Help pulling this cheap light apart...

Hi all,

So I bought a cheap host from DX (actually expensive by DX standards) with my sole intention being to modify the hell out of it for my own personal amusement. Something to do basically.

Well I can say I've never pulled apart a flashlight before other than my first mag mod (which went very well). Seen as modifying the light I have bought now is not as common as the maglites I would like to ask for some help. Nothing complicated of course!

As you can see below I have removed the head and tail from the single 18650 light. I want to get the pill/driver/led/reflector out of the head and the switch out of the tail cap. The goal is to build a custom pill/led/driver combo for the head and if possible install a better switch in the tail. The problem is I have only a small inkling as to how I can remove the existing components and it's all guess work. I don't want to break anything if I can help it…




The pill – desolder those 2 small solder tabs and the driver board should pop out yes? What about the rest? Pliers and some twisting to screw the pill out?

The switch - I'm guessing those 2 small holes can be used to remove the plastic cover to get into the switch, but is it the same as the pill in the head? Screw in?

Apologies if this is ultra noob-ish or blindingly obvious. I just want to do a good job and not screw things up beyond repair!

Any assistance would be highly appreciated.

Cheers,

- Matt

Snap ring pliers are a great tool that will help you get a grip in there, as you squeeze the handle the points spread. Put the points in the holes, squeeze lightly as its plastic and twist out the tail cap threads, same with the pill.

Getting the pill out of the head may be difficult unless you can use the raised globs of solder as stops to unscrew it with an open needle nose plier or snap ring plier
You are right about de-soldering the globs of solder on the pill to change the driver.

By the way what is the DX SKU# ?

Thanks - I'll go find a set of clip ring pliers in the tool shop here at work. Should have some small enough...so the main parts should jsut all screw out then? That's good news.

The SKU is 93265. It's a steel host and pretty solid. Heats up fairly quickly with the stock driver and emitter but I plan to switch to a 3 XPG emitter and some 20mm optics and under drive it for about 500Lumens output. The switch is cr*p and I'd love to swap it for a McClicky or something similar, but I can't find specs on the McClicky's to see if they'd fit in the tail. The stock light has a brass screw-in ring that the switch, spring and that black plastic retainer sit inside of. The retainer screws into the back of the brass ring (and holds the switch and spring in place) which in turn screws into the tail cap. Are McClikcy's the whole package, or can you just get the switch which I could hopefully just swap straight for the switch in the stock light - therefore keeping everything else as it is.

It's a bit of a 'as I go' project. I have this great look and function in my head but time will tell how it turns out.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to start pulling it apart at lunch

You shouldn't have much trouble with an Ultrafire I've never found loctite or glue on the threads of lights I've bought

The McClicky is one whole piece, threads and all and it fits in the Surefire E series tail in place of the stock internals.
Ccheck out Oveready.com or theledguy.chainreactionweb.com for the specifics
Ultrafire threads are usually fine pitch so its not likely to fit in there with out some work.
But you might use the brass ring to hold it in place if you can get it to carry the ground path correctly though it still might be too long to fit. The McClicky has a long post off the bottom that is there because the SF E series bodies don't rear load the battery. There is a neck at the tail threads that the McClicky post fills, unlike yours which just has a spring that compresses almost all the way in. Reverse switches are really flat by comparison.

To me it kind of looks like the pill is threaded. I cant really tell but looks that way. There are two larger holes in the driver base in the pic. Those could be used to screw the pill out. Sometimes they have little notches cut in the pill but this one doesn't seem to have any that I can see. I have a set of snap ring pliers that two of the gripping pins have been filed down to fit small holes just like in the driver. I have run into this type of threaded pill before. If its not glued it will come out pretty easy. If its glued then it will take lots of force and a small amount of heat helps loosen the glue or epoxy. Most of the time when modding a pill it will assembly with led and driver installed. I would unsolder after i got the pill out if it will come out.

I've put McClicky switches in a lot of my lights, from Ultrafires to Surefires. Here's a thread that discusses the McClicky dimensions:

<http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?264266-McClicky-Switch-Module-Dimensions>

Hmmm I never got any replies after my last post. Bit odd but anyway...

I got everything out fairly easily once I had the pliers. There was no glue anywhere except for a little residual thermal paste in the head. Everything was thread and once I managed to get a grip on the pills (the solder blobs on the head worked a treat) they came out fairly quickly.

Thanks for the info on the McClicky stuff. I'll have to do a bit of reading before doing anything else. I don't want to end up with gear I can't use!

Thanks again.