The ring of Excaliber

[William 1]

Happy new year fellow beam heads..
Just bought an old Streamlight 4D for £15 and have stripped it for cleaning. I've noticed that there is no O ring around the base/battery cap. Do any of you chaps know if there should be one, please? I've tried a Maggy D and C on it and neither do the job.
Thank you.

 

[chillinn]

If you have an eBay account, you can contact this seller, ask them to look in the tailcap for you and measure the oring. Looks like they have a measuring device of some kind.

 

[William 1]

Thanks Chillinn, I'll do that...

 

[bykfixer]

New to Me - Streamlight Excalibre 3D

[/IMG] Added an Excalibre to the collection... [/IMG] [/IMG]

www.candlepowerforums.com

See post 8 for some insight but not a direct answer to the size of the missing o'ring.

The title of this thread causes me to think it's an excalibre you have William. I pasted a link above to point out a 4D Streamlight and a Streamlight excalibre were completely different flashlights.

The tubing of the Streamlight 4D is thicker than the excalibre that was more along the lines of a Brinkmann Code 4.

The excalibre was a Streamlight attempt at a lower cost 'cop light' by lowering the cost to produce it. A Streamlight 4D on the other hand was a 3rd gen Kel-Lite in essence. It was a Kel-Lite with a push button switch and Streamlight stamped on the tail cap where Kel-Lite used to be prior to Streamlight buying Kel-Lite.

The Brinkmann Code 4 was once an LA Screw Code 4 and when GT Price bought LA Screw they also focused on lowering cost of production. Later when Don Keller went to work at Brinkmann he bought the designs and rights of GT Price products. He never built the Code 4. It was built by Brinkmann post Don Keller.

This size o'ring will work, in either light.

 

[William 1]

New to Me - Streamlight Excalibre 3D

[/IMG] Added an Excalibre to the collection... [/IMG] [/IMG]

www.candlepowerforums.com

See post 8 for some insight but not a direct answer to the size of the missing o'ring.

The title of this thread causes me to think it's an excalibre you have William. I pasted a link above to point out a 4D Streamlight and a Streamlight excalibre were completely different flashlights.

The tubing of the Streamlight 4D is thicker than the excalibre that was more along the lines of a Brinkmann Code 4.

The excalibre was a Streamlight attempt at a lower cost 'cop light' by lowering the cost to produce it. A Streamlight 4D on the other hand was a 3rd gen Kel-Lite in essence. It was a Kel-Lite with a push button switch and Streamlight stamped on the tail cap where Kel-Lite used to be prior to Streamlight buying Kel-Lite.

The Brinkmann Code 4 was once an LA Screw Code 4 and when GT Price bought LA Screw they also focused on lowering cost of production. Later when Don Keller went to work at Brinkmann he bought the designs and rights of GT Price products. He never built the Code 4. It was built by Brinkmann post Don Keller.

View attachment 37360
This size o'ring will work, in either light.

That's great. Thanks for that detailed and informative answer.

 

[William 1]

Yes, it was an Excalibre. The white writing is around the barrel, just above the switch, KE480092 serial #.
The reflector and inside of the lens were covered in dust, so after some research, and with trepidation, I immersed the whole head section into an ultrasonic tank, then rinsed with de -ionised water and dried quickly with a hair dryer. Came out undamaged and much improved.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Happy new year fellow beam heads..
Just bought an old Streamlight 4D for £15 and have stripped it for cleaning. I've noticed that there is no O ring around the base/battery cap. Do any of you chaps know if there should be one, please? I've tried a Maggy D and C on it and neither do the job.
Thank you.

Have a photo of this light? Love to see pics. Almost every aluminum full size Streamlight used the same tailcap O-ring since the mid '80s though. If you call Streamlight and say you need an O-ring for an SL-20X (or similar) they'll probably just send you one.

If you have an eBay account, you can contact this seller, ask them to look in the tailcap for you and measure the oring. Looks like they have a measuring device of some kind.

I don't believe that's even a Streamlight product.

New to Me - Streamlight Excalibre 3D

[/IMG] Added an Excalibre to the collection... [/IMG] [/IMG]

www.candlepowerforums.com

See post 8 for some insight but not a direct answer to the size of the missing o'ring.

The title of this thread causes me to think it's an excalibre you have William. I pasted a link above to point out a 4D Streamlight and a Streamlight excalibre were completely different flashlights.

The tubing of the Streamlight 4D is thicker than the excalibre that was more along the lines of a Brinkmann Code 4.

The excalibre was a Streamlight attempt at a lower cost 'cop light' by lowering the cost to produce it. A Streamlight 4D on the other hand was a 3rd gen Kel-Lite in essence. It was a Kel-Lite with a push button switch and Streamlight stamped on the tail cap where Kel-Lite used to be prior to Streamlight buying Kel-Lite.

The Brinkmann Code 4 was once an LA Screw Code 4 and when GT Price bought LA Screw they also focused on lowering cost of production. Later when Don Keller went to work at Brinkmann he bought the designs and rights of GT Price products. He never built the Code 4. It was built by Brinkmann post Don Keller.

A lot of the information online about the Kel-Lite/Streamlight crossover flashlights is a little ambiguous. I'm not an expert, but I do have more physical details of the lights involved. I'll do a proper breakdown post one of these days with photos. Short version:

-Kel-Lite 3rd generation, an actual pre-Streamlight Kel-Lite product. Very complicated machining, heavy wall tube. Not common.

-A transitional model marked Streamlight but Kel-Lite may have been responsible for. Still a heavy wall but simplified machining. Very rare.

-The early Streamlight "Kel-Lite II" which is what most people talk about, like the lights in Liftd's photos. It's a redesign using the SL-20 style thin wall body tubes and a simplified switch cartridge. I think this improves the Kel-Lite version for production. Pretty common.

-???I'm a little fuzzy here but I think this is where the original Excalibre comes into play. One-piece head and the circumferential lettering they got sued for. Otherwise identical to above. Not common.

-The next model was the same as above without the lawsuit bait. I'm not sure if they continued to call them Excalibre for a while or immediately began branding them SL-DX models. Somewhere in there they dropped the Barstow markings on the tailcap and the K-prefix serial number. Extremely common.

-The final model (don't know what they called it) was a cheaper/modern redesign of the SL-DX series. The entire bulb tower/switch was made plastic and flimsy. The tube diameter was actually increased slightly and a Legend-style rubber grip was added. Part of me wonders if these were made in-house by Streamlight, since they don't share the same construction as any of their previous or contemporary lights. I don't know when they stopped making these but they weren't on their 1998 website.

 

[chillinn]

I don't believe that's even a Streamlight product.

I made a poor assumption about the 4D Steamlight model, but this was not one of them. Looks very similar to the 1980's incan version of SL-20. Seller is probably wrong about the D batteries. idk how C could be mixed up with D...?

 

[ABTOMAT]

I made a poor assumption about the 4D Steamlight model, but this was not one of them. Looks very similar to the 1980's incan version of SL-20. Seller is probably wrong about the D batteries. idk how C could be mixed up with D...?

Again, I don't believe Streamlight made that. It's not marked Streamlight. That flashlight is a style you sometimes see branded "Starlite Instruments" and was distributed through a merchandising importer for corporate promotional materials. 2000-2010s era I think. There's also an LED version. I wouldn't be shocked if both Streamlight and Mag Instruments had something to say about that.

The 1980s incan version of the SL-20 was the Kel-Lite II/SL-DX series.

 

[chillinn]

That flashlight is a style you sometimes see branded "Starlite Instruments" and was distributed through a merchandising importer for corporate promotional materials. 2000-2010s era I think. There's also an LED version.

You're absolutely right. But since when do experts know anything? Hard to believe an eBay auction lied. >< The humanity!

 

[bykfixer]

I had always been told 3rd gen Kel-Lites were Streamlights only. Thanks for clearing that up Abtomat

Most eBay sellers just buy stuff at estate sales or forfeit storage units and sell it on the Bay.

The Excalibre nearly got Streamlight wiped out. Maglite sued and won, and at the time Streamlight was strapped for cash. Who woulda thought stamping the bezel ring of a flashlight would be patent protected?

 

[William 1]

Have a photo of this light? Love to see pics. Almost every aluminum full size Streamlight used the same tailcap O-ring since the mid '80s though. If you call Streamlight and say you need an O-ring for an SL-20X (or similar) they'll probably just send you one.



I don't believe that's even a Streamlight product.



A lot of the information online about the Kel-Lite/Streamlight crossover flashlights is a little ambiguous. I'm not an expert, but I do have more physical details of the lights involved. I'll do a proper breakdown post one of these days with photos. Short version:

-Kel-Lite 3rd generation, an actual pre-Streamlight Kel-Lite product. Very complicated machining, heavy wall tube. Not common.

-A transitional model marked Streamlight but Kel-Lite may have been responsible for. Still a heavy wall but simplified machining. Very rare.

-The early Streamlight "Kel-Lite II" which is what most people talk about, like the lights in Liftd's photos. It's a redesign using the SL-20 style thin wall body tubes and a simplified switch cartridge. I think this improves the Kel-Lite version for production. Pretty common.

-???I'm a little fuzzy here but I think this is where the original Excalibre comes into play. One-piece head and the circumferential lettering they got sued for. Otherwise identical to above. Not common.

-The next model was the same as above without the lawsuit bait. I'm not sure if they continued to call them Excalibre for a while or immediately began branding them SL-DX models. Somewhere in there they dropped the Barstow markings on the tailcap and the K-prefix serial number. Extremely common.

-The final model (don't know what they called it) was a cheaper/modern redesign of the SL-DX series. The entire bulb tower/switch was made plastic and flimsy. The tube diameter was actually increased slightly and a Legend-style rubber grip was added. Part of me wonders if these were made in-house by Streamlight, since they don't share the same construction as any of their previous or contemporary lights. I don't know when they stopped making these but they weren't on their 1998 website.

Sorry , struggled tying to get photos on here. Are you Jason, with the very informative blog?

 

[bykfixer]

Jason goes by the user name Liftd4R.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Sorry , struggled tying to get photos on here. Are you Jason, with the very informative blog?

I'm Batman. PM'd you about the pics.

 

[chillinn]

He is vengeance! He is the night!

 

[William 1]

Jason goes by the user name Liftd4R.

Ah. Thanks for that..

 

[ABTOMAT]

William's pics. They highlight an issue identifying these lights. The Excalibre and focus markings on the body flake off and a rough cleaning could erase them all. It'd be interesting to know how many lights actually got them. The early KD's were Kel-Lite II's (as advertised--they never were marked as such) and the later ones were bezel-marked Excalibres. KE seem to have been a mix of bezel and body marked, KF was body marked, and I'm unsure about later ones. I'd like to get a full set of clean painted lights but I haven't lucked into many yet.

This style flashlight (with and without the markings) is the common style of D-cell Streamlights you find now. You'll find them with one-piece heads like this or the slightly earlier ones with separate bezel rings. The older Kel-Lite models have larger bodies and different knurling patterns on the head and tailcap.

 

[sgt253]

Here is my example:

 

[ABTOMAT]

Awesome, thanks for the pics. Now that you've posted that I'm going to correct my earlier post. I actually do have one of those with bezel lettering, and it's nearly worn off like I mentioned. KD prefix too. Found it in the part of my collection I haven't touched since I moved 13 years ago.

 

[William 1]

Bought some of those 33x2mm o rings for my missing tail cap one, but unfortunately they are too big. Ordered some 31 mm ones.
My switch boot is split, tried silicone on the inside but didn't last long.