As long as the FT03 is placed into your freezer at room temperature, I personally wouldn’t worry that the lens will crack, albeit the risk has to be yours.
If you have or can get a similar pair of the gloves referenced above, there’s a good chance that after the flashlight has been in the freezer overnight, then hopefully the gloves will give you what it takes to break the adhesive bond without worrying about damage to the finish. If that still doesn’t work, then you’ll at least have a good pair of heavy-duty, waterproof gloves available for other household tasks!
How about trying a heat gun all around the bezel and then using oven mitts?
I’ve had success in the past with those jar opener gripper pads.
I’m surprised the strap wrench didn’t work. Those things have a lot of grip and leverage. Was yours just slipping? If so, maybe try putting something between the bezel and the strap to increase the grip.
This is my way too. So far worked every time however sometimes I had to sacrifice 30 minutes to open at last.
2 strap wrenches (they are directional so make sure to place them correctly and opposite to each other) and a hot air gun. Even the red goo surrenders.
On the other hand… First time I can see glued FT03. Had like 10 of them and none had the bezel glued
I’ll try heating just a little bit more. Don’t have a hot gun per se but got a soldering station with that small heat gun attached. Should work as well. Thanks
As with @1stein’s ~10 FT03’s, mine was also free of any adhesive as I was able to remove the bezel ring with bare hands.
Therefore, it seems that something more unusual than the bezel ring being over-tightened or glued is at play for it to not budge!
So I’m wondering if an imperfection in the threading or a tiny piece of loose metal became lodged during factory assembly, either of which could cause a “Morse Taper/cold weld-like” situation. Assuming that’s the case, twisting the ring back & forth could possibly break it free. Just a thought!
It feels like it’s one solid piece of aluminum! Tried both ways to maybe break the glue a little but it does not budge… let’s freeze the GD thing. See what happens. But I don’t know… it may appear that this light will forever have the sst -40
