My first attempt at ..... well you'll see

Purchased the tactical head via ebay, 6P body (CPFmarketplace) and Z49 (CPFmarketplace). Added a cheap but awesome chinese drop in and I thought I had my new work light.

After about.... mmmmmm 45 minutes, I decided to lightly gring down all the knurling on the body and tailcap to have a black/silver contrast. Once done, I was not impressed and really didn't care for it one bit. Not that it looked bad, because I am very patient and took my time ensuring it would look great and if you like the black/silver look, it was amazing. It's just that I didn't care for the look once I had done the grinding.

Step 2 involved my heading to Canadian Tire and picking up a jar of aluminium wheel/mag polish. Got home, broke out the dremel with a buffing wheel and went to work buffing the grinded down knurling. As it tirns out, I did not like the way it looked either once I was done (too much black between the checkers on the knurling at this point). So again, I switched ends on the dremel and took the knurling down even more on the body and tail cap. Then another dremel end change and again, buffing time.... *buff* *buff* *buff* getting tired at this point. Very tedious with a 1 inch buffing wheel. At this point I stopped.


Go ahead, have a :toilet: or :sleepy: break... lots more to go


Step 3/day3 - I head to the local Princess Auto and purchase an 8 inch buffing wheel for my bench grinder. Once back at home, I decided to remove even more of the black coating. For this, I decided to use a wire wheel on the dremel. Well I must say... if you do slow and are patient, it removes the paint beautifully and efficiently. One HUGE downfall though, the wire score/gouge the aluminium very easily. With this I was not impressed.

Step 4 - Getting the bench grinder going and buffing the light. I took the buffing wheel and placed large amounts of buffing compound on it and went to work. *SUPER BUFF* *SUPER BUFF* *SUPER BUFF* :wow: does that shine the aluminium quick! So long as there is compound, it does an amazing job. No compound, only heat is created and the body is too hot to hold. This process took me about 25 minutes to do. I was nowl ooking at my creation and was impressed, super impressed in fact because of what I had created on my own. I was not impressed with the fact that because the body became a little too hot at one point, my grip released and the body got jammed in the bench grinder. No biggy, more compound and POOF, looks great once again. So now I am sitting looking at my creation once more and really dislike that there is any black finish at all with all the polished. Now I get out the wire wheel (yes, the gouger) and remove ALL the fisnish.

Step 5 - the final process. I buff the entire light, body, tail and even the head. With patience, the gouging/scoring comes right out.

Hope you like it...

Pre Step 5
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/supawabb/IMG_0441.jpg

Step 5 complete
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/supawabb/IMG_0443.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/supawabb/IMG_0445.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/supawabb/IMG_0446.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/supawabb/IMG_0448.jpg





I look forward to doing more in the future. Up next is my 3D Malkoff Mag

Over sized images removed

:goodjob:

Looks pretty PIMP! Everyones gonna see you coming wether or not the torch is on, LOL!

That reminds me I gotta buff my rims:sick2:

Wow lots of work!!
I have always found this type of work is best done by professionals.
If the parts to be polished are anodized I have them stripped first. This avoids the marks made by the grinding process.

The end product you have these is nice. Not to my taste but still nice.
I tend to prefer the anodized finish for several reasons. No finger prints is one. Bare aluminum will oxidize and dull down. It also scratches VERY easily. So if it is for looks only this finish may require maintenance.

I had some titanium flashlight clips which I tried a home polishing job on... I learned very quickly that it was better to pay (literally a buck or two) to have the work done. It is also much quicker.
My polishing shop can polish a 6P in about 10 minutes...Paying attention to the details.
Oh and one other thing.
IMHO Polishing shops are the dirtiest places on the planet. I find it amazing that they are able to produce such beautiful stuff in such dirty places.
No matter how much work you did on that What I like the most about your project is how much fun you had doing it.
That is the cool part.
Keep having fun.
Yaesumofo

Great looking light! That was a lot of work! I think you can soak anodized items in drain clearing chemicals (Drano, Liquid Plumber) and it will remove the anodize. Might want to give it a try.

My concern would be soaking a tailcap in such liquids... anyone ever try this before? or an easier way to remove the anodizing?

Now that is nice! Good job! :thumbsup:

Anytime you choose to chemically remove anodizing you need to completely disassemble the light or switch the only thing you want going into the bath is aluminum.

Yaesumofo

supawabb said:

My concern would be soaking a tailcap in such liquids... anyone ever try this before? or an easier way to remove the anodizing?

Click to expand...

I kinda like it. I'd like it more if there was no black at all but the head looks great!

jugg2 said:

Great looking light! That was a lot of work! I think you can soak anodized items in drain clearing chemicals (Drano, Liquid Plumber) and it will remove the anodize. Might want to give it a try.

Click to expand...

Just use some caution. The anodizing is removed by the chemicals in the drain cleaner (primarily sodium hydroxide) attacking the underlying aluminum. Don't leave your parts in too long.
barry

just wondering...will the aluminium body stay nice and shiny? because i've been tryin to sand down the body tube of my black Solarforce L2 to fit 18650 but i accidentally nicked abit of the outside with the sand paper so i dunno if i should try cover it up or sand it out.

...oh and whoever said to just buy some 17670 instead was probably right lol...ive been sanding and grind away for about 8hrs and i've only gotten about half way there...and not to mention my hands are sore

will the aluminium body stay nice and shiny?

Click to expand...

It will, if you apply clear powdercoat. Left bare, aluminum reacts with air (actually the oxygen in the air) to form aluminum oxide, which has a dull appearance.

WOW I just may try that!

That looks sweet. Are you going to clear coat it to keep it looking like that w/o polishing all the time?

-LT

I will inquire about price for the clear clear coating. Maybe get it done.

Verrrrrrryyy cool, my friend. If I could get one like that, I know what my next SF would be!!!

nbp/nick

Glad you like it :twothumbs

WOWOWOWOWOWAWAWAWEEWA!!!



Any interest in making more (seriously)? If it held that shine after coating, that would be bada$$!

Oh, and PLEASE tell me you put a Malkoff, Dereelight or BOG in that thing... It is no longer a humble, simple 6p!

Very nice...I want one now,wow,my fingers hurt jus lookin at it....alright,how much lol.I think you jus wanted a few of us to beat our hands up as bad as you have,and you know a small part of us will...excellent job you completed all by yourself,I would definately be proud of it:twothumbs.

Wow ! That 6P looks amazing !! :thumbsup: