OK, this officially sucks! :cryyy:
I have one of those True 5's, that I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to open for weeks now! :yabbmad:
I even went out and bought a cheap Chinese pliers (to match my cheap Chinese pointer
) that better matched the size, to try to
brute-force it off!
While I put enough force on it to
dent and
badly mangle the aperture cap (to the point that I can tell you the base metal of that cap is not silver!
), and
scratched the hell out of the cap, and even
tweaked the middle of the case so the pen is no longer straight , I
still couldn't get it to budge even a fraction of a millimeter! :yabbmad:
After seeing Greendreams pics, I noticed what appeared to be a "lip" on the inside end of the aperture cap, and gave me the idea that perhaps the case is heated and then the module fit into it (so that when the case cools, it clamps firmly around that lip?)
Inspired, I tried heating that part of the outside of the case just south of the aperture cap with a hair dryer (not enough to damage anything, just to get it nice and toasty), then grabbed the aperture cap with my pliers,
and pulled with all my might!
...and pulled the damn pen in half! :wtf:
It seems the threads on the top half of the pen (that screw into the module end) are
not part of the top half of the pen, but is a small, separate piece, that is
ALSO press-fit into the pen!
That small piece was still screwed into the module end snuggly, while I was holding the battery end in my other hand and trying to figure-out
what the hell had just happened!
(Apparently this is why the pen was no longer straight, as I had managed to loosen this center piece in my previous attempts)
And even after enugh force to pull the thing into two pieces...the aperture cap
STILL hasn't budged at all! :banghead:
Any suggestions? :thinking:
--------------
LOL!!
you seem so excited.
Are these capable of more power??
Ever since I peered down into the aperture cap of my new True 5 with a jeweler's loupe, saw the threads on the inside of the cap, and what the end of the module looked like, I had
strongly suspected that the new True 5's were using the new modules that DX had just released, like this one! -
DealExtreme: $46.81 200mW 532nm Green Laser Module (3V 11.9mm)
(Note that price, compared to the $135 O-Like 200mw module!
)
and which I and others have been studying here in
great detail.
I had most recently been studying the driver circuit used in those new modules, and when I saw Greendream's close-up pics, I
instantly recognized it as the same driver!
(Indeed, I had determined that this circuit could not handle much more than 3V, and had suggested to someone just a day ago that the reason might be that these modules were specifically designed for use in pen hosts!
)
Likewise, that partially-threaded end, lens & lens nut design, and that 3-piece, screw-apart brass module,
are also all identical!
Depending on exactly what we see in those pics I requested, I can identify different ways of tuning these up, and be able to tell what these True 5's are fully capable of doing!