Do you destroy your flashes?...........

Sounds like a sound plan. For your 80k BMW. :laughing: :+1: :beer:

You can try and keep your modified hotrod looking like a shelf queen but its not worth the effort imo.
Hell i just sold some shelf queens because they are using XM-L chips. I didn’t get half what i paid for them.

Since most of us have more lights than we strictly need if the ones that are modded don’t look mint its not an affront.

Plus if i accidentally drop a light on pavement then what, beat myself up or accept that life happens?

i was replacing the front thrust control arms on a “dealer-serviced-only” bmw 735iL and found the tell-tale vise grip marks on the steering tie rod tubes—deep gashes with sharp burrs and rust in the cuts.

The real psser is that the tie rods have flats formed in the tube that can easily accept a 15mm wrench when making toe in adjustments.

Suppose the senior techs can’t be bothered with using the right tools for the job…

I get it and see no reason to be a contentious issue. It’s about pride of workmanship, craftsmanship. I want my mods to turn out better in every way, not compromised by poor repair techniques. We have all pooched a project. Learn from it and move on to do better next time. I will sometimes throw it against a wall to make sure I can’t repair it! :rage:

It’s not about a shelf queen or normal wear and tear. It’s about doing damage while trying to improve something. My last project here is repairing a Black Forest Cuckoo Clock with some broken effects. No room for vise grips here! I’m having enough time with tweesers.

“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
— Samuel Beckett

“Try again. Fail again. Kill all humans.”
— Bender Bending Rodríguez (not really)

Heh-heh. “Butt”…

Man: What are you down for?

Woman: I'm down for everything but sex.

Man: Me, too! Wait, did you just spell "butt" wrong?

When I was a beginner I “destroyed” the looks of a flashlight when modding it. Now, I know so much more and can apply the right tools and techniques to keep them as they are, but still do the mod.

I have seen numerous posts on BLF that Sky Lumen “cracks” open their lights in order to upgrade them. Many customers have complained that after paying for a new upgraded light , they received a light with scratches and dings on it.

I have seen Sky Lumen lights IRL - the ones I have seen had scratches on them. But I don’t think he ever said or guaranteed that they come without any marks on them.

A wise man once said

I believe he warns customers of that in his FAQ. If you send a light to him, it may come back with a bit of cosmetic damage, because his single focus is pure hotrod performance.

It’s an “I warned you” situation.

I’ve heard this too, but the two I’ve bought from him have been flawless. So it’s certainly not every light from him at least.

Can’t even stand if the bezel is not flush with the light due to thicker MCPCB. And hate if the LED is out of focus as in my two Wuben lights (original!)

But to some the raw performance is important, and sometimes there’s no way to open a light without causing scratches (press fit bezels).

“And hate if the LED is out of focus as in my two Wuben lights (original!)”…….

That’s by intentional design for certain of their zoomers. For me it’s appreciated as I’ve determined that their TIR-type or aspheric lenses are definitely tuned for it.

They obviously know what they’re doing there.

PS. On some models (all brands) the lens can be independently fine-adjusted by turning the lid in or out as desired to get further LED die focus points than watt comes from the factory. Of course if the lens is
free-floating from the factory ya can glue it yourself to the lid to get that added adjustment feature. Then use some Medium Blue Loctite to secure the lid in its threads (a little bit, don’t go nutz) at your preferred LED die adjustment point. You’ll just likely have varying degrees of gap between the lid and the head - butt some aesthetically can’t live with that though. :laughing:

Whacky, that’s with their reflector lights E19 and E05. LED sits too deep, leaving a hole in the spot :person_facepalming: .

LOL! I agree :+1:
he saw this:
and AssUmed I used UnPadded :person_facepalming: vise grips

not a single modding mark on them:

Oh. My interpretation boo-boo. I’ve had zoomitis lately. :laughing: :beer:

Yeah it’s a lot safer when ya use thick quality rubbers. :laughing: :+1: :beer: