KompetentKrew
Well-known member
Longshot question, I don't suppose anyone has done this and would care to share how they did so?
I refer to Autohelm's handheld digital bearing compass and it has a couple of little recessed glow thingies at the end of the plastic case which is nearest to the user's eye - you line these up with an "iron sight" style nub at the far end of the case to take a bearing.
I bought my Personal Compass secondhand and guess that it's 15 or 20 years old - assuming I'm right that that the indicators are tritium, they must be down to a quarter of their original brightness, or half that. It's hard to line them up at night and I'd like to replace them.
I've found suppliers of 1.6mm x 2mm tritium vials (e,g, Sanwu Lasers, MixGlo) which look about the right size (I think they're used for the hands or dials of analogue watches), but I can't see how to get the original ones out. My instinct is that they're glued in, so maybe one has to dig them out with some kind of fine chiselling tool (I have a fine "screwdriver" on an old leatherman tool) but I wanted to check the case from the inside and I can't see how to get that open. There's a crosshead screw beneath the lanyard retainer, but the case does not readily part after removing that.
I'd be grateful for any thoughts. If anyone has a broken Autohelm Personal Compass, please let me know - I'd love one to experiment on.
I refer to Autohelm's handheld digital bearing compass and it has a couple of little recessed glow thingies at the end of the plastic case which is nearest to the user's eye - you line these up with an "iron sight" style nub at the far end of the case to take a bearing.
I bought my Personal Compass secondhand and guess that it's 15 or 20 years old - assuming I'm right that that the indicators are tritium, they must be down to a quarter of their original brightness, or half that. It's hard to line them up at night and I'd like to replace them.
I've found suppliers of 1.6mm x 2mm tritium vials (e,g, Sanwu Lasers, MixGlo) which look about the right size (I think they're used for the hands or dials of analogue watches), but I can't see how to get the original ones out. My instinct is that they're glued in, so maybe one has to dig them out with some kind of fine chiselling tool (I have a fine "screwdriver" on an old leatherman tool) but I wanted to check the case from the inside and I can't see how to get that open. There's a crosshead screw beneath the lanyard retainer, but the case does not readily part after removing that.
I'd be grateful for any thoughts. If anyone has a broken Autohelm Personal Compass, please let me know - I'd love one to experiment on.
