FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

here is a video that show how to assembly the FW3A tailcap

I think for the main production run (not the BLF group buy), they should probably ship these with glued cap by default, but with an option for an unglued cap.

Got mine delivered exactly on 05/04/19. :+1:

It is part of the “black rubber disc”, not a seperate piece. You can’t “loose it” without loosing the whole thing.

This is nothing new, we have known this for months. No retaining ring needed.

Excellent video Neal!! :+1:

“Assembly” is truly very simple & straight forward. Thanks for sharing.

I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Or maybe your light is different from mine. There is a small black pellet that is held in place by the rubber disc. I’ll post a picture of it later today.

As it turns out, you’re both right.

The rubber piece has a hard plastic piece glued in place right in the middle. It should behave as one piece, normally… but if the glue gets unstuck, it can come out. If this happens, it’d probably be a good idea to glue it in place again.

Your right Jason, I was indeed mistaken!!
Mine had just stayed together on previous disassemblies. I just now checked & it is indeed 2 seperate pieces… just like you said. :+1:

A tiny dab of glue will take care of this…. :wink:

any idea those that bought 7A if u wont be able get it and sst20 instead will price be the same and will those that wont get the 7A get any info ?

I guess my glue was not very strong as it popped out easily. I think I’ve got some super glue I can use on it. Luckily my switch assembly stays in place unless I push it out. After playing with the light and trying it without the clip, I don’t plan on taking the tail cap off any more.

I have no idea what to expect for the 7a’s. Let’s just wait till around the 8th of may, should get clear around that time.

Got notification email from nealgadgets.They sent my order yesterday 4th May.Im on the 1475th on TK list.Hopefully everthing goes well.

I assume we didn’t do it on Kickstarter because of their fee agreements? 5% of funding amount + an additional 3-5% payments fee, afaik and $0.20 per buyer.

So if 3000 people had funded 35.00 $US, Kickstarter would’ve gotten 5250.00 $US from the team plus 1.25 $US per buyer. That is an expensive deal for a simple escrow facilitator that doesn’t take on any risks :smiley: (or in other words - each buyer would’ve gotten the light for 3$ more to fund the kickstarter fees).

Doing a community design (polls, messaging, consensus system) and fund pooling/shipping system would have to work on any forum, not just BLF, to make it a profitable venture. And the work involved would probably aim at the 5% per “mini fund” as a pay out to make it worthwhile… if you look through this thread a lot of posts are either status request for “where are we” or “design requests” or shipping status and/or similar.

The amount of work for such a system would also require cloning ToyKeeper :laughing: not sure if that is even possible!

Does this affect the switch operation if it is not attached?

Yes, switch will not work without it.


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Where can I get a little black nubbin, whatever that thing is, to replace the one I lost.
I never even saw it. Didn’t know to look for it. Still got the rubber, but no plastic nubbin, only a little ring in the rubber where a nubbin is supposed to be.

It’s the nothin’ nubbin. Definitely effects switch operation.

/\… Good pictures Jason. Turns out mine was glued & holding, that’s why I thought it was one piece. But a tiny bit of side pressure, applied on purpose; knocked it loose easily.

Solution… clean it all up real good & reglue with some good Super Glue or any good glue.

It might be a good idea to have the whole diaphragm switch ( metal cup acts as a spring actuator that is retained by the kapton tape) plus the boot with plastic plunger available for purchase. I would buy a few, just in case.