BLF Kronos X6/X5 GB - Group Buy now closed.

We’re all here because we like flashlights.

There are certain facts that are indisputable:

1. Many people worked very hard to make it possible for this GB to happen.
2. This group buy IS a first in many ways.
3. There are problems with all GB’s.
4. The lights are, as a design and implementation, amazing.
5. No single thing is perfect.

I could keep going for a long time, but instead I’ll get to the point of why I’m writing this.

I WANT these lights to be incredible.

Why?

Well, I have been playing with LED’s since I was a little kid. My dad had drawers full of all kinds of electronic components and anything that made lights or sounds was always something I wanted to play with.

I had asthma as a kid and had a bunch of inhalers around. They looked like pretty good pistol grips to me, so a little electrical tape, a toggle switch, a few LED’s, some wire, etc, and I had a gun! (Yet I thought MacGuyver was awesome, explain that!)

I still have the first flashlight someone other than my parents gave to me, it’s a AA mini-mag with red anodization. It’s the old kind with the shorter head and reflector, I just can’t bring myself to mod it. It was a gift from my friend’s mom, I just found out she has cancer. I’m going to stop by soon and I’ll probably mention how much it means to me. Not because it’s a flashlight, but because I treasured it as a kid.

I’m not trying to make everyone sad or tell sob stories, it just happens that LED’s and flashlights have been a part of my life since I was a little kid. When I found out that other people were into them I was a little upset, only because it was always MY thing, and it’s not like I was on the football team or anything. (Full disclosure, I got big in my early twenties)

You’d think that because I’ve been interested for so long I’d be just about the most knowledgable. Nope. I knew about the good LEDs fairly early on, I’m pretty dang good at modifying Maglites, and I’ve done a few other pretty cool projects, but nothing like what many others here have accomplished. Here’s where this becomes relevant to this thread again if you’ve managed to read this far.

The people that put these sets of lights together are almost painfully modest.

I read a comment that suggested that it was an easy task due to the fact that the X6 had already been designed and produced. That is a drastic simplification of the situation.

I’m not going to go into boring detail, but these lights are very special. The details of the changes and features of these lights are pretty well documented in this thread. I suggest if you have further doubts to get a set of the SS/CU in your hands. No, you can’t borrow mine :smiley:

Take a moment to realize that these lights are just a moment in time, there WILL be brighter lights, there WILL (probably) be another group buy that involves lights with a similar set of features, there WILL be moments in which you will be dissapointed for a myriad of reasons about something that you purchased.

But none of that matters. What matters is that most of the people that were looking forward to these lights are not disappointed or jaded or complaining. If they are like me, they have been showing these suckers off to anyone that will listen! These lights are, to be frank, AfreakingMAZING!

All of that being said, I return to my original statement, with the hope that what I’ve written will be heard and maybe even have the effect I was going for.

We’re all here because we like FLASHLIGHTS!

Turn on your favorite light. Don’t you want to talk to somebody who gets it?

The only reply from you is this:

Where is the help there? No reason for me to thank you for that post. I have thanked others when I have got good advises that I can test out.

Read posts #5245 and #5246 you insufferable…… just don’t talk to me any more, k?

EDIT: IF YOU READ MY ADVICE YOU WOULD HAVE FOUND MY OTHER ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS. How’s that for some food for thought?

EDIT #2: Just to make sure you appreciate the irony, edit one was describing when I mentioned that you can search the thread, and also the entire forum.

Tried with boiling water, still stuck.

Tried with a razorblade, still no luck. Don’t have strap wrench. Thank you for the tips.

Ordered some Jar Grippers now, thank you for the tip.

Since the reflector is stuck I can’t raise it a tiny bit, But thank you for the reply.

Thank you to all others with replies to this issue, I have slept the last hours (time is now 8 AM here in Norway) so haven’t seen the last replies or comments.

Sorry, did see them now. But as I have stated so many times, the reflector is stuck, so I can’t center the led or do anything. But thank you for the tips. It just don’t work in my case.

As one of my role models says:

I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way. :slight_smile:

Mostly, it seemed like an opportune time to surround myself with lava and act like a super-hero. It’s great fun. Here’s one I taught to my buddy Gandalf:


You shall not pass!

Do you think I can put the light in the freezer a couple of hours, then try to get the reflector off? Or will it damage the light in anyway?

You are a super-hero! Isn’t she?

Too late, I have a suggestion for you that would probably fix the problem for you, but guess what? I’m not going to share it with you! If someone else posts a similar problem I will help them and maybe you can read it then. Otherwise, tough.

You really really really need to think more before you speak, otherwise I can’t imagine you enjoying this forum or any other for very long before people have the same opinion of you that I do. Good luck in finding your way.

I’m feeling like being nice, so I’ll give you a tip. Any time someone gives you advice, you have to try it for yourself, then think about why it worked or why it did not work. That may lead you to where you need to be, it may not. Smart people get things done.

There is another with the same issue:

So maybe help him.

In your two replies with help, both rquired me to get the reflector unscrewed, but when I could not unscrew the reflector, no of your replies was to any help for me, you understand that?
Or did you come out with a magic trick to get the reflector out, that I have not tried?

As you can see here: BLF Kronos X6/X5 GB - Group Buy now closed. I have got lots of tips, but no is working.
Ordered jar opener now, so maybe that do the trick.

Still, I don’t think the yellow spot will go away, the led is not so badly centered, but some improvement could be done.

thanks Dale, nice compliment coming from you, the Ansel Adams of BLF. Just a cheap Fuji bridge camera but it has a nice 2.0 lens on it. I’ll get some more pics of these terrific lights in the daylight.

I noticed that everydaysurvivalgear is having the same problem. URGH! I was hoping that Myhken would have to wait longer before I offered my assistance.

Here’s the deal, I’ve dealt with stuck fasteners since before I can remember, and anything with threads that threads into something else is technically the same as a fastener.

1. DON’T force it. It might break free, it might just break. You don’t want that.
2. Combination of patience, lubrication, and heat. I was going to break it down into a longer list, but if you try just one of these it probably wont work. So…… here’s what I would do:

IMPORTANT: DON’T USE MORE HEAT THAN YOU NEED OR YOUR ENTIRE LIGHT WILL FALL APART!!! (Excessive? Maybe, but you think I want those PM’s?)

CAREFULLY soak the threads with WD-40 or your personal favorite, but the milder the better, it’s an electronic device with a reflector designed to reflect…light…. so….do I need to bother? It only takes a tiny bit! Don’t put the lubricant on the reflective surface. DUH!

Be patient and wait over night. You can do it. It will not kill you to wait, I promise.

Tomorrow morning, try the same amount of effort that you tried today. This will usually do it.
IF that doesn’t work, you will have to try HEAT.

People will tell you that heat only works if you know what you’re doing. That is partially true. There are certain situations where the materials involved really matter. Like, reallyyy.

I’m going out on a limb and saying this isn’t one of them. Get your oven mitts ready.

Heat up the thing you want to make bigger, aka the outer threaded portion, aka the pill area, aka the finned copper.

That means you need something that can direct heat onto something. Like, not a campfire or a clothes dryer. Something like a heat gun or a propane torch (US version of the word, what the heck do you guys in the UK call it? I must know!) I usually use MAPP gas, but I’m running out of the real stuff and I’ve heard that the replacement is inferior. Use of heat will probably affect the finish on your light, but seeing that you just want a better beam that shouldn’t matter, right? Moving on :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

What you need to imagine in your head while doing this is that heat makes things bigger, so the outer threads need to get hot, which will make the inner threads fit looser, and then you can twist them right out.

Note: Everything is going to get hot, just not as hot as where you direct the heat.

IMPORTANT: DON’T USE MORE HEAT THAN YOU NEED OR YOUR ENTIRE LIGHT WILL FALL APART!!! (Excessive? Maybe, but you think I want those PM’s?) It’s good practice to try a little heat and then twist. Use hand protection. Use eye protection. Use any kind of protection you can find. Don’t breath in unless you have adequate ventilation. Have a spotter. Make the spotter do it. What are friends for? Have a shovel ready. If anything goes wrong, deny deny deny.

Seriously though, good luck, be safe, don’t wreck your lights. Patience is #1.

tnx

Try hot water first. Take out the battery, make sure your o-rings are in place, dip the entire bottom of the light into very hot water until you can feel the heat in the pill, then use some of your amazing strength to unscrew the reflector.

It was not for me, but tnx for all the tips. I have nothing of the stuff you mention, so I have to buy it, and then I think I just buy a new Al set, since the price for the stuff will be more then a new set. But still, thank you.

Done that, boiling water. The whole thing got so hot that I had to use protection. Still, the reflector is stuck.

I said to use your amazing strength. Not your run of the mill stuff.

EDIT: I’m assuming that the protection you used prevented procreation, so I’m satisfied that my advice was heeded.

I think it’s safe to assume that those of us that modify cheap lights have spent far more on tools than things that produce light. LMAO.

I’m reminded of what my boss once told me, “Make the sample look barely passable. Otherwise, it will become the standard to which the client will compare the final product. Make the final product better than the sample and everyone will be happy.”

Karma (or Kamma) is not revenge, it is causes and conditions that produce results, we all have our own Karma, other folks have their Karma which will take care of itself, all we can do is to address what we are producing now, because that will be the part of the future that we can control.

Our futures catch up with us all, this is unavoidable, It is what we can do in the present that we have (some) control over. :slight_smile:

Sorry for the (almost) rant :slight_smile: