FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

Yes of course!

Humm, hard to resist, if there’s a hiCRI option or TK’s screen configuration, I won’t be able to justify not buying it … :innocent:

I’m down for 1

Okay, I managed to find some digital calipers. No idea how accurate they are, but the precision is 0.1 mm.

The SolarForce clip appears to be formed from a steel sheet 1.2mm thick. The ring is 1.4mm wide where it wraps around the light. The ring’s inner diameter is 22.4 mm, and the outer diameter is 25.3 mm. The main, long portion of the clip is 8.5mm wide.

The light itself measures 25.1 mm in diameter, so the clip ring sticks out a tiny bit. The threads measure 21.8 mm, which leaves the clip ring a bit loose.

I have the bulky Solarforce clip on a couple of Solarforce lights, in that context it works all right. The Sinner Cypreus is far too elegant a light , IMO, for the bulky Solarforce clip. I have the Titanium clips Sinner supplied on all of mine and they work fine. I’ve been asked to modify Sinner’s lights for the Steel Flamed clips that cost a fortune, in my opinion they are far too strong and do not yield which represents a possibility of damaging a copper light by ripping screws out of the threads. Just my 2 cents. That might be more valuable or less according to my status with Sinner, as I am essentially his North American Warranty Repair… I’ve seen a good many Sinner lights that people have messed up in one way or another.

Thusly I am saying that, in my experience, the strength of the Solarforce clip is too much for a small 14500 light. I either would remove such a clip from the FW3A or wouldn’t buy the light at all if it came with such a mismatched clip. Purely my own taste in lights and clips, of course.

Sign me up for 1.

KuoH

It looks like the FW3A is about the same size as a Sinner Cypreus, just a few mm shorter. Big enough for the 18650 cell and not much else.

The clip will likely scratch it a little, but with the clear-anodized aluminum it shouldn’t be very noticeable. No screws to strip either, so a sturdy clip should be reasonably safe as long as it doesn’t clamp down hard enough to make it unusable.

My Cypreus has some small marks where the clip makes contact, but if I always keep it rotated to the same position it isn’t an issue. I tried using it without a clip for a while, but it didn’t take long before it rolled and fell and got dinged up, so I put the clip back on. It also helps add an extra mm internally for the battery, which has been helpful. This early model was a bit tighter inside than his later builds.

In any case, there’s a very good chance I’ll end up ordering a bunch of FW3A lights to give to people, since it seems like it’ll probably turn out to be unusually nice at a much lower price than anything else like it.

Thanks you two!

Great, thank you! The diameter of the threads here is 22.5 mm and the outer diameter is 25.5 mm. So giving the clip some space to the diameter of the threads and starting at 22.7 mm it should be possible to make it flush to the outer diameter of the tailcap. Btw, the clip from oveready and darksucks both fit on the Sinner, in case you’re looking to replace the Solarforce one.

Your comment made me thinking if it wouldn’t be better to go for a 0.8 mm thick clip instead of 1 mm. I actually like the clamping force of my 0.8 mm clip.
Interesting, do you have any ideas for the improvement of the FW3A design based your experience with Sinner lights in order to avoid broken lights?

Ah good point TK of having the clip protect it from rolling away.

Will update list later.

Well the driver design is almost done with adaptation to allow a future firmware with screen config to be used, but it will not likely be a feature directly and probably requires flashing new firmware later if it gets done.

I would like to get one, put me on the list.
Thanks.

Hey toykeeper, do you think that an emitter swap could possibly mess up with the screen configuration, due to differences between emitters?

Only if the new emitter is infrared or ultraviolet or some other frequency the screen doesn’t produce.

mark

List updated
TLF and BLF nearing 500, wowsers

i am in for two

Would the abbreviated logo “T & B LF!” be too provocative? :smiley:

In for one please

Thanks

Maybe BLTF? Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Flashlight.

If anyone is interested to see how the finish might look, banggood is currently selling a clear version of the BLF A6.
And the finish on the FW3A will go in the same direction, just the machining of the threads will hopefully be better :smiley:

sweet