Hi all, I’ve been lurking this forum for several months now, specially the modding section, and yesterday decided to swap my copper ts10 to some e21a’s.
The bezel was VERY tight, I had to apply heat and use a vise and pliers all wrapped in rubber to unscrew it. I spent a lot of time on it plus my fingers were in pain so i went away.
Right now I’m trying to fit everything together (before starting the mod) again and while the bezel screws in tightly, the head completely stops rotating after around 1 spin into the host. I tried using some krytox lube with no luck (it’s all I have right now).
I wonder what could be happening… I was very gentle with the vise and the thread doesn’t seem deformed, maybe the heat had something to do with it?
The same head doesn’t fit the other aluminum ts10 I have, but the alu head fits the copper body.
All help is appreciated, thanks in advance!
it sounds to me like the copper head is no longer round,
it was probably crushed, into an Oval shape, during disassembly.
you might be able to crush it back, closer to round, by first installing the head on the body, as far as it will go on easily.
Then look closely to discover which part of the head is sticking out past the body threads, and attempt to crush it back closer to round…
I have ovaled a couple of lights during disassembly myself… I managed to bring them back closer to round, enough to allow the light to be reassembled… Though not perfectly round still, they do work…
one tip, for future reference, it is best to have the body screwed into the head when attempting to unscrew the bezel… (I remove the battery to prevent any short circuits if Im going to be touching any wires below the optic)
the head material is rather thin at the threads, we want the body tube to support them so they dont crush so easily…
It definitely has an irregular shape, I must’ve not been careful enough with the vise.
After looking more in detail, the shape feels more complex than an oval, as if it was crushed in several spots…
I’ll try my best to make it usable again though, it can’t go worse than it is now.
Thanks for the great tip, such a common sense detail that could have prevented the accident. I’ll take it into account for the next mod, which chances are will be the alu ts10 if this one doesn’t turn for the better.
IIRC I opened all four of my TS10 bezels by using a heat gun and rubber coated work gloves. I don’t think I had to use strap wrenches but those can be a big help.
I’ve never tried it, but maybe you could make a die to re-round the head. Drill a hole in say 3/4" plywood that’s a hair bigger than the head/bezel diameter then force it through bezel-first. Don’t push on the driver though - find a way to push on the wall of the head. This may scuff or damage the finish so try at your own risk.
