My ARC LS came apart

The bezel started unscrewing as I turned it on. It didn;t take any effort it just smothly un screwed. So of course I had to see what the guts looked like. Is it now runined? I wasn't trying to do it.
Chris

So, what did the guts look like?

I'm sure Peter will help you with this if you drop him an e-mail. Most likely he wil be very anxious to find out what happened.

OH MY GOD- PUT THE PARTS DOWN AND BACK AWAY FROM THEM. PUT THE PARTS SAFELY IN A PLASTIC SEALED BAG. I'm so sorry , your LS is completely ruined. Mail your LS parts to me and I will make sure it is disposed of correctly.
Some of the LS's a few months back were shipped out without the proper thread locking gunk applied- sounds like you got one of them. Do not worry - Peter will take care of you. Enjoy your inside view while you can.

YOU OWE US PICTURES.

check this thread -- Peter doesn't name the type of Loctite though -- http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=31;t=000272#000003

Originally posted by Christoph:
The bezel started unscrewing as I turned it on. It didn;t take any effort it just smothly un screwed. So of course I had to see what the guts looked like. Is it now runined?

I wasn't trying to do it.
Chris

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Mine did the same thing (Ser#2227) . Just screw it back together with some teflon tape applied to the threads...seems to work fine, and you can still unscrew it if you want afterwords.

hmmmm...does this mean that you could replace the plastic lens with a nice scratch resistant crystal one??? Just a thought, but I could be wrong.

I dont think so because the plastic piece is not just a flat lens but a cone shaped arrangement.

Image removed for now...

-Saaby

Hi RailLight,
the url seems to be way too long for an Imagestation pic ... please check out this thread...
How to post pictures.
Hope this helps,

Image removed for now...

-Saaby

It works.
To show the pic directly, just paste that link in the window that appears when you click the IMAGE tag.


Cool pic btw.

edited

Hmmm....you better ask Gransee if you can post those pictures...

There was a big discussion a while back about showing the innards of the Arc to the public...i think.

It would seem that this is a really nice feature.....the ability to "clean" the contact point/s every 6 months or so.

Anyone who really wanted to see what was in there could have done so anyway.

Also...I think there was a request made once not to post any pics...or something like that.

Cristoph,

Yes it is bad to take off the bezel.

It is very easy to get dust and debris in the optic, and it is nearly impossible to clean it out. You will have specks of dust in your optic.
That makes the light an instant second.

Also it is a really big pain to align the LED and the optic. If your flashlight was a first, its a second now due to alignment.

You may re-assemble it with loctite, but it will be susceptible to flex-failure. We now (for rev1 and hybrid) use a conductive epoxy, and a painful grinding of the anodize on the bezel as a fix.

If you do try to glue it with the very expensive, remarkably messy, silver-filled epoxy, be careful not to get any on the traces or components. You can short out the board. Dont get any on the LED it will permanently damage surface, and it will become something we wouldnt ship.

If you'd like, you can send your flashlight back to us, and we can re-assemble it for you.

Light-headed, if there were a crystal lens for the light, it would already be in there. There are two optics made only for this led. One of them sucks, we use the other one. If you know of anything beter, let me know and our product will update.

Ken: you only have to clean what gets dirty. In a hermetic environment, what is going to decrease the function? There is no wear, no debris, no corrosion. If its not broke, dont fix it.

Rail: The guts of the LS are proprietary. Even if they are obsolete, they are still ours. I think you can respect that, professional to professional. Thank you.

OOps

I'm new to this forum and it did'nt occur to me that there was anything secret in there. As an aside, my ARC (it is a second)works much better now that I have had it apart. The beam lines up
perfectly now where before it was off center and
it was only working intermittently before. Works great now.

Dang! I wanted to see the insides...sure it looks boring, probably just a circut board and a LED (More or less) but still...

Guess that means I'll eiter have to

A) Make a trip to AZ and tour the new Arc facility...one DOES get to see a partially assembled Arc right?

or

B) Purchase a sacrificial Arc LS

Hmm...both options sound temping but expensive. I suppose I'll just have to use my imagination for now

Munroe,

I believe the reference to a crystal lens was in anticipation of a flat protective lens to protect the optics, not replace them. I believe the LS2 will be coming with a lexan lens infront of the Lumiled optics? A mineral glass replacement of this lexan would likely improve on the scratch resistance. I believe this is the train of thought
Light-Headed was on.

BTW, I had a couple of LS's (seconds) that were broke so I did fix them. Out of deference and respect for Peter, I didn't post any shots of the "works". I also don't plan on reverse engineering the lights or requesting any "warranty" considerations on these or any of my Arc LS's for that matter. I think you will find that Peter is considered in very high regard by this forum and its members. It is unlikely that few, if any, would knowingly post any images to the determent of Arc Flashlight. If I'm not mistaken, one of the components in the flex failure is the result of an electro-mechanical contact between two surfaces which can not be tightened when Loc-Tite is present and holds the threads firm. In the case of the loose components indicated here, re-tightening the components might very well overcome this "flex" failure. Having a threaded mating of electrical contacts which can't be tightened, when needed, is a design flaw, IMHO.

Now that I'm on a roll, I'd like to offer one further unsolisited comment. You have stated that one of the two optic options sucks. I believe within the next 6 months, it will be shown by example that both of the optic options suck!

It seems to me that Rail-Light improved on the performance of his Arc second and will likely be able to maintain it well. Should he inadvertantly scratch or dammage his optics, he is in a position to replace it at will.

I totally agree with your comment: If it isn't broke, don't fix it. However, if it is broke and one is so inclined to take it upon themselves to attempt a fix, I applaud them for this. Understood that once the "seal" is broken, the manufacturer can't be held accountable for the customer's "fix".

- Don

You are correct Don. That is what I was getting at in reference to replacing the plastic protective lens (not the optics) with a crystal one.

Light-Headed,

It would be nice if you didn't post the insides.

I'm sure that Arc doesn't appreciate the insides being publicly displayed.

If you want you could edit and smudge up the circuit area and repost if you want to retain the picture for others to see.

There are some nice free image editors out there if you don't have one.

Wayne