FW3A colors and FW3C sandblasted,FW3T start to preorder

Easy to make your own. You tube is full with DIY tumblers.

Mine was already loose, just used a very small flat head screwdriver in the notch to unscrew it. This light is super fussy. You might also try removing the pocket clip and its o-ring and see if that helps get the tailcap on tighter. I had to experiment for a while to get the light somewhat reliable. I think that o-ring between the clip and the tailcap can prevent the cap from screwing down tight enough.

I was able to get the tail switch retaining ring off. I had to bend a paper clip in such a way so that it had two “fingers” that fit into the retaining ring slots and that gave me enough of a ledge for my needle nose pliers land on and provide enough torque to loosen the ring.

It’s working like a champ now.

For the earlier versions…I had taken mine apart and the switch just came out, no retaining ring….I think (??) The rubber disc goes in with the nub facing the circuit board…….?

I received a copper version today. As expected did not work out of the box.
Cleaned the contact points with alcohol and removed the clip.
Works perfectly now.
Did the thermal setup.
Amazing they can’t seem to ship a light that works out of the box!

I received my FW3T today, here is my hot take. Out of the box it did not work, the light would ramp up as soon as it was closed with a battery inside it. I half expected this and tried to take tailcap off, that’s where the fun started. Mine seemed to ship without any lube on the tailcap threads and I could. not. get. it. off. The poorly cut titanium threads were galled right out of the box.

I managed to get it apart with strap wrenches, but it was an absolute ordeal, I half expected it to break. My strap wrenches did a number on the beautiful stonewashed finish too.

None of my lockring pliers could get at the tailcap lockring (kind of curious what everyone else it using to get these out), but that didn’t matter because the switch worked after I cleaned the tailcap contacts.

Then I went to swap out the optic for the one with more throw. Of course, the bezel was just as galled as the tailcap. More struggling and more marring of the beautiful finish and it was off.

The bezel and tailcap threads are very poorly cut, even compared to other titanium lights that I have, they suck. I lubed them with Cu-Al and I do not expect them to gall again, but I was pretty irritated that they were so difficult to loosen in the first place. Interestingly, the squarecut threads on the other end of the battery tube are very good.

Now that I have it in good order, I really like this light, it’s definitely one of my favorites of all time. The stonewashed finish is so nice, and the SST20’s must be a great bin because they have the perfect tint. The new switch is a huge improvement over the one on my early model aluminum FW3A. For a light that cost as much as it did, I am pretty disappointed in the state that the threads shipped in, but other than that I have no bones.

The trick is to put it into the freezer for around 10 minutes.
Then if needed tap it around the circumference on some hard plastic.
It will come right off.
Use a rubber glove if you need more grip.

Worked like a charm, thanks! I put the tail cap in the freezer for a while, then tapped at the indentations in the lockring using a bamboo skewer as a punch, after a few taps at each cutout it came right out.

Hate to say it but

TOLD YOU SO

Wow, did I buy a lemon?

I'm hearing everyone's comments. Do all these lights require attention right out of the box?

It's nice to be able to screw and unscrew titanium.

I have had success with both Nano-Oil and Munkey Spunk lube on Ti threads and the breaking in period.

Mines in transit, fingers crossed I will be posting some positive thoughts :).

They work fine once you address the issues.
If you can’t get it apart, do the freezer trick. It works.

Hi Neal. I’ve received the FW3T T/CU yesterday. The flashlight was covered with some kind of dark residue. I attempt to disassemble the flashlight to clean it up and I notice the tail cap part was very tight and rough and I was unable to turn it pass 1 round. I didn’t manage to unscrew the tail cap. The tail cap is basically stuck to the body tube.
Neal if you see my PM please reply me. Thanks

its really sad too see so many report that the lights dont work out of the box. specially that its the more expensive versions they bought… :frowning: u shouldnt have to fiddle with cleaning the ports with alcohol and dissasemble light etc to even make it work just… I hope this doesnt show their QA rush out lights and charge big $$$ for it.

Even though most people can fix their lights in no time we shouldn’t allow this to become the norm on group buy lights.

After all the years it took to develop, organize and manufacture, its amazing how they cannot spend 30 seconds into verifying the working order of each light before shipping. This is a $80 flashlight, there is no excuse for so many of them being DOA. Typical Chinese way to do things, rushed products as soon as there’s demand, and always money first.

Are the copper and titanium version still being made by lumintop? I have never heard of such poor QC from them.

The best part is, I received a light with a message that the seller had done the temp calibration. BUT, it still did not work out of the box. So how exactly did they even do that?

Got my Titanium-one yesterday. To my surprise it didn’t work… Thankfully the problem was solved with a bit of alcohol.

…on the threads. :wink:

My previous standard and copper models worked just fine out of the box.

Both my FW3A and FW3T worked perfectly out of the box. Crazy soo many people are having “issues”.

[quote=antoninuspius] I received my FW3T today, here is my hot take. Out of the box it did not work, the light would ramp up as soon as it was closed with a battery inside it. I half expected this and tried to take tailcap off, that's where the fun started. Mine seemed to ship without any lube on the tailcap threads and I could. not. get. it. off. The poorly cut titanium threads were galled right out of the box. I managed to get it apart with strap wrenches, but it was an absolute ordeal, I half expected it to break. My strap wrenches did a number on the beautiful stonewashed finish too. None of my lockring pliers could get at the tailcap lockring (kind of curious what everyone else it using to get these out), but that didn't matter because the switch worked after I cleaned the tailcap contacts. Then I went to swap out the optic for the one with more throw. Of course, the bezel was just as galled as the tailcap. More struggling and more marring of the beautiful finish and it was off. The bezel and tailcap threads are very poorly cut, even compared to other titanium lights that I have, they suck. I lubed them with Cu-Al and I do not expect them to gall again, but I was pretty irritated that they were so difficult to loosen in the first place. Interestingly, the squarecut threads on the other end of the battery tube are very good. Now that I have it in good order, I really like this light, it's definitely one of my favorites of all time. The stonewashed finish is so nice, and the SST20's must be a great bin because they have the perfect tint. The new switch is a huge improvement over the one on my early model aluminum FW3A. For a light that cost as much as it did, I am pretty disappointed in the state that the threads shipped in, but other than that I have no bones. [/quote]

[quote=will34]

Even though most people can fix their lights in no time we shouldn’t allow this to become the norm on group buy lights. After all the years it took to develop, organize and manufacture, its amazing how they cannot spend 30 seconds into verifying the working order of each light before shipping. This is a $80 flashlight, there is no excuse for so many of them being DOA. Typical Chinese way to do things, rushed products as soon as there’s demand, and always money first. Are the copper and titanium version still being made by lumintop? I have never heard of such poor QC from them.
[/quote]

I got mine today. I really like the stone washed finish. It hides snail trails the best.
I was able to remove the head to get an IMR cell into it. The Heads threads were smooth and well lubed for this type of purchase.
I immediately got ramping once the cell was inserted. I traced this back to the tailcap.
I tried unscrewing the tailcap as You would use a tap, 1/4 turn off and followed by partial screw on to clear debris. I got it about halfway by hand

before it locked itself up tight.

Luckily I have some plastic wrenches for working on lights. I was able to screw/unscrew the tailcap completely with the wrenches. Once off I

noticed the debris in the threads that caused it, and noticed a large Ti chip fell out that was galling between the tailcap and body. I added some

Munkey Spunk Ti lube and the tailcap got easier each time screwed on and off. Tried turning it on again, and constant ramping. I slightly loosened

the tailcap and it went away.

I'm guessing excessive force tightening the tailcap can short the inner contact with the body causing the switch to appear as if it's pressed constant.

The light functioned normal from there without cleaning the contact surfaces as others stated they needed to do. I then went and tried to remove the

bezel ring to change the optics. No GO. Bound up solid. Pulled the plastic wrenches out and went to work with them. After much aggravation, the

bezel finally unscrewed from the head. I added some Munkey Spunk, and it cleared the galling up immediately. Screw bezel On and off with no

troubles now. Albiet originally I thought the driver retaining ring and driver needed to come out to get to the optics. After I got the ring removed there

was resistance trying to unscrew it, and I knew it was the LED's leads attached to the driver, so I stopped. I then went and got the bezel ring off.

The optics are very easily changed/Removed with the bezel ring off. Working as intended now.
I like the Turbo mode. It does appear slightly brighter than a 1147lm triple 319A I have. The tint on these SST-20's is phenomenal, spot on I like it.

I only have one IMR cell that put's out >10A. I will need to get a few more in the future. I'm going to do some further testing on this and draft up my

review.

I am satisfied with this light. I think if the price were a bit more, than these problems could taken care of at the factory by extra steps before reaching

the consumer. This is the first Lumnitop Light I have had these troubles with. This makes me wonder if they left out steps for the production of the

FW3x's that normally get done with their other production lights. More soon ).
GL

Is no-ox-id fine for Ti threads?

No-OX is fine.

It will lubricate, but You will need to wipe the Ti grey goop from threads more often.

It will not help correct the galling like other lubricants can.
I swear by Monkey Spunk, and second is Nano-oil for titanium threads.

I use No-Oxid Red/Gold on the ends of the inner and outer body tubes, and the contact surface within the head.

No-Oxid is great for cleaning oxidation off the bare aluminum contact surfaces.