Drop.com $20 off - Lumintop Copper/Brass Tool for $10 - Discount not available as of 12/10/19

I’m wondering if we can make an interest list for clip like this and ask manufacturer to produce…

The New Preon clips are NOS, available here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Foursevens-New-Preon-Pocket-Clip/282822811096
as part of the liquidation of 47s stock in Georgia

you could create an interest list for a group buy and maybe get the price down a buck or two…

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darksucks also offers the same 47s New Preon Clips (stainless, not Ti anymore)

(Past Titanium clips by darksucks have a smaller hole, for an earlier version preon)

they are Great clips for a Tool and also Maratac!

^
Yes, they’re great clips.
I’ve put the ebay page into my watchlist since months ago but he doesn’t ship to my country.

I didn’t bother to ask the seller, just imagining the shipping fee will be not cheap.

Tracking information: “The shipment carrier doesn’t have the tracking information in their system yet.”

I guess it never has been shipped, and never will.

That 3500k E21a looks terrific! A little warm side of neutral. Just about perfect.

thanks!
I really like 3500k in the evening. E21a has exceptional Red Rendering… better than my 219b options…

Im very fortunate to have some great choices:

Replacement showed up today. I had returned a new and unopened xpg3 model and they sent back lightly used, very much opened xpg3 model. Good try drop CS but kind of a fail.

Still for $10 not bad! Thinking about trying out one of the high cri xpg3 if I can find a reasonable source for a neutral tint

you have a very good attitude!
drop totally screwed this deal up… but the Cu Tool is still a great host!

imo the xpg3 has terrible tint shift across the beam. I would only consider using it in a light with a diffusion TiR

imnsho the better option would be a 219b… you can get 4000k 9080, among other options
3000k sw30 d180 L2 r9080
3500k sw35 d200 L2 r9080
4000k sw40 d220 L2 r9080
4500k sw45k d220 L2 r9080

Got mine. I was travelling, so my SO got the mail. She opened the outer package, saw a sealed plastic bag with the light.
When I got back, I said, “Look Honey, I got you a classy nightstand light!”

That look when she sets the unopened package on her nightstand.

Yes super tempted by that option! I’d like to try the xpg3 just… well because. And it theoretically should offer better efficiency.

I do love the 219 in my ti tool (and others) just wish that we could get more efficiency in a small die high cri.

true, the xp-g3 that came in my Cu Tool made 120 lumens of Low CRI, green tinted light, with a Yellow corona.

High CRI costs lumens:

81 lumens 219c 4000k, Maratac
71 lumens 351d, Black tool w TiR
70 lumens sw45k, Cu Tool w eSwitch

but I just about never use the maximum mode on my tools, that only lasts about 30 minutes… If I need 100+ lumens, I use a 16340 light, not an AAA

and btw, the High mode on the Tool (and most other lights) is not regulated, it falls off rapidly… whereas the low and medium are well regulated.

Anyone managed to open the pill out of the copper tool AAA drop.com’s edition?
It seems to be glued, I couldn’t open it using my pointy tweezer.
Any advise?

yes
I got the pill out… after soaking the head in a cup of boiled water for 5 minutes.
you can see the glue remaining in the head:

I broke the wires and damaged the mcpcb solder pads….
fixed it, as described in the posts above.

Yes I know another modder that got his drop tool open, and also experienced broken wires and torn solder pads on the mcpcb… And yes, he repaired the damages and the light is working.

huh
must be silicone based adhesive or cyanoacrylate

wle

Yelp, that was me. :smiley:
I tried hot air several times and still the pill wouldn’t budge. Glued to high heaven :frowning: .
Replacing the wires is no biggie, but I managed to rip the negative led wire pad off the driver while turning the driver round and round trying to get the wires to break free in the pill. I probed the board and figured out where all the connection points where for the high, med, and low resistors. Low wasn’t effected in the destruction but med had to repostioned and soldered. The high resistor is not needed using a AAA battery. Soldered the led negative wire back to the fet drain and bridge to the fb pin of the PAM2803 and bridge to the end of the med resistor. Sounds hard but there all in almost the same spot, just requires a good solder blob making all three connections. If anyone manges to rip the negative pad off PM me and I’ll try to guide you through the process.
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Rethinking what I did and trying to think of a solution to keep the pad intact. Doing it again, I would turn the driver about half a circle then go back around about a full circle, repeating this several, several times trying to fatigue the wire to its breaking point and hopefully not the pad. Or if you have enough slack in the wires try to get the board sideways to cut the wires without doing any twisting.
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Twisting the board around and around caused the wires to twist up and pull harder and harder on the pad until it came off. More less I braided the wires and made them stronger :person_facepalming: . I wouldn’t try this way, FAIL!
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None of the other Tools I have opened were glued this bad. Most came out with a little heat, some had no glue at all.
If all goes well with the pads intact, its easy to mod. But if you fail be prepared to solder 0402 sized resistors :wink: .

youve got Skills!

I only managed to rip a solder pad off the mcpcb, no damage to the driver…

I dont have any 10mm replacement xp mcpcb, but was happy to use Clemences 10mm board w E21a 3500k… Im Loving My Warm High CRI Tool! lol

If I had your skills, I would figure out how to change the driver to MLH… as it is I always have to click 3x to get useful light (medium is 14 lumens) for the majority of my tasks

some details about mcpcb
stock tool mcpcb is 1 mm thick
there are replacements available, but they are 1.5mm thick.
Using these will create a gap between the head and body.

That gap happens to fit the Preon Clip nicely, so the Tool can be a CapLamp… (note the direction of the pocket clips)

if I try the Preon clip under the head of a stock eTool, the light wont turn on. (needs a contact between the pill and end of body tube, can be a piece of paperclip wire)

Note I dont use the clip for clipped pocket carry… too much of the light sticks out above the clip. I carry the light completely inside my pocket. I just like the clip as an antiroll, and HatLamp option.

observation about body symmetry
when I want to swap the clip from bezel up to bezel down, I find I can just flip the body, instead of pulling the clip over the oring to move it to the other end.

some impressions about the eSwitch
I find the latest eSwitch requires about 800 grams of force to operate. This likely makes it less prone to turning on in pocket.

otoh, I have a Massdrop Cu Tool from a previous run, and the eSwitch only requires about 300 grams of pressure. I prefer this, so I have legoed the switches.

Choices are good :slight_smile:

Good to know. I just measured my latest eSwitch at 725 gf to actuate.

Thank you!
I will try the hot water method and replace the LED with Nichia Optisolis from Clemence.

If you can reflow a led then any 3535 led can be reflowed on the original board.
If you dont want to try that then Clemence has you covered :+1: .

Safe arrival of another Cu Tool aaa w xp-g3

As expected, when I first inserted an eneloop it only made 1 lumen on all 3 modes.

After 1 hour with the battery in the light there are now 3 modes
I’m getting 4 lumens, 30 lumens and 130 lumens.

This switch measures about 600 grams activation pressure, I like it. It gives clear feedback when it clicks.

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switch trivia
The first drop tool I got has (had) a stiffer switch, that triggers around 800 grams pressure, with no clear click feedback. Individual variation…

update

I just disassembled the switch and put it back together with the rubber pad correctly seated under the button. The activation pressure is now about 450 grams, with clear click feedback.

Im very happy I was successful at not screwing anything up :slight_smile:

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battery trivia
I get 50% higher output from one of my Eneloop, than from each of two of my eneloop pro. This tells me my eneloops are no longer working as well as they did when I got them new about 3 years ago.

I think I will order some new AAA Eneloops… have not looked around yet…

if anyone has an opinion
I request a link to the AAA Eneloop deal of the day …

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size evolution
OldSchool AA and NewSchool AAA: