Tougher than a surefire

[shroomy]

Is that gosh dang glue they use to hold the kl4 head together. Honestly, they should just build flashlights out of it

Anyway, If you haven't guessed, I've been trying to open up my kl4, and I have been rather unsuccessful at it. I know they're already a bunch of threads on this (and i've read through quite a few), but so far nothings worked (er, nothing that i can try anyway), so I'm hoping that perhaps someone recently came up with an ingenious way of opening a kl4 head up.

I should mention that I don't have access to a vice, or really any tools at all. I read that acetone or nail polish remover will work, but will that take off the anodizing?

So far I've run it under hot water and boiled it several times, but all I have to show for my efforts is a large blister on my index finger. Any advice?

 

[Ty_Bower]

1) Get some tools.
2) Acetone won't hurt the anodize.
3) Acetone might hurt rubber or plastic parts (o-rings, optics, etc.)
4) Acetone won't do squat against loc-tite.
5) Caustics (lye, draino, etc.) will eat anodize.
6) Heat will break down loc-tite, but the temperature depends on the loc-tite used. Heat will also damage optics and reflectors.
7) Cycles of boiling and freezing is sometimes helpful for convincing stubborn loc-tite to give up. Keep the head in a ziplock bag during both the freezing and the boiling to try to keep moisture out.
8) Leather gloves help protect hands from boiling hot parts.
9) Rubber strap wrenches are sometimes helpful, as are simple rubber bands for getting grip.
10) Just about anything metal (vise grip pliers, etc.) will end up scratching the finish.
11) Keep trying.

 

[shroomy]

Thanks Ty Bower, that's good advice, especially the part about the ziplock baggy. I've boiled it so many times that the KL4 lettering on the head is coming off, time to start boiling it in a baggy.