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My 520nm Convoy S2+ Build

cosmonaut

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Mar 26, 2019
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Hi LPF, I know there are tons of 520 builds out there but I'd just like to share what I've been up to. My build isn't complete since I'm waiting on a few more parts to arrive in the mail (a battery contact board and thermal adhesive) but for the most part, it's been going well. I'll also share some of my issues and how to avoid them.

I had a nice conversation with Immo1282 about his Convoy builds and thought I'd make a little writeup tutorial on how to do it for anyone wondering.
The first thing I did was order a Convoy S2+ host from Mountain Electronics. They're pretty good and their shipping was reasonable in price and time. The blank host is nothing special, it just comes with the end cap, a middle section for a 18650, a top part with a lens, reflector, and pill, and finally some extras in the inside like an extra spring.

645386453964540

Here is the pill and the host. The pill contains a little screw-in retaining ring on the bottom to hold the contact PCB that goes against the battery.
The next step was to order the laser and the driver. I bought the 50mW Osram 520nm diode from DTR's shop, with the driver included in the 20mm casing. Heads up- while the driver he includes is the LDSE500 (a good boost driver), the board is pretty long and I ran in to trouble fitting it in. I would recommend using a round driver like immo1282 did.

6454164542

The build in immo's thread goes a little like this image he gave me:

64543

As you can see, the aluminum piece should be cut down as much as possible. I can't do this because the driver is too long. The issue with this is that when the whole pill/heatsink assembly is too long, the top of the flashlight can't thread on to the body. I had to desolder the driver from the diode and attach leads on both ends. Since the board is too wide to fit horizontally in the pill, I had to machine out the top (where the two holes are) and file out a sort of rectangle for the board to seat inside.

6454464545

It's not ideal, but it works. I'll end up isolating the board from the metal using kapton tape.
The next step was to machine down the copper piece smaller. Unfortunately, my cutting bit decided to break then and I chewed up the metal. Oh well, it ain't pretty but I guess it still works.

Anyway, I'm waiting to finish this up next week and I'll update you on what happens!

Bonus color shot vs. 532nm dpss:
64546

-Cosmonaut
 





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Hi, I have built quite a few of these Convoy hosts and they are awesome . This is the way I did mine with a milled in driver shelf on the main heat sink. Then you can use the brass pill to secure the contact PCB board pre wired. You can also do this with the S2 and S2+ hosts.

Rich:)fullsizeoutput_b7c.jpegfullsizeoutput_b80.jpegIMG_4759.JPG
 

Anthony P

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Survival Laser sells a couple host kits similar to yours that are specifically made to perfectly fit the DTR 20mm modules.
 
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Hi GSS,
Yes that is your build buddy, working on a 1x26650 convoy host. I machined the copper sink and it has a huge mass for that host.
Have a X wossee boost driver set to 1.5A for a 520nm diode . These convoy's are really well built hosts and great to work with. They come in different models too.

Rich:)
 

GSS

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Glad you talked me into this Convoy host instead of the 501B I wanted.
Don't get me wrong as I like my 501B's and have a bunch in higher powers but yup the bigger sink and room for the shelf just gives me no worry's as far as run time. "I can head count my run time seconds alot slower":)
 
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Hi Cosmo,
That is a really good job you did in mods to the Convoy pill . great pics in lathe ops ,keep up the great builds pal.

Rich:)
 

cosmonaut

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Mar 26, 2019
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Whelp, I snapped a lead off the diode assembling it. Now I’m out a fair bit. I’m a little upset but I suppose I could just get a press and put in a new one.
 
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It happens, I had gone a long time being careful and making anything/everything work then recently I just killed a couple of new sharp diodes and I accidentally detached one of those tiny surface mount resistors on a flex drive when bridging for the next range, really makes you appreciate that LDSE-500 ......WOW, what a nice driver and so easy to work with......anyway it happens so get more parts and try again, you will be happy when your done and lasing.
 
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That's rough Cosmonaut - it was my 2nd 520nm diode that lives in my S2 520 build so I felt that pain some months back. Nice to see your writeup :)

There's really not a lot of options for round 17mm drivers that are very avaliable. Since these convoy builds are pretty popular at the moment, I might see about reverse engineering and laying one of the common low-medium power drivers in that form factor if I have any time in the near future. My 520nm build is currently using a similar setup to what you've done, with a rectangular driver hiding underneath the round contact PCB, a proper round driver/contact board is a much nicer approach. if the pill/heatsink is being assembled this way.

To those who see it - this method is great for people without access to any machine tools. There are far better and more varied ways to make an S2 host fit a laser if you're in posession of a lathe.
 
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I invested in two thermostatically controlled soldering stations years ago for all these reasons. The one on my rework station has a digital readout of the temperature and goes up to 500* C. I rarely have it set above 200* C. I also have six different sizes of tips for it.
 

cosmonaut

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Mar 26, 2019
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Yeah, the problem was that the wires attached to the leads bent too far when screwing it together test fitting everything. Oh well. If anyone knows what DTR uses for pressing diodes into the big 20mm heatsinks that would be great. I feel like a standard diode press wouldn’t work. I think I’d just to that instead of getting a whole new module.
 
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I used a 3.8mm diode module to press my 5.6mm violet diode in the 20mm. I used a table vice.
 
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I believe DTR is still selling the plastic sleeve used with the normal press to press these into the 20 mm modules.
 
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Hi Cosmo,
Though you would like the Convoy S11 host that hold 1x26650 battery . If you like the S2+ maybe you will like this one to

Rich:)IMG_4788.JPGIMG_4790.JPGIMG_4791.JPGfullsizeoutput_bad.jpeg
 

reloader45

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Mar 17, 2019
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Hello Cosmonaut,

yesterday I got 3 Convoy S2+ from China. They look very nice in Grey.
The machining Quality seems to be top. Unfortunately the head seems to be one peace. At the moment, I have no real idea how to build a copper module that would fit and look good in this host. Maybe, I will stay with the unmodded flashlights, because they have a nice beam and a lot of light for the money I paid.


best regards

Edgar
 




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