Ok, firstly, I've got a surefire A2 aviator last week. I totally love the flashlight, I find that the regulated incandescent light is THE BEST feature of this light.
But; 2 days after I got it, while cleaning the lens, I've noticed a kind of smoking or greasy patch inside of it, about 1/4 by 1/8 inch. I was like: damn over 200$ for a flashlight and there is this poop inside. I've sent an email to surefire concerning this friday evening and even if I didn't notice any effect on the beam, but being very impatient, I've decided to clean it myself with a long wooden Q-tip and 99% isopropyl alcohol. This cleaned about 90% of the foggy area and left some dust in the bezel. I was not really satisfied by the result.
Well, I've read in a message made by flash_gordon that surefire support gave an advice of flushing the bezel with alcohol. Well I did the thing. This was the only way I found to correctly clean the inside the bezel without any danger of touching the fragile reflector. Since there is no real guide on this site on the subject, I tought that it would be good to have one.
***THIS WILL TAKE A LOT OF PATIENCE (AT LEAST 1 HOUR, PROBABLY MORE), AND OF LOT OF TRIES TO GET IT CLEANED RIGHT!***
***THIS WORKED FOR ME, BUT BEFORE YOU TRY, WAIT FOR ADVICES OF MORE EXPERIENCED USERS HERE***
***USE 99% ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL (ISOPROPANOL)***
- Take a bowl, put dish soap into it (put in a lot), and get fresh water into it.
- Unscrew bezel, take out the LED ring and wash, shake, flush, shake shake shake the bezel into the soapy water. Do it a lot, since it will take out all the lubrification that is still on the lower portion of the bezel and the contaminants in the bezel. Clean all the lube, the lube could contaminate the alcohol when you put it in, and would result is a badly striated lens. Don't forget that silicon is nearly invisible.
- Rinse the bezel with fresh water. Rinse it for LONG and flush it often. Try not touching the inside of the bezel, you could contaminate walls with finger grease, which would transfer into the alcohol, thus creating a badly striated lens.
- Being impatient, I did not let the bezel dry. I directly filled the bezel with alcohol, flushing it at least 3 times, so most of the water is out.
- ***Careful: do not touch the reflector with the dropper*** Take a dropper, take some alcohol in it, and throw it inside the bezel by a LED hole. I suggest that you hold the bezel horizontaly, throwing the alcohol by the side. This will cause most of the alcohol to get out of the lens as fast as possible, so less contaminated alcohol drying on there possible. Immediatly after doing that hold the bezel down, and do a circular ''up-down'' motion with your harm, using the centrifugal forces to get the more alcohol possible off the lens, as fast as possible.
- I've used a fan to dry out the alcohol, holding the bezel down.
- When dry, inspect the lens under a light. Look for traces of dried out contaminated alcohol on the lens. THIS WILL TAKE A FEW (LOT) TRIES BEFORE GETTING IT RIGHT.
- When the lens looks perfect, let it dry for a few minutes, to be sure all the alcohol is dried out.
- Clean the LEDS and lamp with alcohol.
- Put the bezel back on, don't forget to lubricate, and enjoy your perfectly clean lens.
Again, if there is any kind of contaminant when you put your alcohol inside the bezel, you will see it when it will dry out! And it WILL take a lot of tries, but it's really worth the shot.
Waiting for your inputs!
But; 2 days after I got it, while cleaning the lens, I've noticed a kind of smoking or greasy patch inside of it, about 1/4 by 1/8 inch. I was like: damn over 200$ for a flashlight and there is this poop inside. I've sent an email to surefire concerning this friday evening and even if I didn't notice any effect on the beam, but being very impatient, I've decided to clean it myself with a long wooden Q-tip and 99% isopropyl alcohol. This cleaned about 90% of the foggy area and left some dust in the bezel. I was not really satisfied by the result.
Well, I've read in a message made by flash_gordon that surefire support gave an advice of flushing the bezel with alcohol. Well I did the thing. This was the only way I found to correctly clean the inside the bezel without any danger of touching the fragile reflector. Since there is no real guide on this site on the subject, I tought that it would be good to have one.
***THIS WILL TAKE A LOT OF PATIENCE (AT LEAST 1 HOUR, PROBABLY MORE), AND OF LOT OF TRIES TO GET IT CLEANED RIGHT!***
***THIS WORKED FOR ME, BUT BEFORE YOU TRY, WAIT FOR ADVICES OF MORE EXPERIENCED USERS HERE***
***USE 99% ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL (ISOPROPANOL)***
- Take a bowl, put dish soap into it (put in a lot), and get fresh water into it.
- Unscrew bezel, take out the LED ring and wash, shake, flush, shake shake shake the bezel into the soapy water. Do it a lot, since it will take out all the lubrification that is still on the lower portion of the bezel and the contaminants in the bezel. Clean all the lube, the lube could contaminate the alcohol when you put it in, and would result is a badly striated lens. Don't forget that silicon is nearly invisible.
- Rinse the bezel with fresh water. Rinse it for LONG and flush it often. Try not touching the inside of the bezel, you could contaminate walls with finger grease, which would transfer into the alcohol, thus creating a badly striated lens.
- Being impatient, I did not let the bezel dry. I directly filled the bezel with alcohol, flushing it at least 3 times, so most of the water is out.
- ***Careful: do not touch the reflector with the dropper*** Take a dropper, take some alcohol in it, and throw it inside the bezel by a LED hole. I suggest that you hold the bezel horizontaly, throwing the alcohol by the side. This will cause most of the alcohol to get out of the lens as fast as possible, so less contaminated alcohol drying on there possible. Immediatly after doing that hold the bezel down, and do a circular ''up-down'' motion with your harm, using the centrifugal forces to get the more alcohol possible off the lens, as fast as possible.
- I've used a fan to dry out the alcohol, holding the bezel down.
- When dry, inspect the lens under a light. Look for traces of dried out contaminated alcohol on the lens. THIS WILL TAKE A FEW (LOT) TRIES BEFORE GETTING IT RIGHT.
- When the lens looks perfect, let it dry for a few minutes, to be sure all the alcohol is dried out.
- Clean the LEDS and lamp with alcohol.
- Put the bezel back on, don't forget to lubricate, and enjoy your perfectly clean lens.
Again, if there is any kind of contaminant when you put your alcohol inside the bezel, you will see it when it will dry out! And it WILL take a lot of tries, but it's really worth the shot.
Waiting for your inputs!
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