Marduke
Flashaholic
Part 1: Initial thoughts and a quick disassembly
Well, my sacrificial T1 arrived in the mail today. I must say, this thing does have a bit more heft than I thought it would. Since I don't have to worry about marring the finish on this light (it's going to be crushed anyhow), I immediately set off to disassemble it as much as I could, including separating the head into several pieces as If I wanted to upgrade the emitter, or remove the wire clip, or replace the lens or reflector, or the o-ring that seals the lens.
The tailcap was first, and was quite easy. It is worth noting that unlike most of the screw-in tailcaps that we are used to on DX lights and similar, the threads that the switch fits into are not the same threads that the body of the light fits into. This can be seen in picture #5, where inside the tailcap part of the threads are shiny (where the switch goes) and part is anodized and dull (where the body fits). These are two distinct areas of different sizes.
The head was next, and much trickier. My specific light's head would not come open with strap wrenches or silicon grips, so I had to resort to a pair of vice grips and channel lock pliers. As you can see in the pictures, this marred the finish quite a bit, but it's all in the name of knowledge. The lower part came off first, and you could then remove the clip if you so desired.
This also gave access to do an emitter swap if you wanted, which would be quite easy. Just unsolder two wires and pry the old one off, reverse to put a new one in.
You can also remove the solid aluminum reflector from this point. Yes, I said SOLID. I think this is where some of the heft in the head comes from.
The stainless steel bezel came off next, and once again I brought out the vice grips and channel locks. This again marred the head and bezel. Once out, you have access to the lens and o-ring that seats it. A GITD o-ring swap would make a very cool mod at this point.
A couple notable points:
1) The entire head had blue loctite keeping it shut on my specific light. Some of the pictures show this.
2) If I had spent more time with a strap wrench, I could probably have gotten the head apart without damage, but I don't have to baby this light, as it's going to die shortly...
3) The emitter is well heat sinked on a sizable chunk of aluminum
4) Just for giggles, I cycled the switch a couple hundred times while watching some TV with no hiccups observed.
5) 4sevens already threw this light against a brick/concrete wall prior to sending it, so it already had a few slight scratches.
Wait! I didn't forget the pictures....
http://picasaweb.google.com/bsmoooth/FenixT1InitialThoughts
There is more to come, as these are only my initial thoughts and observations within the first few hours of having the T1. I will post some better pictures taken with a Canon 10D SLR at work in the near future, along with some videos of the abuse (crushing, throwing, etc.), along with a few other things crushed for comparison.
Stay Tuned.....
Edit 1:
For those of you interested, I did a trial run to make sure what 4sevens wanted out of this test using soda cans in the test machine.
http://www.mediafire.com/?fmmnodh5mnx
Well, my sacrificial T1 arrived in the mail today. I must say, this thing does have a bit more heft than I thought it would. Since I don't have to worry about marring the finish on this light (it's going to be crushed anyhow), I immediately set off to disassemble it as much as I could, including separating the head into several pieces as If I wanted to upgrade the emitter, or remove the wire clip, or replace the lens or reflector, or the o-ring that seals the lens.
The tailcap was first, and was quite easy. It is worth noting that unlike most of the screw-in tailcaps that we are used to on DX lights and similar, the threads that the switch fits into are not the same threads that the body of the light fits into. This can be seen in picture #5, where inside the tailcap part of the threads are shiny (where the switch goes) and part is anodized and dull (where the body fits). These are two distinct areas of different sizes.
The head was next, and much trickier. My specific light's head would not come open with strap wrenches or silicon grips, so I had to resort to a pair of vice grips and channel lock pliers. As you can see in the pictures, this marred the finish quite a bit, but it's all in the name of knowledge. The lower part came off first, and you could then remove the clip if you so desired.
This also gave access to do an emitter swap if you wanted, which would be quite easy. Just unsolder two wires and pry the old one off, reverse to put a new one in.
You can also remove the solid aluminum reflector from this point. Yes, I said SOLID. I think this is where some of the heft in the head comes from.
The stainless steel bezel came off next, and once again I brought out the vice grips and channel locks. This again marred the head and bezel. Once out, you have access to the lens and o-ring that seats it. A GITD o-ring swap would make a very cool mod at this point.
A couple notable points:
1) The entire head had blue loctite keeping it shut on my specific light. Some of the pictures show this.
2) If I had spent more time with a strap wrench, I could probably have gotten the head apart without damage, but I don't have to baby this light, as it's going to die shortly...
3) The emitter is well heat sinked on a sizable chunk of aluminum
4) Just for giggles, I cycled the switch a couple hundred times while watching some TV with no hiccups observed.
5) 4sevens already threw this light against a brick/concrete wall prior to sending it, so it already had a few slight scratches.
Wait! I didn't forget the pictures....
http://picasaweb.google.com/bsmoooth/FenixT1InitialThoughts
There is more to come, as these are only my initial thoughts and observations within the first few hours of having the T1. I will post some better pictures taken with a Canon 10D SLR at work in the near future, along with some videos of the abuse (crushing, throwing, etc.), along with a few other things crushed for comparison.
Stay Tuned.....
Edit 1:
For those of you interested, I did a trial run to make sure what 4sevens wanted out of this test using soda cans in the test machine.
http://www.mediafire.com/?fmmnodh5mnx
Last edited:
I moved onto an all concrete floor in an adjacent room. The marks from the steel bezel are starting to show there too, but I've only dropped the light there 50 times.
