Surefire anodizing

[sonrider657]

I just bought my most expensive flashlight to date, a Surefire LX2. The output is excellent but the anodizing looks terrible. The bezel, body and tailcap are all three distinct shades of grey/green. Looks really bad for a light that cost $195. Anyone else have the same finish issue?

 

[Numbers]

I just bought my most expensive flashlight to date, a Surefire LX2. The output is excellent but the anodizing looks terrible. The bezel, body and tailcap are all three distinct shades of grey/green. Looks really bad for a light that cost $195. Anyone else have the same finish issue?

I (perhaps we all) do

 

[greenLED]

It is perfectly normal for HA finish to look that way.

It is not the looks that matter, but the resistance to abrasion that HA confers what SF is worried about.


(Love the avvy, BTW.) :welcome:

 

[Patriot]

Very typical of all Surefire natural HA. Most of us really enjoy the muti-colors from SF but the difficulty of matching HA is an issue for nearly every manufacturer with similar production line assembly steps.

 

[sonrider657]

Why then is there good consistent black coloring in almost all high-end AR/Black Rifle components that are Hard Anodized?

 

[Numbers]

Most of us really enjoy the muti-colors from SF

Cant say that I enjoy them. Perhaps we should do a poll - who enjoys them and who expects better from a $200 light.

I dont really care, but that finish and the discontinuance of knurling is, to me, an indication of cost cutting at SF. "Not that there is anything wrong with it" - these are just tools!

 

[DimeRazorback]

Why then is there good consistent black coloring in almost all high-end AR/Black Rifle components that are Hard Anodized?

All of my Black HA Surefires are well matched.

As mentioned its the natural colouring that is difficult to match well.

I think it adds character.

 

[ElectronGuru]

Why then is there good consistent black coloring in almost all high-end AR/Black Rifle components that are Hard Anodized?

There are several things going on here:

HA is not a coating, like plating. Its a chemical reaction on the surface of the aluminum.

HA/NA (natural) is undyed. The strength/temperature of the solution, time in the bath, composition of the metal, all play a part. Heads, bodies, and tailcaps may be made in different ways with potentially different metals. Typical is head and tail with one shade and body with another.

Anything not natural is dyed, including black. So black HA finishes are more likely (but not certain) to match, because the dyes overpower undyed variations.

 

[sonrider657]

Cant say that I enjoy them. Perhaps we should do a poll - who enjoys them and who expects better from a $200 light.

I dont really care, but that finish and the discontinuance of knurling is, to me, an indication of cost cutting at SF. "Not that there is anything wrong with it" - these are just tools!

I noticed the lack of knurling too, not impressive. My LX2 looks and feels cheaper than my old 6P but costs 3X as much. :sick2:

The output is great though. :twothumbs

 

[Patriot]

Cant say that I enjoy them. Perhaps we should do a poll - who enjoys them and who expects better from a $200 light.

I dont really care, but that finish and the discontinuance of knurling is, to me, an indication of cost cutting at SF. "Not that there is anything wrong with it" - these are just tools!

Good point, I'm not sure if it's "most" of us or not. I should have said "many" instead.

The issue of natural HA color mismatches has always existed and therefore I don't think can be considered a recent "cost cutting" strategy by SF. Regarding the lack of knurling, it's debatable if that could fall under the notion of cost cutting either since it now has additional machining on other portions of the light like the head. Cutting deeply into the metal is typically a more complicated and harder on cutting heads that conventional knurling is but then I'm not a machinist and have only seen it done.

 

[DimeRazorback]

I'm sure I read on here somewhere that the 'Fluted Designs' were in fact more costly than the knurled ones.

 

[ZebraLight]

From what we have observed, non-dyed (natural) Type III anodic coatings usually provide the maximum degree of wear and abrasion resistance. However, matching colors from non-dyed Type III coatings can only be achieved by a well controlled and calibrated anodizing process AND at a great cost. This is especially true with 6061 type materials. It's much easier to obtain consistent results with 3000 series materials such as those used in Calphalon cookware. You'll almost always need a huge anodizing tank and temperature about -3 to -6 degree Celsius maintained throughout the process to begin with. Very few such facilities exist in China, and almost none exist in southern part of China where most Chinese flashlight manufactures are based. It's also very difficult to do it right in southern part of the US especially during the summer.

While black colored Type III coatings are not necessary inferior to the non-dyed Type III coatings, the color can sometimes coverup the substandard coatings. Some manufactures even use colors that look like non-dyed coatings.

I won't get into the details of how we managed to obtain that thick, dark, and color matched natural Type III coatings.

 

[n4zov]

If you really, really want to know the details this is a good start:

http://www.saf.com/content.php?action=showPage&pid=6&cat_id=1

 

[berry580]

Very typical of all Surefire natural HA. Most of us really enjoy the muti-colors from SF but the difficulty of matching HA is an issue for nearly every manufacturer with similar production line assembly steps.

How much did SF pay you?

 

[Snow]

Glad to see Zebralight posting here. Besides my SureFires and Novatacs, my Zebralights are the only lights in my collection to have what appears to be mil-spec HA. If more light companies made their HA on this level, I would be willing to try quite a few more brands.

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

I just bought my most expensive flashlight to date, a Surefire LX2. The output is excellent but the anodizing looks terrible. The bezel, body and tailcap are all three distinct shades of grey/green. Looks really bad for a light that cost $195. Anyone else have the same finish issue?

It's a military tool! It is supposed to be tough not pretty, like a Humvee. You can saw through a pretty looking Chinese "HA-III" flashlight with a SureFire. That's what real Mil Spec Hard-Anodizing should look and feel like, anything else out there is pretty much a fraud.

 

[gallonoffuel]

I actually find AR parts very hard to color match if you take into account the glossiness, or lack thereof, on uppers and lowers. None of my parts have ever matched, and I even have variation within a manufacturer. There are too many variables in the surface prep/machining/anodizing process to really expect identical outcomes.

 

[dcycleman]

all my surefires have been missmatched (the natural ones) doesnt bother me a bit, actually I think its kinda cool. Man, its tough stuff too, my lights are constantly rolling around on the floor of my pickup, getting dropped, going all over the place and they look like new. I really doubt that SF introduced fluted bodies as a cost cutting measure.

 

[ElectronGuru]

For the record, my last batch of C2-HA's was quite well matched, both between the parts and between the units:

But "matching" is as much a variation as not matching

 

[knightrider]

That's a really cool picture ElectronGuru! And C2-HAs are so nice, I think one of the nicest looking SFs in my opinion.