The holes in the shelf on my 2 lights look like yours, djozz — the threads don’t go all the way through the shelf.
So I guess the choice is find 5mm screws, or get a tap and extend the threads through the shelf.
That’s a problem that I found very widely discussed in the blogs about sourcing from China.
Often some supplier further up the parts chain gets blamed, because the company assembling the parts and painting their name on the outside doesn’t do QA on the parts they buy during the process.
Fair point. Brass has about twice the thermal conductivity of steel. Quite how much would be gained, I’m doubtful, but every little helps, so why not.
My cunning plan is to make a thermally conductive pad to fit between MCPCB and reflector, to make use of the thermal mass of that big chunk of aluminium. Must see what scraps of Chotherm “Therm-a-Gap” I have in my bits box. Otherwise resort to slicing up bits of Chinese silicone thermal cubes. https://www.fasttech.com/product/1285500-thermal-conduction-silicone-rubber-cubes-1-1-0 for example.
Edit: together with a longer screw and a bridge piece, so the central reflector screw clamps against the shelf, not the MCPCB.
Does anybody knows whether the second batch uses the same screws?
On one of the early picts the driver retaining screws seemed smaller - but that’s just an impression… and it seems unlikely since TF had the lights partly produced before halting production.
It’s still early to tell as there have been very little reports so far apart from “the screws look much better”. The screws may not need to be adjusted or replaced then.
They are supposed to be changed. I'd be very interested in a complete tear down. I understand the driver retaining screws were supposed to be changed back to M2.5's, same as used on the last round prototypes. What I think happened is someone decided to go with M3's, but then realized the panheads were too high, so switched to flatheads, and also didn't realize the driver holes were intended for M2.5's, not M3's. A rash decision can have bad consequences - hope lesson learned.
Very first reports suggest new driver screws are M2.5, rounded pan-head, under-flush with brass ring, fitted properly, and match tail screws. Very promising. Further reports required, but so far so good. Will be pleased if no need to look further, but will be taking a look at my MCPCB ones anyway. Fingers crossed, no major issues and no need to change anything out, except for personal preferences. Which is how it always should have been, not rocket science.
I helped my friend replace his driver screws today and open up the driver board for proper clearance. So… the holes for the screws holding the driver board down on his light are considerably more shallow in his light. They also were not tapped very well, or all the way down. With the exact same wafer-head screws that I used in my light with no issue, they were bottoming out without touching the board in his. We cut 2mm off of them to make them work, but they still didn’t agree with the threads on one side of the driver board so he just had to use the stock flathead on that side and one of my wafer-heads on the other side.
Yes, this is what I'm seeing - variations. Do you know the lengths of the stock screws in that light, and the replacement screws? Flatheads are dimensioned in full height, panheads are measured by the length of the threads.
The ones I ordered are listed as M3 X 5mm but with a ruler they look more like 6mm of thread length(7mm total). The stock flatheads out of his light are looking like 5mm total, but the thread area is 4mm or shorter. So I guess on his light they only barely planned for the screws they had on hand, whereas my light seems quite generously drilled and tapped. His driver board has much more even wear from the battery tube though. Too many variations.
Yesterday I got in the tap set from Amazon, so on the Q8 that has no threads at all in the driver screw holes, I tapped them, but it was slow going, think because the holes are anodized so actually hardened a bit more than bare aluminum. I got maybe 5-6 mm deep, not quite fully tapped. but close.
The T handle in the set is pretty junkie, glad I had another better one already. Not sure I'd recommend this set - probably the same as the $5 sets available from China.
Last time i ordered a cheap tap set it went straight to the bin! Didn’t even bother to try it so bad it was machined. I should have taken some picts for fun. Same as for anything, you get what you pay for, and bad tools end up costing more…
Agreed, cheap taps are false economy, particularly in small sizes (especially if you snap one in the hole).
Good quality ones from e.g. a local specialist tool supplier aren’t particularly expensive.
I would suggest getting a full set of three taps, only for the sizes you need. Start with the taper tap, then the plug tap, then finish with the bottoming tap, if a blind hole. Use cutting paste or oil.
If ordering M3, be sure to get 0.5mm thread pitch (coarse, not fine), M2.5 x 0.45mm
Carbon steel is OK, HSS better in production use.
Also the correct size drill for the tap. in case you need to drill it deeper, or it’s too small M2.5: 2.05mm (or 2.1 if not available) M3: 2.5mm
Having worked there, not surprised the USA still does not have a decent supply chain, for metric fasteners and tools.
“Although all U.S. customary units have been redefined in terms of SI units, as of 2017 the United States is one of only three countries, including Myanmar (Burma) and Liberia, that have not officially adopted the metric system as the primary means of weights and measures.”
“Only a few small countries, including some un-listed Caribbean nations heavily influenced by the U.S., have not formally adopted the use of SI.
Among countries not claiming to be metric, the U.S. is the only significant holdout.”
Edit, maybe I’ll have a pint or two tonight to unwind…
And "US" units drives me nuts, not only in this hobby, but about every freak'n day at work - bout all our products need that to handle both sets, causing conversion issues all the time: MPH/KMH, ft-lb/nt-meter, inch/cm, Curies/Becquerels, lb/kg, on and on...
I've been look'n at US sourcing, no clue what is good and bad accept by price - $6 for qty 2, or $35 each? Hhhmmm...
I'm a big fan of the metric system, to say the least.
Yeah, Tom Paine was a great fan of the French revolution, but we still have our layer of royalty, and no metric system.
Guess why there’s no statue of him in Washington DC. Too revolutionary, apparently.
We’re working on growing past the 18th Century without ending up with a Napoleon on top of the heap as the French did.
Although it’s worth noting that the quantities of many consumer food items, at least, now come in fractions of an ounce and nice round numbers in metric units.
That’s true at least of packaging that has French and Spanish because the distributors ship to Canada and Mexico. Creeping metrification! Ssshhhh, don’t tell ….
Shssh, don’t tell. In UK we still buy our milk in 1.136 or 2.272 litre bottles, drink our beer in pints (bigger than yours rate our fuel consumption in miles/gallon (again bigger than yours), roadsigns and speedlimits are in miles and mph, buy our foods in the market weighed in lbs and oz, etc. standard tinned foods, jams weigh 454 grams, etc. etc.
Edit, and we Englishmen (and Maltesers) can drink 60% more than Europeans and Scots, whilst still being legal to drive.
But for anything serious, engineering particularly, we are hard metric.
