Newb: EDC, pocketable, without a magnetic tail cap?

wle · November 3, 2021, 4:37pm

not really
no part number on it, too small
many criteria have to be met for it to fit and work

Firelight2 · November 3, 2021, 4:57pm

You do not need the part number. It’s actually easier than you think.

Just use a ruler or calipers and measure the width of the switch. Then look for something that looks similar and is the right width on Amazon or Ebay.

Even if it’s not exact, it still shouldn’t be hard to make it work.
As long as it is close enough, you should be able to bridge to the electrical contact points.
You don’t actually need the structural contact points at all…. you can just super-glue your replacement switch to the board.
If the button is too tall you can file the tip down to reduce the height.
If the button is too short, put a bit of super glue gel or epoxy putty on top to increase the height.

wle · November 3, 2021, 5:03pm

i will send you the broken POS

i also discovered i liked the FW3A a lot better

wle

JaredM · November 3, 2021, 5:52pm

Not true. The number you need is always one more.

swhs · November 5, 2021, 8:18am

You can heat up the tailcap and then the glue will likely fail due the different thermal expansion of the aluminium in the tailcap and that of the magnet. At least for hard type glues (which are likely used there). I did that with the Wurkkos FC11 by first removing the spring then using a paint strip gun to heat it up (if you don’t have that you could heat it up with a gas burner in a stove for example). Then tapping it onto a piece of wood while hot should make the magnet fall out.

johnhanks · November 9, 2021, 7:39am

Thank God the magnet is glued on the tail cap, not close to the head. Try to use boiling water or a hot air gun to melt down the glue.

Correllux · November 20, 2021, 6:52pm

mike mikey mike:

Correllux:

You could try to remove the magnetism from the magnet with heat. Most of the magnets in our lights are the lower end cheaper neodymium stuff which is fairly sensitive to heat. A more powerful cheapie soldering iron or woodburning iron in the 80W range will provide more than enough heat…use a chisel tip and poke it between the spring coils to contact the magnet directly. It does depend on the magnet quality but once you get much above 200F it will start to permanently lose strength and if you can get it a lot hotter it will lose it entirely. This could be done with a small torch flame from the outside/bottom as well but then you’re going to change the color of the anodizing (anywhere from tan to orange to grey depending on the anodizing) and of course you’d want to avoid reaching the melting/burning point of the aluminum itself.

Alternatively, you could also break it up with a punch and fish the pieces out. I can’t find a good detailed close-up view of the bottom of the tube to see how the magnet and spring are situated exactly. Looking at several of my mag tailcaps, two of them have the spring lodged inside of a groove, sitting higher and isolated from the magnet surface/bottom. The others have the spring just wedged down there and right on top of the magnet such that if you were to remove the magnet the spring would probably drop down and perhaps not be able to contact the battery anymore. But if you can tell how yours is, these magnets are quite brittle and simple to break up.

I removed the spring and heated the magnet with a soldering iron (with the tip removed) for a couple minutes and that did it. The anodizing didn’t discolor and the magnet is dead. It can’t even hold a paper clip. Thanks for your help.

You’re welcome…glad it did the trick!