I've had my Preon 2 Titanium for a few weeks now. When I ordered it, I wasn't too crazy about the shiny look of the light. I much prefer the matte of the other Preon offerings, but in my experience, the anodizing always wears off at some point on aluminum. Plus, I like the fact that titanium is tougher than steel, but a fraction of the weight, so I got the titanium knowing that it would soon get all scratched up (I USE my lights, not one shelf queen in my collection).
After a couple of days clipped in my right front pants pocket, my Preon became scratched like I knew it would. I figured I'd just live with it since I love the light so much. BUT, it did look horrible! Then I got to thinking I could probably glass bead blast or sand blast my Preon to give it the matte look I wanted. So that's what I did yesterday and today.
Yesterday, I first tried just glass bead blasting it to see what it would look like and it just made the gloss turn foggy, almost like the surface had gotten cold and someone breathed on it. That isnt what I wanted, so I then sand blasted it. That left the surface way too dull, but DID improve the grip immensely!! :thumbsup: That wasnt the look I wanted either. So after carrying it today in the sand blasted state, I thought What if I glass bead blasted it now after sand blasting it?. So tonight, thats what I did. Photos below are through the whole process minus the glass bead blasted only step.
In the photos, the tail cap is covered with heat shrink tubing so when I need to bite-hold my light, it's much easier on the teeth. I didn't blast the tail cap, since it's always going to be covered anyway. I left the clip the way it was for a nice contrast.
My scratched up light with a pristine Preon 1 body.
Sand blasted only on the Preon 2, with sand blasting over glass bead blasting on the Preon 1 body.
The following 3 photos are of glass bead blasting over sand blasting to polish it up and give it a nice sheen. Turned out EXACTLY like I wanted it to.
After a couple of days clipped in my right front pants pocket, my Preon became scratched like I knew it would. I figured I'd just live with it since I love the light so much. BUT, it did look horrible! Then I got to thinking I could probably glass bead blast or sand blast my Preon to give it the matte look I wanted. So that's what I did yesterday and today.
Yesterday, I first tried just glass bead blasting it to see what it would look like and it just made the gloss turn foggy, almost like the surface had gotten cold and someone breathed on it. That isnt what I wanted, so I then sand blasted it. That left the surface way too dull, but DID improve the grip immensely!! :thumbsup: That wasnt the look I wanted either. So after carrying it today in the sand blasted state, I thought What if I glass bead blasted it now after sand blasting it?. So tonight, thats what I did. Photos below are through the whole process minus the glass bead blasted only step.
In the photos, the tail cap is covered with heat shrink tubing so when I need to bite-hold my light, it's much easier on the teeth. I didn't blast the tail cap, since it's always going to be covered anyway. I left the clip the way it was for a nice contrast.
My scratched up light with a pristine Preon 1 body.
Sand blasted only on the Preon 2, with sand blasting over glass bead blasting on the Preon 1 body.
The following 3 photos are of glass bead blasting over sand blasting to polish it up and give it a nice sheen. Turned out EXACTLY like I wanted it to.
