KL1 Gen4...Freeze Pop?

Would that method be the best way to get inside one of these heads? I attempted to this morning, and I don't know if I wasn't doing it right or what but it wouldn't budge. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I thought freeze pop was only for Inova lights

Freeze pop doesn't do anything for kl1. It is a screw type. Unscrews in 3 sections. From the outside you see the outer 2, there is an inside threaded piece too.

Heat, and strap wrenches or collets seems to be the way to go.

And lots of patience!

Nitroz said:

And lots of patience!

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Yeah I'm beginning to realize that! Yeah I need to go get another strap wrench. Since I don't have a heat gun, should i be torching this thing (carefully of course, I know there's plastic in there) or boil and twist?

Thanks for the help so far guys!

I used a heat gun. I thought this thing was never going to open up!

One little tip would be to try to remove the front first and then the rear. The rear of mine came off first. Their is not much surface to grab onto on the rear, and it being threaded makes it even harder.

It you get the front out first, there are notches you can stick some needlenose pliers into to twist. If you get the back out first, make sure you don't put any torque on the converter board. What I did was to remove the converter board and then I cut a US quarter in half and slipped it into the notches to get the rest of the head apart.

The rear as in the area inside the rear of the head (where contact is made)? I swear it looks like the metal outer area is just 2 pieces...ok sorry just re-read Isaac's...and to think this would be a piece of cake! At least putting a Seoul in it should be easier.

Drooling over my gen1 kl1 p4 mod by milky..it's put my gen4 out of use, figured I'd try the upgrade myself.

McR20mm-Seoul and the stock dome lens fits perfect IIRC.

I'll be doing the mod tommorow.

Can anyone please post a pic explaining which are the 3 sections ?

I put mine on the stove over high heat for 1 minute then it unscrewed.

carbine15 said:

I put mine on the stove over high heat...

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Works for me too... (SF M1)

This is what I did to get the head on my L1 Lumamax open. You can see pictures of the three sections. I'm sure the KL1 will be somewhat different, but you should be able to follow this general idea.

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=153074

McR20-S and Seoul P4, 22.5mm sandwich shoppe mineral glass lens with a 1" GITD o-ring is what I did.

IsaacHayes said:

McR20-S and Seoul P4, 22.5mm sandwich shoppe mineral glass lens with a 1" GITD o-ring is what I did.

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Excellent choice !

The 1" GITD I had on hand, and is a little too large to fit inside the head, but if you put it in just right it doesn't wrinkle and it fits fine. The mineral glass lens was only $1.50 and you could use an UCL for an Arc 22.8mm IIRC too.

The reflector rests right on the base of the led, and the heatsink it seems. Not much pressure is put on the led. I used a 5/8" GITD oring (all I had) around the reflector to help center it as I screwed the heatsink back into the bezel as it likes to come un-centered. Snug up the heatsink to the bezel, then screw the bottom bezel on. The bottom bezel will bottom out on the top bezel before it runs out of threads and it will lock everything together. This is pretty nice design as you can tighten the head up good but still have adjust ability with the heatsink and top bezel to accommodate different length optics.


Also, the GITD o-ring does NOT cover up any reflector real-estate even though it is quite thick. It should glow nicely. Works out great.

Ok yeah I've tried having it sit in boiling water for 15-20 minutes, I've tried a hair dryer for a long time, and I even took a small torch to it around where the 2 parts meet, and got it hot enough that it melted the stitching on my hot hands gloves, but still nothing. After heating I would wrap some thick rubber straps around it and even a channel lock on one side, and nothing. At the point of giving up..yay.

Stillphoto said:

Ok yeah I've tried having it sit in boiling water for 15-20 minutes, I've tried a hair dryer for a long time, and I even took a small torch to it around where the 2 parts meet, and got it hot enough that it melted the stitching on my hot hands gloves, but still nothing. After heating I would wrap some thick rubber straps around it and even a channel lock on one side, and nothing. At the point of giving up..yay.

Click to expand...

higher heat is required. I started on the burner on my coffee pot and slowly progressed up to the high heat on my electric stove. Seriously... if the burners are red hot.. it should take one full minute to conduct enough heat to loosen the threadlock enough to turn by hand. you won't damage anything if you're fast enough. (if you see smoke stop) Don't burn yourself.

So you directly sat it on the stove top? with what side making direct contact?

yes.. it's a surefire.. it's bulletproof remember? Just wait till it cools before you put batteries in it and fire it up. Heat tends to change resistance values and can increse the chance of an electrical failure.