Inon Z330 strobe light shade

[fmerkel]

FWIW, wife has one of these and got washed in the surf in a sandy area yesterday. Upon washing the strobe, it was immediately obvious the swivel shade was stuck. Yeah, SAND. It would not rinse out. This is the 2nd time. Last time was simply from being in a sandy area, no surf washing.

No way could I unscrew this by hand. I had to put the outer ring in a vise, with teeth, and try to straddle that line between tight enough to grip, but not so tight to bind and make the problem worse.
It worked, but it was nerve wracking and difficult. It sounded awful scratching it's way loose.
(I suspect a strap wrench might be a better tool; don't have one.)

Once off I could hardly see the sand, but could feel it. It doesn't take much. Not good on plastic threads.
The swivel shade still would not move in the attachment ring. I coated it with liquid soap, put that under a stream of running water and after some rinsing it started to move. I just kept it up trying to adjust the stream to get into as many cracks as possible. In a couple minutes it was apparently freed up.
The next morning looking at the shade and ring in good light it's obvious there is still sand in there and it will be problematic to flush it all out.

THIS DESIGN NEEDS SOME WORK!

If the shade EVER gets sticky, I'd immediately remove it and clean it up before it gets worse. Wait too long and the trouble may become a serious issue.

 

[STIDVC]

FWIW, wife has one of these and got washed in the surf in a sandy area yesterday. Upon washing the strobe, it was immediately obvious the swivel shade was stuck. Yeah, SAND. It would not rinse out. This is the 2nd time. Last time was simply from being in a sandy area, no surf washing.

No way could I unscrew this by hand. I had to put the outer ring in a vise, with teeth, and try to straddle that line between tight enough to grip, but not so tight to bind and make the problem worse.
It worked, but it was nerve wracking and difficult. It sounded awful scratching it's way loose.
(I suspect a strap wrench might be a better tool; don't have one.)

Once off I could hardly see the sand, but could feel it. It doesn't take much. Not good on plastic threads.
The swivel shade still would not move in the attachment ring. I coated it with liquid soap, put that under a stream of running water and after some rinsing it started to move. I just kept it up trying to adjust the stream to get into as many cracks as possible. In a couple minutes it was apparently freed up.
The next morning looking at the shade and ring in good light it's obvious there is still sand in there and it will be problematic to flush it all out.

THIS DESIGN NEEDS SOME WORK!

If the shade EVER gets sticky, I'd immediately remove it and clean it up before it gets worse. Wait too long and the trouble may become a serious issue.

I really don’t want to force the shade open as I am afraid it would damage the ring or threads. I will give the soap bit a go. Anyhoo, I’ve told this to lads from the shop and they said they might need to have a go at it so fingers crossed the soap thingy works. And yes. The design does need some work, either by preventing grit getting into it or a simpler method of unscrewing the ring.

 

[Nemrod]

Just out of curiosity but cannot you just remove the baseball cap? Never had these caps on strobes before and they appear to be more trouble than they are worth for all but some specialty uses. N

 

[fmerkel]

Just out of curiosity but cannot you just remove the baseball cap? Never had these caps on strobes before and they appear to be more trouble than they are worth for all but some specialty uses. N

Yes, you can, it's easy to remove, but it's a diffuser and the light becomes more harsh. The shade and support ring are entirely separate.

 

[STIDVC]

Yes, you can, it's easy to remove, but it's a diffuser and the light becomes more harsh. The shade and support ring are entirely separate.

what he said

 

[Nemrod]

I have Inon D-2000 strobes and rarely use the diffuser. The D-200 and Z340 should be even less harsh due to the dome than the previous D and Z series strobes. Inon strobes are not especially harsh due to their very wide coverage. I think the Z330 though may be a little hot in the center so they could get that bragging rights GN33. I am probably going to have to get a new strobe. One of my D-2000 strobes has conked out. It was an older Type II. If I go with a new D-200 to replace it, I think I will lose that diffuser and ball cap thing in my dive locker. Well, I hope a solution is found, I know it is frustrating. N

 

[fmerkel]

Inon doesn't seem to have a feedback option on their website. I sent a message to the shop my wife got them [Optical Oceans], and asked that they forward the info.

 

[gummybun]

The shade assembly is in actuality (at least) 4 pieces, The rotating shade cap,(held between) two interlocking centre captive tracks, and a freely rotating threading ring. And probably a separate tension spring somewhere in the middle.

I studied this strobe before 3d printing a 4 port snoot assembly last year. I was torn between using tha aluminium thread to fasten the snoot or use a clip-on design. I finished by leaving the hood inside the snoot and using clips. This thread was too delicate and prone to x-threading and jamming when needing to get the snoot off in a hurry. Sounds like I made the right guess! Though this jamming has never happened to me - yet - KOW.

This is my first strobe, and it changed my life photographically, but I wish this part was as robust as the rest of the design.

 

[STIDVC]

The shade assembly is in actuality (at least) 4 pieces, The rotating shade cap,(held between) two interlocking centre captive tracks, and a freely rotating threading ring. And probably a separate tension spring somewhere in the middle.

I studied this strobe before 3d printing a 4 port snoot assembly last year. I was torn between using tha aluminium thread to fasten the snoot or use a clip-on design. I finished by leaving the hood inside the snoot and using clips. This thread was too delicate and prone to x-threading and jamming when needing to get the snoot off in a hurry. Sounds like I made the right guess! Though this jamming has never happened to me - yet - KOW.

This is my first strobe, and it changed my life photographically, but I wish this part was as robust as the rest of the design.

Interesting that you printed your own snoot, how did it work out? I have just got my second z330 literally 2 days ago.

 

[gummybun]

It worked out great. My first strobe, my first snoot, and my first 3D print. People say snoots are hard so I designed in a bit of a trick and I was up and running out of the gate. Well kinda mostly. (that was a teaser) Now I am making a 24" optic for back-lighting. I don't want to hijack this thread, I am planning to document it over on the DIY board, and share the files here - but it is a lot of work to build right. Easier just to buy one, but nowhere near the fun, and there were none for the 330 when I started.