In message
, Man
at B&Q writes
On Sep 9, 5:58*pm, Bill wrote:
Today's stupid question.

I found the Energiser batteries in my USA made Maglite 2-AA cell torch
had died and expanded. I got the bottom one out by a violent circular
arm swing followed by a short sharp shock, but the one up behind the
bulb won't budge.
The bulb assembly says "Don't Remove" on it,

Ignore that, but the inside of the torch will be knackered anyway.

Just buy a new torch, but don't pay for the brand.

Well, I removed the don't remove bit and the bulb, Then pushed, but
achieved only slight movement of the bulb holder. Went on to the
internet and found lots of info about the bigger Maglites, but nothing
confidence building about these smaller ones.
Tried poking all sorts of things down from the bulb end, and found a
long coach screw for the other end.
Then discovered that if you leave the battery of an Aldi drill in the
charger and the wife unplugs it, the battery seems to discharge. Both
chargers plugged in.

Then, during the forced intermission, climbed on the roof of the shed
under orders to pick the damsons. Further to a question I asked here
some time back, Onduline cladding on the old felt roof seems fine
underfoot and I didn't need to use the offcuts I'd kept as load
spreaders.

Then back to the Maglite, drilled hole in bottom of battery, used lathe
key handle (nearest thing to suitable I could find) to push and coach
screw up the battery to pull, and it all came out.

I've checked the bulb holder and it still seems to work, so all that
remains is to improvise a sort of miniature sweeps brush to clear away
the slight amount of corrosion in the body of the torch. I can get new
batteries in and out, but it's just a bit too tight.

I do have many other torches ready for the winter's political-ineptitude
generated power outages. This Maglite has a certain sentimental value
and is a nice colour.

Thanks to all. Sorry about the bloggish posting.
--
Bill