Q8 modding

My tailcap and driver screws were screwed on very tightly.
They came off easily after I touched the heads of the screws for about a minute with the tip of a very hot soldering iron.
I also found stuff on my tailcap screw threads which was removed with a fine wire brush.
Since I do not have a tap I reinserted the screws and removed them.
More stuff came out and was cleaned.

I stuck a piece of tyre inner tube to the base of the light with silicone rubber to protect it when tail standing on rough surfaces. e.g when changing tyres.
I used silicone because the rubber can be removed without damaging the Q8.

Updated the Q8 thread OP with:

TWEAK

On some Q8 lights there can be a sandblasting powder residue under the tailpcb and in the screwholes for the tail pcb mounting screws.

On some Q8 lights there can be some sort of glue residue in the screwholes for the tail pcb mounting screws.

No worries it is not conductive, but that does mean there can be bump in output achieved when removing and cleaning it. The screws are very tight, USE A MATCHING SCREWDRIVER AND RUBBER BAND BETWEEN SCREW AND SCREWDRIVER TO AVOID STRIPPING!

Thorfire will clean better during the rest of the production.

CHECK

Answer. yes some lube is very likely required, please add your favorite flavor. Good point about tube, please use file and/or sandpaper to smoothen things out if too rough for your liking.

Again, some screws are clearly stripped before you even touch them. I've encountered a couple screws stripped in both directions, more stripped only in the CW direction. Overall though, it seems more are good than bad. I have a large sample size (9 pieces) to review.

This is the condition they were in as installed, all 4 on the right, left one is good for reference:

This is the glue remnants:

After cleaned up:

…Even the ‘good’ one on the left looks bad to me… No wonder they get stripped - there does not seem to be much surface area for the screw driver head to act properly?

That’s part of the problem. It looks like a phillips that is a little wallowed out. Reports are that it’s actually a JIS.

I found as well glue on the tail in the threads and one light the surface between PCB and metal the tother a big chunk of glue at the outer tube wall

I scratched the glue off and cut all threads again to get the glue out
now the screws get in without any resistance

my brass rings had also some black stuff on the outer diameter where the batteries make contact

Had some fun again last night. Had to use a rotary cutting wheel to create my own slot for a flat-blade to get it out - wasn't easy. The screws are so low, the board tracing of course gets cut a little but I was pretty careful, just took quite a while. They are gone now - all those are replaced with star drive pan heads now - M3 x 5mm (https://www.boltdepot.com/Metric_machine_screws_Star_drive_pan_head_Stainless_steel_18-8_(A-2)_3mm_x_0.5mm.aspx).

They barely clear the end cap, but I don't care - just want something reliable that works as it should.

It can’t be easy for the poor operators, trying to get the M3 screws started in the too-tight driver PCB hole. Then trying to get them started in the metal body, after they have tapped their way through the PCB, with no hole-clearance for alignment. Add in some sandblasting grit as well …

I can imagine the muttered curses, and time-pressure to meet productivity targets.

Then it seems some torches are having glue added (maybe old habits die hard, some are just doing what they were trained to do on standard mass-produced torches). Did we ask for them not to be glued ?

Perhaps the screws are laptop type with JIS heads but the screwdrivers are not, perhaps some screwdrivers are just worn out (should be regularly inspected and replaced as necessary, not just wait for an operator to ask for a new one) etc. etc.

Maybe final assembly is even sent out to a number of “piecework” operators (used to be common practice in China).

Result: chewed heads.

None of this matters much to me, as long as the threads in the metalwork are good, and I can get the original screws out, without too much bother. Heating screw head with a soldering iron first if glue is suspected is a good tip, particularly if you want to re-use them, and don’t want to risk chewing up a good head yourself. If a screw seems unduly tight I also give the screwdriver a good rap on the handle with a soft hammer first to try to break it free before bearing down and going for it.

Believe it or not, I'm seeing worse things with screws in Haikelites - there I get real stripped body threading.

At least for me a JIS J1 driver worked perfectly, but mine weren’t badly stripped at all to begin with.

Interested in parts for q8,driver and switch… And different bezels? :sunglasses:
I want to show some pictures, i dont understand nothing or not too much about the pcb “problems” but i can do things to fix the little things,clean, or easy tasks i want to learn.

Pictures

Its a vicious circle, once you start stripping heads the screwdriver suffers as well, particularly if it is not a high quality one. Production standard tools are expensive, but worth every penny.

Then there is the job of the buyer, who may have no engineering knowledge whatsoever, or maybe is new, and given this seemingly trivial task whilst the senior buyers focus on the difficult stuff, like electronic components, switch LEDs etc.

Tasked to procure at least 18,000 screws needed for the initial run (2000 plus however many more we don’t know about). Maybe in a desperate last minute rush.

Lowest bidder wins, if e.g. material spec. not fully specified, even if made of cheese.

Ever heard of screw grab? I wish I’d learned of it 10 years earlier. It’s usually great for dealing with damaged screws. I read lapping compound works as well, though I’ve never used that myself.

I didn’t take a picture but I had glue on all 4 of my screws. I drilled the holes under the springs out and ran 20awg wire from the top of each spring to a screw hole on the board. I didn’t take any measurements before but I could tell it was brighter.

Diamond grit encrusted screwdrivers work well. I don’t have any myself, but have used them, and they do help.

This was several years ago, when they were rather exotic.

E.g. http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,43411,43417&p=56716 and STANLEY® Introduces New FatMax® Simulated Diamond Tip Screwdrivers | STANLEY

I’d like to find a set of small precision ones, any ideas ?

I have one screw in which the intersecting grooves are off-center, displaced toward one edge.
I’d guess these screws were stamped rather than cut?


Open question — the lubricant used on the threads, as supplied from TF — is it a conductive lubricant or not conductive?

ScrewGrab here on Amazon, interesting. I'm hoping that was the last of the bad ones. Didn't try all of them yet.

Here’s an interesting discussion about screwdriver bits.
I can’t believe I just wrote that.

and furthermore, what does the acronym JIS come from? They explain:

Just received mine! Everything looks fine, except the LED centering. Anyone have a tip on how to get the reflector out? It just won’t budge and I don’t want to use excessive force trying to get it out.