I’ve broken so many of my one mug french presses, finally bought one with a bit thicker glass from Ikea and it has lasted me 6 months so far.
Back to flashlights: I think I broke my mtn fet+7135 driver while trying to solder it to a pill. First three modes are now the same and super dim and then the next 3 go back to how it was before. No idea why I only lost the first 3 modes. Going to take it out and see if something came unsoldered.
I just got my two Astrolux S42 lights which I plan on doing driver replacements. On opening the first one I broke the legs of the optics and shaved off the domes of the LEDs. That nice Nichia tint is now horrible blue… I was a lot more careful on opening the second
While trying to file down the retaining ring to fit the TA driver from Lexel, i just might have applied somewhat to much force and the retaining ring just snapped!
I believe I actually broke this 3 weeks ago when I attempted the "Mod 2" on my Supfire M6, but I figured it out today (I had to put it away because I was sad when it didn't work and I couldn't figure out why).
Guess I only broke the 105c board. I already knew my soldering iron was too hot for flashlight modding (I accidentally reflowed an emitter when attaching leads to a noctigon...), but now I really need to get a new one. The Supfire M6 is now brighter than my D4, but still has the old annoying modes!
(For reference, this is after I removed it. The sw+ wire should attach there, to the missing star 3. When I had the board installed, the light didn't function at all.)
I was removing a MJD41C power transistor (DPAK) from a CCA so I could test it out-of-circuit. The CCA was conformal coated. I had to remove the conformal coating before I could unsolder the part. Next I had to gently lift the emitter and base leads. Next I heat up the collector tab and the transistor slides off the board. I removed the conformal coating, then I went to gently lift the base lead. I lifted the base lead along with half the transistor attached to it. I killed the transistor so I couldn’t test it. So much for that. This was sort of sad because the transistor was doing some interesting things that I didn’t understand. I really wanted to take a look at the transistor on the curve tracer. This may have been a missed opportunity to learn something new.
It’s not something I broke, but I just got the news that a close friend of mine that I haven’t seen in 25 some odd years since he moved to Florida in 1988 has passed away. I did see him around in 1993 when I had to fly down there on a service call, but ever since then, it was only phone calls once or twice a week. I’m really feeling bad right now. I met him in 1971 and we became instant audiophile friends. Life is short my friends. Enjoy it while you can. One other thing, we worked in the same stereo store as technicans around 1980. He was the best tech I’ve ever known. RIP Dave, I’ll never forget you pal.
I was potting my DQG Tiny.
I didn’t remove the driver from the host because it’s glued and I’ve seen people breaking their drivers during this.
Some glue leaked to the switch area. I cleaned it up, but I couldn’t do it fully because I lacked access.
The light worked after cleanup, but a day later when the glue remains hardened - the switch doesn’t work.
I used silicone based glue because I thought I could screw something up and wanted something removable. Good choice. Later I’ll try to remove the driver and clean it up better…but I’m going for vacation in a couple of hours and this light won’t go with me.
It wasn’t today, but I finally got time a few weeks ago to take apart the Rii E21 I won in CK’s giveaway. The whole reason I entered the GAW was because I had had the gear to flash firmware for months, but never gotten around to using it. Since this was supposed to be an easy host for that, I signed up, and I won.
The pill was only finger tightened in, but I couldn’t get it to budge with my fingers, so put my cheap HF snap-ring pliers on it (mistake #1), and the first time I turned it, they slipped off and busted the XML LED.
I already had a couple of XPL-HIs on 16mm boards on order from Simon because I wanted to put one in one of these just for kicks.
Before I got around to it, I broke my clavicle last Wednesday laying down my bicycle on rain-slicked asphalt. So probably no soldering for 6 weeks now.
Thanks. Just based on a quick visual inspection it looks ok. But I definitely need a new helmet. The jacket, shorts, and shirt I was wearing were all ruined.
I killed the MELD-X RGBW driver that came in a light I bought from pinkpanda3310. I transplanted it into a new host with a RGBW XM-L and it worked, but unless the head was unscrewed slightly it just lit up all the dies dimly. Left it on my bedside table and the next morning my son got it and inserted the cell the wrong way, although I’m not sure he got the tailcap back on.
Now the driver just lights up all the dies dimly even when bench testing and I’m not sure whether it was a short or reverse polarity that killed it.