Poor man's surefire perfect beam

I got this idea after my friend's store was tagged. If you love a perfect beam without artifacts, this write-up is probably for you. Not sure if anyone done this before. Also, like everything else in life, there's pros and cons to this.



My victim is a stock new 2D Mag-Lite with stock bulb. At the tightest focus all I got was this sorry a$$ beamshot:




Man, what can I do??? Solution: a $10.99 bottle of glass etching cream. (Noticed it says it may not work on some pyrex glass):




Safety first: wear proper safety glasses and latex gloves. I used a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the stock bulb. Follow the directions on the bottle of glass etching cream. I used a Q-tip ear swab for this project. Wait 5 minutes; rinse the bulb under hot water until the cream is off. Blow dry bulb, and wipe down with isopropyl alcohol again before usage.



Stock bulb before etching:




Stock bulb after etching. Noticed I didn't do a good job toward the bottom of glass globe:




Beamshot of mod stock bulb in stock Maglite 2D @ tightest focus:





Pros: Perfect beam, no artifacts, very little cost, all stock parts. Will work with any lights. Even high power mod lights with a smooth reflector.


Cons: Estimated 20%-25% decrease in lumens. However, this depends on how long you marinate the bulb. Armour Etch recommends 5 minutes for a nice stain glass. But for our purpose, marinate the bulb for 2-3 minutes will get rid of the artifacts on the bulb, with less lost of lumens.



Enjoy! Please sticky if this is useful.

Nice job and great pics.:goodjob:

Where did you get the etching cream?

Deleted--double post! (I didn't see my post and figured I must not have pressed enter)

That's a pretty good idea! I wonder if that's how bulbs are frosted?

Just tested on my Pelican big D bulb + Lightedge MOP aluminum reflector. The beam looks even better! 25 yard throw still looks good, but did noticed slight drop in lumens. So I have a high power flood light now.

Great Job! Now I know what they others were talking about elsewhere here and you provided the pictures to go along with simple instructions!

Any craft store should carry it. I got mine from Michael's.

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=cp0107

One 3 oz. bottle should be able to do hundreds of bulbs.

Beamhead said:

Nice job and great pics.:goodjob:

Where did you get the etching cream?

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I just bought a small bottle on eBay, looked like it's worth trying out.
Thanks for the tip.
Topper

Hope it works for you! Just remember, safey first, this stuff is acid!

Topper said:

I just bought a small bottle on eBay, looked like it's worth trying out.
Thanks for the tip.
Topper

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Most glass etch acids are some form of hydrofluoric acid, and since I just finished a 30 min presentation on HF saftey for my lab, I'll summarize it here for anyone thinking about similar mods.

HF is unlike other acids in that the fluorine ion binds especially with calcium. This means that in lower concentrations (<50%) you might not even feel it until hours later and it's well absorbed into the skin. You can usually see the ulceration before you feel it. In addition to tissue damage, the binding of free calcium can interfere with nerve signal transmission. Large enough HF burns kill, not from tissue necrosis, but usually from cardiac arrest.

The volumes and concentrations most people would use only present a moderate danger, but still exercise extra caution: eye protection and appropriate gloves, at the very least.

Thanks for the CAUTION on its use. So with that in mind then, would nitrile gloves be better for use than latex? Not to go off topic here. . .

Yes, caution should be stress! I purchased this brand since it is in a cream form to help miniumize splashing. It is thick like tapioca. I guess that's why you're suppose to be 18 years of age in order to purchase this item. Or may be to cut down on people using this item for tagging purposes.

CHC said:

Thanks for the CAUTION on its use. So with that in mind then, would nitrile gloves be better for use than latex? Not to go off topic here. . .

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Yes, nitrile (22 mil) is better than latex, and neoprene is better still.

Try this....

I've been frosting bulbs this way for some years, and vastly prefer it to things like WriteRight on the lens. But I have found the hard way that some bulbs are attached to the base using water soluble glues. And some "glass etching kits" like the ones at Walmart are just lacquer paint; you really want the HF acid type for lowest light loss and best heat resistance.

How do you guys think this would work on the Thor bulb?

Like Nemul suggested, I think if you frosted most of the bulb except the top 10% or 20%, the beam should be very nice and with minimal loss of brightness from the hotspot. I think this would work even better with the Xenon bulb.

I also wonder how this compares with sputtered reflectors that I've been doing for quite some time in terms of lost lumens and lost throw.

nemul, your "half-and-half" photos are intriguing. How would these alternatives to full-frosting affect the resulting beam?

I think the one with the bottom frosted would work great... smooth out the filament reflection while letting full brightness out the frount of the bulb... just get the frosting past the filament then leave the rest of the top open..

That's neat looking Nemul!

It's interesting that on some bulbs like the Solarc 10W HID bulb, the frosting is on the top portion more like a cap instead.

Just did mine a few minutes ago on the Energizer HardCase Lantern and got the desired effect I was looking for. Now will have to try that with my friend's Streamlight TL-3 bulb lamp since he's disappointed!

It's great that this thread has been started!