Help needed with glued head removal

Hi All
Im in need of some help and advice with my xtar tz-50.
I recieved it new yesterday and after testing it last night Iv discovered the lens is very dirty on the inside.
Now here's the problem.The only way to get at it is to remove the front part of the head and its glued on tight.
Iv tried forcing it by hand,sticking it in a vice and useing molegrips (lots of rubber to protect the finish) but so far I havent been able to budge it and Im worried I may damage it.
Im very fussy and like to keep all my stuff looking as new so does anyone know of any tricks to getting a glued head off ?.
Any help would be very apreciated as the dirty lens is realy spoiling the torch for me.

Thanks
Si

First of all if it's new why wouldn't you return for warranty. Plus if it's dirty and you do remove the parts you might kill any warranty you have. especially if it's said to be weather proof

BriteIdea said:

First of all if it's new why wouldn't you return for warranty. Plus if it's dirty and you do remove the parts you might kill any warranty you have. especially if it's said to be weather proof

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Hi BriteIdea
Although its new I got it off ebay.I should have said it was as new/unused.
Im also very comfortable with my knowledge and ability when it comes to stripping and modding torches so Im not worried about breaking anything or ruining the weatherproofing.
I just want to clean the glass and if needed improve the heat transfere with some good quality thermal paste etc.
I cant do any of this because I cant get the bloomin head off :sigh:
Iv searched the internet but havent yet found any ideas or tricks that could help break the glue bond.
So if anyone has any tried and tested ways to do this please please share them with me
Thanks

Si

Ebay? that kind of explains why you can't return it

Over the years I found the odd item that we knew was a threaded. (2 parts threaded together)

What I found was because the finished surfaces between the male and female sufaces tend to have sharper than usual edges on the very threads. The sharp edges sometimes have a tendancy to bind against each other. Either bind or even cut into each other.
Now that you have it apart, if you can take an extremely fine emery cloth and very gently rough up the edges of the threads. The truth is, you're not really roughing things up but rather smoothing out existing sharp edges. Then ad a slight film of Vasoline petrolium on the edges of the threads.

Then when you reassemble the unit, turn the threads slowly back and forth to get the feel of the new smoother and lubricated threads.

Best of luck and let me know how you make out
Cheers

Have you tried heating the threaded area with a hair dryer first to soften the glue before twisting the parts apart?

I would just return for warranty if it's new.

Notsure Fire said:

I would just return for warranty if it's new.

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Hem hem.

sigee said:

Hi BriteIdea
Although its new I got it off ebay.I should have said it was as new/unused.

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Generally, loctite comes off with heat. Try boiling it?

BriteIdea said:

Now that you have it apart, if you can take an extremely fine emery cloth and very gently rough up the edges of the threads. The truth is, you're not really roughing things up but rather smoothing out existing sharp edges. Then ad a slight film of Vasoline petrolium on the edges of the threads.

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DO NOT FOLLOW THAT BIT OF ADVICE.
BriteIdea, you do realise that the head is secured with loctite?

sigee, strap wrench's work well. If the straps rotate under torque, put a bit of rubber under the strap, a heat source will also help in the removal.

I was trying to suggest to apply Vasoline only AFTER the head was removed. I did that to my old Excaliber and to this day it works fine. That said it's aluminum
I was not aware that Loctite was on the threads but some sort of heated medium should work. Even Loctite only prevents coming loose under normal vibration circumstances.
Now I'm curious for my future disassemblies

BriteIdea said:

Even Loctite only prevents coming loose under normal vibration circumstances.

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That's correct. Loc-tite comes in different grades. The grade light manufacturers are using is of a high grade, meaning it's going to require a bit of elbow grease.

SureAddicted thanks for the advice.I will try to borrow a strap wrench from some one.
Lumenhound I tried just now but didnt get anywhere.I believe you have to get locktite very very hot to soften it.
BriteIdea I use arctic silver grease on threads as it lubes and aids thermal and electrical conductivity.
AnAppleSnail I realy dont think boiling it would be a good idea,remember it has an sst-50 led and a driver in it.

Does anyone know of any solvents that would shift it without harming the HA coating ?.

Thanks
Si

It isn't soluble, so chemicals wont work. It's a carbon bond, a royal PITA to break free.

SureAddicted said:

It isn't soluble, so chemicals wont work. It's a carbon bond, a royal PITA to break free.

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Bugger !.It looks like Im going to have to live with it.I doubt theres much light wasted,its just that Im fussy and I like to know that my led is not going to burn out due to cheap thermal grease.

Thanks again for the advice and info

Si

I doubt you are up against something as tough as say, Locktite blue. Perhaps you just need to slowly raise the temp up a bit more than you had it.

Back around 2006 we ran into a similar problem with the then very popular and mod friendly Nuwai Q3. Putting the flashlight tube/head in a heavy duty airtight "oven roasting bag" and dropping it into a pot of boiling water for a while got the glue hot enough that it would allow the head to be spun off the battery tube. You had to work fast once it was out of the boiling water bath and insulated winter leather work gloves or similar were needed in order to grab the head and body and twist them apart before the glue solidified.

I had great results on half a dozen Q3's just using a hair dryer, plenty of patience, and winter work gloves. The same process worked wonders getting the glued pills out of a bunch of small single AAA celled Maratac and ITP A3 EOS lights last year when I needed to swap out the emitters.

You never know...sometimes the second try is the charm.