Has anyone successfully dismantled their Wicked Arctic?

I am curious to see the guts of this thing. Has anyone been able to take one apart and peer into its innards? Try and try as hard as I can to unscrew the main body tube from the heatsinking tube, it doesnt budge. Should have suspected this from Wicked. They're hosts have always been seeminly impenetrable.

Yep took it apart. Posed a couple pics somewhere around here.

Couldn't take the whole thing apart, but if you unscrew the diodes module you can peek into the inside at the driver.

Based on the pictures on their facebook page, of the production line, I have come to the conclusion that the upper battery section is added through some serious press fitting, probably heated as well, which would make taking it apart quite a challenge. (also glue is a distinct possibility).

In case you were wondering, it is quite an easy fix to replace the diode, driver failure would be a serious problem though.


Best Regards,
brtaman

Yeah I was thinking they must have done something more than just screw the two pieces together. Diode replacement is one of my concerns but I would ideally like to turn up the pot on the driver. With a few extra 445nm diodes laying around I would rather have a deteriorated diode life with more power, rather than the opposite.

Also, I was looking into putting Dr.Lava's cylindrical corrective optics into this host, even if it means I have to gut the whole thing. I know there is plenty of room in there. The driver looks absurdly large and I would settle for a combination of the corrective optics, an aixiz module, and a small boost driver over a bulky driver, battery indicator lights, and the same beam specs you can get from a DIY build.

It would have been cool if one of the larger e-tech companies (gizmodo, or wired) that had boasted so much about the pointer did a full rip down of it. You know they've got the money to toss around.

Thanks for the help though Brtaman!!!

brtaman said:

Yep took it apart. Posed a couple pics somewhere around here.

Couldn't take the whole thing apart, but if you unscrew the diodes module you can peek into the inside at the driver.

Based on the pictures on their facebook page, of the production line, I have come to the conclusion that the upper battery section is added through some serious press fitting, probably heated as well, which would make taking it apart quite a challenge. (also glue is a distinct possibility).

In case you were wondering, it is quite an easy fix to replace the diode, driver failure would be a serious problem though.


Best Regards,
brtaman

Click to expand...

I did a search but could not find any pictures that you posted. I would really like to see them before I attempt to take mine apart.

Astroguy said:

I did a search but could not find any pictures that you posted...

Click to expand...

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http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/i...-iii-arctic-post-here-53680-5.html#post758424

Traveller said:

...
http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/i...-iii-arctic-post-here-53680-5.html#post758424

Click to expand...

Yes, I do have mine. The case is nice the rest is crap!!!
It only puts out 570mw, the end was full of thermal greese that took an hour to clean out all it was doing was insulating the diode and keeping in the heat, I understand they are no longer doing that. I need to get into it so I can adjust the driver or replace it with one of my own. My home made 445 puts out 900mw and is not even running at full power. I only got this one for the cool factor of the looks and to see if the specs they advertized were true because if they were the optics would almost be be worth the price of the unit.