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

I had a plastic foldable clothes hanger, it was perfect :smiley:

Is there a way to add a message into the order itself? I can’t remember.

Nice. Hopefully I won’t have to mess with the switches on my incoming FW3A’s, but I want to have a plan. Did you glue the new nubbin in place?

No, he should not go out :stuck_out_tongue:

I`m now waiting for SST20. I’ve had a CW, NW and WW :smiley:

I need to make the switch stiffer to activate, but I don’t know how…

What if you remove the ‘nubbin’?

Does that make it reliably stiffer / harder to activate?
Or just stiffer / harder?

Remove the metal part of the switch. If that’s still too easy. Remove the nubbin’. Doing this has renewed my relationship with the light. Accidental activation and lockout woes almost divorced us. There’s hope for happily ever after now.

Can the fast clicks still be accomplished with the nubbin and metal part removed?

You mean remove the metal button?

Also I’ve heard the light doesn’t work without the nubbin.

I’ll try.

Update: indeed it works, I just wonder about the longevity of the rubber. Also if waterproofness is impacted. And it doesn’t look so good.

We just gave a bunch of ideas for this in the FW3A Troubleshooting thread. Start here and read down the posts.

BTW, the switch won’t work at all without the nubbin.

They can, but with the nubbin it’s more precise.

I’ve read all the troubleshooting thread but there’s nothing conclusive about the switch yet.

Also I tried without the nubbin and the switch works, but only when pressed right in the center and with a little more force than normal.

The waterproofness is not effected by removing the metal switch cover. Also, the nubbin (or substitute) is required on most samples for operation when the metal cover is still installed, but once removed, it is unnecessary.

Yes. It is not as pretty looking without the metal cover, but for me, function comes first every time. I’ve never had a metal switch that I’ve liked. I hoped that the FW3A would change this, but it hasn’t.

I’ll be posting some other pics and solutions for the switch and nubbin substitution for those that care in the mod thread. But that’ll be this evening. Spoiler: replace the nubbin with a piece of 18awg Silicon wire insulation (length of your choice between ~1-2mm) and if available use a tiny tiny (that’s a very specific size lol) o-ring around the nubbin seat in the rubber switch boot. Together these provide a larger, softer contact surface to the diaphragm switch, increasing the required pressure to ‘click’ and being much more resistant to accidental activation.

I’m even stirring up some thoughts on what to do with this gap between the rubber boot and tailcap aperture… we’ll see if that gets anywhere

Yes. But without the nubbin, more central/focused force is needed. My personal light has a substitute (~1/2 height — flush with the rubber around it) nubbin and to me it’s perfect. Removing the metal part naturally recesses the switch. I think it feels great with the chamfer the FW3A has in the tailcap.

I guess the rubber is able to push down on the switch. It didn’t work on my early version. Maybe I didn’t push down hard enough.

I’ll try experimenting with some foam to make it stiffer.

I thought the metal part that was referenced was the internal part held in place by the tape, not the button. My mistake,

WOW, thank you for suggesting removing the metal switch cover guys. This makes the switch waaayyy harder to accidentally press and against my better judgement I think I can safely carry this light without locking it out now.

Its not just that the actuation force is higher now either, the switch with just the rubber boot sits much lower in the tail and is more shrouded from accidental clicks.

With the nubbin removed the switch still works but is even stiffer and that takes it a bit too far in that direction IMO, especially for multi-click actions.

Thanks, might give some ideas a go and see if I can carry the damn thing.

FW3A is like my D4... Basically does every single thing right except for the one thing that makes it worse to carry than a dead-simple S2+.

I now have two beautiful lights that I can barely stand to carry and therefore rarely do.

You must somehow… adapt and overcome’. . :smiley:

This is exactly my experience. When pushing the light into my jean pocket (clipping in on) I’d use the ball/base of my hand to ‘seat’ it. This would result in switch activation 80% of the time if I wasn’t consciously avoiding it. All lockout solutions just became too much of a hassle to be practical. Like others have said, an A6/S2+ or other reverse clicky lights would win out due to this. I use my light probably 10-40 times a day for usually just seconds or minutes at a time. So ingress/egress and switch ergo / reliability is really a HUGE factor in a lights design.

This light still needs a deep carry clip and I need to get around to making that extended bezel for the single emitter/reflector. But right now I’m excited and relieved that two years of waiting and anticipation wasn’t wasted.