I started out with a small piece, roughly about 2 or 3 inches square. I used tin snips to cut it out from the sheet, but through experimenting later found that it was easier to cut it with scissors after heating. So I cut out a rough piece a little bigger than I need and then heat it up, getter a better finer edge to the piece with scissors.
I used a heat gun to soften it up, then wrapped it around the Arc. I used a pair of needle nosed pliers to hold it in place till it cooled, doesn't take very long.
I had gone to Home Depot to get the heat gun, but couldn't find any rivets or grommets that were small enough. I had considered Chicago screws [is that the correct name?], but didn't want to spend all day running around town searching for them. I'm here in Fl. and it has been raining cats and dogs everyday with thunder storms raising havoc. Plus I had to get the baby from the sitter's and...well, back to the topic.
I stopped at Lowe's to see what they had and found some rubber grommets and nylon hole plugs. Well it turned out that I didn't need them. This was my third attempt at this and by now I had found that using the pliers to maintain pressure caused the kydex to cool and form very tight fitting since the pliers held it in place, not allowing any give when cooling. That and the fact that the grommets didn't fit, which reminds me, I gotta find that receipt so I can take all that stuff back, a few dollars are a few dollars you know [more for the B/S/T].
The hole had originally been intended for the rubber grommet, but to also allow for a metal ball chain or split ring for around neck carry.
As I stated before, I don't have access to the two main tools I would like right now, a belt sander and a bandsaw. Those two items would speed up the process and make it all very much easier overall.
So instead I had to use my little Dremel tool, a wireless rechargeable model. Used a cone shaped sanding stone and smoothed out the edges and tried my best to even up the lines. Actually the attachment works really well for cutting through plastic and reaming holes. I don't think it turned out too bad.
Now we are all done and time to test it all out.
It all works as intended, maybe too much so. It holds the light VERY tightly. You have to give the Arc a twist as you pull to break it loose and pull it out of the sheath. Nothing you can't do by hand, but it is a tighter fit than the factory sheaths on two neck knives that I own.
The Arc will fit into the sheath on either end, nice unintended out come of the construction. This allows for the Arc to be lit and retained around the neck, nice for examining or working on small items while at the workbench or desk. I have also used it as a mouth piece to hold the light in my mouth and I like it because I can't stand the feeling of the metal on my teeth. I find that the sheath is more comfortable.
I tested the sheath by holding it, with the head of the light inserted and flicking it around, trying to force the light to fall or be flung out. Next I held the sheath with needle nosed pliers gripping it through the hole doing the same. Doing it this way allows for more power in the wrist flick and I figured it would prevent the jaws of the pliers from helping to "hold" the edges of the sheath together, thus giving a false reading on the "pressure/centrifuge" test, which I thought could happen if I placed the jaws along the length of the light. I also tried the same testing process with the butt end of the light inserted. Same results, light held firmly in place. I cannot think of any other tests I could conduct that would be relavent to its use.
I want to make one or two more for the Arc and then get started on making some for the Ultra. I am really thinking about a belt holster for the Ultra, that will be totally ****. But first I have to finish a belt sheath for the spare magazine to my Kel-Tec P32.
