicated thrower by any means, but it has noticeably more reach when I shine it on nearby houses.
This comes at the expense of a very warm beam color (and losing a bit of phosphor which gives it some angry blue when white wall hunting). On any other surface, and outside, the tint is acceptable.
I think next time I'll use a cool white version to help compensate for the very warm tint and the yellow-green hotspot that the early SC52 models were famous for.
This mod was very difficult with applying solvent in-place and removing the dome (in small chunks) inside of the body. Next time I'll have to be more careful with the solvent, and be more careful with the toothpick. Maybe I'll switch to a different solvent next time, and give it more bathing time to hopefully let the silicone better de-adhere from the phosphor.
I'll try to get some woods shots another night.
EDIT: I used the yellow tool (its some type of soldering pick) in the first photo to very carefully work both the pointy and flat ends along the inner edge of retaining ring along the glass until the ring worked loose. The glass is only a couple of mm thick so you cant really use it for leverage. Everything is press fit so no glue or threads. The reflector sits on a shelf in the body, and never touches the LED (no butterly spacer required). The o-ring helps hold the reflector into place, and then the retaining ring presses the glass up against the o-ring, forming a seal between the glass and body. It's a pretty neat setup, just difficult to open.
If I go through with it, I'm going to use methyl acetate (non-acetone nail polish remover). I'm 4 for 4 recently using it to dedome a XP-E, two XP-G2s, and a XM-L. I'm thinking of using a small bottle cap, and filling it enough that the SC52w can sit upside down in it, so that only the dome is in the liquid.
Sep 3rd Update
The LED is now bathing in the nail polish remover. I ended up using the cap from a travel-size toothpaste tube. The outside of the cap is recessed and is deep enough to hold some of the liquid, and fully submerge the emitter. I filled the cap to the top, and then lowered the SC52 over it; the excess liquid displaced by the dome simply runs over the top, and completely bathes the emitter without contacting the other electronics or the potting inside of the flashlight. Wish me luck (I hope that I can remove all the liquid that will seep between the bottom of the emitter and the circuit board before I apply power.)
Sep 4th Update - Dome off!
After a lot of bathing, and some very careful toothpick work, the dome finally let go from the phosphor, and I was able to scrape off the last pieces of it. I tried my best to leave the ESD wire and two bond wires intact. The two non-wire corners of the phosphor look a little thin, and I think I made a small nick in the center of the phosphor, but hopefully they won't affect the tint too much.
I have NOT powered it on yet.
I hit it with a hair dryer for a minute to help drive off any moisture that made it between the LED and the circuit board. It's not dark here yet, so I'll give it a few more hours to dry, and then I'll stick in an Eneloop and see what happens. If it works then I'll have some before and after beamshots up later. If it doesn't work, well I haven't thought that far ahead yet!
Sep 4th Evening Update - Some blue in the beam, but it at least works
I definitely nicked the phosphor on a couple of the edges. There's some blue artifacts on the beam when white-wall hunting,
The beam is also way more yellow-brown now (as to be expected with a dedome). This mod is probably better done using the cool version of the LED so that the tint ends up at neutral, instead of starting at neutral and ending up warm.
It'll be dark in a couple of hours, so I'll do the before and after beamshots then.
I'll post beamshots after it gets dark.
Beamshots
Taken at about a 20 foot distance.
Olight M2X L2 Dedome XM-L2
Convoy S2, XP-G2 Dedome, 1.9 Amp, SMO Reflector
Zebralight SC62w
SC52w Stock
SC52w Dedomed
Initial Thoughts
The dedomed SC52w definitely has more throw than stock. It's not a dedicated thrower by any means, but it has noticeably more reach when I shine it on nearby houses.
This comes at the expense of a very warm beam color (and losing a bit of phosphor which gives it some angry blue when white wall hunting). On any other surface, and outside, the tint is acceptable.
I think next time I'll use a cool white version to help compensate for the very warm tint and the yellow-green hotspot that the early SC52 models were famous for.
This mod was very difficult with applying solvent in-place and removing the dome (in small chunks) inside of the body. Next time I'll have to be more careful with the solvent, and be more careful with the toothpick. Maybe I'll switch to a different solvent next time, and give it more bathing time to hopefully let the silicone better de-adhere from the phosphor.
I'll try to get some woods shots another night.
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Now this makes me want to take apart one of mine lol.
