You donāt have to mess with it all the time.
Once you make the adjustments for minor tolerance differences it will stay that way.
mess with the tail cap and head once. Should be all right after that.
All your other concerns are not accurate when you actually look at and understand the design. The head and tail tighten to the inner tube, not the body.
@luckyeights
If you are (roughtly) understanding the design which is known since the start of the project, why did you buy it ?
Itās like buying a two doors car while knowing that you are going to have passengers on the backsits everyday and complaining afterward that it is not practical and that the frontsits and doors mechanism are wearing off faster because it needs to be used more often.
At least it was not a hatchback!
/\ . +1000 ā¦ 
ā¦ Well said Tally-ho. 
Aināt that the truth tatasal. 
:person_facepalming: :person_facepalming:
It is not āifā you get it to work following the instructions. You will get it to work.
All due respectā¦ the problem is not the FW3A, the problem is the man in your mirrorā¦. you.
The light does not need redesigned according to your second guessing. The light is just fine as is.
So instead of moaning & groaning about the light, why donāt you just do what I & others have told you. Then yours light will work first time every time just like the rest of our lights do.
I have four (4) of themā¦. they all work first time every time. My four (4) are made exactly like yours, the only difference is you.
Complaining to Neal will not fix your lack of attention to this matter. Only you can āfixā that. Just do it & you will have a harmonious outcome that will beat complaining any day of the weekā¦ā¦ 
EDIT: Againā¦ follow these simple instructions step hy step & your FW3Aās will work just fine.
Many of us have had to do this with our FW3Aās, it is no big deal. Really, itās not.
I did it to three (3) of mineā¦ā¦ once. No further issues after that. It only takes about a minute or two.
I have 6 of these (actually gave 3 away but Iām still the one that takes care of any problems with all 6). Only two of them had the issues luckyeights described and both were fixed with the procedures described in the posts above. None of them have had any further problems. The key is just to not get frustrated while you get them set up right.
Zero experience with reflowing. Any sources for pre-populated MCPCBs ?
For some reason very few places stock the 90 CRI 5000k LH351D.
Mtn has the 4000k (which is reported to have a very bad green tint) and the 80 CRI 5000k already reflowed to triple boards.
No Idea why MTN wonāt stock the one people seem to actually want.
No they donāt. Itās not in stock and the led4power guy says he wonāt stock the 4000k one any more unless he finds a good tint bin. Obviously he should stock the 5000k 90 CRI one instead, but for some reason no one sells that one
@luckyeights
I feel your pain. But one criteria for the light was it could be easily modded and we are not experienced with that. Normally a light would be glued and foolproof. So when buying these lights we knew it would be a learning activity with loose nubbins and other parts. But it is a really nice light and I might buy a ti/cu version, especially if everything is glued down. Hang in there and you might find you like the FW3A. Best of luck.
Does anyone know if weāll be able to buy individual parts eventually?
At the moment, Iād love to buy several copper shelfs? The Cu part in the Ti/Cu light. Iād love to swap them into my Al lights to get the best of heat/weight. I picked up an FW3C and love it for the most part. It is a tad heavy. No way am I breaking it apart for my EDC though.
Ideally, Iād get a few of them. Take the light apart, flash the latest firmware, do a proper layer of Arctic Silver, put them back together with the Cu sink, adding in Lexelās aux lighting board. Now THATās a proper EDC. I have 4 FW3Aās that I want to do this with at the moment. A couple are gifts, two for myself.
Iām marginally concerned about galvanic action between the Cu and Al. Anyone know if that would be a problem here? With the HA, Iād think not.
Thanks, Larry
Edit: Doh! Whatās the best quality bare MPCB out there for this light? Got a few 219Bs I want to populate them with. I guess the best ones compatible with Lexelās aux board. I saw that the 2nd gen FW3As had problems with the aux board spacing.
Did nobody else spot the TK tail switches to the right of his thumb?
Good eye Klayking, I had not noticed those.
I did not, good catch!
Nice. Now what about the bunny!?
I saw them but I was keeping quiet.
@ lmcmann
Iām not gonna hold my breath, but like you suggestedā¦. it would be great if the Cu ālight engineā section was sold as a stand alone part. Iād get some to spice up a few of my FW3Aās. . .
Spice āem up like mud bugs!