tedshred
Newly Enlightened
I figure it's a fine flashlight to practice on. I tore into the packaging of my $19. Home Depot Husky 4watt Cree LED after self-check out, inserted the batteries, clicked on and got power.
Using wood blocks in my bench vise to keep the finish from getting scratched up, I heated up the silver head where the threads were with a soldering torch and it softened the glue for unthreading.
Before
:thumbsdow
After (with rubber covers)
:twothumbs
Glue on threads
Cree held in by c-clip
Backside of "pill" had plastic spring button that locks into small recess inside tube. This part took some coaxing to remove, pushing it up from the bottom.
Front side with forward clicky (rubber clicky cover removed):
Inside the plastic button:
I simply removed this light-saber part:
I tried to scrape away the glue, but was doing more damge than good to the cheap plastic lens. The real trick was heating up the bezel without melting the plastic lens and reflector. I took that part slow.
Bezel, lens and smooth reflector (needs clear coat op treatment). The dull ring at the top of the reflector caused by the heating process to soften glue. Sratches on plastic lens caused by first attempt to scrape glue away:
Reflector with clear coat OP treatment
reassembled by snapping parts into groove in bezel
The rubber button tore during disassemble, but the bare clicky under bike tire tube has a very good feel to it.
No longer a light saber and the beam is without rings! Still has a nice hotspot too. Tailcap was modified with hacksaw, grinder, and disk sander. I could polish it up to look like the bezel, but I'm keeping the rubber cover on it for now.
Using wood blocks in my bench vise to keep the finish from getting scratched up, I heated up the silver head where the threads were with a soldering torch and it softened the glue for unthreading.
Before
After (with rubber covers)
Glue on threads
Cree held in by c-clip
Backside of "pill" had plastic spring button that locks into small recess inside tube. This part took some coaxing to remove, pushing it up from the bottom.
Front side with forward clicky (rubber clicky cover removed):
Inside the plastic button:
I simply removed this light-saber part:
I tried to scrape away the glue, but was doing more damge than good to the cheap plastic lens. The real trick was heating up the bezel without melting the plastic lens and reflector. I took that part slow.
Bezel, lens and smooth reflector (needs clear coat op treatment). The dull ring at the top of the reflector caused by the heating process to soften glue. Sratches on plastic lens caused by first attempt to scrape glue away:
Reflector with clear coat OP treatment
reassembled by snapping parts into groove in bezel
The rubber button tore during disassemble, but the bare clicky under bike tire tube has a very good feel to it.
No longer a light saber and the beam is without rings! Still has a nice hotspot too. Tailcap was modified with hacksaw, grinder, and disk sander. I could polish it up to look like the bezel, but I'm keeping the rubber cover on it for now.
