# Restored a Ranger! she's looking good!



## garilla (Jan 28, 2009)

Well I discovered this Ranger "made in USA" at my mother's house. She picked it up somewhere. It had battery 
leakage inside and I almost thought I wouldn't be able to unscrew the end cap! After opening it up found that the
battery by the spring spewed out badly. Fortunently no battery spewing by the switch.













Notice the pinholes on the tail cap where the batteries leaked!! She's 
got some holes but they give her character!




The parts, cardboard roll and plastic is to take up space inside
for keeping batteries from rattling.




After soaking the damaged parts in vinegar and salt mixture for 2 days. Solution ate the rusty/battery 
crap away, forgot to take pictures of before, believe me this 
looks great.








The reflector was a loss, it was plastic and the metalized coating was transparent albeit it was smooth 
and shiny. I did a OP on it but that just ate up the finish even more!!. So I cut triangles of aluminum foil and 
used spray adhesive and glued em on. Then polished/waxed with a dremel. Came out good and works pretty
good too and the Orange Peel comes through and makes a nice beam.




made a new lens as the old one was flimsy and cloudy, made this from a CDROM case, nice and clear. 
There is no O ring in this model and you can see where the lens sits already cutting in.




bulb holder was missing so used an Oring to hold bulb in








Beamshot at about 2 feet in my basement at night, no lights 
save for the Ranger








who took that out of focus pic??




Looking good




Good weight and balance, even has a signalling button on switch and lanyard attachment, what more 
could you ask for!!! I didn't shine her outside up at all, thats the way it came, no dents or dings. So 
can anyone tell me any history on this model ?


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## garilla (Jan 28, 2009)

Forgot to add I am going to clean up the endcap some more and get it all shiny and bright, just wanted to get it together to try her out. Probably get a new spring. Hmmmm where to get a reflector for high performance?


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## JohnR66 (Jan 28, 2009)

Nice work!:thumbsup:

I remember this style of light from when I was a kid. I really liked the momentary switch they have. I would like to find a 2 C version.

PS. Your basement looks like my parent's basement. They bought a smaller house to downsize for retirement. It has a huge basment that they packed full of crap.


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## garilla (Jan 28, 2009)

Yes, I know what you mean, when I saw it I was taken back to my childhood too. I am thinking of doing 4C bats
with the same krypton 3 cell bulb to give her some extra power. I did that on a mag and it really made it better


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## PhotonWrangler (Jan 28, 2009)

Nice find and nice job on the restoration! Those photos bring back memories; I used to have one of those a long time ago.

I noticed the Camp Perry plaque in the background of one of the photos. My S.O. used to go there often for matches.


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## danpass (Jan 28, 2009)

very nice recovery there!

those Rangers have a better beam FAR OVER AND ABOVE any maglight I ever had.

It was my first exposure to a real thrower too. But it was my friend's dad's light, just got to play with it that one time lol.


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## garilla (Jan 28, 2009)

My S.O. said the same thing when she saw the flashlight. Ah yes Camp Perry, been there a bunch of times myself


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## nitesky (Jan 28, 2009)

Nice work:thumbsup:

And the foil for the reflector looks great. I never thought of that.


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## Big_Ed (Jan 29, 2009)

nitesky said:


> Nice work:thumbsup:
> 
> And the foil for the reflector looks great. I never thought of that.



+1! That's a great idea. I have a Mag reflector that had been ruined, and maybe I'll give that a try. 
That's a nice light. I have a 2D version.


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## garilla (Jan 29, 2009)

Nitesky when polishing the foil try to use the mildest abrasive you can get. Try car swirl remover first, if it 
doesn't polish up too well try something with a bit more abrasive. Between each polishing make sure
you use a different polishing wheel one for each abrasive one for wax, DO NOT mix them up. Make sure you have removed 
all abrasive before going to the next finer grit. Good luck


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## toby_pra (Jan 29, 2009)

Wow she is a beauty!


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## Patriot (Jan 29, 2009)

That old girl turned out pretty nice. I liked your idea of the alum foil. I don't think I'd have thought of that myself. Like you stated, the flaws give it a nice period look and obviously it's still capable of producing a great beam.

My first light as a child was a Captain...I wish that I still had it. At some point I threw it away which was stupid when I look back on it.


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## lctorana (Jan 29, 2009)

This is a great project, with a top result.

I restored a Hong Kong clone of this ("Balloon" brand) a couple of years ago, and can understand the satisfaction.

This torch has the best switch arrangement of any torch I have ever encountered.

Great work on the reflector, and particularly the o-ring as a bulb retainer. That's really clever.

My experience was a little easier - the leakage in mine was from only the MIDDLE cell, so no tailcap or head damage.

As for bulbs, you can use any of the following:

XPR103: 3.6V 0.85A 45 claimed bulb lumens (probable output up to 80 bulb lumens with 4.5V fresh cells and 0.15 ohms' of resistance)

Maglite 3D WhiteStar Krypton LWSA301: 3.7V 0.7A 76.8 claimed bulb lumens

Maglite 3D MagStar Xenon LMSA301: 3.8V 0.84A 82.5 claimed bulb lumens 

The only 3-cell PR-based incan bulb that can beat the LMSA301 by a worthwhile margin that I've ever heard of is the Japanese H-26P Krypton bulb from RS Components (597-526). This draws a little more current (1A @ 3.6V), but at 80 lumens, represents the upper limit of conventional 3-cell PR-based bulb development.
This bulb, with 3 NiCads, is what I use in mine, and this torch remains the torch I usually go to when I go into the backyard.

_Wouldn't it be lovely if the bulb out of the Lumens Factory EO-4 (190 lumens) could be potted into a PR (or MES/E10 for that matter!) base?_


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## cree_buyer (Jan 30, 2009)

what you need is the NiteIze PR base LED upgrade, check out the 90 hour pretty-flat runtime on 3D alkalines! see post #44 in this thread here. nice find btw


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## garilla (Jan 31, 2009)

I'm looking into those LED upgrades, looking very nice indeed


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## Kirk (Jan 31, 2009)

According to a flashlight book I have, the Ranger flashlight dates from at least 1948. I don't know when they stopped being made.
Kirk


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