Who makes GITD Beads?

Unbreakable

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I'm looking for mainly green (but all colors are interesting) GITD beads. Medium to large in size. No bigger than a grape, but big enough to fit two strands of 550 cord through them. I want to add the to the pull tabs on my paracord zippers. Really surprised they're not easier to find. Would appreciate a link to email addresses to anyone who makes them. Thanks.
 

Norman

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I'm not familiar with paracord. How big a hole would it require? More than 5mm?
 

Unbreakable

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5mm would probably do it. 550 cord is about 1/8th or around 3mm. But can be hollowed out and pinched into tight openings. Especially with a small punch to push it through. You know of somewhere that has GITD beads with this large an opening? Would appreciate a link. Thanks.
 

Unbreakable

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It doesn't even have to be fancy... a .50" cylinder fob chopped at .50" length with a .25" hole drilled in the center would work. Is there a tutorial on how to make your own glow fobs?
 

FRITZHID

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It doesn't even have to be fancy... a .50" cylinder fob chopped at .50" length with a .25" hole drilled in the center would work. Is there a tutorial on how to make your own glow fobs?

my recomendation would be to buy some GITD powder & mix it with urathaine or epoxy resin in a thin tube and then cut off as needed. can even insert a tube inside the larger to pre make the hole. how many do you need?
 

Norman

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my recomendation would be to buy some GITD powder & mix it with urathaine or epoxy resin in a thin tube and then cut off as needed. can even insert a tube inside the larger to pre make the hole. how many do you need?

I made a short tag, about 1.7x2 cm that I use on a flashlight strap. While it might work, it sticks out to the side, and can be annoying at times. I forgot you wanted them for zipper pulls. I agree you're probably best off trying to make something yourself.

If you know someone with one of those beaded car seats, you could probably liberate one or two beads as forms. You can get 2-part silicone mold putty to make a mold, and pour a glow powder-epoxy mix into it.

As a warning though, you will find that the powder tends to settle a lot. I tried making a few things 1-2cm wide and 2-4cm long, and they all ended up having all the glow powder in the bottom 1/4. I'm told that you need to use a generous amount of powder to keep it from settling like that, but I've never tried.

Others can probably offer more help on that than I can.
 

FRITZHID

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I made a short tag, about 1.7x2 cm that I use on a flashlight strap. While it might work, it sticks out to the side, and can be annoying at times. I forgot you wanted them for zipper pulls. I agree you're probably best off trying to make something yourself.

If you know someone with one of those beaded car seats, you could probably liberate one or two beads as forms. You can get 2-part silicone mold putty to make a mold, and pour a glow powder-epoxy mix into it.

As a warning though, you will find that the powder tends to settle a lot. I tried making a few things 1-2cm wide and 2-4cm long, and they all ended up having all the glow powder in the bottom 1/4. I'm told that you need to use a generous amount of powder to keep it from settling like that, but I've never tried.

Others can probably offer more help on that than I can.


Yes, glow powder setteling can be an issue, however this can be overcome in several diffrent ways..... 1 is to use a fast setting epoxy (5min) or so.... but this is difficult in large batches... another is to use a "moving mold" aproach, keep the mold (once filled) moving on multipul axi over the hardening period, but this can be a tedious process if done by hand and machines to do this can be tricky to self build and certenly not cheap to buy.... and the only other suggestion i would have would be to make sure to use the thickest resin you can find, this will help slow the drop of the powder, and in conjunction, use the finest posiable powder you can get.... and make sure its also of the aluminum strontimate compisition, the zinc oxid powders do NOT have even 1/4 the glow per charge that AL-ST powders have. well worth the $. to save $ on powder you can also employ the "shell" aproach by useing an already pre-formed bead and encapsulating it in a glowing resin, this will save about 2/3 the cost per bead/weight. any other questions, please feel free to msg me. :)
 

Unbreakable

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my recomendation would be to buy some GITD powder & mix it with urathaine or epoxy resin in a thin tube and then cut off as needed. can even insert a tube inside the larger to pre make the hole. how many do you need?

Well probably about 10 or 12 for my personal EDC bag... but I'd really like 50 to 100 to set up all my packs and gear and I just gave my little girl a Maxpedition Condor II I know she'd love 10 or 12 on her bag.

How do you keep the tube from sticking to the mixture you pour in? Or does the tube become part of the bead itself? If so what material would you suggest? Glass? Thin plastic that might break? or perhaps like flexible tube like aquarium hose.
 
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FRITZHID

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How do you keep the tube from sticking to the mixture you pour in? Or does the tube become part of the bead itself? If so what material would you suggest? Glass? Thin plastic that might break? or perhaps like flexible tube like aquarium hose.


well, making that many (50+) i highly suggest the Coating approach cause that many beads in full is going to use ALOT of powder, and that stuff isn't cheap. but per ur above query, fishtank tubing will be too thick and flexible, i suggest 1/16" thick clear poly tubing, preferably as ridged as you can find, and you sand the outside so the epoxy sticks and becomes part of the bead (makes for a good wear surface) and you center it inside the larger tube (which you can oil the inside so it can be removed OR use clear tubing which again makes a good wear surface) and just cut to size. nice feature with this method is you can combine the OD of the inside tube and the ID of the outside tube to make the beads as thin as possible as to not waste GITD mix. thickness/amount of powder per Cm/3 does NOT make it glow longer, in fact after a certain thickness, ambient light fails to reach the glow particles and charge them so your just wasting material. green and blue are your longest glowing powders, and the longest particles tend to also be largest, SO large green glow powder, with thickest quick setting resin, with a moving mold (simple lathe/drill set up for tubes) would give you good bang for your buck on DIY beads. after they are cut to length you can then sand the edges smooth and string them on! :) but remember, with the larger particle size the outside ends will have a coarse feel to them.
 
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