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

In for one if there is still room.

Thanks for the explanation. So aluminum it is. I don’t want the weight of copper.

Please put me down for one.

Please put me down for one

The only flashlight of mine that ever actually melted parts was a FET triple in titanium. It got hot enough to melt the legs and bottoms of a carclo optic while the tail of the light was still comfortable to hold. Just a bit longer and it probably would’ve unsoldered itself. It also burned skin bad enough to leave red welts when I actually touched the head, but luckily no blisters. Titanium is beautiful and I love my ti lights, but titanium hotrods are not a good idea.

I'll take two please.

Welcome to BLF!
Will update list later

Well we work on the FW3A A meaning aluminum
Brass Copper seem like a plan for the future :wink:

Yes. A DEEP carry raw Titanium CLIP on the raw Aluminium FW3A.

In my opinion it matches just fine.

The reason for Titanium is because of the mechanical properties. In its annealed state is much springier then spring tempered stainless and will flex a lot further before it gets deformed. When it does get deformed it can be heated with a torch and re formed to its original shape and not loose any strength. Stainless can't do that. It'll lose its temper and get weaker and eventually break.

Take 2 strips of sheet metal. 1 is stainless steel, 1 is Titanium. Now bend the 2 strips to the point that they crease and don't spring back to their original shape. The Titanium will bend way more and resist deformation much better than the stainless.

Titanium is physically superior to stainless steel as pocket clip material pretty much any way we look at it. It looks better too, IMO.

We can ask for it, if Fritz is OK with that. But being a more expensive material I have no idea if LT is going to do it.
Would add to premium look and feel though.

I’m sure most of us would be happy to add a couple of bucks to the order to get a lovely looking, functional clip

I hope it is as pretty as possible … but I am also sure that much of the success in number of requests for this model, is due to expected content price.

Yes with the GT we had no idea what such light would cost, there is no real comparison.
With the Q8 and FW3A it is easier.
So the set price is good, adding a little for A means stepping on a slippery slope for why we are at it, maybe a little extra for B, and C and…

If Fritz is OK with Ti clip we can ask if LT can and want to do it within the budget and see what the answer is. If no we can always ask for an aftermarket clip in Ti. Especially if it goes good and more exotic metals are going to be used for a FW3B, FW3C and FW3T such clip could be sold in higher numbers

Yep, maybe make it an optional extra for those happy to pay a few more bucks?

We have been talking about a titanium clip previously but were not sure if the mechanical properties of titanium are superior when compared to stainless steel. So what you said is quite interesting. Do you have some sort of source where we could read up on that?

Stainless is actually very bendy. It has properties that set it apart from other steels. Titanium can handle most things, depends on the grade. Grade 1 is soft and ductile, Grade 5 is good at most things and can be hardened. Mechanically it would be fine as a pocket clip, not so much as the host itself with it’s poor thermal and electrical properties.

All I know about ti clips is from my own experience, and my experience is that some ti clips are very good (although usually very stiff) like the ones from Moddoo, Prometheus or McGizmo. They’re also very pricey often costing nearly as much as this entire light is expected to cost. On the other hand I’ve also had some terrible ti clips before, ones with zero spring that just bend out of shape and stay that way. I don’t care what material my clip is made from on this light, I just want it to be functional and trustworthy. Please don’t try to shoehorn a cheap ti clip into this build to stay in budget only to wind up with a useless decoration. I’d much rather have a good steel clip than a bad ti one.

Good point emarkd!

The reason for the variance is because there are 50 grades of titanium and 150 grades of stainless steel. The more common commercial grades being sold are a lot fewer than that, but it’s still a lot of different grades.

It depends on the alloy that's used and also the technique used to work it. It has to be worked hot for sharp bends.

It's annealed so it's gonna feel more bendie compared to a piece of stainless of the same thickness. The minimum thickness should be 0.045" to get the correct stiffness (good retention).

Material spec should be Ti6Al4V grade 5. Grade 23 would be better

+1.