Stripped screw heads is a cosmetical issue inside the flashlight, so do you think how many chineese products have it
Clearly a lot lights screws were fine, so blame some unmotivated chineese workers that work 12hours 6 days a week
Sad sigh, I have a wall of text ready about the screws, it is really harsh and I wrote it when I was sad and angry at the same time after we got an update from Thorfire about the screws…
I will edit a lot of it out and post it now that is comes up again.
Give me half an hour.
and the production time requirements per unit not allowing a bit change to fit the different screws, let alone a second tool to use with the other size needed and calibrated to suit each size.
There was a list of 1500 sales, potentially $60,000.00 waiting. Faster, Faster!
Just speculating. 
below text written a few days back after receiving news from Thorfire, only emailed to the team to get it out of my system but with a new round of screw talk, gotta post it anyway, but remember i was very upset, sad and angry when writing it:
Reading some very negative posts, about a lot of things, some even take it to another none Q8 related thread and even emailing Thorfire direct with the same questions that have been answered here already, so I got to get something of my chest.
It seems some people want to see action taken.
Well, be happy for blood is drawn:
OK I am pretty upset now.
Relentless beating over the screws.
Screws that do what they are supposed to.
Screws only to be removed by those who can also replace them or are smart enough to use a simple postage rubber band between screwdriver and screw to get maximum grip.
Thorfire just fired the assembly line manager for not ordering the proper way of putting the screws in despite he was told to make sure they were done very good. He chose the fastest way to save time and get them out as fast as possible.
Sure I tell myself that if he was not able to do his job properly he would have been fired anyways.
But reading Tom about how way more expensive lights have reached him with poor screws that have stripped heads from the factory and even really stripped threads I do not feel all that good about imposing higher standards on our much lower priced light then others use.
So if you want to talk screws other then “I replaced them with” or “I am gonna replace them with” in the modding thread, please do it fairly and ask ALL other brands active here using screws about theirs. GO ask for close up pics and analyze their screws and force them to your standards first will you? Make others uphold your standards and then when ALL brands selling lights with screws are on par with your desires check how the Q8 is doing.
We have great fun here with the family when I conveyed how things sometimes come across and how things can go here on BLF
SNIP removed text where I vividly describe how some deal with things regarding shipping, perceived issues, theoretical issues, possible delays, screws, new members, issues and such
for it won’t help this post and most likely only be received well by 90% where 10% could be not liking it with the chance of lots of posts about this in a thread already hard to follow for a lot of people so SNIP
We had a laugh and I have it out of my system and can react in a way that hopefully lightens the topic a bit.
You see, about the real issues and the way people act who actually have the issue, that is so cool, all polite, helpful, patient and just darn nice.
It is all fun and games until somebody loses his eye job
Somebody is kicked down the career ladder for our toy.
Because some think it is OK to keep on pushing for higher then industry standard quality while paying half.
Wow, the assembly line manager got fired?
My screws seem pretty OK
Work done to “higher than industry standard quality” would be part of what defines a “Premium BLF special” flashlight, I think.
Quality need not cost extra money. It costs extra attention and care (by the team specifying the product, and by the manufacturer).
Most of us don’t know the discussions the Q8 team had and what you decided was acceptable for TF to do. You did your best effort.
I thought TF wanted to produce higher than their industry standard work — which takes some learning, listening, and paying attention.
For example, compare General Motors and Toyota: The Machine That Changed the World - James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos - Google Books
Wow he got screwed!!!
Kinda the wrong forum. $40 doesn’t entitle you to a Mercedes. But it can get still get you a pretty amazing light.
I personally do not see how screws are wrong to an eye, maybe it’s engineering thing
There are different managers, maybe he slacked, maybe he tried to make sure those screw won’t ever fall out in any abuse case
And then some of the users want to unscrew it and check what’s inside
I personally not planning to unscrew those screws, so it’s fine with me
But… the erratic flickering, and switch contact issues is a different story
And by contact issues I mean you turn the light on wait 3-5 seconds click and nothing, differently to the LED hide glowing thing
Well sated The Miller.
Once you pull the trigger you can not take your bullet back.
People are often put into Impossible situations and expected to produce.
I am sure the production manager would have been in the same resulting situation if he did not make the hourly, daily, weekly, production numbers.
So in the current situation he got the job Done.
Seeking the lesser of the 2 evils. Possibly thinking the lights would not be taken apart, where 99.9 percent of the time he made the right choice and would not have seen or heard of the issue.
Recently loosing my employment after 30 years in production, Yes!, trying to get the job done within a time frame with 20+ year old equipment that is not getting time or money invested, IS IMPOSSIBLE. Not something anyone should have to deal with while upper management is cutting and squeezing a dollar so hard. I was in a bad situation here in USA, no way I could possibly imagine a different country.
Define the requirements of a flashlight… ??? Any flashlight……
So far there was only One light that did not meet the basic requirements of a flashlight. It was DOA.
Also the lighted side SW was an added feature. Even if it does not light the Flashlight is still fully functional. IMO this is Grey area for one to fault as it wasn’t defined as a requirement in the agreement.
Now Screws… Normal situations would require the factory to dismantle the light for repair. Not the user. Normal situations 99.9 percent of the end-users would never open or take a Product apart. That leaves the stripped screws for the repair shop or warranty service department to deal with. Sure, most warranty service departments do Not repair but exchange the Product. Even they don’t have to deal with the stripped heads of screws.
We are the 0.01 percent tile. No wonder manufacturers glue lights shut. Make products not serviceable. There is no need to, send out another. It takes away the skills of someone to diagnose and repair the product. Unskilled workers can ship out another. Saves TIME, Saves MONEY.
Warranty VOID if opened applies to many products. Just say’in.
Sorry. I have been quiet through this so far. Hearing the recent development, it was my time.
Nick
Hmm, sometimes it’s better to re-educate than fire. Firing someone not only impacts their life (obviously), but also means the company looses knowledge.
A little concerned here, ordered my Q8 on 09/08 and have avoided checking status, since I’ve ordered from China before and already know I can’t catch my tail, but I finally checked BG under “my orders” and it doesn’t show my Q8 order, despite PayPal showing the transaction and an invoice #. Anybody just plain not showing an order you made?
It is sad to hear that someone lost their job over this, but if they couldn’t arrange for screws to be put in correctly, perhaps they weren’t on top of their job in other areas as well.
Ensuring decent correct-fitting tools are provided, regularly inspected and replaced when worn, and operatives trained in their use, is basic stuff.
Putting operators through a skills test before going on the line is basic.
And ongoing inspection of product should have rung alarm bells if anyone was looking.
Attention to detail is all-important in that role. Clearly their eye was not on the ball.
Edit: some people really get attention to detail, most do not, and it is not something that can be trained or “motivated” into them.
I don’t think the quality of the screws is the problem, even the weakest cheapest ones should be entirely satisfactory in our torches, and re-usable, provided fitted properly.
I do hope this will all be behind us, moving forward.
I drive a Toyota Corolla. Not one stripped screw. Everything works the way it should.
Screws here are also pretty ok, better then seen om some pictures here. Not perfect, but to do the job just fine. I did order some spares, but that is more due to the fact that i also want to disassemble my Q8, and in the process of putting it back together do some new screws. If i would be a “average” user i would not bother with it at all, but i am not, and am capable to replace them 
That the assembly line manager got fired is sad to hear, and i don’t really know how other flashlights do have there screws/build quality (i have a BLF A6 and a Dartort DTC20, never took them apart thus far). But if there are like my Q8, its fine. But some i saw here are so bad, if other company’s also deliver goods like this maybe there should be more assembly line managers that should be fired if other “motivational” talks first did not work. Maybe “our” assembly line manager already did some other bad work and this was his final straw, that is something we will never know, and i would not worry about it to much Miller 
Further, i have been playing around with the Q8 for the last 2 days, and i am still very impressed. It is a very good light. I found the configuration menu a little bit hard to handle at first, until i got the hang of it, it is reasonable easy once you pay a little attention and are not to afraid to just try. I did try some of the mode’s, but i like ramping the best. I also but the moonlight in the lowest mode and was very surprised but the amount of light that comes out of it, its really low! Even the switch light is brighter
+1 for the comment/idea on a “diy kit”, i would be interested in a spare lens, and a new switch pcb so that the led lights would be more equal (and less bright), i would not mind paying a few bucks for it.
BUT at the end of the day it is still a (budget) flashlight, not the end of the world people! I understand that people are upset that maybe there switch light is not equal of maybe they stopped working at all. But some are endlessly complaining, and demanding a solution right now. Please give Thorfire, the Q8 team and especially the Miller a break. Give them some time to work out the problems so they can make sure the rest of the pre-orders can be done as quickly as possible, and maybe work on a solution for the first 500 Q8’s for the people that are not capable of fixing it them self. Yes it was a feature the team did not care about but was insisted by Thorfire. I think its a nice thing to have, but am also happy to already have the light, and i can wait for a fix/update on the situation.
We can keep complaining, and post endlessly about these little problems, but its better to post some constructive posts that actually contribute, so that the team can work on these problems/tips and other stuff. I spent the last 2 weeks reading almost every post here, its surprising how much time it cost 
Again, props for the team for being awesome! Keep up the good work! 
Cmon m8! You sound like a CPFer for crying out loud
We are ppl , we do mistakes, in this case its not a huge issue, its a BLF at the end - we can manage it
you ever read reviews about chineese cars or electronics not meant for export?
they always have huge quality issues
we have some minor or cosmetic problems on a overall good light
which meets the specs
and with minor modding can be really good, catching up to 100$ lights
of course expensive cars from big manufactory like Toyota have put an astonishing amount of work done with QC and proper tools to build the cars
Please someone post nice Q8 beamshots to mitigate all this nonsense about none issues with screws and switch lights!
This is an amazing value flashlight out of the box! Show it and let’s celebrate! :+1: :partying_face:
Is it correct to say none of the issues raised recently showed up on any of the prototypes sent to any of the team?
And that the prototypes were hand-built, not assembly-line output?
I gather there was discussion of the contact between battery tube and driver ground ring, and some options considered and rejected.
Other than that I don’t recall mention of anything else, but I wasn’t privy to the group’s conversations about the design and prototypes.
If y’all saw some of this coming and decided it was going to be good enough, that’s good enough for me.
The “Mod” thread opened for the team members to make early comments about user improvements (my nudge, Miller opened it)
is two months old now, so people have been thinking about taking the lights apart and improving them at least that long.
Do a search for “SIG P320 recall” if you want to read about a real manufacturing screw -up.