What tools make modding lights easier?

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

What tools do you use that help you mod lights a lot easier, share your tools of the trade!

Mine are:

A vise, purchased at Harbor Freight today, had to check several until I found one that was perfect. I have no idea why I didn’t purchase one sooner!

Helping hands, had these for a while

Magnifying headset, I put a velcro strap in the top center to attach a T10 AA XP-G2 led light for better illumination

Rotary tool

Soldering iron and gun
40W

180W to solder/desolder on Copper MPCBs

Soldering tools.


Strap wrenches

Needle nose pliers

Multimeter

What tools do you use regularly while doing mods?

2

All of the above, and:

Lux meters:

Tweezers of different kinds:

Cross locking tweezers:

Sand paper (of different grits, both dry & wet)

Jeweller's loupe (with light):

Precision knife:

Head lamp:

Screwdrivers:

Small multi-tool:

Corkscrew:

Metal files:

Clip ring pliers:

3

Also one of these:

4

What do you use the corkscrew for??? :quest:

5

Haha. I was actually waiting for that question.. It's sometimes handy for separating press fit drivers, especially if there's a small slot in the pill: Push the tip of corkscrew to the slot (between the pill and driver) and start turning it carefully. :)

6

I thought it would be to open that bottle of 100-year old whiskey or wine to relieve the stress of Light mods that go bad. 8)

7

Thanks! I learned something new today! :beer:

8

All the above and also something I sadly dont have is electrical abilities for modding. It will save you lots of money and frustration if you can get it somewhere.

9

Nobody mentioned firmware tools yet:

10

Keep a spare room and learn to BBQ brisket, try to lure an Old-Lumens to visit.


I just got a hot air thingy, haven't had a chance to play with it yet.


11

Congratulations on the wedding, the honeymoon is the best part.

12

That’s too funny….

But seriously, that hot air station adds a new dimension to soldering.

13

Dang, I have almost the entire list mentioned above, minus the locking tweezers and the corkscrew, and a good vice…the one I have bolts to a 2x4, I need one to suction to the table

Good post guys!

Oh and I need to buy me a new SOIC clip…mine is boogered up…arrgh

14

All the above plus a drill press and a hand drill. Really opens the options up.

15

Hemostats, solder wick, solder sucker, ruler, calipers…

16

A few files.

17

Some tools not yet mentioned.

Compressed air, air dusters are ~$9/can, I have a literally endless supply of compressed air

Diamond files, cut way faster than regular files

Flashing equipment including both a clip and a board for AVR (PICkit3 will be here Wednsday!)

Picks

Digi-calipers

A scale (need to know how much copper you manage to add)

Old aspheric lens for high power magnification (I have a new 53mm one on the way)

Bottle of soapy water for soldering iron cleaning sponge

18

Wire strippers.

19

If you can find some old CPU heatsinks that have hunks of copper, they work great when you’re testing emitters.

20

The “Allis” hemostats/forceps O-L uses are really great.

I just got one and started using them, and they’re much better than regular hemostats because the tips are curved.

These are the ones I bought from Amazon:

EDIT:

Bamboo barbecue skewers. I use this for all kinds of stuff. Amazon.com