On Fri, 6 Jan 2006 18:12:53 -0500, "Apropos"
wrote:

OK... this is a silly problem but as of yet I haven't found an answer:

I have a MagLite flashlight. 4-cell. The innermost battery leaked a bit and is
stuck hard in the metal tube.

Any idea how to get the doggone thing OUT without tearing apart the flashlight
tube?

I have tried tapping with a hammer, sticking in a coat hanger and
screwdriver.... nothing is helping. I even thought to put a screw into the end
of the battery for something to pull on but that proved more difficult than I
thought, being so far up in there.

Have you tried holding the light and swinging your whole extended arm
fast and stopping suddenly? Like a fishing rod?

I don't think I've ever seen a maglite, and i've never done this
either, but try this. Mount it and another object of similar weight**
on opposite side of some sort of wheel, with the open end of the
flashlight pointed out. Put them as far from the center as the wheel
allows. You could use a bicycle wheel, but if the wheel is still on
the bicycle, there probably wouldn't be room for it to rotate with the
flashlight attached. you could mount the wheel somewhere else for
this purpose, but I don't know if hand spinning the wheel, or pushing
on the spokes with a stick would make it go fast enough. Maybe.

If not try a buffing attachment for an electric drll, or a device you
make youself with plywood and a mandrill. The plywood doesn't have to
be round as long as you put the mandrill in the center, by weight.
Balance the wood on your finger, or on a pencil point, to find the
center of gravity. Drll the hole there, and mount the mandrill.

Attach the flashlight and counterweight, and check your balance again.
It might even be better to first attach these 2 things to the wood and
have them attached when you find the center of gravity for the whole
thing. Provice some method to keep the whole flashlight from spinning
off when the time comes.

Start spinning slow and gradulally increase speed. Do this out doors,
away from anyone or anything you could injure. At some speed, the
battery will shoot out of the flashlight like a clown out of a cannon.
If you perfect this, you may be able to get even with the neighbor 3
doors away. Although there is no telling if your missile will go up,
down, or sideways. Place yourself away from the plane of rotation of
the wood. At high speed this thing might go 100's of feet. Perhaps
if low speeds don't work at home (I think they will), you coudl go to
an empty parking garage, like in a business area on a Sunday and they
might have an electric outlet available. I have seen that. Or a
farm.

**The counterweight should match the weight of the flashlight
(although if the wood is centered after both are mounted to the wood,
I guess this isn't necessary. Remember that the wood has to be
centered on both axes, not just left to right for example)

But if the center of the wood has been prechosen, perhaps there is a
hole there already or your using a buffer wheel: then once the center
of gravity of the flashlight and the counterweight are found, the
distance from each center of gravity to the center of the wheel should
be the same. Apparently that's all one need to do to have the wheel
in balance. Although you should check before you start spinning.

Balance may not have to be perfect. It's like an unbalanced tire on a
car. It will vibrate a little, and more as speed increases, but still
maybe so little as to not interfere before the battery is expelled. I
think at a certain speed the vibration will resonate with something,
and it will get much worse. That was certainly the case when one of
my cylinders wasn't firing, Then when I went faster, the vibration
died away again. Don't know too much about this, but I would hold
the drill down firmly and not go too fast. Either clamp the drill in
place, use a fixed motor, and be prepared to let go when the whole
ething tries to escape.


I wonder if you should put some wd-40 in the open part of the
flashlight, so it moves more easily after it stops. That stuff is
quite thin too and might seem in to where the battery is now. I
suppose you should wipe it all oout afterwards.


Argh!



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