Ti Universal pocket clip

[ipreferpie]

Hi Don,

Do you still have any Ti universal pocket clips available? I'm thinking of drilling/tapping my E2D tailcap and to have it attached. Would be great if I can buy one

Thanks,
Joe

 

[McGizmo]

Hi Joe,
If I am not mistaken, the "Universal Ti Clip" is the same clip I still use on my lights so, yes, these are still available. I have sold the clip with Ti screws to folks who have requested one for $25 plus postage. I don't purchase these from the vendor in large quantities with the intent of selling them as accessories. I keep enough on hand for my lights. They are 6-4 titanium and I know from personal experience that they work well and retain their form and spring action in typical use. That said, I was recently directed by a fellow CPF member to a source for a clip that certainly has a very similar appearance to my clip and is reported as a titanium alloy. You can find the clip, HERE.


I don't know if it has similar physical properties to my clip as regards holding its spring tension but it sure as heck is offered at a better price!! A few years back I looked into sourcing some Ti components off shore but could only get parts done in grade 2 (CP) and my experience has been that the 6-4 alloy is significantly better in applications where one wants the component to retain its shape and "spring". My clips come from a vendor here in the states and we have a great business relationship which I hope will continue well into the future.

In fairness I am not sure is deserved, the clip I have linked to may well be just as effective as the clip I use and again, is offered at a price I won't attempt to compete with. You can probably get some feed back from folks familiar with the clip and it may be the direction you will want to take. If it's a good clip then it is certainly a good deal! :shrug:

 

[ibcj]

FWIW - I would buy this clip directly from Don, even if it were identical and cheaper. Many of his products and ideas have been copied without fair compensation. Don has always offered an excellent product at a very fair price. I've owned countless McGizmo lights in the past six years, and hope to be able to buy many, many more in the future.

I remember checking the forum a few years back on a Christmas night and seeing a new light for sale in a metal that I hadn't seen anyone else offering (titanium). It was the listing for the McLux III-T. IIRC it was very fairly priced at $385. I ended up buying several of them. Within a few weeks the prices on the secondary market had skyrocketed to $800+. Because the initial run was around 35 lights, and there was nothing else being offered like it, demand was high and supply was low. It was some time before we saw the first runs of the McLux III Ti PD. Don could have raised the prices significantly on those runs, but he chose not to. I even remember him commenting about keeping the price at a fair profit margin for himself. That type of business decision speaks volumes of Don's character, and I applaud him for it. Don will have my business as long as he chooses to continue selling lights.

 

[Bass]

It can't have gone unnoticed to several members here that the Nitecore clip is a direct copy of Don's clip (in design at least), although there is no way it will be similar quality, or use 6-4 alloy. For a US retailer to sell them for $8, they must be buying them for $3-4$ - makes the manufacturing cost probably about a $1.50. Just the raw material of 6-4 alloy without stamping, forming, tapping and finishing is more than this.

Regardless of the details, there is only one McGizmo clip and that's the one Don puts on his lights. It has to be the best flashlight clip ever designed, so not too surprising that it gets plagiarised by others.

To the OP - you can buy these from the sandwich shoppe but I see they are out of stock ATM.

 

[Bass]

Sorry to take this way OT but I think they like your McClicky switch as well oo:

Original:

Imitation:

I have a BC10 and the clicky 'feel' is somewhat similar - a bit softer than standard clickies.

 

[scout24]

I will admit to having purchased one of the imitation (I am being very kind here) clips when I was offering an install service for clips on a different brand of lights in the Marketplace, which I don't do anymore. No comparison! Much thinner stock than Don's, WAY too flexible, not as secure, not even in the same ballpark. Spend the $25.00 and have the best pocketclip in the industry. I would not have broached this with my $.02 if Don had not done so first. Buyer beware!

 

[McGizmo]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Joe,
To be more direct, if you decide you want one of my clips, feel free to contact me.

Bass,
That switch does look familiar! Thanks for point it out.

 

[precisionworks]

I have sold the clip with Ti screws to folks who have requested one for $25 plus postage.

They are a bargain at that price. Anyone could certainly copy the design & sell it ... probably for as little as $50 each as long as their CNC shop could run at least 50 parts at a time. They'd be REALLY expensive in small quantity runs.

Whenever a part is commercially available at a decent price it's just about impossible to duplicate that part for less money.

 

[octaf]

I know, universal Ti clip is thinner than the original.
I guess that the Ti material itself is not the same either.

 

[tino_ale]

I will never buy a product that is a blatant copy of an existing product offered by a fair person or company.

I would only begin to consider the alternative if the original is a rip-off and/or borderline to a scam.

 

[Mattaus]

I was looking for something else and stumbled across this thread. Any chance someone can give me the specs on this clip McGizmo sells? Like the distance from center point top center point of the 2 mounting holes and the total length of the clip? Might fit a light I'm modifying and it would look very nice indeed...

 

[samuraishot]

Hi Don,

I'll be receiving soon one of your McClicky Paks from another member here who had it coated with AlTiN. He said that he stripped original the screws when he removed the clip to get the coating done. I was wondering if you have 2 spare screws to sell. Thanks!

ss

 

[Drywolf]

Hi Don,

I'll be receiving soon one of your McClicky Paks from another member here who had it coated with AlTiN. He said that he stripped original the screws when he removed the clip to get the coating done. I was wondering if you have 2 spare screws to sell. Thanks!

ss

If not you could buy them here.

http://www.lunsfordracing.com/mm5/m...=CTGY&Store_Code=LUNS&Category_Code=STDBUTTON

I have a set of 4-40 x 3/16". Measure yours and if you are interested PM me.

Thanks,
Frank



.

 

[samuraishot]

If not you could buy them here.

http://www.lunsfordracing.com/mm5/m...=CTGY&Store_Code=LUNS&Category_Code=STDBUTTON

I have a set of 4-40 x 3/16". Measure yours and if you are interested PM me.

Thanks,
Frank



.

Hi Frank, thanks for the info and offer! I'll let you know once the Pak arrives :thumbsup:

 

[fyrstormer]

Sorry to take this way OT but I think they like your McClicky switch as well oo:

Original:

Imitation:

I have a BC10 and the clicky 'feel' is somewhat similar - a bit softer than standard clickies.

AHA! So I can replace the clicky switches in my TC-R2s with McClickys. Good to know.

Anyway, regarding the McGizmo clone-clip -- it does work well on the lights it comes on, but I'm not sure it would properly fit a Gizmo, or that a McGizmo clip would properly fit a Jetbeam light either, as the clone-clip is a few mm's longer. I've bought a couple extra clone-clips for use on some Jetbeams that didn't come with them, but I haven't bothered to try to fit them on any other brands of lights and I doubt I will.

From my perspective as a "pro-sumer", I think Don's clips are the best I've ever seen, and I've wished many times I could have them on other lights that I use a lot. While I agree that I would want to get licensing royalties for anything I might design, it's hard for me to get too upset at Sysmax Inc. (parent of Jetbeam/Nitecore/Sunwayman) for cloning what is essentially a strip of die-cut metal. Setting aside all intellectual property issues, I'm just glad to have the best clip design I've ever seen available to me on both of my favorite brands of lights.

I have no idea what Don's finances are, but hopefully his business is doing well enough that these little ripoffs are more beneficial to Sysmax than they are detrimental to him. For my part, I know he's gotten more money from me already than Sysmax ever will. Hopefully this can be chalked up to a case of imitation being the highest form of flattery.

 

[fyrstormer]

If not you could buy them here.

http://www.lunsfordracing.com/mm5/m...=CTGY&Store_Code=LUNS&Category_Code=STDBUTTON

I have a set of 4-40 x 3/16". Measure yours and if you are interested PM me.

Thanks,
Frank



.

I bought some spare screws from Lunsford maybe a year and a half ago, and I was disappointed with the quality. A couple of them were as good as Don's clip screws, but the rest all had tolerance issues especially around the driver hole in the head. Clearly the screws Don gets are hand-picked from the best of each batch. I'd say to just buy twice as many as you think you'll need and pick out the best among them, but given the price for each screw it seems more reasonable to just buy them directly from Don and not have to wonder about the quality.

 

[samuraishot]

I bought some spare screws from Lunsford maybe a year and a half ago, and I was disappointed with the quality. A couple of them were as good as Don's clip screws, but the rest all had tolerance issues especially around the driver hole in the head. Clearly the screws Don gets are hand-picked from the best of each batch. I'd say to just buy twice as many as you think you'll need and pick out the best among them, but given the price for each screw it seems more reasonable to just buy them directly from Don and not have to wonder about the quality.

Thanks for the heads up on the screws fyrstormer, if Don doesn't have any to spare, then I guess I'll have to try my luck with lunsford.

 

[Drywolf]

Clearly the screws Don gets are hand-picked from the best of each batch.

Maybe yours were hand picked too. :devil:

 

[Drywolf]

Maybe Don performs an extra step to the screws he uses when building his lights. Looks to me as though the edges were eased a bit.


............................................................Ordered from Lundsford

........................................................Don's screws on my 2xAA tube

Sorry the pics are not perfect, I'm still using an old point and shoot.

Frank

:shrug:


.

 

[fyrstormer]

The two "good" screws I got direct from Lunsford looked like the ones on your 2xAA tube, and indeed like the ones on all of my Gizmos. The rest looked the ones in your first picture, with thinner metal around the top of the driver hole. Unfortunately, in addition to not looking as nice, they also stripped more easily than the original McGizmo screws I replaced with them.

I checked the height of the screw heads; the ones with the thinner metal around the driver hole are not taller than the "good" screws, and filing the heads down to produce the flat rim around the driver hole will cause the screws to be noticeably shorter than McGizmo stock. The problem is the ones Lunsford is selling don't have the same tolerances, and the heads are sometimes too small.