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

Well, it’s still a nice looker, despite it not being clear or light grey dyed.

Right you are Jerommel, it IS a nice looking light, just not the light we signed up for in the beginning.

IMO other than the electronic switch I honestly don’t see watt all the hoopla is about this flash vs watts already out there.

Outwardly IMO it’s an average design with essentially a TI patina. Ok. Woo hoo.

Now if it had a rotary mechanical sideswitch dimmer that was hidden behind a sliding cover that could give me some “hardness”. Or if heads with different led configurations were swappable by just unscrewing then yeah definely woo hoo. Basically a glorified P60. Or magnetic charging, woo hoo.

For this amount of effort and angst I almost expect Bluetooth, a wireless remote, and a camera. Oh, and of course a talking free battery. :laughing:

Ya know watt? I guess I’m prolly unenLIGHTened.

Yeah, its a big deal to me.

Ok I can see that. For me though I’m just kinda too old KISS fashioned on certain things.

To wit, a good precise uber reliable momentary switch (forward clicky) IS my electronic switch. :laughing:

Man, I’m dating myself. Wait that doesn’t sound right. :open_mouth:

What a wonderful offer tatasal! I can’t accept it though, you hold onto that beauty and enjoy it please.

PM sent….

Nottawhackjob, the size and the firmware are elite for an edc. That is what does it for me. I suppose you are correct in that it is not a giant leap ahead, because of the Emisar, which is similar in some ways. I like them both, but have been holding off, waiting for this one.

The more I look at this the nicer this looks. I like the quad better than triple. Perhaps Lumintop should make a FW4A since there isn’t a rear clicky quad in existence and it will be more efficient. Perhaps use 21700 batteries instead of 18650.

That would be great, after this one.

+1 :+1:

It’s alive …. and twitching!
I want one.

Thanks mate, now there is a copper version :wink:

Yes, lets not distract them :smiley:

+1 . :wink:

Prototype 3 was sent to Germany, unfortunately not to Toykeeper.

I wouldn’t call this a prototype, only anodisation samples to deside the color.

Good call. And thank you TK so much for confirming it with Neal.

Not sure why doing a nice anodise should be proving so tricky, isn’t that what anodisers should just know how to do, it’s their job after all ? Perhaps it’s to do with the alloy used. ISTR that it also took Convoy a while to develop their clear anodise to their satisfaction.

A clear anodise on a “raw” machined finish is also merciless in exposing the slightest defects in workmanship, when the machining marks are to be a design feature, not something to be covered up. Just handling the pieces, moving them around, keeping them almost surgically clean before processing, etc. needs care, individual bubble wrap etc. if you don’t want them dinged up, then a good hard anodise to then protect them. Unlikely to be real mil-spec HA3 stuff, but still something good, semi-hard.

It was probably unrealistic to hope for anything like that at this price-point.

Bead blast, a quick dunk in the tanks, then just chuck them all in a bin together is the production-engineering easy way out.

The solo artisan perfectionist, toiling at their lathe, can make things much more beautiful, and go from concept to execution in a few hours, but that doesn’t easily scale, as I think we are discovering.

Sitting behind a CAD screen, rendering, then perhaps coding for CNC (that’s usually a different, more practical, and dare I say more skilled discipline), is not quite the same thing as making swarf, and sometimes pieces don’t turn out quite the way it was hoped, or are simply un-manufacturable, and another iteration is required, and things can become delayed interminably. The skill is not to let that happen. And to use a team to review, accept constructive criticism, involve the production people as early as possible, and not just live in an ivory tower.

It looks as if they have got a nice looking bland result.

For those interested, you could take a look at e.g http://www.metroplating.co.uk and study their “services” options. Each provides a succinct summary of each process. Specialist finishers like these are crucial to the UK’s manufacturing competitiveness, particularly in motorsport, aerospace and defence, and metroplating one of the best and most nimble IME. There are hundreds more though to choose from, just Google e.g. “anodising uk”.

Or have a go yourself. It’s not difficult. Research it, or just buy a kit from e.g. http://www.gaterosplating.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home or https://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Anodising_Kits.html

Something for modders to experiment with, and a bit more creative than e.g. just baking your torches.

Start with something cheap, strip off the old with sodium hydroxide (e.g. some drain cleaners), maybe buff it up a bit, and get practicing. Some battery acid, inkjet printer ink, some sort of DC power supply, a cathode, some Al wire, and you’r good to go. Perhaps in time for the 2019 Old-Lumens challenge. Use titanium instead, and apply by brush, use masking, and you could make a really unique work of art.

They did not mention. I did ask though.

All I have is a couple of pictures, and the pictures don’t show any seams.

FWIW, Neal has asked to have a working sample made and sent to me for testing.

The firmware used should be this one: http://toykeeper.net/torches/fsm/anduril.2018-12-02.FW3A.hex

Recommended fuse values are:

  • Low: 0xE2
  • High: 0xDE
  • Extended: 0xFF

So, BOD is enabled. Without BOD, it’s very difficult to exit momentary mode because the standby drain is too low. It took several minutes to drain far enough to cause the driver to reboot, and with BOD it’s only a few seconds. This should also help avoid other theoretical issues with low voltage.

Factory reset isn’t included, because it’d cause too much delay making sure there are no bugs. I did a quick proof of concept but there were too many issues to move ahead with the change right before production. So I went back to the 12-02 version which, despite the date indicated, has been under test for about three weeks on various lights. It’s virtually identical to the 11-11 version.

Anyway, it seems things are finally moving quickly.

Does BOD mean brown out detection?
the ability to stay on through super short power cycle?

If so I think this would be a good thing.

Is it a good thing?

Yeah the Emisar is watt I was comparing it to.

However there IS a nice subtle design aspect of the FW3A body I do like A LOT which stands out. The sleekly well-crafted ‘combat grip’ ridge right above the tail cap. Extremely useful and a feature I wish many of my rear switched single-cell flashes had incorporated.

Elegant simplicity.

I may buy this just for this brilliant point alone and the way it was executed.

Kudos to the brain that insisted it being there.

:+1: :beer:

PS. I wanna clarify that this finger grip ridge isn’t uncommon per se. Just that it appears the FW3A’s is actually large enough for even glove wearers butt yet isn’t too large as to be ugly and out of proportion to the rest of the outer design. Plus it looks well smooth machined and thus comfortable. Sharp ridges and fingers pressing down don’t work for me. :sunglasses:

Thank goodness!! … :+1: :+1: :+1: