Maybe take a look at pflexpro’s thread, “Flattning a P60 pill”. I haven’t tried that technique myself, but it seems like a winner to me. ImA4Wheelr seems to be suggesting in that thread that aluminum should be annealed before hammering. I don’t know much about it it, but it seems to me that regular old 6061 is probably soft enough to let you get away with it without annealing.
Although annealing would make the aluminum softer and less likely to crack, I don't think it is a viable option in most lights. The temp needed to anneal is near the melting point. So it would change the anodized finish color and would also soften threads and such.
Haha, I see. I guess it’d better work w/out the annealing then eh?
It seems like manufacturing a little set of anvils which are convex, concave, have the star pflexpro showed, etc would be neat. I should get motivated and give it a try (although only with simple ones for now).
Or putting the star on a drill with some grit under it and using it as the grinder, making the star and the surface on which it mounts grind to matching curved shapes.
Or, heck with it. Maybe it’s just this one flashlight I got that has this problem?
Anyone else checked whether there’s a flat plane on which to mount the LED, and good contact, in their lights?
I’ve got a second one to check here.
I should have specified not viable in lights that don't have removable pills. I think it would be fine for typical pills, but the softening threads could be an issue.
I think wight is correct that it will probably be fine to do without annealing. I like the idea of an "anvil" set for flattening pills. Probably would be very popular item around here. I find pills are not flat much more often than flat.
> an “anvil” set for flattening pills … would be very popular item around here.
> I find pills are not flat much more often than flat.
How do they do this sort of finish work in reputable machine shops?
It’s commonly done — cutting holes into a piece of metal from opposite sides,
and ending up with a flat plane surface in between the two holes.
Does it take a couple more passes with a grinder and finer abrasive, before anodizing?
Or put it into a hydraulic press and anvil, stamping the piece flat where it should be flat?
This can’t be a new problem in metalworking.
Is it something they’re not doing in China yet?
Or are we getting the discards, and some other buyer getting the properly finished work …?
Reinventing the wheel, reinventing the plane, reinventing everything. What’s the problem here?
Easy enough to check for proper contact, just slip a bit of carbon paper in and rub the parts and look to see where they did and didn’t touch. (Does anyone still make carbon paper?)
^ Good question. Maybe a lathe guy or machinist knows the answer.
I think you just reduce the cut depth for the facing operation. A lot.
So for this light we’d
Remove the LED
Remove the driver
Get an “anvil” with a good enough flat face that would fit up inside where the driver came out, and rest against the plane surface.
And put it in a press with another “anvil” held at exactly the same orientation down through the front
And squeeze.
That’d work if the metal flows enough under pressure (if it’s close enough to even thickness all across, just ‘dimpled’)
But if both surfaces are a bit concave — it won’t.
I think I’m just going to goop on more goop….
No need for it to flow. If both sides of the shelf are concave, we use a convex anvil on the bottom and a concave anvil on the top (LED) side. Right?
it’s way beyond anything I can manage.
Does the driver in this light have a low-voltage limit (so it’s ok to use unprotected batteries, without risk of draining them too far)?
Asked Karen from Gearbest for a new coupon for F13.
New coupon is GBF13 and you can buy it again for $9.99$, unlimited items.
nice.thanks
Yup yup
Very nice!
These F13 clones fit the high capacity, low resistance KK 26700 cells too!
Has anyone tried this light with the 3AAA adapter?
How is the current and output?
light output was not bad but compared to an 18650 or 26650 it gets crushed. I have not tried it with aaa enloops though.
Werner, do you mean 3AA? I think most 26650's can hold 4AAA.
EDIT: I'm not think straight. 3AA is wider than 26650. 4AAA should fit though.
Thanks downlinx, did you just a quick test or have you used a whole set of batteries in it?
On one of the customer pictures there is a Adapter shown:
Not sure if it is a 3 or 4xAAA but any of the guys who have bought one could easyly tell, I cancelled my order so I never got one…
I would be interested in a tailcap reading with Alkalines and with lithium primaries and the overall impression how it works for a usual guy.