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.
Bang it real hard, base down, on a piece of scrap lumber. It may take a fews shots but eventually they'll loosen and come out.
When you get the battery out, check the brand and mail the bad battery and the flashlight to them. They'll send you a check for a new lite, batterties, and reimburse your postage if you ask for it.
this is why products cost me more because of PETTY abusers like you
you probably wash paint brushes out and take them back you probably take a huge bite of your chicken sandwich knowing good and well you ordered hambuger, only to say "hey I ordered the polla" you probably eat the free chips they give you at mexican jaunts and then, get up and leave after you take a crap in their toilet
"Apropos" wrote in news:7PCvf.896$_ snipped-for-privacy@bignews1.bellsouth.net:
Soak the tube in vinegar to dissolve the leaking electrolyte.(alkaline cells)
Then get a dowel to pound on the cells. Last resort os a slide-hammer puller,used to pull out automotive body dents.It screws into the dent(or your cell),and a weight slides on the shaft to act as a hammer.
OR,you send it off to the battery maker,and they replace the whole flashlight.(weeks later). Now,after you have begin repair attempts yourself,this may not work.
Peel up the rubber button cover- there is a setscrew under there that unlocks the switch assembly, and allows it to come out the front of the flashlight. Had to do it on mine to retension the spring that rides on top of the battery stack. (Current maglites are built a lot cheaper than the ones from 10-15 years ago, IMHO.) Once the switch is out, the dowel trick should work. Then sanitize all the parts with baking soda or vinegar (depending on battery flavor), rinse, allow to dry at least a day, and reassemble. Don't forget to silicone the threads and O-rings.
Now that prices have come down so much, who is going to expend the time and shipping costs to get a replacement on a 20-buck flashlight? back when they were mil-spec quality, cost 40 bucks, and were only available in gun shops that sold cop stuff, but now that every big-box has them?
Throw it away. If you really want to mess with it, poor hot water into. If that doesn't work you may need to poor some diluted vinegar in. If you get it loose, wash it out with more hot water and thoroughly dry it before putting batteries in.
Actually they make tools that have a long shank with a screw threads on the end.
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.
Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in news:_ZFvf.7288$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:
Interestingly,I saw a small version of that "Faraday flashlight",the one you shake to charge up,and has a small LED. On TV,the big one sells for $20,and you get a small one as a "bonus". In a dollar store,the small one sold alone for $3,so I bought one. Now,they are not a powerful torch,but they will allow you to navigate a dark room,and the LED runs for quite a while on just a couple of shakes,and even retains a charge for many hours in the 'off' postion.For 3 bucks,it is a good buy,IMO.
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