Hi guys,
I was contacted a ways back by Trace Rinaldi about possibly contributing a custom light to a project that he and Dave Erickson were working on for the Wounded Warrior Project, specifically a raffle prize that would go to benefit those who went in harms way, on our behalf.
I was flattered to be contacted about participating in such a cause but also a bit intimidated. Trace told me that the gun and knife were of stainless steel and carbon fiber and we agreed that I could get away with using one of my Ti lights but it would be cool to have some carbon fiber integrated some how.
I had played with carbon and carbon/ kevlar a few years ago in regards to flashlights. I have had an idea in the back of my mind based on that experience but never got around to giving it a go. I decided this would be a good time to see if I could pull it off. If I failed, I could always get a piece of CF and somehow integrate it as an element on the light. Trace apologized that there wasn't a whole lot of lead time available and i decided to get right on it and complete my contribution hopefully leaving me some time for a second attempt should the first fail. :green:
What I did was wet out a piece of carbon fiber sock that I slipped over a Ti McClickie pak that I had modified by machining off the ribs in the lathe. I wrapped some peel ply over the sock, added some wicking material and then stuck it in a plastic sleeve that I sealed and then vacuum bagged. I put the assembly in the electric furnace and let it post cure for a day at 140 F. When it was curred and after breaking the excess crap away, I put the pak in the lathe and cleaned up the carbon sleeve some with water and some fine abrasives as well as dressing the ends with a cutting tool.
The heavy weave left some ragged looking ends and I cut down with a bevel at each end to produce a slight groove. I filled these with O-rings I had on hand but now that I look again at the pics, I am bummed that I didn't try to source some thinner O-rings. In hindsight, I should have wrapped a single long fiber of carbon at both ends to an over sized diameter and this I could have machined back to the net diameter, leaving a solid carbon termination at each end.
Anyway, my contribution:
The leather work was done by John Ralston
The Set:
Dave has done a real nice job illustrating his work and detailing the raffle package on the 1911 forum, HERE. He provided me a link to the sponsor's page and place where anyone interested can purchase tickets, HERE.
I would suspect that some of you already know about this but others like myself are not involved or aware of this realm.
I should also point out that the machine shop who does my Ti parts for me did a couple heads for me that they included some tear drop features on. I had considered such a feature but opted to keep the head simpler and not have any feature carry through from the LunaSol heads. Because I only have a couple of these heads, I felt one of them would be a better choice for this "one off".
In the spirit of supporting the Wounded Warriors and getting the word out, I felt I should make a post here and also fess up on my humble contribution to the program. :o
I was contacted a ways back by Trace Rinaldi about possibly contributing a custom light to a project that he and Dave Erickson were working on for the Wounded Warrior Project, specifically a raffle prize that would go to benefit those who went in harms way, on our behalf.
I was flattered to be contacted about participating in such a cause but also a bit intimidated. Trace told me that the gun and knife were of stainless steel and carbon fiber and we agreed that I could get away with using one of my Ti lights but it would be cool to have some carbon fiber integrated some how.
I had played with carbon and carbon/ kevlar a few years ago in regards to flashlights. I have had an idea in the back of my mind based on that experience but never got around to giving it a go. I decided this would be a good time to see if I could pull it off. If I failed, I could always get a piece of CF and somehow integrate it as an element on the light. Trace apologized that there wasn't a whole lot of lead time available and i decided to get right on it and complete my contribution hopefully leaving me some time for a second attempt should the first fail. :green:
What I did was wet out a piece of carbon fiber sock that I slipped over a Ti McClickie pak that I had modified by machining off the ribs in the lathe. I wrapped some peel ply over the sock, added some wicking material and then stuck it in a plastic sleeve that I sealed and then vacuum bagged. I put the assembly in the electric furnace and let it post cure for a day at 140 F. When it was curred and after breaking the excess crap away, I put the pak in the lathe and cleaned up the carbon sleeve some with water and some fine abrasives as well as dressing the ends with a cutting tool.
The heavy weave left some ragged looking ends and I cut down with a bevel at each end to produce a slight groove. I filled these with O-rings I had on hand but now that I look again at the pics, I am bummed that I didn't try to source some thinner O-rings. In hindsight, I should have wrapped a single long fiber of carbon at both ends to an over sized diameter and this I could have machined back to the net diameter, leaving a solid carbon termination at each end.
Anyway, my contribution:
The leather work was done by John Ralston
The Set:
Dave has done a real nice job illustrating his work and detailing the raffle package on the 1911 forum, HERE. He provided me a link to the sponsor's page and place where anyone interested can purchase tickets, HERE.
I would suspect that some of you already know about this but others like myself are not involved or aware of this realm.
I should also point out that the machine shop who does my Ti parts for me did a couple heads for me that they included some tear drop features on. I had considered such a feature but opted to keep the head simpler and not have any feature carry through from the LunaSol heads. Because I only have a couple of these heads, I felt one of them would be a better choice for this "one off".
In the spirit of supporting the Wounded Warriors and getting the word out, I felt I should make a post here and also fess up on my humble contribution to the program. :o
