I chose this light as my first full flashlight mod and it makes me feel better when Dale says the word tricky when describing it. Between the e-switch and the way the reflector comes together things are very tight. Needless to say there is plenty here for me to ‘learn’ in just this one single host.
I found it easiest to solder longer-than-necessary wires onto the mcpcb, attach the mcpcb to the reflector (loosely, so it doesn’t pull it down tilted due to the centering rings) then put the mcpcb/reflector assembly into the head (with thermal paste) and flip it over to put the central screw in, snugging the assembly into place (have to watch orientation, the mcpcb screw has it’s own cut out in the shelf) Once the driver has switch wires soldered on I cut the leads to length and solder them onto the driver. Everything gets tucked in and the retaining ring installed.
After some trial and error this is basically the same conclusion I came to as well. However, since I was not confident in my assembly I kept the longer than usual wires and spent a lot of time stuffing them in the body so I could test before the final “snip”. Needless to say I re-did my solder a few too many times (troubleshooting my switch) and I think I bridged something I shouldn’t have. I was testing with a protected battery and kept getting no light. I got curious and swapped to a VTC6 and needless to say I got something, magic smoke. Pretty much right after I tightened the battery down I could hear the battery was suddenly “loose” in the body. It had instantly vaporized the tail spring including the bypass.
Ordered a new driver to get a clean slate and surgery will resume this weekend.
My buddy wants to know why they call it magic smoke? He says it’s satanic. lol
I’m thinking of disassembling mine completely and baking the finish, need to differentiate this one from the other’s and that’d be a good way to do it. (Yes, I really really like how Kawiboy’s Convoy came out! lol )
I like the way ZozzV6 did his L2 with the gradient. I was able to do something ‘similar’ on my M1 without much experience. The burnt orange going towards the torch end just seems fitting.
My miniature knock off. If I did it again I think I could prevent the bezel (it’s super THIN) from becoming too brown with a little more caution.
I was wondering the same thing. But I’m looking for a driver that doesn’t have multiple modes (so I can use Lexel’s rear pressure switch mods with it on my hunting rig).
I think Sofirn sells their driver but if you’re looking for serious output, you might grab Richards FET+1. There are a couple e-switch firmware options including the new popular D4 firmware that ships on the Emisar D4 from Hank and written by Tom E and ToyKeeper.
Which brings me to ask a question… Has anyone else had a very difficult time in unscrewing the tail cap internal retaining ring/ I have 2 and have not been able to unscrew either tail cap retainer ring.