lampeDépêche
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- May 15, 2012
- Messages
- 1,241
Well, I tried and tried some more. I can not get the LED out of my Freedom Covert.
From what I understand, I should be pushing from the inside, to make the LED exit from the front of the covert hole.
That's correct! I don't know why it's not working for you, but here are some thoughts:
1) shine a light into the front of the LED, and then look into the body of the case. You'll see your light coming through the epoxy of the LED, and you'll see that only the lower half of the LED is visible from the inside of the case. The upper half is obscured by the way the case was molded. That continuous molding along the upper half is why the LED had to be inserted from the front.
2) The Covert nose has a retention ring molded into it, which engages with a groove in the body. It's like an O-ring to seal the Covert nose in place, only instead of a loose rubber ring, it is a molded ridge running around the circumference of the nose, and part of the same extrusion process.
3) I just disassembled one using a Bic biro (ball-point) as the means of applying pressure to the base of the epoxy, roughly between the leads. Whatever you use has to be small enough to go under the continuous molding of the case, and avoid deforming the leads. In an earlier post I suggested a small pin about 3mm or 1/8" in diameter. I now see that this is too fat, as it would cover the bases of the leads and apply pressure to them. It's better to use something thinner so that the pressure is applied to the epoxy and not the leads.
4) How much pressure did I apply? Maybe 5-10kg? I'm trying to gauge this by pressing down vertically with the Bic, lifting vertically with my fingers on the case, and imagining what weight I am lifting. It's not that much, and I am not a strong person.
5) I would be very surprised if they started gluing these in. I have never encountered one that was held in with any glue. Just press-fit.
6) Good luck!
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