# Flashlight cleaning day!



## foxtrot29 (Oct 13, 2008)

Ever have these? Break out all the lights, cleaning, re-lube, deoxit, etc?

I tend to do one or two at a time. And I probably do it more often than I should, but I figure more is better than less.... 

And I'll take this opportunity to proclaim my love of deoxit -- that stuff is pure flashlight gold. Just finished cleaning up a Surefire E2D, with the E0-E2R bulb from lumens factory. Re-lubed all threads and dabbed all contact points with deoxit gold. Runs better than new!


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## climberkid (Oct 13, 2008)

you are a brave soul to admit this......so i will take this opportunity to completely agree. haha once a month i take all my flashlights out and clean them all then re-lube and deoxit them. :twothumbs


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## scottaw (Oct 13, 2008)

My EDC gets it monthly or so, all the rest get it when I think about it.....guess i'm thinking about it and just gave myself a project for tomorrow.


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## craig333 (Oct 13, 2008)

Never, yet. Maybe I'm not a true flashaholic.


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## streetmaster (Oct 13, 2008)

Every one or two months. And it's usually all or most of them, whether they need it or not.


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## Youfoundnemo (Oct 13, 2008)

wow, its every two weeks on saturday at about 6 at night, lube with silicone oil and clean with alchahol


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## NotSoBrightBob (Oct 14, 2008)

Hey Foxtrot,

I'm not a new collector of lights but never done this maintenance you speak of. Do you happen to have any pictures of the process like where you put the Deoxit miracle stuff.

Thanks

Bob


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## BVH (Oct 14, 2008)

Takes me a couple of hours to clean my big flashlight.


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## Flying Turtle (Oct 14, 2008)

Had a big clean-up a couple months ago when I got my first Deoxit and Pro-Gold. Bet I spent two hours. Probably time to hit some again.

Geoff


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## climberkid (Oct 14, 2008)

BVH said:


> Takes me a couple of hours to clean my big flashlight.


 
i wanna help!!! lol


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## Sgt. LED (Oct 14, 2008)

Well I just lubed all of my Surefires today and most got double O-ringed.

All my G/C/P/Leef bodies have 2 o-rings on each end now. I put all the blame on the thread about them not being waterproof. I knew they weren't waterproof way before that but after that thread I started wondering why I didn't at least try to make them more resistant.
Honestly though none have leaked on me but that's probably because I don't take them underwater. :thumbsup:


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## riceboy72 (Oct 14, 2008)

I finally did my first cleaning day about a month ago, after I finally got some Nyogel and read up on the proper way to clean and lube lights. I told myself I was only going to do one light, but one turned into two and ... well, you know how that goes.

A little bit of cleaning goes a long, long way!


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## fireboltr (Oct 14, 2008)

I had cleaning day yesterday....
I fully planned on sitting down and cleaning/lubing all my lights...


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## cl0123 (Oct 14, 2008)

This weekend, maybe? I have not set up any routine yet as I'm still new into the hobby. I can see using a clean cotton towel (or a t-shirt) to wipe clean the threads and then re-apply some silicon grease. Is there anything else that should be done?



Sgt. LED said:


> Well I just lubed all of my Surefires today and most got double O-ringed.
> 
> All my G/C/P/Leef bodies have 2 o-rings on each end now.


Really? Honestly, I did think about doing some sort of dunking tests but not very sure now. Where does one get the extra o-rings? Hopefully, they are not proprietory-sized or anything. Is there anyone on the CPFMarketPlace that carries all the sizes?

With Aloha, 

Clarence


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## Sgt. LED (Oct 14, 2008)

Just last week (Actually over 2 weeks ago, where does the time go!) I happened upon a thread in the Marketplace that had grab bags of different sizes of O-rings. 

I got that for maybe 2 bucks and tried them all on and settled on rings that seemed to provide a good fit to the body and still let the sections screw together. You can now certainly tell there is more resistance to twisting the bezel and the tailcap! My water resistance faith in them is improved.
:twothumbs


EDIT: The price was 1.25 and he's all sold out. Crap, I was going to buy 4 more packs!


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## isneyk (Oct 14, 2008)

Have yet to try these wonder stuffs you keep mentioning...


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## jumpstat (Oct 15, 2008)

A clean light is a Happy Light!


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## sORe-EyEz (Oct 15, 2008)

eh, how do you guys clean threads with little room? i have difficulty cleaning the bulb module of E1L... :sigh:

even cotton buds cannot squeeze into the gap where the threads are. i had to lub & relub the thread screw & unscrew several times to "coax" the dirt out... :shakehead


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## fireboltr (Oct 15, 2008)

I take a q-tip and squish it with a pair of pliers and soak it in denatured alcohol......works in my E1-L


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## Juggernaut (Oct 15, 2008)

Old lights get lubed every once and a while “like 4 months” EDC: AAA Minimag and Taskforce: more then once every two weeks. The Minimag stays clean “just remove lint and re-oil” While the task forces’s horrible threads:green: are constantly grinding away rough aluminum. I wash them down and use paper towels. I always end up with a tone of black stuff and shinny metallic flakes. However I’ve used it so much now that the threads once oiled are now incredibly smooth. Much better then any other light I’ve used. Probably because I unscrew the tail cap to recharge the 18650 every other day or more often, “when ever I run it for more then 15 minuets:naughty:”.


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## tango44 (Oct 16, 2008)

foxtrot29 said:


> Ever have these? Break out all the lights, cleaning, re-lube, deoxit, etc?
> 
> I tend to do one or two at a time. And I probably do it more often than I should, but I figure more is better than less....
> 
> And I'll take this opportunity to proclaim my love of deoxit -- that stuff is pure flashlight gold. Just finished cleaning up a Surefire E2D, with the E0-E2R bulb from lumens factory. Re-lubed all threads and dabbed all contact points with deoxit gold. Runs better than new!




deoxit???

What is that?


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## savumaki (Oct 16, 2008)

Boy, am I in trouble--I didn't know there were so many rules; hmmm, I wonder why they all keep working.


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## foxtrot29 (Oct 16, 2008)

tango44 said:


> deoxit???
> 
> What is that?



It is flashlight gold. It makes everything good. Everything.

Good.

Yes.


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## Bobpuvel (Oct 16, 2008)

I might be asking to get beat up, but the only things I've done to a light is cleaned off terminal areas and gotten the crap(lube build up) out of my ex-10 to make the switch work better...


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## 1dash1 (Oct 16, 2008)

Tango44:

Deoxit and Deoxit Gold are basically contact cleaners.

The former is formulated more for cleaning oxidized terminals. The latter is meant more for maintaining terminals. However, I really haven't noticed any difference between the two. I hope the tech guys excuse the faux pas, but I use the two products interchangeably.

Link to prior discussion.

===================================

Come to think of it...

It probably makes sense to use Deoxit to maintain the contact surfaces of my batteries, too. Ditto for my battery chargers. 

And my cell phone, camera, MP3, plus every portable device in the house powered by batteries (remote controls, alarm clocks, smoke detectors, etc.) including their USB or patch cords.

Those two small tubes that I thought would last a lifetime are suddenly looking a lot smaller.


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## f22shift (Oct 16, 2008)

can an alcohol pad wipe off oxidation too? what's in the deoxit that makes it work?

this thread has inspired me to give some flashlights a good lookover


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## Youfoundnemo (Oct 16, 2008)

Ok so we have the best thing to clean contacts and the sort with but what is a good er scratch that whats the best lube out there for lights


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## Kestrel (Jun 10, 2010)

OK, I have a cleaning question that someone must have figured out already, as this has been driving me crazy for years now. 

I really like the SureFire Z41 twistie tailcaps. However, I find that it's just about impossible to give a good cleaning to the interior threads in the tailcap, the primary difficulty being the aluminum center slug (which is not designed to be removed) that greatly restricts the access area for those interior tailcap threads.

*Does anybody have any tricks for cleaning those hard-to-get SF Z41 tailcap threads?* :shrug:


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## Niconical (Jun 10, 2010)

I have a method, not sure if it's the best, but it works for me. 

I have one of the thin cloths you get with sunglasses, which I have cut into strips. 

I then take a matchstick, but from a book of matches, not a box, because book matches are flat. 

Stick a strip of the cloth over the match, soak it in deoxit red, then push it down past the threads to the contact ring. Hold the match/cloth by the striking end, that's too thick to fit, but the thickness of just match and cloth is just right to clean but not get stuck. Keeping the match/cloth stationary with one hand, I then rotate the Z41 with the other hand (seems to work better than twisting the match/cloth around), but with a finger on the momentary switch, applying slight pressure. I do this with the thing pointing down, just in case I overdid the deoxit, so it can drip out. 

That sounds more complicated than it is, it's just a case of in, twist a few times, out, repeat.

EDIT: The fit is based on the particular matches I have, and the cloth. You might need to experiment to get your own ideal fit.


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## Batou00159 (Jun 10, 2010)

Kestrel said:


> OK, I have a cleaning question that someone must have figured out already, as this has been driving me crazy for years now.
> 
> I really like the SureFire Z41 twistie tailcaps. However, I find that it's just about impossible to give a good cleaning to the interior threads in the tailcap, the primary difficulty being the aluminum center slug (which is not designed to be removed) that greatly restricts the access area for those interior tailcap threads.
> 
> *Does anybody have any tricks for cleaning those hard-to-get SF Z41 tailcap threads?* :shrug:


 
have you tried a pipe cleaner or a cavity brush(ones yoused to clean between teeth) they come in varying syzes and are fairly stiff they are only around 1.2 cm long though.

or the little brush end for baby bottle teets(old ones of corse)

or the brushes for a platpus (camelback) hydration

all are good small area cleaners


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## Kestrel (Jun 10, 2010)

Niconical said:


> I then take a matchstick, but from a book of matches, not a box, because book matches are flat.


I can try that, but the thing is that the clearance is so tight that anything stiff enough to really let me apply some cleaning pressure to the threads closest to the bottom is too fat to let me get enough cleaning fabric into that area. The gap I'm working with is only 0.060" / ~1.5mm to get to the lower half of the threaded area. :sigh:


Batou00159 said:


> have you tried a pipe cleaner or a *cavity brush (ones yoused to clean between teeth)* they come in varying syzes and are fairly stiff they are only around 1.2 cm long though.


That's a pretty good idea, those are pretty much the smallest brushes I've ever seen...


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## nbp (Jun 11, 2010)

Sometimes I try to tell myself we're just normal people who like flashlights, or people who like to be prepared, or some such nonsense. It's threads like this that remind me that we're actually just nerds. 

Flashlight cleaning day? No wonder people think were nuts. 

However, this does make me realize I haven't had a cleaning day in a while, maybe a good thing to do over the weekend.


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## Squishy (Jun 12, 2010)

Today was flashlight cleaning day. 

Got to try out some new lubes...so far very pleased. My whole room stinks of chemicals now.


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## Henk_Lu (Jun 13, 2010)

When I was younger and single, I loved my car, I hand-washed it each week or at least each fortnight. I also kept it clean inside, it was my little jewel. Today I have a car that cost 4 times the price of my former jewels and it passes through the washing each three months or whenever my wife does it.

As I'm a flashaholic now, my lights are my jewels and although I don't clean them on a regulary basis I have cleaned all my lights already, mostly when I got them already. The older ones have been cleaned several times, not, because they were dirty, but as I learned how to clean and relube them well, so I had to redo the job!

What I do quite often, is screwing a light apart and just clean the tops and bottoms of the tubes, tailcaps and heads with a dry cloth. However how carefully I lube my lights, there's always some dirty lube getting on theses surfaces, which should be dry. After all, the end of the tube goes to the contact ring on the board on most lights. I lso use Deoxyd there, to ensure the electrical path is perfect, if Nyogel or Krytox gets in between...

To be honest, I hate cleaning! LEDs evolve, they get brighter, they get more efficent, body constructions get more rugged and so on, but why don't they invent something to make lubing useless? No lubing would mean no cleaning neither (or just wipe with a dry cloth). The only lights I have which is designed that way is the Inovy Inforce Color, not only that it doesn't need any lube, you mustn't lube it, it would destroy the gasket. That light's made of carbon, not metal.

I also clean the lens much too often, I destroyed coatings already, I can't stand the dirt. A perfect light must have a perfectly clean lens! I know that some dust doesn't dim the output that much, but I just can't stand it. A microfiber cloth lies ready to clean each light that has been in my pocket. I'd like to see a coating for the outer side of the lens that is really scratch resistant and that doesn't let dirt stick on it neither.

Clickies are the lights I like best. You just screw them together and don't need to disassemble them until the next battery change. That system requires not many cleaning and what's more, the lube doesn't get dirty that quickly, smooth threads are always good to have, but only a luxury on such lights. I wish all lights would be designed with a fixed head and tailcap of course).

I know now what I forgot to take with me on holiday : Nyogel, Deoxyd & Krytox! :devil:


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## Jash (Jun 15, 2010)

All my lights get cleaned about two days before a camping trip. So about 3-4 times a year. Takes the good part of 3-4 hours.

My EDC gets cleaned once a week or so and the other more regularly used lights about once a month.

Alcohol, old bonds singlet, cotton buds and some new O-rings if needed, followed by some new silicone grease.


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## Arcus Diabolus (Jun 17, 2010)

What kinds of lubes should I use to lube my Surefire E2D? Is WD40 okay for flashlights?


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## Squishy (Jun 17, 2010)

Read the lubrication sticky at the top of this forum.

WD-40 is good for clearing up water-contaminated surfaces, a decent cleaner, and a poor lube. I don't know why it is treated as a lubricant, as it is horrible at it.

I use something similar to WD-40 (it contains Stoddard Solvent) as a cleaner and initial pre-lube. Spray on and quickly wipe off with a lint-free cloth. Then silicone grease is rubbed into the O-rings and a Teflon gel is applied to the threads. If the electrical contacts are looking grimy, they are cleaned with alcohol and get a spray of dielectric grease.


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