FW3A mod thread. Post yours!

Fixed

NICE !

Love the way the switch and clip turned purple

The baked ano is going to get a few days for me to decide on. I know I’m not a fan of the blue-gray stock look. But I went a little too far and it started goldening. If you go slow and know ahead of time the color transitions, stopping just before this gives you a very very light grey with no blue tones. Blue is actually the first color to go away. Then it lightens. Then starts browning. Been tempted to continue with the heat and then just strip it bare afterwards if it’s not good. I think I’m going to throw one in a stone tumbler too…

@JaredM Could you share some of your beamshots?

Can you link to the “KD optic with reflector like beam”? That sounds great.

Not a huge fan of the now-gold color but man that purple switch button and clip are georgous!

I can try tonight to get some phone pics. I don’t have a good camera. I’ll do my best though.

http://kaidomain.com/Flashlight-DIY-and-Tools/LED-Emitters-or-LED-Star-on-PCB/Luminus-Leds/Luminus-SST-20-J3-HD2-Warm-White-3000K-LED-Emitter

Any triple board comes with them in my experience. They require larger diameter holes though for the centering pins/legs

I like the torched version better!

Looks like you’ve got some pretty nice mods done or coming soon. :slight_smile:

I’m not really modifying mine much, but I’m tempted to put a longer nub in the button of an older prototype so it’ll stop missing button clicks. Also waiting for the $30 version to be released so I can put 219B emitters into one.

So far the only modding I’ve done is to try out different emitters and optics:

  • 3x SST20 95 CRI 4000K - nice throw, reds that pop, but everything looked greenish and not as bright as XPL HI.
  • Same as above but with Lee 279 minus-green filter added. Better than raw SST-20, but 14% dimmer. Also, the filter warmed up the tint and made things feel a bit too orange.
  • 2x XPL HI 5000K + 1x XPL HI 4000K - quite nice. Similar to original 5K, tint but slightly warmer.
  • I thought of swapping in my 4000K 90+ CRI LH351D triple star, but in testing the tint looks rather greenish. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.
  • Also tried different optics including Carclo 10511 with the frosting polished off with jeweler’s rouge, and an unmodified 10507.

Currently my modded FW3A is sporting 2x XPL HI 3D 5000K and 1x XPL HI 5D 4000K with Carclo 10507 narrow spot optic. My other FW3A is unmodified.

I don’t have any plans to modify the exterior of the light. It looks beautiful as-is. However, it is a little slippery. I do wonder if adding some grip tape around the indented portion of the battery tube would help. If I did that I would leave an open area under the clip.

All I got so far……they are Works in Progress……

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. and so it go’s… :slight_smile:

Yeah. I think I may have to sand and polish one. That looks really nice. :slight_smile:

Those pictures make me irrationally want a stainless steel one.

Those pictures make me wish that Fritz’s original concept stuck… :zipper_mouth_face:

I’m happy though that we have options now. :+1:

Lumintop could use nickel plating like in their hlaaa flashlight for a similar effect.
(Hello, I’ve been lurking for a long time before joining for this group buy.)

I’m fairly certain my HLAAA is bare stainless

Yes, it’s bare stainless steel.

Trying to nickel plate aluminium is one of those things that’s quite expensive from an electroplating company.

Well, Lumintop disagrees with you. This is from their HL AAA page under Features: “11. Made of aircraft-grade aluminum alloy with nickel plating on the surface”.
Also I have been interested in that light and have handled one myself. The fact, that it is not made of steel, has stopped me from buying it.
Anyway, I just wanted to add an idea, that should be doable by the manufacturer.
:beer:

The problem that I’ve heard about is that the nickel layer on the HL AAA is extremely thin, since it’s using an electroless nickel process, meaning it’s not a very durable plating.

A real thick nickel plating would be much tougher and thicker, but way more expensive as there are many more steps involved.

This is my favorite one, very cool mod! The clip was well done, not sure if I’d want the tail cap in the same finish as the rest. But either way, very nice flashlight.