Gonna take another look at them now. Was destroying the driver intentional or accidental? I would be concerned because sometimes I have to preserve the stock driver to use as a base.
I was actually pretty curious about the SL6 - My SL5 is good enough as-is. But it sounds like they’re super potted, so I doubt I’ll be swapping it.
My original curiosity was how the driver dimensions compared to the FW3A (including possibly the lume driver)
There is no provision for removing the driver. It’s just pressed in to a bunch of epoxy. I drilled in to it to remove it. I don’t think you could possibly remove one without damage.
Do to the design of the head cavity there isn’t any room to stack a driver on top of the factory board.
It’s different from any other AA e-switch light I’ve seen in that the side switch mounts on it’s own machined shelf.
I’ll post some pictures later.
Tore down the SL6 - got the driver out undamaged. I got pics, will post soon. As Scallywag said, the SL5 isn't bad as-is, but figured I'd have a better chance with the larger SL6. It's a 22 mm driver, but of course the outer spring mount is critical to keep. Look'n at piggybacking in a full driver or maybe just a ATtiny1616 on a gchart tiny MCU board - got the MCU's and OSHPark boards in for that, but may be beyond my capabilities at reverse engineering.
First unsoldered the MCPCB and removed it. Then used a solder pick to pock through the LED wire holes from the top, and applied a little pressure and the driver loosened, than carefully wiggled and pulled from the spring sides to get it out. The switch wires are stiff and supported by the potting, so the wires pulled off the driver easy, no damage.
Oh you monster. You’ve given me hope.
Let me know if you get a good solution on the driver/MCU. I was just commenting in another thread how we need more ability to just directly swap MCUs so we can keep useful drivers and fix (well, replace) firmwares more easily. Anduril and SST-40 in this… Even RampingIOS I’d take gladly. Would be a fantastic reason to carry it and talk about a 10-year-old flashlight… (I found reviews consistently from mid-2011.)
Edit: Isn’t FW3A driver like 21.7mm? Now I’m really curious if it can be swapped (and the spring mounted on it somehow)
Not sure if you saw this: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/56521/739
Pretty amazing work by gchart, check his follow-up posts there as well.
I purchased a SL5 and SL6.
The SL6 died on turn on. SB offered to refund, since they were out them for replacement.
For the price, I decided to tear it down and attempt to repair.
Tear down went fine. Lots of potting to remove.
I didn’t repair the driver, but was able to squeeze a FET+1 with Ramping IOS from mtnelectronics into the cavity, piggybacked off the original driver PCB.
I upgraded the LED to a shaved Samsung LH351D. It is now one of my favorite lights with dual electronic switches, a great ramping UI, and my favorite high CRI emitter!
I like it so much that I tore down the once working SL5 to upgrade it. I’m waiting on another driver from mtnelectronics.
So…
If anyone has one of these they want to get rid of… I might be interested!
FB
Tear down. This light, being NW, actually has a pretty nice tint.
FBsLights -- Outstanding!! Good to hear, so assume it's got clearance. I use 0.8 mm OSHPark drivers to save even more space.
I'll have mine running Anduril 2, though wish I had a 17 mm ATtiny1616 driver ready to go. I assume you used a 17 mm driver?
Yeah he’s doing wonderful things. I was replying to one where he was direct-swapping PICs for ATTiny412s with RampingIOS
Yes, 17mm driver. It was a tight fit, but went together perfect.
I really like the dual switch. There is a switch for any hand hold.
FB
I think the FW3A or lume driver would fit if you could find a way to mount the signal spring.
I don’t know where to get a FW3A driver and the lume driver costs more than I paid for the SL6!
I had the mtn driver with Ramping IOS on hand. I like to buy them as “DIY kits” and build them up to save a few dollars.
FB
Yeah my SL5 is NW and a great tint. My 6 is CW 
Is that the MCU under the spring?
It's a SOIC-8 part and 1 resistor, though could not read the writing - probably, probably a PIC but could be an ATMEL.