FWIW, the code branches are sorted more or less by how stable they are:
trunk: Stable, tested, safe. (usually)
fsm: More up to date, but less tested. Where I do development for FSM-related projects like Anduril.
misc other branches: Devel-only branches, may not even work. I usually don’t bother publishing these though, until they land in a more mature branch.
So, basically, trunk is typically safer but older… and fsm is typically newer but more risky. If you want the latest features in Anduril, the fsm branch is the place to look.
(in case it helps make more sense of things… FSM is the UI toolkit I made, and Anduril is an application written on top of FSM)
I gave Wilbert Stinkyhands a bath, and thought I should share a few pictures along the way.
Fresh out of the vacuum seal, there were already some marks on the light. I’m not sure why.
Since it was an old prototype where the parts weren’t quite right, the light didn’t actually work at first. I had to open it up and adjust several things before it would work, and it took about half an hour before it would turn on. It’s not easy to assemble in a manner which works, but I got it eventually.
In this process, the clip rotated a little bit and scratched the surface of the light. This is pretty much unavoidable with such a soft surface, so I wouldn’t recommend using the clip if you want to keep the light looking new. This particular prototype doesn’t even want to work with the clip installed… it keeps the tailcap from tightening enough for solid contact.
Also, these pictures show the original surface a bit closer.
So I gave it a Palmolive bath. This helps force a patina of sorts. The turquoise goo is what happens when the dish soap reacts to copper.
Afterward, it looked quite old and a bit crusty.
So I took a Sunshine polishing cloth and shined up the surface.
Just got the Nichia FW3A. Ordered late on 5/25. Paid extra $10 for expedited ship. Total 8 days from Neal. Very happy. Nice tint. A hint of rosy. Playing with Anduril now.
I have not seen anyone announce the SST-20 is cancelled. I have to assume it will come as soon as the emitters arrive and gets assembled.
I guess the issues would be things like having clean threads instead of dirty and having the retaining rings always tight. Things that make it more reliable right out of the box.
I do remember some saying thermal paste was sparse on theirs.
And some had to clean theirs, dirty threads & Al chips.
1or 2 were truly DOA, which is not unusual for any large group of lights.
That’s all I can think of ATM.
Edit: Oh yeah, a few driver retaining rings needed tightening.
I don’t know how, but i completely missed getting in on this project and getting on the group buy before it ended for this beautiful flashlight, I’m guessing with all the life’s stresses & turbulence thrown at me over the last year, and focusing my time on designing and working with the BLF LT1 Lantern project team, i lost track of other BLF projects, like this one.
For the most part, I only use two lights on a daily basis… FW3A and LT1. I’d be pretty sad if I had missed either one. They’re not for everyone, of course, but I find them both particularly nice.
I have a D4 with the stock firmware but I am not a fan of the 4000k tint that I got.
Now I have an option to purchase another D4 with Anduril but I’m also looking at the FW3A. For the people that have both, what would be your preferred choice?
