SureFire KL1 Dismantle Procedure

Can someone tell me how to dismantle a Surefire KL1 head? I want to install an IMS SO17XA reflector but can't get it cracked open. Also, should I install a new LED or leave the original Luxeon-3? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gifThanks.

Is it a new style KL1 (that looks like a KL4) or one of the older style ones?

-Mike

Brand new KL1 version 4.

If you find a way to crack that sucker open without damaging it, I'd be interested too.

We all here at CPF would like to know the secret of cracking open a 4th gen KL1 without messing it up.

At first, I didn't like the beam. The more I played with it, the more I liked its ability and throw.

I've actually opened the bottom portion of the KL1 gen4. I later messed up the circuit board and the threads, but mostly while trying to open the top section of the head! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

You can open the bottom to gain access to the circuit itself, but it's pretty difficult. All I can suggest is wrapping the head with some sort of really grippy material that will also protect from pliers marks. My secret ingredient: TACK CLOTH, available at any neighborhood hardware store. It's a loose-weaved cloth that's got some sort of incredibly stucky substance impregnated into it... I think it's rosin, like baseball pitchers use to keep a good grip on the ball. (You know, the "rosin bag" that's usually sitting toward the back of the pitcher's mound, that the pitcher picks up every once in a while.)

Anyway, the tack cloth will make a sticky mess of your light, but it'll grip better than pretty much anything else for optimal leverage when unscrewing the head with pliers! You can clean the mess up afterward with some of that concentrated orange cleaner that's also available at the hardware store.

Warning: with a gen4 head, you should prepare mentally as if you're going to war! It's gonna be quite a fight. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

I have absolutely no idea how to open the top portion of the head. It looks like the top should also unscrew... there's a metal bulkhead/heatsink between the top and bottom pieces that seems to be threaded both above and below, but I never did get the top unscrewed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Maybe SureFire got medieval on the top section's seal so competitors would have a hard time reverse engineering the proprietary optic in there? Just a wild guess.

I know this doesn't really help you all that much, but thought it was still worth posting.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

Well, if milky cant get the top open, i priolly shouldnt even try...so yes indeed it was well worth posting. Thanks milky. By the way, what can we do to mod this baby anyways?

[ QUOTE ]
milkyspit said:
Maybe SureFire got medieval on the top section's seal so competitors would have a hard time reverse engineering the proprietary optic in there? Just a wild guess.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think competitors would just dremel it off or do even more drastic things to it. It's we flashaholics who want to take it apart without turning it into little chips of aluminium /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

I should mention that I haven't tried heat yet... usually that's a last resort for me, due to the potential for damage to the parts inside the light. I don't think boiling will do it, though... my guess is that you'd need a heat gun, or maybe even a blowtorch to heat the little sucker... so be careful! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/faint.gif

moephiues, you can do whatever you want as far as modding the circuit itself, but until one of us figures out how to open the top portion of the head (and shares the info with all the rest of us!!!), you're pretty much stuck with the stock emitter, which is okay if you got a good one, not so okay if you got a slightly dim or off-color one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

For my part, after cutting new threads BY HAND (believe it or not, using nothing but a Dremel and a VERY steady hand!), I removed the stock circuit since it was damaged, and instead installed the VIP circuit designed by georges80 for MR Bulk's famed VIP flashlight. I left the circuit set to operate at 750mA constant current output, then fashioned a new positive contact plate using a copper-clad circuit board, a hole cutter on my drill press, and a spring to make the contact with the battery. The result was a KL1 gen4 head capable of pumping 750mA to the emitter for a substantially more powerful beam than provided by the stock head, with the downside being that the VIP board is only capable of running in a 1x123 configuration. I've since sold that head... hope the recipient has been having some fun with it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So bottom line, you can do pretty much anything you want with the circuit, but for now, the important thing will be making sure you get a really good emitter in the KL1 gen4 head you pickup. The Luxeon lottery lives again! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Hmm... it might be interesting to install a LESS powerful circuit than stock, like perhaps a Nexgen or Downboy with 200mA output. The result would theoretically be a light capable of running for a loooooong time (like 4-5 hours on 1x123!), but still capable of throwing the beam a decent distance by virtue of that nifty optic inside. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I opened my new KL1 and put Wiz2 which is more efficient than the stock KL1 circuit.

The top can be unscrewed too, but it's pretty hard because there is an adhesive and an O-ring between the shell and internal guts. Since I could not find any good gripping area on the internal guts, I decided to clamp the thread and file the cracked portion of the thread later.




Due to a unique shape of the KL1 optic, I'm not sure if you can replace it with SO17XA/B...

kj, YOU ARE MY HERO! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif Wow!

Thanks for the info, and the terrific photos, too!

Could you explain a little more about how you clamped the light, and what tools you used? For example, how did you get a grip on the top portion of the head with enough torque to crack it open, and still not damage the HA3 exterior?
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I used a rubber vise like this to clamp the top portion of the head. Then I clamped the thread using this and unscrewed it.

Hey guys, I have some new equipment in my shop that I didn't have when I first messed with the newer KL1. Things might be different now.

Since kj has led the way, maybe I can come up with a way to get it open without ANY damage at all.

If someone is willing to send me their KL1, I'll see what I can do with it. I promise not to hurt it. That's the point after all. If I can get it open without damage, then what happens after that, in the form of a mod, can be discussed, although the only change that I would want in the KL1 is something better than that optic.

kj,

What size is the optic relative to an NX05? Bigger? Longer? Same?

Chop, PM sent. Gimme the addy and the 4th gen KL1 will go out tomorrow for 'experiments'.

Return PM sent and I'll be waiting.

I hate it when you guys do this to me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I took mine out to the garage and clamped the bezel in a 1" 5C collet, and put the rubber strap wrench on it. It unscrewed with some effort, and without marking anything. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif If I cared enough, I would next tap a brass emergency collet 15/16-20 and remove the center from the bezel. It has a really green LS, but the head came with a green paper dot on it which didn't survive the unscrewing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Larry

Boy, this can't mean anything good. A whole new wave of KL1 mods. I hardly survived the last one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tony,

The diameter of the new KL1 optic is larger than NX-05 and the total height is also taller, but the height from bottom to flange is shorter. This picture may give you some hints on the dimension.

kj,

Can you take a diameter measurement at the flange of the KL1 optic? Is there just open space within the head between the flange and the lens to accommodate the bulge in the optic. I suppose my question is, can we fit a McR20 in there? Perhaps with some machining?

kj,

I just looked at your pictures again. It looks like there is a lot of room in the head forward of the flange.

Do you recall what the circuit looked like? Did it look like the same board that was used in the earlier versions of the KL1? Perhaps with .7 and .07 ohm resistors?