Hi All, I recently got a D4V2 Ti in and am curious if anyone has successfully removed the raised switch ring on one (without damaging/scratching the head)? I am looking to R&R one to heat-anno it to match the finish of the body (blue-ish). I reached out to Hank and he said it was "almost impossible", but figured I'd ask the brain trust here, as I've seen quite a few of you laugh in the face of "almost impossible". 
Thanks!
I tried to remove mine and couldn’t get it out.
I’ve successfully removed the flat rings by levering them out, but the raised ring is too tight. It doesn’t move at all.
Perhaps try super-glueing it to a (clean) flat piece of metal then twisting carefully keeping planes in line and lifting only if there is some movement. If it works or fails you can at least clean the glue off the switch ring. Nothing gained but nothing lost.
My 2 cents (pence) worth. (I have used this method for threaded lens rings only).
Only other thought would be using 2 bevel tipped chopstick sized levers made of a softer metal or carbon fibre. Probably a non starter but if this was my project that would be my next guess.
Last guess would be combining one of the two above with making use of the slightly different thermal properties of steel and titanium by heating/cooling the light/switch ring.
Do we know if it’s held in by an adhesive or threaded with a thread locker?
I believe it is tension fit with a bit of adhesive. The problem with the raised switch ring is that it sits flush with the head, whereas the standard ring has a “lip” that you can use a leverage tool on. I was wondering if maybe anyone was successful in using a thin razor blade to get under the raised switch, or some other method that I am not thinking of. The head is copper, so I am not too worried about small scratches that can be sanded/polished off. I just don’t want to put a big/deep divot in it.
The flat retaining ring is not threaded. The edge is designed like a cone with the bottom edge at 45 degrees and the top edge 90 degrees. The whole thing is pressed in place. No threads and no glue.
I assume the raised retaining ring is the same, except that the edges of the cone protrude a tiny bit further for an even tighter fight.
I was not able to remove the raised retaining ring on my D4v2 even after I filed half the raised ring off and then tried levering it up with a screwdriver. I got the impression my screwdriver would break before the ring came off. I don’t think it’s going to move without seriously damaging the head of the light.
There’s not much to grab hold of, but has anyone managed to get the protruding bit of ring grabbed in a vice? Probably just a good way to shoot the thing across the room when you tighten the vice…
I tried a vice without success. The entire outer portion of the ring tapers. When I tried to tighten the vice it slipped right off.
Thanks all. Looks like I’ll probably be leaving it as is.
I have popped mine out without issue. On mine, it was just a press with no adhesive. I was able to get a tiny flatblade screw driver under it and pry it out.
Interesting. Was this on a copper head or aluminum? And it was definitely the raised switch?
This is on a Ti+Cu d4v2 with raised ring. I was able to get a small screwdriver in the gap shown in the picture. If you don't have a small enough screwdriver, you can use a razor blade.
don’t know if its still relevant, but i’ve just managed to remove the raised switch ring from my D4v2 Ti+CU.
The trick was using a dremel to carefully cut a slit in the the switch ring, and then use pliers to strongly clamp together the sides opposite of the cut, as to in that way press the ring into the cut, making it smaller, allowing it to pop out.