"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
If you're like me, you like to tear things apart, and find out what really
went wrong. Here are the untold stories of Minimags:

1) The tailcap is part of the circuit. Clean the threads with a cotton
swab
and some WD-40. Sand the end of the tube where the tail cap screws on.

2) Pull the little spring, and clean the metal where the spring ataches.
WD
and cotton swab, again.

3) Remove the batteries. Screw the lens and reflector assembly off, and
gently pull off the "do not remove" thing. Shake the tube, and the plastic
thing that comes out has a couple contacts that can be cleaned. It's a
challenge to get it back in. Gently push the plastic thing in, and push it
with the end of the batteries.

One of the tests for nerdity is if you spend more than half an hour trying
to fix a flash light. I'm over qualified for nerdity.

Chuckle. BTDT. Have about 3 hours labor, over 2-3 occasions, into repairing
my 4-D-cell maglite club. IMHO, their fit'n'finish and QC went way downhill
when they went mass-market. My previous Mag, also a 4-cell, came in a
cardboard box from a gun store that also sold cop stuff. Bulletproof, used
it for 2-3 years without a problem. When it got stolen through the
broken-by-a-rock side window of my car, the replacement (for about 2/3 the
price) came in a blister pack, and I could tell right away it didn't feel as
nice. Started having problems within months. They made the spring that
completes the top of circuit much cheaper, and I had to figure out how to
remove the switch core to retension it. Web site still shows parts and
repair service availability, but realistically, when a new one is now only
20 bucks, and shipping on yor nickel is 5 bucks, how many people are going
to bother? (Probably like Zippo's old repair service- just slip new guts
into the old shell....)

Maglite used to be mil-spec. It is now consumer grade.

aem sends...