Is it possible to remove the emiter from a star?

modamag

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
2,101
Location
Bay Area, CA
Re: Is it possible to remove the emiter from a sta

1. Desolder the leads
2. Use a metal cutter to cut the star (Quickest & cleanest)
2o. Use a pair of plier and bend the star

Once the star is deformed by bending or cutting the emitter will just fly (literally) out.

The question then is ...
How about w/o damaging the star slug (heatsink)?
 

vtunderground

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May 26, 2004
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Roanoke, VA
Re: Is it possible to remove the emiter from a sta

[ QUOTE ]
modamag said:
The question then is ...
How about w/o damaging the star slug (heatsink)?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, seriously. I thought I could do this by twisting the emitter with pliers. It didn't work so well. Ok, that's an understatement, I broke the emitter in half. But I ended up with a clean empty star, which is what I was cared the most about.
 

Led_Blind

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Nov 22, 2004
Messages
633
Location
Sydney, Australia
Re: Is it possible to remove the emiter from a sta

Hey fusion,

I recently asked the same question and found brute force most effective. Just make sure you unsolder the LED's legs then grab 2 pliers and bend the star down... and yes the emitter will shoot across the room so uts best to aim it down at something soft /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Without damaging the star is something i have not tried BUT I have managed to remove the emitter with a thin metal wedge minimal bending. This meant i could reshape the star sink back to flat and reuse it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Hope this helps
 

3rd_shift

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Mar 9, 2004
Messages
3,337
Location
DFW. TX. U.S.A. Earth
Re: Is it possible to remove the emiter from a sta

This is how I have done it many times:
#1 grab 2 sets of good pliers, or one set and a vise.
#2 Bend the star without bending the emitter leads.
Go ahead, bend the little bugger and then mark with a black marker which lead is (-).
#3 desolder the leads and lightly lift up on them as you go without bending them at all.
These are kinda fragile.
#4 have a soft place for the emitter to land when the last of the solder lets go of it.
#5 clip the leads a bit shorter to protect them from breaking as they are fragile.
#6 a small pair of good sharp scissors' blades, or a dental pick to remove the leftover thermal adhesive from the emitter underside.
Again, don't break the leads.
#7 let us know how it all turned out with what I hope is one of the expendable SX1K's I recently shipped in your direction. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif
 
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