ArfinGreebly
Moderator Emeritus
I just spent a most entertaining two hours salvaging my wife's 3D-cell Mag Lite.
It lives in the center console of the truck (SUV). It gets cold and occasionally humid out there.
She doesn't do "scheduled preventive maintenance" on equipment. So . . . what happens when the flashlight sits for more than two years with the same set of batteries in it?
Batteries leak. They ooze some kind of icky acidic stuff that combines with other stuff to produce a quite robust deposit of salt. Which fouls the flashlight.
The most common thing to do with a flashlight that has been so abused is to throw it out.
Less common is to find a way to get enough leverage to get the butt cap off without ruining either the cap or the main body tube.
Well, a pair of vise grips will grab the butt cap (and there will be some paint sacrificed there). How to get enough friction and leverage over the body tube?
I tried all manner of commonplace kitchen items to help. Nothing worked. It was well and truly jammed. It seems that that icky ooze stuff gets in the threads and holds as well as Loc-Tite.
Then I had an idea. I remembered seeing a bag of rubber bands in the office. I took about a dozen long rubber bands and twisted them around the main body tube, making it substantially thicker and very high-friction.
The additional leverage and improved grip allowed me to work the butt cap loose.
This was followed by an hour with a baking soda paste to get the rust off the butt spring and the point of a cork screw to get the corrosion/salts out of the threads and body tube.
I used the toaster to heat the now-clean-but-also-wet parts and stuck a fresh set of copper tops in it.
Damned if it doesn't light right up and throw a perfect beam.
Part of any good strategy is knowing what elements will need periodic attention and reassessment. Because strategic elements tend to sit or stand around for extended periods unused and untested, the act of testing and cleaning strategic equipment has to be deliberate and scheduled.
Check your batteries.
Keep yer gear clean.
Look under the hood of the car you most depend on for bailing yer family out, and make sure it's got good belts and hoses. And a good battery.
Yeah, it's boring.
But it's critical, too. That forty gallons of gas you put aside: has that been rotated? Does it have fuel stabilizer? How about your emergency water? Foodstuffs? Flashlights and radios? Batteries?
We do routine maintenance on our cars, but our mechanic has never said, "hey, you want me to check your flashlight, jack, and lug wrench?"
Got a generator? Run it lately?
You can have a great deal of emergency gear representing a hefty investment, and find yourself saying bad words (as did I) when your gear fails -- and even more swearing if the failure is due to your lack of attention.
Yes, it's strategically sound to have emergency supplies and gear. It's even sounder to have supplies and gear that have been checked out.
Maybe you'll get lucky and your lesson will only be a couple of hours cleaning and rescuing a piece of gear.
It lives in the center console of the truck (SUV). It gets cold and occasionally humid out there.
She doesn't do "scheduled preventive maintenance" on equipment. So . . . what happens when the flashlight sits for more than two years with the same set of batteries in it?
Batteries leak. They ooze some kind of icky acidic stuff that combines with other stuff to produce a quite robust deposit of salt. Which fouls the flashlight.
The most common thing to do with a flashlight that has been so abused is to throw it out.
Less common is to find a way to get enough leverage to get the butt cap off without ruining either the cap or the main body tube.
Well, a pair of vise grips will grab the butt cap (and there will be some paint sacrificed there). How to get enough friction and leverage over the body tube?
I tried all manner of commonplace kitchen items to help. Nothing worked. It was well and truly jammed. It seems that that icky ooze stuff gets in the threads and holds as well as Loc-Tite.
Then I had an idea. I remembered seeing a bag of rubber bands in the office. I took about a dozen long rubber bands and twisted them around the main body tube, making it substantially thicker and very high-friction.
The additional leverage and improved grip allowed me to work the butt cap loose.
This was followed by an hour with a baking soda paste to get the rust off the butt spring and the point of a cork screw to get the corrosion/salts out of the threads and body tube.
I used the toaster to heat the now-clean-but-also-wet parts and stuck a fresh set of copper tops in it.
Damned if it doesn't light right up and throw a perfect beam.
Part of any good strategy is knowing what elements will need periodic attention and reassessment. Because strategic elements tend to sit or stand around for extended periods unused and untested, the act of testing and cleaning strategic equipment has to be deliberate and scheduled.
Check your batteries.
Keep yer gear clean.
Look under the hood of the car you most depend on for bailing yer family out, and make sure it's got good belts and hoses. And a good battery.
Yeah, it's boring.
But it's critical, too. That forty gallons of gas you put aside: has that been rotated? Does it have fuel stabilizer? How about your emergency water? Foodstuffs? Flashlights and radios? Batteries?
We do routine maintenance on our cars, but our mechanic has never said, "hey, you want me to check your flashlight, jack, and lug wrench?"
Got a generator? Run it lately?
You can have a great deal of emergency gear representing a hefty investment, and find yourself saying bad words (as did I) when your gear fails -- and even more swearing if the failure is due to your lack of attention.
Yes, it's strategically sound to have emergency supplies and gear. It's even sounder to have supplies and gear that have been checked out.
Maybe you'll get lucky and your lesson will only be a couple of hours cleaning and rescuing a piece of gear.
