Hi guys,
A number of you have or wil be taking your lights apart for component plating. I have received a number of PM's regarding taking the lights (primarily the titanium lights) apart towards these ends.
I have a few comments to offer but this is not a detailed "how to".
In the case of a light that has either a Seoul P4 or Cree XR-E LED, The heat sink or MCPCB has been "staked" in place by using an auto center punch (example). When you have removed the balance of components in the head, you will need to knock the LED and sink out with careful tapping from the rear. On reassembly, you may need to force or tap the LED & sink back in place, seating it on the shoulder. Some of the lights have an Al shim behind the sink that lifts the sink up to proper focal location.
To disassemble the heads, remove bezel ring or retaining O-ring, window (mark outside, non A/R side with a piece of tape?), sealing O-ring and reflector. From the rear, remove the #0-80 PCB mounting screw and unsolder the LED leads from the PCB. Make note of wire color and which via it is soldered to. Typically the black is (-) but there are a small number of lights where I goofed up on the polarity!
Remove the LED and sink as mentioned above. I use Arctic Aluminia's Ceramic Grease for thermal bond and this grease needs to be "dealt" with.
On the batery paks, the mechanical stuff is pretty straight forward. In many pistons, the spring pocket was oversized due to the method of machining using an end mill that wandered in the CNC lathe. The springs have been formed with enough interference to insure a captivity. In reassembly, if you have needle nose pliers, you can hold the spring at the narrow top loop and rotating the spring clockwise as you push it into the piston aids the tail in collapsing and fitting into the socket.
The H3 vials in the pistons are seated in with a UV curred compound. I have found that if you heat the piston up to say 180 F, the goo will soften to the point that you can take a needle or push pin and pierce it at one end, beyond the vial and use it to lever up the vial and goo. I have successfully removed a number of H3 vials this way. The goo stays bonded to the vial but can be peeled off.
Without knowing what tools you may be using and your level of expertise on these matters, I won't claim that you will have no issues and obviously You are on your own here.
I hope some of these comments are helpful to those of you who will be going forward with this.
Please feel free to use this thread for questions and comments on the anatomy of these lights and such.
A number of you have or wil be taking your lights apart for component plating. I have received a number of PM's regarding taking the lights (primarily the titanium lights) apart towards these ends.
I have a few comments to offer but this is not a detailed "how to".
In the case of a light that has either a Seoul P4 or Cree XR-E LED, The heat sink or MCPCB has been "staked" in place by using an auto center punch (example). When you have removed the balance of components in the head, you will need to knock the LED and sink out with careful tapping from the rear. On reassembly, you may need to force or tap the LED & sink back in place, seating it on the shoulder. Some of the lights have an Al shim behind the sink that lifts the sink up to proper focal location.
To disassemble the heads, remove bezel ring or retaining O-ring, window (mark outside, non A/R side with a piece of tape?), sealing O-ring and reflector. From the rear, remove the #0-80 PCB mounting screw and unsolder the LED leads from the PCB. Make note of wire color and which via it is soldered to. Typically the black is (-) but there are a small number of lights where I goofed up on the polarity!
On the batery paks, the mechanical stuff is pretty straight forward. In many pistons, the spring pocket was oversized due to the method of machining using an end mill that wandered in the CNC lathe. The springs have been formed with enough interference to insure a captivity. In reassembly, if you have needle nose pliers, you can hold the spring at the narrow top loop and rotating the spring clockwise as you push it into the piston aids the tail in collapsing and fitting into the socket.
The H3 vials in the pistons are seated in with a UV curred compound. I have found that if you heat the piston up to say 180 F, the goo will soften to the point that you can take a needle or push pin and pierce it at one end, beyond the vial and use it to lever up the vial and goo. I have successfully removed a number of H3 vials this way. The goo stays bonded to the vial but can be peeled off.
Without knowing what tools you may be using and your level of expertise on these matters, I won't claim that you will have no issues and obviously You are on your own here.
I hope some of these comments are helpful to those of you who will be going forward with this.
Please feel free to use this thread for questions and comments on the anatomy of these lights and such.
I'm "crazy" about my McGizmo collection and have just decided to send Jonathan another light!
