On costs, I've heard this before. At the company I work with, if the manufacturing costs are more than 1/3 the selling price, we are not making money. There's lots of costs to consider. ThorFire said they basically aren't making money at this price, and I believe them. I dunno about that Ali store, if anyone who ordered Q8's will ever get one from there, but I don't think we'll see the under $50 price for very long. Probably the quantity has helped. Just the cost of 4 XPL V6 3D's and a 2 mm copper DTP large MCPCB, for us, would be about $27, add shipping, packaging, warranty support, service, PP and credit card fees, plus there's NRE costs, which I can't see as less than $50K on this project, even in China, is $25 per piece at qty 2,000.
Fenix AOD-L.
I dont know that I would ‘mount’ it in the lathe… I’d drill and tap a little chunk of aluminum and screw it in a bit…Use a parting tool to undercut it…
Back a few pages the diffuser was discussed. There was a smaller one and one that strapped on. One was from Banggood, that’s about as good as I can do. Possibly the other one was from Aliexpress. But it wasn’t the one linked to above. It was different one.
I intend to wait until I have them in hand to see what works inexpensively before ordering anything. I bet a cheap plastic cup and a rubber band will work fine.
Thanks Tom E.
I found “wafer head” screws: http://www.laptopscrews.com/M2.5x4.htm
But since you found they used what looks like M3, don’t leap at those anyone.
NOTE: there’s M2.5, M2.8, and M3 screws for sale on that site. So “close enough” isn’t:
Is M3 a for-sure size, or is it just approximate (M3 would define the thread pitch too, right, not just the diameter of the shaft)?
That site also offers:
From that same source, More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Measuring A Screw
An essay that’s revealing and quite cautionary:
Q8 Teardown:
Countersunk screws retaining the driver:
Opened up: you can see the switch wiring (3 red wires on the right) at the driver is good (labeled L, G, & S).
Here you can see the solder connections at the switch-board look good and solid:
My conclusion: it isn’t the wiring. Either a bad LED or it’s with the software/mcu (I’m betting it’s the mcu).
The default stepdown is timed (not temperature) @ 3 minutes, not sure why it did not stepdown the second time you tried, unless you changed defaults. Maybe Tom or someone has some thoughts on this.
No, thread pitch is a different number. For example: M3 x 0.5 x 10 = Metric, 3mm shaft diameter (actually 2.9), 0.5mm between each thread and 10mm long shaft.
The most common thread for a M3 is 0.5 so that’s what I would buy. They are almost always fully threaded so you can buy a 10mm or 15mm and just cut it to length. More threads means less likely to strip the threads. Just make sure you check the maximum length.
My L6 uses M2.5 to hold the emitter down. Here is an example of the bolts my hardware store has.
yeah…story of my life…anyway… anyone ordered too much and is willing to split your order?? pm your code if your interested in me fulfilling the rest of your order…I need 2!! I know M4dM4x got my back but I wanted to be apart of this gb and grab some from the original patches and not the after retails. let me know if your uncertain of your order…
Thanks Jason. Do you have a measurement of that spacing for the threaded sockets on the Q8 that we need to match?
I’d hate to try to screw in something that was almost close enough and tear out the threads.
I guess I’d need to measure the threads on the screws used on my own flashlights, in case the production line changed thread/tap sizes during production, come to think of it.
Another thought from the “what else could go wrong” file.
I feel your pain. I was #335 or so on the BG pre-order list and still back order with an expected delivery date of October 7. The $12 expedited shipping fee i paid for was totaly useless. But there are worse things in the world. I just hope i get my Q8 before Christmas 
Isn’t the foofarah about the screws a moot point? I mean, screw in the battery tube and it is what’s pressing down the driver, the screws more or less just hold it in place so it doesn’t spin. Ground goes through the battery tube to driver connection. Effectively, you could remove the screws and glue the driver in, leave it like that.
Looking forward to seeing one in person, ordered on the 8th and the 12th, backordered all the way…
Considering the led came on when it should for batt check and to show it was using the 7135 and fet, that means the leds are working. It’s just not getting that solid signal to light the switch when just sitting there. Or the signal is intermittent.
I wonder if you could power up the driver then measure the voltage between the G and L wire.
Is the G wire constant ground?
Then constant positive through the S wire waiting to be grounded by a press of the switch?
Maybe the L wire is the positive signal to the light (switch light)?
If the L wire is putting out 4v and the switch light is not lighting, then the problem is after the mcu and might be the leds or resistor.
I’m guessing the 4v on the L wire is intermittent meaning an issue with the mcu. This all needs to be verified, though.
The pic is a bit fuzzy, but those threads on the production screws look badly damaged/stripped. Which makes me worried about the threads in the aluminum body (which is softer than even the worst Chinesium steel screws).
I’ve seen so many striped fasteners in Chinese goods, I should really quit my job and go over there with a boat full of electric torque tools and make a million bucks selling them, ’cause they obviously have never heard of such a thing.
“Torque? What’s that?”
“Crossthread? Never heard of it.”
“Just ram it home.”
^ China manufacturing standardized work instructions.
The only other thread pitch it could be is a rarely used 0.35mm. This is measured by the center of each thread. So if you count the threads over 5mm you should either get 10 or 15.
[quote=sac02]
Yes, I agree. Need a better pic, though.
That would explain it - I kept turning the flashlight off to take its temp, never leaving it on turbo for more than 3 minutes between each temperature reading.
All I see is a bit of blue loctite, no damaged threads… might just be me.
6061 is pretty tough aluminum, I got my first taste of 7075 a week or so ago and was amazed, drilling and tapping a couple of screw holes was very much like working with steel! Perhaps we could get a 7075 light made, other than with TexasLumens who swears by the stuff….