The Quark lights thread! (Part 5)

[uplite]

I'm not sure what you were trying to say about the TK40??

Just that it's a high-current light, so the designers wouldn't try to push current through the threads...as you confirmed. 🙂

The question is, what flashlights do put current through the threads? Do any of the "high end" lights do this? Or is it only the "value enthusiast" lights like Quark, Fenix, etc? What flashlights do you have that use this design?

If the threads are making good contact electrically, because of the spring pressure and lack of oxidation, then everything's cool, right?

Right. The issue is, the threads do not make 100% reliable contact for the current that these Quarks pull on High or Max, at least.

It does work most of the time, and when it doesn't work, you can easily tweak the bezel to get it working. And judging from the polls, lots of folks just use the default modes (loose = moonlight). So it's good enough for most of us. But it could be better. 🙂

-Jeff

 

[adnj]

Didn't read through the entire thread - There may be an issue with the connection at the tail end of the light. I have used Fenix lights with the same desin for years and never had a problem.

 

[uplite]

There may be an issue with the connection at the tail end of the light.

Good idea...but not a problem here. 🙂

The light is 100% reliable when the head is tightened. And it is OK when the head is loosened past the o-ring...the spring pushes the threads together...as long as I don't touch it!

The problem only comes up when the threads have poor contact with each other, and they are held in that position by the o-ring. And it seems to come up more often with higher current (123 Max mode). 😗

-Jeff

 

[bcwang]

Right...the head is not "wobbly"...the o-rings make it feel nice and tight. 🙂

But...the electrical contact of the threads is variable. Isn't that just how machine threads work? They need some clearance so they can turn.

To see for yourself, try these two simple tests:

Test 1: Unscrew the head 1/4 turn. Turn the light on and click to High mode. Grab the head and tail, and gently pull them apart or push them together. Does the light flicker? If not, unscrew the head a tiny bit more and try again. It's luck of the draw, but I bet it only takes 1 or 2 tries before you see it flicker on High.

Test 2: Unscrew the head just past the o-ring. Or if you prefer, remove the oring and screw the head back on most of the way. Push/pull on the head. With the o-ring out of the way, can you feel the tiny movement of the threads?

FYI, I have two new Quark heads, nice and clean. The tactical one has a light application of triflow on the threads and o-ring, because I expected to rotate it a bunch of times to program it. The regular one was cleaned with a cotton swab but not yet lubed...it has only been loosened and tighted about a dozen times so far. :thumbsup:

Am I off base here? Does anyone see this flicker when they push/pull on the head?

It's not a big deal...I plan to just use the bezel-tightened modes...but I am curious if others see the same issue with this design.

-Jeff

I just tried this too. I know the head has play as the threads don't perfectly slot into each other. But wiggling it around, moving it up and down (I can feel it move from contacting the top side of the thread to the bottom side, the contact never broke. No flicker, no mode changing, nothing. This is with the thread 1/4 turned off, and 1 full turn as well.

I did use deoxit to clean all my threads, deoxit gold spread on it afterwards, and then lubed with nyogel 760g. I don't know if all that makes a difference but all I have is reliable contact.

Given the amount of material there is to make contact, it is surprising that at any point you would be able to break contact from all points unless you had many spots in your threads that are actually oxidized. Oxidized aluminum may not be so easy to spot. I'd recommend if you've got deoxit, to try using it to reclean all your threads to make sure any oxidation is removed. Deoxit has worked wonders where other stuff doesn't do a thing.

One thing you could try, see if you can remove the o-ring and float the head in a position just right to not let the light turn on. If you are able to do that, maybe you do have excessive play to the point no thread is actually touching.

 

[uplite]

Given the amount of material there is to make contact, it is surprising that at any point you would be able to break contact from all points unless you had many spots in your threads that are actually oxidized. Oxidized aluminum may not be so easy to spot. I'd recommend if you've got deoxit, to try using it to reclean all your threads to make sure any oxidation is removed. Deoxit has worked wonders where other stuff doesn't do a thing.

OK, I'll pick up some Deoxit and give it a go. Thanks for your patience everyone. 🙂

I wonder how much more these lights would cost if 4sevens gave the threads a zincate-nickel-gold electroplating... :thinking:

-Jeff

 

[Vox Clamatis in Deserto]

I've got some Quark tailcap-body combinations that don't work. I've ordered a couple of blue boot kits, I'm going to use the tool to take apart the extra tailcaps and see if I can make them work reliably.

Twice, I've had a Quark tailcap suddenly stop working, one on a regular Q123, perhaps after it had been dropped going through airport security, the second on a tactical QAAW after a battery change.

The QAAW tail cap now works with a 2AA body but not on the original AA body. Maybe some of the lubricant migrated to the threads or contact area or whatever. I've got the Deoxit, Nyogel, voltmeter, spare lego parts, tools etc. to troubleshoot but haven't had the time or patience in recent days. Might as well wait for the tailcap tool to see if it gives me any insight.

I remember a few years ago Surefire had a spate of bad tailcaps, I got a couple of free replacements with a phone call. It's great to have wonderful customer service, even better not to need it in the first place as many of us have observed here.

The Quarks are terrific lights with the usual growing pains of a new product line.

I see the product information has been updated to reflect the sapphire coating on a glass lens. I was led to believe by the original description that the lens was sapphire, not uncommon on some more expensive custom lights.

 

[Tom_123]

Referring to Post #203 and following about the problem with 14500 batteries:

I mailed 4Seven but till now I just got the usual „We will be looking into this“ answer.
(Somehow disappointing, me think)

So I made with my own solution.

I’ll post my solution here instead of starting a new thread.
If you think that this will clutter this thread too much, please tell me and I’ll delete it.

The problem with the short battery tube is that the offset of the retain ring will get
in touch with the battery and short-circuit the clicky.
So I made a spacer out of a sealing ring.

As there is no standard ring with this dimension, I had to file the outer diameter to ~18 mm.
Thickness is 1.3 mm.

You could just drop the ring into the tail cap, but if you want to use the lockout feature,
it might be better to glue the spacer to the retain ring.
Not sure here but I think superglue (Cyanacrylat) should do the job.
Please consider that you want a current flow from the battery tube through the spacer
to the retain ring, so just glue selectively.

A drawback of this work around is, that there will be a tiny gab between the tube and the tail cap.
But I think until 4Sevens offers a longer battery tube, this isn’t a too bad work around.
However, critics are welcome.

Hope that helps somehow

Thomas

 

[4sevens]

We're getting some new retaining rings that will help with 14500 use.
They should be here next week.
Contact customer service (next week) and we'll send you replacement retaining rings 🙂

 

[Vox Clamatis in Deserto]

Just got the blue rubber boot kit with the pin tool for the retaining ring inside the Quark tailcaps.

As someone helpfully suggested here a while back, I used the tool to tighten the retaining ring on both tactical tailcaps and now they work fine with the QAAW using both 14500's and AA's. Before, they would only work properly with the QAA-2 body.

I found the old dead tailcap from my Q123 that I replaced weeks ago. Tightened the retaining ring with the pin tool and, you guessed it, it works.

It seems that in my case, loosening of the retaining ring in the tailcap has been responsible for continuity issues with several combinations of tailcaps, batteries and bodies. I did some lego work while troubleshooting and couldn't figure out why some assemblies worked and others did not.

Also, while experimenting, I noticed that sometimes the outside threaded black retaining ring for the clip is loose on some lights and not others. The ring can back up the body and stop the head from tightening enough for consistent mode changes if it is on the head end and can prevent the light from turning on if it is on the tailcap end. On some bodies, the clip ring tightens nicely, on others it seems to almost rattle with play.

I'm guessing that the loose retaining ring issue in the tailcap may come from insufficient tightening during production, loosening during transport and use due to vibration and temperature changes or perhaps loosening during battery changes.

As an aside, the pin tool included in the blue tailcap boot kit seems to be nonmagnetic, harder than aluminum and dull gray. Is it titanium or am I just too anxious for the the XP-G Ti Quark's to arrive?

 

[qip]

for Quark V2.0

1. source some different clicky switches, as stated here the feel of it is much better ...swapping fenix clicky into your quark

2. only for max/turbo ...if i recall the drive current isnt as high as usual fenix example 1.4a in 2aa because of xpe ...with xpg will there be a chance to bump up the drive a bit to compliment the new led

3. i saw the drawing somewhere here before and also adnj here has it spot on , is it possible



4. xpg in regular aluminum of course

 

[Marduke]

As an aside, the pin tool included in the blue tailcap boot kit seems to be nonmagnetic, harder than aluminum and dull gray. Is it titanium or am I just too anxious for the the XP-G Ti Quark's to arrive?

It's probably just stainless steel, nothing special.

 

[oregon]

The tool is magnetic (just not tremendously so).

The rubber boots are great. The tool, ah the tool, is a must have!

It is so cleverly cut thru with "4Sevens" that it is hard to believe it is not etched or printed. Beautiful work. A perfect tool. An instant collectible. A modern day skate key for those who remember...

Seen below on a pad of orange colored Post-its:

Pic with magnet hanging off the business end:

oregon

 

[jahxman]

Since we're talking about taking the quarks apart, has anyone been able to remove the pill on one yet? I'd like to get a look at the emitter and driver if possible but the fine point tweezers I have won't budge the thing.

Any ideas?

 

[Tom_123]

We're getting some new retaining rings that will help with 14500 use....

Wow, that’s really a great service thanks a lot.

 

[4sevens]

The tool is magnetic (just not tremendously so).

The rubber boots are great. The tool, ah the tool, is a must have!

It is so cleverly cut thru with "4Sevens" that it is hard to believe it is not etched or printed. Beautiful work. A perfect tool. An instant collectible. A modern day skate key for those who remember...

Seen below on a pad of orange colored Post-its:

Pic with magnet hanging off the business end:

oregon

Nice pictures oregon! When we were looking at making a tool for the tail, we wanted to add a little pizazz to the small details. Since it was a large run, we went for it. And obviously it turned out very nice! When I got the pieces, I stared at it for almost 10 minutes! Not bad for a little tool 😀

 

[matrixshaman]

Nice tool. I'm curious if it was cut with laser or water jet or some other way? Is the purpose of the boot kit to make clicking easier?

 

[DHart]

Is the purpose of the boot kit to make clicking easier?

:thinking: I'm wondering the same thing...

 

[bcwang]

Nice tool. I'm curious if it was cut with laser or water jet or some other way? Is the purpose of the boot kit to make clicking easier?

I think one purpose is to get blue boots. If it's to make the clicking easier too, it would be nice if they also offered it in black.

 

[uplite]

The "boot kit" does not make clicking easier. Well...if your retaining ring has been loosened somehow, then yeah, tightening it will push the button back where it belongs. But the firmness of the click comes from the switch itself.

I honestly don't understand the boot kit. Almost ten bucks for a blue rubber cap that makes the light look like a little kid's toy?!? :duh2: No thanks. I might pay a buck or two for a glow-in-the-dark boot. Considering the cost of these lights though, 4sevens should throw it in, like Zebralight throws in both black and GITD holders. :thumbsup:

Out of curiousity I just disassembled my Quark tails. 😗 I used a small needlenose pliers, like this:

Tweezers would work if you have a "beater" pair. Snap-ring pliers are ideal if you have them. :thumbsup:

The tail has these five parts, assembled in clockwise order from top:

Parts flipped over:

Tactical and regular tails share the same tube, washer, and retaining ring. Only the switch and boot are taller:

Enjoy. 🙂

-Jeff

 

[Marduke]

The boot kit is softer, and less stiff than the original boots, so yes, it does make it easier to push for those with weak thumbs...