Hondo
Flashlight Enthusiast
This is actually an e-mail response I sent to a CPF'er, and I thought it may be helpfull to others. It is just an LED upgrade and reflector polish, but in the sort of detail I would have liked before I started. My subjective performance remarks are at the bottom.
This has been discussed in a couple of other threads, but with more detail for the older CMG design. This is critical, as those I believe were all twist head switches, as opposed to the current Gerber Infinity Ultra which is a twist tailcap switch. The original CMG design had the "pill", or printed circuit board assembly, potted in an epoxy compound and crimped into the head. After prying the flange holding the pill in the head open (and I gather breaking away much of it) to free the pill, you would then have to heat and carefully pick out the epoxy before gaining access to the LED.
My job was much easier with the new Gerber, as the metal ring on which the board is mounted is just trapped between the light head and the front of the battery tube. First, I pulled the pocket clip (hat brim clip for me) by inserting a screwdriver near the front bend and jerking straight away from the tube. This exposes the joint between the head and battery tube. I then heated the joint using a hobby heat gun to about what is painfull to touch, to soften the locktite on the threads. Some folks baggie and boil the unit for this. I then grabbed the two halves with leather work gloves and unscrewed them, without damage to either.
Now the pill will drop out with a push on the led, usually, only an o-ring at the base of the reflector is holding the LED a bit. The white thing on the bottom of the pill is a shock buffer to prevent damage to the board from the battery mass if it is dropped hard on the bezel, it just picks out of the back of the metal ring. Now you can see the solder points for the LED leads. There is a bit of black goo at the base of the LED, but it won't give much resistance. Just alternate hitting each solder point while pulling the LED from the other side, and in this fashion you can rock the old one out. Then take your upgrade LED (I used one of Grumpy's Nichia CS's from the group buy) and match that offset in each leg, hemos or small needlenose are best, then trim to length. It's difficult to reverse the process used to remove the LED, so do yourself a favor and get the solder out of those holes. Some have said pulling another wire through hot will do it, the best is de-soldering braid from Radio Shack, which will wick it out. I had none and put a cut LED lead in a Dremel chuck and used it like a drill. Now you can test fit the LED and make sure there is minimal excess lead sticking through - the leads and solder will fit in the two pockets in that white shock buffer. Put the little heat shrink tubing bits from the old LED leads on the new leads, push the LED in for the last time and solder on the back side. Make sure to get the polarity right, or you'll be back to this step. The smaller of the two pieces inside the LED goes to the hole in the board marked "+". Then, as they say, assembly is in the reverse order, BUT:
Do yourself a favor before putting the pill back, if you are both patient and want the most out of the mod. Polish the reflector. It is a pain to do well as getting through the hard anodizing is slow. {Edit: See my followup below to defeat the anodizing effortlessly - thanks guys!} I succeeded in getting some 320 wet/dry paper stuck with double stick tape to a conical Dremel grinding bit, but it did not last. Most of it was done with the paper on my finger or a ballpoint pen housing. Would probably start at 220 grit the next time. Those with a lathe or big drill chuck have it easy, as they can spin the reflector. For best results, after the anodizing is gone, sand out all marks from each grade down as far as you can afford, and don't skip any grades, as in 320 - 400 - 600 - 800 - 1000 - 1500 - 2000. The 600 grit is the coarsest I would stop at, but auto parts stores sell the fine stuff for sanding body paint, and after 2000 grit, all I had to do was polish with some Simichrome metal polish for a mirror finish. This takes a lot longer than the LED mod, and yields less results, but my goal was the most output without compromise to run time.
I had been really put off by the performance of the Infinity, despite the long run time, and always used a Dorcy AAA instead, as it was much brighter. Since the Infinity pulled just over half the current at the battery, I did not expect it to match the Dorcy, especially after both were modded with CS LED's. Wrong! The Infinity boost circuit must be much more efficient, as it is a dead match for the Dorcy's output now, and blows away a stock Dorcy. And as has been advertised, there is no change in current consumption with the CS, so runtime is still just as good. This light went from gathering dust to a favorite that made me go buy a couple of more of the new Gerber Infinities.
Sorry I don't have photos from when it was open, but it is simple enough that if you have the light they wouldn't help much.
Enjoy!
This has been discussed in a couple of other threads, but with more detail for the older CMG design. This is critical, as those I believe were all twist head switches, as opposed to the current Gerber Infinity Ultra which is a twist tailcap switch. The original CMG design had the "pill", or printed circuit board assembly, potted in an epoxy compound and crimped into the head. After prying the flange holding the pill in the head open (and I gather breaking away much of it) to free the pill, you would then have to heat and carefully pick out the epoxy before gaining access to the LED.
My job was much easier with the new Gerber, as the metal ring on which the board is mounted is just trapped between the light head and the front of the battery tube. First, I pulled the pocket clip (hat brim clip for me) by inserting a screwdriver near the front bend and jerking straight away from the tube. This exposes the joint between the head and battery tube. I then heated the joint using a hobby heat gun to about what is painfull to touch, to soften the locktite on the threads. Some folks baggie and boil the unit for this. I then grabbed the two halves with leather work gloves and unscrewed them, without damage to either.
Now the pill will drop out with a push on the led, usually, only an o-ring at the base of the reflector is holding the LED a bit. The white thing on the bottom of the pill is a shock buffer to prevent damage to the board from the battery mass if it is dropped hard on the bezel, it just picks out of the back of the metal ring. Now you can see the solder points for the LED leads. There is a bit of black goo at the base of the LED, but it won't give much resistance. Just alternate hitting each solder point while pulling the LED from the other side, and in this fashion you can rock the old one out. Then take your upgrade LED (I used one of Grumpy's Nichia CS's from the group buy) and match that offset in each leg, hemos or small needlenose are best, then trim to length. It's difficult to reverse the process used to remove the LED, so do yourself a favor and get the solder out of those holes. Some have said pulling another wire through hot will do it, the best is de-soldering braid from Radio Shack, which will wick it out. I had none and put a cut LED lead in a Dremel chuck and used it like a drill. Now you can test fit the LED and make sure there is minimal excess lead sticking through - the leads and solder will fit in the two pockets in that white shock buffer. Put the little heat shrink tubing bits from the old LED leads on the new leads, push the LED in for the last time and solder on the back side. Make sure to get the polarity right, or you'll be back to this step. The smaller of the two pieces inside the LED goes to the hole in the board marked "+". Then, as they say, assembly is in the reverse order, BUT:
Do yourself a favor before putting the pill back, if you are both patient and want the most out of the mod. Polish the reflector. It is a pain to do well as getting through the hard anodizing is slow. {Edit: See my followup below to defeat the anodizing effortlessly - thanks guys!} I succeeded in getting some 320 wet/dry paper stuck with double stick tape to a conical Dremel grinding bit, but it did not last. Most of it was done with the paper on my finger or a ballpoint pen housing. Would probably start at 220 grit the next time. Those with a lathe or big drill chuck have it easy, as they can spin the reflector. For best results, after the anodizing is gone, sand out all marks from each grade down as far as you can afford, and don't skip any grades, as in 320 - 400 - 600 - 800 - 1000 - 1500 - 2000. The 600 grit is the coarsest I would stop at, but auto parts stores sell the fine stuff for sanding body paint, and after 2000 grit, all I had to do was polish with some Simichrome metal polish for a mirror finish. This takes a lot longer than the LED mod, and yields less results, but my goal was the most output without compromise to run time.
I had been really put off by the performance of the Infinity, despite the long run time, and always used a Dorcy AAA instead, as it was much brighter. Since the Infinity pulled just over half the current at the battery, I did not expect it to match the Dorcy, especially after both were modded with CS LED's. Wrong! The Infinity boost circuit must be much more efficient, as it is a dead match for the Dorcy's output now, and blows away a stock Dorcy. And as has been advertised, there is no change in current consumption with the CS, so runtime is still just as good. This light went from gathering dust to a favorite that made me go buy a couple of more of the new Gerber Infinities.
Sorry I don't have photos from when it was open, but it is simple enough that if you have the light they wouldn't help much.
Enjoy!
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