# Has anyone ever modified one of these for more lumens?



## rabbiporkchop (Feb 28, 2016)

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.


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## DrafterDan (Mar 1, 2016)

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.


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## rabbiporkchop (Mar 22, 2016)

Here are some pics.















DrafterDan said:


> 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.


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## rabbiporkchop (Mar 22, 2016)

more pics


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## rabbiporkchop (Mar 22, 2016)

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


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## rabbiporkchop (Mar 23, 2016)

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.


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## rabbiporkchop (Mar 24, 2016)

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?


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## jayrob (May 15, 2016)

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...


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## Str8stroke (May 15, 2016)

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


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## rabbiporkchop (May 15, 2016)

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


jayrob said:


> 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)
> 
> ...


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## jayrob (May 15, 2016)

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)


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## rabbiporkchop (May 15, 2016)

Looks like a masterpiece.


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## jayrob (May 15, 2016)

Str8stroke said:


> 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... 






rabbiporkchop said:


> Looks like a masterpiece.



I think your going to like it!


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## rabbiporkchop (May 16, 2016)

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


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## jayrob (May 16, 2016)

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


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## rabbiporkchop (Oct 11, 2021)

jayrob said:


> 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.


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## jayrob (Oct 11, 2021)

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


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## Lynx_Arc (Oct 12, 2021)

jayrob said:


> 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.


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## electromage (Nov 7, 2021)

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.


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## rabbiporkchop (Nov 8, 2021)

electromage said:


> 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?


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## electromage (Nov 8, 2021)

No, I haven't really dismantled the head, I've just left it in the box. A reversible upgrade like an LED PR drop-in would be easy, or maybe a hotwire. The reflector is probably metal.

I guess I should open it up.


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## rabbiporkchop (Nov 8, 2021)

electromage said:


> No, I haven't really dismantled the head, I've just left it in the box. A reversible upgrade like an LED PR drop-in would be easy, or maybe a hotwire. The reflector is probably metal.
> 
> I guess I should open it up.


None of the parts are usable. The head needed machine work and a custom pill fabbed up. The reflector had to be replaced. 1000 lumens out of this antique is pretty cool though.


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## electromage (Nov 8, 2021)

rabbiporkchop said:


> None of the parts are usable. The head needed machine work and a custom pill fabbed up. The reflector had to be replaced. 1000 lumens out of this antique is pretty cool though.


What's the reflector for that setup?


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## rabbiporkchop (Nov 9, 2021)

electromage said:


> What's the reflector for that setup?


This is the reflector that got used.





Mag C or D Cell Flashlight Aluminum Reflector


Mag C or D Cell Flashlight Aluminum Reflector 52mm x 28mm




kaidomain.com


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