The Miller, I think there is only one significant issue coming up here, and some other discussions about how to improve a few things:
1) The holes in the driver for the screws are too small, so the M3 screws, that were a surprise to see in production, (last prototype had M2.5 screws) have to bite into the driver PCB to be fitted, cutting their own threads.
This means that there is a chance the driver won’t be clamped solidly against the head (unless the screws were cranked down hard enough to strip the “self tapped” threads that they had cut into the driver PCB).
Knock-on from this is that the battery tube may not give a good contact all around the driver ground ring. We are seeing witness marks on the ring indicating only partial contact.
That’s why some of us are drilling out the holes slightly larger, to clear the M3 screw threads completely, i.e. at least a 3mm drill. Even then, I think some are seeing only partial witness marks, suggesting incomplete contact, which may, or may not, become an issue, TBD.
Personally I don’t think it is anything to worry about.
My own suspicion is that the drivers might have been drilled for M2.5 screws, and whoever changed that to M3 forgot to update the drilling drawing for the driver.
So if Thorfire are going to fit improved screws (M3 thin panheads ?), please could they also re-drill the driver boards to the proper clearance.
Given that they have 1500 near-completed torches held waiting for new switch LED boards, I assume that the drivers are as-is, the heads are already tapped for M3 screws, so please could they use the waiting time to re-drill the driver PCBs, so when the better screws are fitted, everything is just-so.
It might also be that the bare end of the battery tube is not cut precisely square. If so, this would be a trickier thing to fix.
2) Then we have a secondary concern, that the thin plating on the driver ground ring (was asked to be a heavier pour, 3oz ?), combined with a rough finish to the end of the tube, may lead to a wear problem, long term ?
Best we can suggest for now is to smooth the end of the tube, maybe apply some conductive lube, and file off any nicks and gouges, to minimise any such wear.
3) Then we are having a debate about whether there is a second current path from the battery tube to the metal of the head, and if so, whether there could be further improvement by making sure this current path gets through to the reverse side of the driver PCB. It’s a pretty academic debate at the moment (but I think that Flashy Mike and I have it correct )
But it is easy for me to pontificate, since I am on the backorder list, so frankly could be talking out of my ar**e
That’s my summary, I’m sure others will chip in where I have got this wrong. I haven’t been following closely today since I have been travelling all day (5 hours driving, 7 hours on 3 trains (thank you Virgin Trains, your WiFi is excellent), then a taxi, and I’ve only just got home and am knackered.
Edit:
I forgot a fourth one: there is a lot of room for improvement at the tail end. Large gains are being reported with mods, bypasses etc, but it also seems that the threads in the battery tube for the screws holding the tail PCB have got anodising in them, and sandblast residue. This is not good for this critical current path. If the threads were masked during anodisation, or tapped post-anodise, that would be a good thing. Meanwhile some are running a tap through them to remove the anodise, and cleaning out trapped sandblast residue.