inside the KX2 - pictures!

[Ty_Bower]

Nice photos. So, who is going to take out the driver and show us where to "fix" it so we can get some higher drive current to the emitter?

Have you taken any measurements on the optic yet? I'm wondering what size reflector might be a drop-in replacement.

 

[KeyGrip]

The same thing just happened to me with the KX1 head on my e1l. Very little effort to open it. Now off to Milky if he'll write me back.

That's a good plan. Please report back with the results of you Milky-ized KX1.

 

[nanotech17]

anybody willing to send me a pair of rubber strap wrench abroad?
Can't find one here :devil:

 

[CM]

I love it when things are taken apart. Nice pictures.

 

[Katdaddy]

I love it when things are taken apart. Nice pictures.

I love it when someone else does the taking apart. In my case the object dissassembled never goes back together the same.:shakehead
Note to self; leave the inside of the flashlight alone!

 

[Lightingguy321]

good point, I kind of sheared one of the anode solder pads off of my Jr. luxeons LED star when I put a SSC in (doh! I broke the anode lead on the LED too) so here I am waiting for a shipment of Kaidomain Lumiled/seoul emitter pcbs, other wise I have a barely functioning Jr. luxeon that has a voided warranty (oh well it only costed 30 bucks.)

 

[Ty_Bower]

I wonder if there is enough room in there to fit a McR 19XR reflector and a GD750 driver?

 

[nanotech17]

some photos -

 

[Ty_Bower]

It seems like an awfully high part count on that circuit board. Are you sure this isn't the new two-mode KX2?

 

[SRacer2000]

I don't think so. I have two KX2s with higher serial numbers than that, both single mode.

 

[Lightingguy321]

The serial number really doesn't have anything to do with the age of the flashlight, they are not issued sequentially. For instance My L7 had a KL7 originally with the SN A000729, Now I have A000619, they are random numbers that may line up in sequence if you could get a hold of them all.

 

[nanotech17]

There is a thin film behind the pyrex lens,once i took it out the beam is brighter but ugly,i replace the TIROS Optic with this http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=1488
now that's what i called SureFire E2L :naughty:

 

[SRacer2000]

More detail and pics on the film and on the replacement project.

 

[Lightingguy321]

Just a friendly reminder TIROS is an Inova term, to simply put it, Surefire uses TIR lenses (stands for Total Internal Reflection). How does the beam look with a Crystal lens?

 

[nanotech17]

I'm still testing it with Kai's Cree Optic & this driver http://www.kaidomain.com/WEBUI/ProductDetail.aspx?TranID=3256
The Kai's cree optic is a little short so i have to add an o-ring to make contact with the pyrex lens.
i know i'm a sucker of that crazy modes but so far so good with AW 17670 with no heat issue ( i have run 2 AW's 17670 until the cell shut down @ 3.0v on high mode getting about 70 - 80 minutes)
I think i will settle for Fraen reflector and a Cree Q5,will start ordering once Chinese new Year period is over.Some photos.

 

[SRacer2000]

IT'S DONE! I finished my TIR to Reflector convert. I sanded a shaved down McR-19 XR reflector and put a UCL lens. And now that your interested. 100x Thanks to TranquillityBase for providing the the McR-19 XR.


Pics to come... :nana:

 

[Patsplace]

Cool!!!

 

[milkyspit]

Here's some photos of the optic that I took in early NOVEMBER 2007... see how long it's taken me to post them!?!

Well, better late than never I guess. Thanks to AZ_TIBOR for starting the thread in the first place!

(note how the film makes the slightly diffused appearance in the above photo)

I love it when things are taken apart. Nice pictures.

+1 :thumbsup:

Interesting.... My KX2 did the same thing. Completely unscrewed when trying to take it off a body. This is the first time I can remember that I have been able to disassemble a SF head without tools.

MSax

My experience has been mixed: a couple heads have opened easily, while most required a bit more, er, coaxing. It's almost as if ease of opening depends on which SureFire employee put the head together in the first place, and how Loktite-happy they were feeling on that day!

I wonder if there is enough room in there to fit a McR 19XR reflector and a GD750 driver?

Yes, McR19XR fits nicely... and if you can live with a 1-2mm gap between the top and bottom halves of the head, the reflector won't need any shortening at all. Note the o-ring sealing the top half of the head sits well upward from the gap so even with the gap, there's no issue as far as the seal.

As for driver, I've been installing the Acorn drivers that we developed for the Gotham project... result is a 4-brightness (for now, until I decide to write different firmware!) light ranging from 200+ lumens on max, to perhaps 2-4 lumens with days or weeks of continuous runtime on ultralow. Runs on single LiON rechargeable or a pair of primaries. The specific build is called the CREEmator...

It's the same configuration I use myself in both this and a KL4 head. (That KL4 reflector upgraded with Seoul or K2T emitter plus Acorn on E1E body is IMHO terrific for EDC! But I'm a bit biased.) I like the flexibility this combination delivers, very useful for the vast majority of what I do around here.

IMHO the TIR optic in the KX1 and KX2 are a big improvement over the square-beamed ones in the KL1 gen4 heads.

 

[SRacer2000]

That's how you did that! An o-ring. :duh2:

 

[Ty_Bower]

Those look like T heads, not hex. Don't try a hex, you'll ruin them.

They look very similar to hex, except the edges aren't flat, they're curved in.

You can get a T wrench at Lowes etc for $8 or so that has T0 to T8. I'm *guessing* those are around T4, etc.

I don't think the Torx screws are T4. The head on my KX2 "accidentally" popped open today. They're mighty tiny. Az_Tibor takes some really nice macro shots. Keep in mind that emitter PCB is about 16mm diameter.

Does anybody know the actual size of these screws with the hexalobular internal driving feature?