I’m an old guy. I have a friend who is a songwriter. One of his lyrics comes to mind:
“I’m taking baby steps in grown up shoes.”
I like it. 
Thank you all for this thread and all the nice tips to make the Q8 better. :+1:
My two lights are still back ordered but i already have some 200 color leds (no less then 100 PINK ones) and some brass screws on the way… I can certainly handle swapping the screws but i fear soldering those tiny leds is beyond my skills.
The lens in Q8 is 3mm thick
A 2mm one needs either way sanding down the front of the head 1mm or another o-ring
One question. Maybe i am blind or there is really no option to set the threshold temperatur if you use temp stepdown.
I thought there would be an option like in the lucidrv2 (there you can set the threshold temperatur in 5° steps) or a option like in the guppydrv Universal Firmware (there you let the light run on turbo till its get to the temp you do not want to reach and there you stop and save it as your new threshold temperatur).
I prefer the guppydrv option because you can feel when it gets to hot. For the lucidrv2 option you have to know how hot the atmel chip gets when the body reaches a specific temp. More testing and trying necessary.
@bwl123
I asked BanL (Kaidomain) if he would be interested in selling high quality 55×3mm double side AR coated glass lens but got no answere. Maybe he will be interested if some more people get on board (KD (kaidomain): Deals and new products thread).
I tested a coated lens in my Q8 and only gained little more lumens. Tint lost a bit of quality. In my SRK mod there was a bigger gain with this lens. So I guess the stock lens of Q8 is already pretty good.
Btw my SRK clones have very thick (white) o-rings compared to Q8, so they probably fit the Q8 with a thinner lens.
Thanks all
Point 3 in ramping click 2 times for thermal, light will go to turbo, if lnger than 5 seconds in that state and you end it the new temperature will be saved
It is described in text above the ramping settings table
Anyone familiar with designing pcbs want to make a swich pcb and upload to oshpark?
Was gonna swap leds in the switch today but Thorfire have forced the pcb into place and delaminated the edge of it. I am afraid that if i pry it out of there it will break so i will leave it alone untill i have a replacement ready.
I could design a pcb, but I don’t have a Q8, so don’t have the measurements.
I asked about a switch board on oshpark earlier but got no response. I would definitely be interested too, after so much troubleshooting swapping the leds and resistor i have turned a good part of it into charcoal.
Has anyone measured the size of screw that holds the reflector in?
I’m not touching it “again”, until I have replacement, in hand. And even then maybe only after a rum & coke, or two.
“…turned a good part into charcoal” - lol, perfect description of my soldering skills.
I've used a M4 x 8 mm replacement - worked fine. Think that's the size of the stock screw. Yes, definite replacement candidate. Most are combo phillips/slot but at least 1 Q8 came with phillips only. I noticed pics posted of mangled reflector screws showed the stripped phillips and the slot clearly present, so I dunno why they didn't just use a flat edge screw driver.
Can we get a confirmation the sizes of the screws? Looks like we have 3 sizes… driver (x2) , tail pcb (x4) and reflector (x1).
If I’ve been paying attention the driver screws are M3 x 4mm, tail screws are M2.5 x 6mm and the reflector is M4 x 8mm. Am I remembering it correctly?
Screw Cheat Sheet
NOTE: For 1st Batch Q8’s
Here’s what I have so far, someome double check.
Note: Tom E confirmed
+1 with Etex, just checked. I got a bag of stock screws now.
We need, beyond confirmation of the sizes, confirmation of a source of good metal replacement screws.
I’m afraid I’d end up buying a few hundred of those cheap “put in once and never remove” pot metal screws that are so readily available.
I’m hoping somebody at TF gets the bug to do it right, buys good screws for ongoing production, and offers them to us as replacement kit parts.
I can’t design a board. but there is a basic E-SW board (Tactile switch) on Oshpark already. Its only a SW mount pad but possibly could be redesigned from there.
OD of that board is 12.25mm but the Q8 is closer to 12mm and a press fit. I do not know what the SW size is or what its called. Seems like a common SW and its also used on the L6 as well.
Tact switch (button) board 12.2mm round v2
L6 E-SW board is a possibility with 2 LED pads but it does not have a resistor pad integrated.
MtnE also sells the E-SW board with a switch mounted for $1 and it looks like he used the BLF Helios board from Oshpark.
Guess this as good a place to start collecting info or parts sources. This is what I know so far.
I'm finding stuff from BoltDepot.com works well. Sure has a different finish, not as shiny as the Q8 stock. I dunno enough about this stuff. I do know you can spend a fortune on a couple of screws now-a-days. I also got a M3 screw kit from BG I posted, and they seem very good quality - hexagonal tools need though. Hex or torx really should hold up better, I'd think.
But I really would like brass though, but it's softer, more conductive I believe. Posted earlier these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/M2-M2-5-M3-Brass-Phillips-Pan-Round-Head-Cap-Bolts-Screws. They are phillips for better or worse, not ordered yet, no idea how good they are.