Q8 modding

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.

Did you remove the screw that holds it down? Gotta take driver out - then you'll see it - one M4 x8mm (think), centered. It's in very tight - use a really good screwdriver. After than the reflector may need a little nudging because the o-ring kind of holds it in.

I'm replacing this screw as well. Think should be a combo, some are phillips only - another inconsistent thing... :FACEPALM:

Now that you are interested in screwdrivers, I refer you to the wikipedia article I linked in my post Q8 modding - #113 by Tom_Tom

Where you can learn all about screw heads.

Haha, I didn’t even know that there was a screw there :person_facepalming:

That’ll have to wait for another day. I haven’t got the time today.

Its a bit of a balls-up.

My theory: when they put the M2.5 screws on the later prototype, (earlier ones were M3), they were thinking about commonality with the tail screws, which makes perfect sense. They got the driver drilling changed to M2.5 (correct) but they forgot to tell manufacturing to update the CNC program, so ended up with battery tubes to the old design, and maybe had to source a bunch of M3 screws ASAP, and took whatever they could get. Then forced them into the M2.5 driver boards (hey, look, if you force it you can get the screws in, result, we don’t have to manually re-drill them all, phew.)

Bad enough having a mix of M2.5 and M3, but worse still if some are Phillips and others JIS. Recipe for wrong screwdriver being used (if they even have any JIS drivers).

In a perfect world they would all be torx.

My tail screw replacements are torx pan head, but my driver replacements are hex socket button top (lower profile), and my M4x8mm reflector replacement is phillips pan head.

Nothing like variety.... :FACEPALM:

I suppose torx button tops all around would be best? Lower profile would help. If I could get them at a reasonable cost and time...

That would be nice.

Thanks for the info. I ordered an assortment of 0603 smd resistors just in case. Hopefully both leds will work just fine with the supplied voltage. If not, I can swap out the 1 resistor with something lower to provide 3v to power the blue and do some adhoc soldering to drop the voltage even further to 2.5v for the pink.

Thats the right attitude. And when you have got it working nicely you can tantalise others by posting your pictures. Mod on.

Maybe you might get sent a new LED board with two resistors which would make it trivially easy, but by figuring it out for yourself by trial and error you will learn so much more. Playing lego with smd components, e.g. stacking another resistor on the end of the pink one is fun and will tax and improve your soldering skills.

I just opened the driver of one of my Q8 in order to flash my own firmware.
Could see the screw which fixes the LED board to the reflector.
What type of tool do I need to turn this screw? The center of the screw just looks like a big hole. Either it needs a very special tool or the screw is damaged like the small ones in driver and tail pcb.

Should be a combo head, but some were just phillips - think I had one stripped like that too but was able to get it out with a a lot of downward force. If it was stripped only from tightening, then should loosen.

They must be using power screwdrivers for assembly.

powered screwdrivers for assembly of + screws are only good if:

- they use diamond grip bits

- with a matching geometry and size for the screw type

- the torque is set up properly

- they RPM are not too high

  • the user does not tilt the bit in the screw head

If they were using professional powered drivers, which they should, if only for health and safety (RSI etc.), never-mind productivity, they would be calibrated to apply the precise torque setting necessary, no more, no less.

Or if using hand screwdrivers they should also be torque-limited, and regularly calibrated.

This sort of thing would be entry-level: https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/torque-drivers/ls135h-torque-limiting-screwdriver/p/KEN5555700K?utm_campaign=pla-&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping-pla&utm_keyword=KEN5555700K&istCompanyId=6aa6787b-063e-4414-802d-129f235df603&istItemId=aqrxlamwr&istBid=tztx

Otherwise it only takes one ham-fisted operator, maybe having a bad day, to generate a huge amount of the sort of problems that we are seeing. Frankly, it is completely unacceptable to my mind.

I’m not expecting perfection on a $40 torch, but some things we are seeing on this one disappoint me. No need for this.

My battery tube was clean and screws were “ok”.

My driver needed to be drilled out. I used 1/8” bit. It obviously sits more flush now. I can tell because my “flat’s” were almost lined up and now it’s past about “6 minuets”.

I only have one screw on my Q8 that’s chowdered as frig (as AvE would say).

Off to Menards to see if they really have replacements in stock, I guess.

It was also puzzling to me as to why they would have used two different sized screws for the PCBs, but this:

…makes some sense to me.