Trits and Surefires...

Hey everyone...

I'm cooking up a few little projects.

I'm contemplating putting tritium locators on a couple of Surefires...namely an E2E and an A2. I don't have either in front of me, so I'm not sure where the best spots would be, but I'm comtemplating 3 vials on each head for 360-degree visibility.

Are the E2E and A2 heads thick enough to cut the vial in flush (or below-flush) with the surface? I'm thinking about going approx 2.25mm deep, but I'm almost positive this is too deep for either head (again this is from looking at a ruler and going on memory from the lights, which are not with me today). These will both be daily users, so I'd want to protect the vials as much as possible. Perhaps the body would be a better bet...with all that extra Al they're putting in the tube these days I should have plenty of material there... But I'd really prefer to have these away from the hand in the event of breakage (not so much because of the tritium, but of the glass).

Any other advice for actually doing the cuts? I don't have a milling machine, so this will be done the old fashioned way (well...kinda...I'll use a Dremmel instead of hand-tools...) I'd hate to go too deep and cut a hole in a SF. I love their warranty, but I'm almost positive they'd tell me to take a hike if I called and said, "I really like your lights, but I was cutting holes in one with a Dremmel and made an OOOPS!" :candle:

Anyway...thanks in advance!!

~~Mike

I'm also interested in inserting tritium into the A2...but as of yet I dont know how...except to extract the LED ring and install the tritium vials under the base of the 5mm LEDs

the only place were if you make a mistake and will not affect the water resistance rating nor the overall cosmetics on the bezel would be the high points on the anti-roll hex ring...

Im looking at my old [square bodied] A2 and your going to have to be very very careful about the depth you will need to cut if you choose to insert them on the bezel...the thickness is relative to a tritium vial and perhaps even smaller.

I don't know if it'll help, but here's a couple ways I've done it:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/133233&highlight=tritium+trivergata
And BTW, the Dremel is a good way to mess up your light - try it on something else that doesn't amtter first, you'll see what I mean - it'll jump around all over the work piece. On the ARC I used a file and ALOT of time.

I finally have a mill, but I haven't had a chance to try making vial grooves yet.....and to think, that was one of the first things I wanted to do on it.

Josh

Illum_the_nation said:

...the only place were if you make a mistake and will not affect the water resistance rating nor the overall cosmetics on the bezel would be the high points on the anti-roll hex ring...

Click to expand...

I think you're onto something. Assuming 5mm long trits, it would still be very close. I would probably need 5.5mm-6mm in the channel, and I think 5.25-5.5mm would be about the most I could safely cut (and this is from looking at the 6P I have on hand, I bet the A2 and E2E will be even tighter). It would be difficult (at best) to cut across the high point between two of the flat spots, too...but still the best bet spot for the head. The body may be a better option after all. :mecry:

I can see several good spots on the 6P, but I don't really need or want trits on that, so I'll need to figure something out on the others. I think a ruler or micrometer, a few SF's, and a couple of cans of beer should get the ideas flowing tonight.... :twothumbs

Thanks for the ideas so far, guys!!

Illum_the_nation said:

I'm also interested in inserting tritium into the A2...but as of yet I dont know how...except to extract the LED ring and install the tritium vials under the base of the 5mm LEDs

Click to expand...

Only a madman would do such bizarre mod. :naughty: