How to clean a Surefire G2 Nitrolon?

[Ross]

Well, the title just about says it all! I have a Surefire G2 nitrolon in the lovely yellow colour and last night, i lent it to a colleague to do a vehicle examination.....except he proceeds to scrape some rust away with the bezel of my precious light /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif and then gets oil/rust/dirt all over it.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif
So, the question is, how do I clean all this muck off? Are there any tips on what to use to get the best results? I have tried soapy water & cotton buds but that didnt work too well.
Any tips?

Thanks

Ross

 

[NCBirdHunter]

I don't know if Nitrolon is an inert material, but if it is you could use Brake Cleaner. I use it on my Glocks all the time and it works great.

<font color="red">CAVEAT</font>: Try this at your own risk. I have never used Brake Cleaner on my G2, so I don't know what effect it might have. If you decide to do it, I would try it on a disassembled tail cap first (that way, if it ruins it, all you have to do is get a new tail cap from SF).

If you do it, let us know how it turns out!

 

[rycen]

I have used dish soap with good results.Also any mild kitchen cleaner should work.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Bowser,

Pick up some waterless hand cleaner from the auto parts store. Make sure you get the cleaner without grit. After cleaning just rinse it off with water and dry.

Tom

 

[FC.]

In my experience, G2 is impossible to clean. Then again, why clean it? It looks good when it's used...

 

[Ross]

I'll try & post some pics to show what the *person* did....

 

[Ross]

Here's a couple of pics, apologies for the crappy pics but I only have a cheapie digital cam:

and

 

[NCBirdHunter]

I think I would make this 'colleague' buy you a new light and let him keep the one he so carelessly trashed.

 

[FC.]

I think it looks good!

 

[Ross]

OzMan, I think I might!
F.C. I gave it a wee wipe down so that it still retains it's 'well used' look! It'll never be perfect again but then, I carry it & use it EVERY day where I work (If you've seen the film 'Trainspotting' - thats where I work...) so it's not too bad.
Did anyone notice the guest appearance by my cat in the photo's??? I just noticed!!

 

[ResQTech]

Hmm... Looking at your G2 Tailcap, mine doesnt screw all the way down like that, there's a good 1/8" gap. Is there something wrong with mine??

 

[Ross]

I inserted a kroll 'clickie' switch into the end cap, this enables the end cap to screw all the way down. It's a great wee mod that makes using the G2 MUCH easier.
If you do a search, you'll come up with the instructions somewhere.

Ross

 

[tkl]

nitrolon feel slike a porous material and a ***** to clean. try fast orange hand cleaner from auto parts store or any orange based cleaner.

i like the used look to, but that rust and grime looks like crap.

 

[ResQTech]

Thanks, Ive got a kroll on the way.

 

[Quickbeam]

Experience is the best teacher, but the most costly. I never loan my lights out, simply because I've seen what happened to you before. People don't understand that these are very expensive and very precious to us (my preciousssss /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) and once they get their hands on them they treat them like 99¢ eveready lights, or worse, hammers...

Didn't McGizmo make an adapter for the Kroll to fit Surefires?

 

[tsg68]

I like to use Armor-All multi purpose cleaner, it is made for cleaning tough stains off of rubber, vinyl and polymers (Do Not use the protectant it contains silicon which makes polymers slick and slippery). Follow the directions on the bottle, it has gotten greasy waxy colored makeup off of my wife's G2, which is a pretty tough job, with little effort.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[binky]

I feel so certain about this that I'm almost (almost) tempted to say that I'll buy you a new G2 if I'm wrong, but here goes...

From my experience molding plastics the Nitrolon material feels like it's a Nylon, and feels porous only because of the surface texture (look inside and you'll see a nice smooth surface not porous). As such, it's pretty much inert to most solvents but you've got a mechanical engineering problem on your hands trying to strip it down to the nylon-only components.

I tried to take apart my cpf-50 just now and noticed that the metal sleeve where the batteries are is flared at both ends, so that's not coming out. Plus, I vaguely recall reading that the lens clamp may be glued in and thus not easily removed with a pin spanner.

Your only other option would be to try to keep the solvent away from that veeeeeery sensitive Lexan lens (which is absolutely intolerant of organic solvents, such as will remove grease).

So...
I recommend that you use only a strong detergent (Dawn, for example), not a solvent (orange stuff, Simple Green, any petroleum-based solvent). I'm guessing at brands & stuff that'll hurt Lexan but I do know it's solvent-sensitive. Carefully scrub it with the flashlight closed up, no batteries or lamp inside. Maybe use an old toothbrush for the scrubbing. Then rinse well, dry, take it apart and dry any water from the threads.

Re-grease the threads & o-rings with silicone or Nye gel and you should be good to go.

 

[Ross]

Quickbeam, yes he did but you can make a home-made version. As with the rest of McGizmo's stuff, I'm sure the adaptor is excellent but this is the one thing that a flashaholic with *no* engineering skills at all can attempt - and it worked!!
Thanks TSG, I assume thats a type of car interior cleaner? I'll have a look for it.

Ross

 

[Ross]

Thanks for the info binky, I'll strip it down the best I can. BTW, if it doesnt work, I think I'll have a OD version next...........

 

[tsg68]

You are correct Bowser, the Armor All all purpose cleaner is an automotive interior and exterior cleaner that I have used to restore the white to 50+ yr. old vintage bicycle white wall tires that were almost brown from storage, it's amazing stuff when combined with a soft nylon scrub brush and a cold water rinse.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif