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

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:

The hammer and vice grip are the most useful tools. Matter fact, I need to purchase a bigger set of hammers. All kidding aside, I managed to take apart an entire car engine with a hammer.

I will need to buy some of those :beer:

Im sure I can figure out how to do some damage with them… :innocent:

I found your rant entertaining… thanks :+1:

And I agree I should have used Heat to free the Loctite on the D25a Ti, that I failed to open.

fwiw, that light cost me $12, and it still works. One of my less expensive DeStruction $eminar Experiences.

you would probably also enjoy my $eminar on How not to use a Hot Air Station … but I will leave that for another day…

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LOL
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Instead of a cutting torch, try a can of air, upside down, and spray the freon on the male side only. I just tried this last week and it worked.
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Just for the record, I loved watching demolition derby on tv yrs ago.
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And also yrs ago I purchased a used car for my daughter. It would run and quit running, leaving her stranded. I did not know much back then about coil packs and ignition control modules. After working on it and getting frustrated, well, lets say it was sold for scrap. It became a demolition derby car. LOL She used her new/used Neon for yrs afterwards.
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Sometimes guys and gals love to destroy things :smiling_imp:
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I have also had success breaking red loctite loose, by putting a light in the freezer for a couple of hours…


however, that bezel developed fine scratches from the padded tool slipping, because I only gradually tighten the vise grips incrementally.
I solved the scratches by repolishing the light with Sunshine cloth.

in another trial, I had success by putting the light in the sun for a couple of hours

I sometimes also use my reflow plate (or a cup of boiled water) to heat up a light that was glued shit (freudian typo)

but even then, I have DeStruction skillz:

fortunately I was able to replace the broken wires, and all ended well…

Nope, that’s a sign that it’s perfectly focused.

Lookit the reflector. It only catches light that comes out of the LED at a sharp angle. Light that comes “straight out” and doesn’t touch the reflector is pure spill.

So you’re taking only a ring of light that comes out of the LED, and flinging it forward. Imagine the LED’s huge, and you need a big hole in the middle to accommodate it. So your reflector isn’t a bowl, but a curved ring. So yeah, you’re flinging a ring of light forward.

As the light diverges at greater distances, the light tends to mix and blur, and the hole disappears. But all my überthrowers have a dark spot in the middle.

[quote=CNCman]

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LOL

Hay don’t quote me on that one! Twas somebody above. :person_facepalming:

Only time I could envision using a blowtorch to paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson, is when I have a pair of pliers, 2 pipe-smoking brothers, and I’m gonna get medieval on somebody’s a*s. Great movie. :laughing: :beer:

Yes. And it doesn’t with those Wuben lights.

Let me explain: You’d want to have the reflected ‘rays’ (yes, I know) in parallel in the mean. If the LED sits too deep, the beam diverges to the outside, instead of evenly to in- and -outside. It is biased. This can be clearly seen in the profile. Also, the spot is nearly flat with a large darker area. I’ll take a picture.

Edit:

I overexaggerated, I see this myself in the profile. But I find this unpleasant.

For nuts and bolts a blowtorch would easily provide the necessary 500F heating to loosen the locktite red 271, but for delicate electresticles there needs to be localized heating at the joint.

i would consider a hot air gun or hair dryer, or wrap it with some copper wick and touch that with a clean soldering iron. Most irons will heat the tip to 750F depending upon size and power. Other options include a hot plate, or if you want to get fancy make an electromagnetic induction heater.

“I have also had success breaking red loctite loose, by putting a light in the freezer for a couple of hours…”…….

Back to high temps, wrapping the object with genuine cowhide scrap (at least 1/8” thick) with rough side facing down of course, tolerates heat and vice marring clamping abuse dam well enough. Amazing stuff leather. :beer:

Sometimes ya just can’t beat Udder Nature. :student: :laughing:

PS. I see ya used maybe suede in the top pics. Actually I see now it’s just plain finished thin leather.

Some great tips in this thread for cracking open lights without damaging them. Keep them coming. :+1: :+1: :sunglasses: