Magic Flashlight Foam - for unscrewing stuck flashlight parts

How do you unscrew those really tight or stuck flashlight body parts?

After destroying my n'th flashlight, I just couldn't bare to kill another one with my mega grip pliers.
My old method was to wrap each part of the flashlight body with a kitchen towel and then use large grip pliers to grab one part, grip the other with my hand (or another pair of pliers) and unscrew (or at least attempt to) the 2 parts.

This works ok sometimes but for smooth, round parts, to get a good grip, you need to squeeze tight and this can (and did) damage the body/tail of a few unfortunate lights. The worst damage was usually inflicted when I had to use 2 pairs of pliers.

After trying unsuccessfully to separate parts of my latest host by hand with no luck at all, it suddenly dawned on me that I had a good sized piece of rubber foam (30cm x 30cm x 5mm thick) I bought with a few other thicker pieces when making inserts for a case.

For something different, and to aviod killing yet another perfectly good light, I decided to cut 2 strips of the foam (roughly 10cm x 3cm) and wrapped each piece entirely around each end of the flashlight.

AbraCadabra......

With what seemed like a fraction of the grunting I usually need with the pliers, the grip with the foam was just soooo gooood that almost effortlessly I heard a light snap (as in the sound of the hardened glue stuff that sealed the two parts break apart) and presto, it began to unscrew.

This was a breeze!

I decided to attempt to unscrew another light that I had written off as stuck forever and again, the magic words

AbraCadabra......

bam! opened in an instant!

I should probably start a sales thread and sell this stuff as "Magic Flashlight Foam".

But seeings I have a day job, just go to the local DIY store and buy some for a couple of bucks (or dinero or pounds or whatever you use to pay for things in your neck'o'the woods).

I have no idea what all that previous wrestling was about or for but this is a far better solution!

I guess because the rubber foam actually grips the light (even the smooth ones with no knurling) that as you start to turn, the grip is naturally tightened without having to use too much physical strength in your grip to do the tightening.
I could feel the foam kind of stretching around the light so eventually, like a rubber band, this extra energy helped with the magic spell too.

Wish I knew about those strap wrenches earlier too.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this to hopefully save other young flasholescents from damaging their lights in frustration or haste (as I did).

Below is a photo of:
Death Grips (now retired) on Top
Magic Flashlight Foam pieces below
All on top of the large sheet of Magic Flashlight Foam




tgwnn

Cool! Thanks for sharing!

I use some anti-slip mat for the exact same

Some of this anti-slip shelf liner works really well.....my wife had gotten some at Lowes and there was a small piece left - don't need much....3-5 sq. in. is all you need.

Old mouse pad works too.

i use a strap wrench

curiousone1 said:

Some of this anti-slip shelf liner works really well.....my wife had gotten some at Lowes and there was a small piece left - don't need much....3-5 sq. in. is all you need.

Click to expand...

This is identical stuff to the supermarket "Jar Opening Aid" you get - often two pieces each about 4-5 inches round, and very cheap.

Used some leather and vise-grips to open up my Fenix head.

strap wrenches

I actually broke a strap-wrench trying to get the bezel off a Surefire KT4 head. Have you tried your magic foam on something as obdurate as that? I ended up using a vise lined with foam to prevent scratches, but it was still a !£%*# struggle, I can tell you.

Foam or sheet rubber (from an old inner tube?) also works well to improve an ersatz strap wrench (more friction & protect the surface), such as a rubber-hose clamp (as available in in automotive or hardware store). The spiral stainless ones are good, but don't seem as strong as the others with the solid metal strap with the screw tightener protruding upwards from the center -- they all come in different sizes.

It's good to wander around automotive, hardware, craft, and other stores which sell basic 'stuff' to see what available for when you need to do something.

DM51 said:

I actually broke a strap-wrench trying to get the bezel off a Surefire KT4 head. Have you tried your magic foam on something as obdurate as that? I ended up using a vise lined with foam to prevent scratches, but it was still a !£%*# struggle, I can tell you.

Click to expand...

Can't say for sure if it would work on the KT4 but I have a tailcap (that looks like it survived an alligator attack) that wouldn't budge using the death grips but came off with no sweat using the MFF (magic flashlight foam).

I had use a file to smooth the sharp edges from the affair with death grips (to prevent cutting my hands on the sharpened/damaged edges) and then touched it up with a black marker to make it less obvious. (healed up fairly well :thumbsup: )

For a smoothy, I'd put down the difference to the fact that the death grips just couldn't get a solid grip but this one has knurling and thick grooves so not so slippery.

I could send you some MFF if you like, just to see.

I guess alot of the similar rubbery things other CPFers posted here would work fine too. I just never thought of trying them.

tgwnn