Has anyone ever modified one of these for more lumens?

[rabbiporkchop]

Spec Lite made by Barrel Service company in San Diego original manufacturer of the Bianchi B-Lite.

The machining is phenomenal and the barrel is twice as thick as the Mag Lights today.
They are totally cheap and worth upgrading to better LED's if anyone has figured out how to get a
few hundred lumens out of one I would love to know what parts I would need.

 

[DrafterDan]

Welcome to the forum!
Crack that puppy open, and take some nice clear photos of the driver/ heatsink/ emitter. Get some dimensions and maybe there is an easy way to toss a modern LED in there.

Honestly speaking, probably won't be an easy upgrade. That which was made for incandescent will almost certainly require some machining to fab up a pill that will hold a driver and emitter, and mate with your existing reflector.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Here are some pics.

Welcome to the forum!
Crack that puppy open, and take some nice clear photos of the driver/ heatsink/ emitter. Get some dimensions and maybe there is an easy way to toss a modern LED in there.

Honestly speaking, probably won't be an easy upgrade. That which was made for incandescent will almost certainly require some machining to fab up a pill that will hold a driver and emitter, and mate with your existing reflector.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

more pics

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Fabbing up a pill that will hold a driver and emitter, and mate with or replace my existing reflector is what I had in mind.
Reflector is 2" diameter

 

[rabbiporkchop]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CZ5ASG4/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I think it would be cool to figure out a way of Machining a spacer to hold this drop-in Surefire replacement into the head of my flashlight. I bought 5 of those flashlights with the intention of upgrading them at some point in the future.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Flat aluminum plate 1.81" diameter should press in nice and tight above switch to mount led. not sure about heat dissipation. I could use shims to adjust height of led in relation to reflector. can mounting plates be purchased or do they need to be custom made?

 

[jayrob]

Well I found a really nice coated acrylic lens, and am using an aluminum reflector with XML-2 U4...

The driver is 3 Amps, 3 mode. (L,M,H) Same driver as I use in my 1930's Eveready mod... (driver details shown there)

1000+ Lumens...

For this mod, the battery supply that must be used is 3 X D sized NiMH cells...

Since the switch is in the head of the light, it has very limited room and I had to make a custom heatsink, as well as some machine work inside the head. (see pics below)

The heatsink is thin, but wide, and rests on bare metal of the head for heat transfer. The aluminum reflector is 'pressed' onto the heatsink and is in effect also part of the heatsink. (fixed focus - best spot)

This next picture shows how tight the room is inside the head because of the switch location.

I turned the switch sideways to give a tad more room but it's still takes up a lot of room inside...

In the end, it's a really beautiful mod and as mentioned, a really solid host.

But the bad part is the switch location. Making it a very difficult light to mod...

 

[Str8stroke]

Cool mod and great photos! jayrob, I am guessing you did the mod for him? Either way, it looks nice.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Where did you find the reflector and lens? I still have 4 more of these to do. It looks awesome.

Well I found a really nice coated acrylic lens, and am using an aluminum reflector with XML-2 U4...

The driver is 3 Amps, 3 mode. (L,M,H) Same driver as I use in my 1930's Eveready mod... (driver details shown there)

1000+ Lumens...

For this mod, the battery supply that must be used is 3 X D sized NiMH cells...

Since the switch is in the head of the light, it has very limited room and I had to make a custom heatsink, as well as some machine work inside the head. (see pics below)

The heatsink is thin, but wide, and rests on bare metal of the head for heat transfer. The aluminum reflector is 'pressed' onto the heatsink and is in effect also part of the heatsink. (fixed focus - best spot)

This next picture shows how tight the room is inside the head because of the switch location.

I turned the switch sideways to give a tad more room but it's still takes up a lot of room inside...

In the end, it's a really beautiful mod and as mentioned, a really solid host.

But the bad part is the switch location. Making it a very difficult light to mod...

 

[jayrob]

Used this reflector (needed just a small amount of machine work to lessen the outside diameter a little)

Used this lens (comes with plastic peel off protection on each side - had to use my mini belt sander to take the edges down just a little to lessen the diameter)

For the lens, there is one available at 50.7mm, and another at 51.3mm (I don't remember which one I ordered but you can measure the stock lens and get the one that is closest)

But take a close look at the pictures I posted because this modification requires machine work inside the head, as well as a custom heatsink that must be fit precisely so that the reflector will fit onto it and the bezel will screw on to hold everything tight. (very little tolerance - difficult to modify this light)

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Looks like a masterpiece.

 

[jayrob]

Cool mod and great photos! jayrob, I am guessing you did the mod for him? Either way, it looks nice.

:thanks: Yes your guess is correct...

Looks like a masterpiece.

I think your going to like it!

 

[rabbiporkchop]

I wonder if anyone's ever done a similar conversion on a Bianchi B-Lite?

 

[jayrob]

That head looks pretty much identical to the Sepc Lite I just worked on for you...

 

[rabbiporkchop]

For this mod, the battery supply that must be used is 3 X D sized NiMH cells...

I'm wondering if a single 21700 would work with this Instead of three D-cells.
At the time that I had you build this, I didn't know anything about lithium cells.

 

[jayrob]

Lithium are measured in millimeters. Example: 32650 is 32mm in diameter by 650mm long. (32650 is 'D' sized)

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Lithium are measured in millimeters. Example: 32650 is 32mm in diameter by 650mm long. (32650 is 'D' sized)

not 650mm...... but rather 65mm the 0 on the end is not a measurement.

 

[electromage]

D cells are closer to 32600.

I have one of these Bianchi B-Lites - NIB. There is a lot of necro-posting going on lately. Must be the way the forum software recommends threads.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

D cells are closer to 32600.

I have one of these Bianchi B-Lites - NIB. There is a lot of necro-posting going on lately. Must be the way the forum software recommends threads.

Have you ever thought about doing an LED upgrade?