modamag
Flashlight Enthusiast
This project have been sitting in my garage for almost 3 weeks. Finally I got sometime to complete it this weekend after recieving some "inspiration" from the last Bay Area Lunch Get-Together.
I just want to thank the following member for your help/encouragement otherwise this mod would never come to fruition.
- JimH: for introducing me to this stuff and helping me learn how to spend more than I can afford.
- will: for sharing your years of wood working and machining experience.
- All CPFers at the BA get together for the encouragement.
- McGizmo: without the natural beauty of the McLux-PD I don't know where we'll be.
It all started out when I last visit the BARCA Knife show with a bunch of CPFers. I found several piece of exotic wood which caught my eyes. So being a CPFer I bought what I could afford (more than enough!) witht the intention of making some nice toys with this.
Here's my log of the procedure and result. I hope you enjoy it!
First I started out with a square stock of Maidou Burl.
I mounted it on my 4-jaw chuck, and started taking 0.070" cuts to make it round.
The smell of this wood is just intoxicating. It (the smell) remained in my garage for the next couple days.
Now we have a round stock to work with. Yippie!
First I started drilling & boring out the inside for the piston can (0.005" wall clearance as Don designed).
And provide a small shoulder for my threaded insert.
Now I can start turning the OD to provide some features
Using the 60 degree bit will leave a nice little chamfer so I don't have to do much sanding afterward.
Using my favorite cut-off bit (not necessary for wood).
Now we have a partially finished wooden battery tube.
Total time to do this (including setup) is ~ 2 hrs due to many baby interupts.
Now I need to get my 3-Jaw chuck back on. Quick check on the runout (<0.001") with the custom QC-dial indicator and we're good to go.
I could have went with my 5C collet but that would require more time for setup, and I'm just plain lazy.
The local metal supply shop wasn't open on Sunday and I didn't want to wait till next week so I turn this chuck of stock (1.500") down to 1.000".
I then started out by facing the stock (1.325").
Taking a 0.050"/pass.
Need to give it some 20TPI thread but first getting the ID correct.
Voila! The mating insert.
Total time to do this (including setup) is ~ 1 hrs.
To finish off the wood operation I remount the wooden battery tube back into the 3-jaw and perform drill/bore/chamfer.
Not much since it was bored from the other side earlier.
Even though this wood have been "stablelized" I make sure that it will not fall apart by applying a coat of 4:1 clear slow cure epoxy. It applied 2 coats and let them cure over a 36 hrs period.
The epoxy also gave it a very nice glossy finished! Thinking back I could have mixed it with glow powder which would have been really cool!
Finished results with the remain excess stub.
Sitting next to another one of a kind (The Golden PD).
I just want to thank the following member for your help/encouragement otherwise this mod would never come to fruition.
- JimH: for introducing me to this stuff and helping me learn how to spend more than I can afford.
- will: for sharing your years of wood working and machining experience.
- All CPFers at the BA get together for the encouragement.
- McGizmo: without the natural beauty of the McLux-PD I don't know where we'll be.
It all started out when I last visit the BARCA Knife show with a bunch of CPFers. I found several piece of exotic wood which caught my eyes. So being a CPFer I bought what I could afford (more than enough!) witht the intention of making some nice toys with this.
Here's my log of the procedure and result. I hope you enjoy it!
First I started out with a square stock of Maidou Burl.
I mounted it on my 4-jaw chuck, and started taking 0.070" cuts to make it round.
The smell of this wood is just intoxicating. It (the smell) remained in my garage for the next couple days.
Now we have a round stock to work with. Yippie!
First I started drilling & boring out the inside for the piston can (0.005" wall clearance as Don designed).
And provide a small shoulder for my threaded insert.
Now I can start turning the OD to provide some features
Using the 60 degree bit will leave a nice little chamfer so I don't have to do much sanding afterward.
Using my favorite cut-off bit (not necessary for wood).
Now we have a partially finished wooden battery tube.
Total time to do this (including setup) is ~ 2 hrs due to many baby interupts.
Now I need to get my 3-Jaw chuck back on. Quick check on the runout (<0.001") with the custom QC-dial indicator and we're good to go.
I could have went with my 5C collet but that would require more time for setup, and I'm just plain lazy.
The local metal supply shop wasn't open on Sunday and I didn't want to wait till next week so I turn this chuck of stock (1.500") down to 1.000".
I then started out by facing the stock (1.325").
Taking a 0.050"/pass.
Need to give it some 20TPI thread but first getting the ID correct.
Voila! The mating insert.
Total time to do this (including setup) is ~ 1 hrs.
To finish off the wood operation I remount the wooden battery tube back into the 3-jaw and perform drill/bore/chamfer.
Not much since it was bored from the other side earlier.
Even though this wood have been "stablelized" I make sure that it will not fall apart by applying a coat of 4:1 clear slow cure epoxy. It applied 2 coats and let them cure over a 36 hrs period.
The epoxy also gave it a very nice glossy finished! Thinking back I could have mixed it with glow powder which would have been really cool!
Finished results with the remain excess stub.
Sitting next to another one of a kind (The Golden PD).
:thumbsup:
