Restoring Titanium lights

[Drywolf]

Thanks to Chipwillis I have a new member in my McGizmo family. It's an XR19-PD. It was described as a beater and it has seen a lot of use. The light has no nicks and I would like to do my best to restore it. After searching the database I'm not convinced I have all the information I need to do this restoration.

If restoration is not possible then I will go down the polishing route which is throughly covered in this thread.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=160964

If anyone has a better title for this thread please serve it up. I hope if enough information is donated here it will serve as the thread many will use to get out scratches and restore their most precious Ti lights.

BTW - The piston is in sad shape as the edges have been eaten into by the screws for the clip - If anyone has a Ti piston for sale please PM me.

Thanks,
Frank

:thumbsup:

 

[nfetterly]

Congrats on the new light & I'll subscribe to see what comes. If it were mine I would leave it as a beater & EDC it - but that's just me. I hope we'll see some before & after photos....

There is a thread on a Ti PD or LS20 that someone took a spill on a motorcycle with and the light ended up with a nasty case of road rash. The light was restored by someone and looked great after - have you seen that thread?

Good luck! Neale

 

[easilyled]

I remove scratches with the following sequence:-

P400 sandpaper, P1200 sandpaper, then 180 spongepad (fine), followed by 240 spongepad (superfine), finally followed by polishing with a metal polish like Autosol cream (for cars) with a cloth.

I found these spongepads in a DIY shop and they're actually meant for smoothing paint on walls. However they are perfect for following up after using sandpaper as they are less abrasive and lead to a very fine satin-finish prior to applying the polish. I have a feeling that scotchbrite pads are very similar and are probably more available in the US.

This process requires quite a lot of patience if the scratches are not superficial, but is very quick if they are indeed only superficial.

When using sandpaper, I roll it into a circle and then rotate it along the "grain" of the machining finish, trying to use a smooth motion.

I don't have any machines like a lathe, which is why I use the process above.

I have found it to be very successful, but it does require patience sometimes, and the cycle may sometimes need to be repeated if the scratches are deeper.

 

[Drywolf]

I hope we'll see some before & after photos....

There is a thread on a Ti PD or LS20 that someone took a spill on a motorcycle with and the light ended up with a nasty case of road rash. The light was restored by someone and looked great after - have you seen that thread?

Good luck! Neale

I'm still recovering from my recent break-in so my DSLR and lights are in storage. I'll see what I can do with my point and shoot.

Here is the thread you referenced.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=172108

Nice start, easilyled

Frank

 

[easilyled]

... I'm still recovering from my recent break-in ...

So sorry to hear about that.