A dime makes a great black light filter for Fenix P1D !!

Being a creature of habit, the Fenix P1D goes in the right front pants pocket and all coins go in the left pocket. Today I placed some change in my right front pocket. I now have a dime firmly in place in front of the lens. It's jammed in too tight to allow the tip of my blade in to pry it loose. I certainly do not want to whack it on the table top and mess up the components inside the head of the light. Any thoughts on a way to set Mr. Roosevelt free to join Mr. Washington and Mr. Jefferson in my left pocket?

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

Place it in a cup of hot water. The higher temperature should expand the light and set the Prez free.
If not, try an ice cube on the coin.

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

Use JB Weld (use the quick setting JB Weld) with a piece of wood or similar to glue to the coin, then pull it out.

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

yeah! JB Weld!
The heat expansion trick is a good idea but epoxy on a stick is a sure thing as long as you don't use too much and epoxy it to the bezel... that would be tragic.

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

Drop by an auto repair shop and ask if they have a product called Rost Off Ice,squirt a shot on the coin and it will shrink *down a tiny amount and should just come out then.The product works.

When heating up or rapidly cooling *down,remember it is at your risk and we here are giving you suggestions only.

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

Fine, I concede, your flashlight is far brighter than mine, if you're using thick metal disks as optics.

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

Coffee almost came out of my nose. Almost.

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

cold said:

Fine, I concede, your flashlight is far brighter than mine, if you're using thick metal disks as optics.

Click to expand...

LMAO!

This my friends is why I carry my change in a wallet. I would suggest you put it in your mouth and suck it out. Or leave the light on high mode surely the light would expand then within safe range.

some double-sided sticky tape (industrial strength) should do the job..well maybe anyways :shrug:

schwabx4,
Just so you know you're not alone, I carry a P2D in a front pocket, along with change, and it's happened to me a couple of times, which is a situation I steadfastly refuse to learn from. I usually manage to get something small in under the lip of the dime, but the first time definitely rattled my composure. What were the Fenix design engineers thinking?

Re: A different type of question for your consideration

My suggestion would be to load up an IMR123 in the P1D and blast it out!

Pretty sure they don't use dimes in China, so this issue wouldn't have occurred to the Fenix people


To the OP, I wouldn't try to "suck" it out by mouth... we don't want to see a news headline that reads "Man chokes to death on dime with flashlight in hand"

The heating suggestions are good ideas, even just steaming hot water from the tap may be enough... not sure what all metals a dime is made from, but the aluminum (of the flashlight) has a pretty high coefficient of expansion, so heating may work.

I wouldn't be afraid to try whacking the light against a hard surface a few times either, just to see if you get lucky. Fenix lights have taken A LOT of abuse over the years in various usage and torture tests, so I don't think you'll hurt it so long as you have a little restraint when hitting it.


Anyway, don't feel bad, I remember a thread quite a while back where someone had the same problem (it may have been a story in Carrot's collection matter of fact)

By the way, take the battery out before you start smacking the light or anything else, just to be safe.

A quick Google search reveals a dime is about 91% copper, with most of the rest being nickel.

Copper's coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is 9.11 µin/in-°F

Aluminum CTE is 13.1 µin/in-°F

According to the Matweb site anyway. So the aluminum of the light should expand more than the (mostly) copper dime when heated, so in theory the heating approach should work...

If you have a can of compressed air, turn the can upside down and spray (a milder form of liquid nitrogen) on the dime and then try tapping it. Worth a shot!

Grab the light by the tail and let it hang loosely bezel down.
Then tap the outer rim of bezel below the lens with something hard but softer than ano like a pen, or a firm wood dovel.
Keep rotating the light when tapping.
...Actually need to tap the outer edge of bezel from down to up.

Use the force....

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I was leaning towards the JB Weld method.

Tonight my son stopped by for dinner on his meal break. I showed him the stuck dime. He smiled, whipped out his 5.11 tactical knife, stabbed the side of Mr. Roosevelt and flipped him right out. I guess I should have called the cop first ....

Where's the comedy in that? Completely practical and killed the thread. Glad the light was ok though.