Twisty/clicky QTC tail switch

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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I recently bought a sportac triple and was a little disappointed to find it was only a single mode. Plus I think I like the beam profile and tint of the mt-g2 P60 I have. So it got me thinking on how to improve the mtg2 light. Well I had a qtc pill (actually 2) that wasn’t being used. But I didn’t want to being running only through the qtc, I wanted full power as well.

My brain has been hurting the last 2 days trying to figure out how to make it happen. I eventually found a switch that made it a little easier than a McClicky. I have a 22650 zoomie host that I use for parts (enter the switch).

I took the switch out of the housing and put it back in upside down. Like this it fits in (SF) C tail caps. In this case it’s an ultrafire C1.

Added spring and qtc pill to the long leg of the switch. A little double sided tape to keep the pill in place (I later realized I should have used more).

For the contact plate I used a copper star with the dialectric layer cut off. I soldered one side to the short leg of the switch. I am hoping the short leg will put up with a little flexing for a while.

From the tests that I did I found I needed more packing around the qtc pill so it could spring back effectively.

It didn’t really work. It was having connection issues and wasn’t smooth at all. I cut a piece of spring from a P60 module, lightly greased it with nyogel and lay that on the star. It seemed to take away the sketchy connection.

If I could’ve got away without using the piece of spring then the tail would’ve screwed on to a perfect depth IMO. I used 2 O-rings in the gap but as you can see there is space for one more. I did put one in there however it would squeeze out when tightening the cap to activate the qtc.

It took some head scratching and it is far from perfect, I mean the whole switch assembly is just sitting loose in the tail BUT IT WORKS! :party: :crown: :smiley: I can use the twisty, silent and low OR I can hit full power at any time.

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Nice mod PP. Very creative.

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Thanks for that. You just gave me an idea.

4

Nice project!

If I recall right, Tofty did some cool stuff with QTC switches over on the other place.

In my experiments (translation: many failures), I found that 3 bits of qtc seemed to be less jumpy than just 1.

Here’s a closeup of a control I built for a headlamp.

As you can guess, the other copper disk goes on top and a plastic thumbscrew changes the “volume”. That headlamp isn’t in really regular use, but it’s been reliable over the last 3 years. (And I haven’t had to change the qtc.)

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Thanks MRsDNF.

Ouchy I’m sure you’ll come up with something far superior.

Thanks ruffles. Must’ve been pretty tight space in your head lamp. I had previously made a qtc with three pills in a Z41 tail but it didn’t have a clicky, only the qtc. Also the action didn’t seem as smooth as this one I just made. I think a lot of it comes down to how evenly the pressure is applied. It had crossed my mind to some how use a spring to regulate the pressure but, of course, it would be more complex for the space i have available.

There maybe a little room for improvement on this (ok, lots!). As time goes I’ll decide if i’m happy enough to keep it as or have another go at modding it or revert back to stock.