Boring service for Surefire and other aluminum or titanium lights

precisionworks

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At this time I'm not accepting any new orders for boring, clip installation, bead blast, etc.

Early 2018 was the time I discontinued welding & machining services at my shop & devoted 100% to electrical work. 2018 went surprisingly well with lead times running 2-3 weeks for most work (breaker panel replacement, service entrance upgrades, whole house generators, trouble shooting, etc. We're currently running 3-4 weeks out & business continues to increase.

The new website (precisionelectrical.us) certainly helps as does Facebook advertising, even though we spend only a small amount of money. Google search provides many new customers & we still receive a few customers through HomeAdvisor.

All of which force me to focus entirely on electrical work. There will certainly come a time when flashlight machining is again offered but it's somewhere down the road. I don't post much now but I do read the forums & I'm just a click away if you have a flashlight machining question. Please use the email link below (or on my website) as I rarely check for new PM's

I owe a great debt to all of you who entrusted me to machine your lights. I learned much about machining thin walled aluminum & titanium tubes, milling tiny slots for trits, drilling & tapping for McGizmo pocket clips & a host of other mods. When I'm no longer able to work in my shop (which is hopefully a long time from now) my son will relocate the machinery near his home in Peoria IL. I'm planning to teach him everything I know & maybe he'll be pick up the torch (pun intended) & carry on the machining tradition.

I'm blessed to be friends with so many of the members here. There's no other forum that even comes close to CandlePowerForums. CPF is truly a unique community.

Finally, thank you to the Mods & the Admins who so graciously allowed me to set up this sub-forum. They've let me use a good chunk of their bandwidth & never asked for even a penny in return. All of us can help keep CPF alive & healthy by supporting the companies & manufacturers who advertise here.

As Johnny Cash said in his song "I'll meet you further on up the road"



This machining service provides bore, ream & hone your Fury/6P/C2/M2/C3/M3/U2/Z2/M4 & Weapon Lights to accept 18mm cells. Your light body is first bored to near net size (three to six boring passes), reamed twice to assure dead on straightness & triple honed for final finish. Final inside bore diameter is 18.90mm & will accommodate every current 18650 cell made today. The bore is a continuous cylinder without a forward shoulder - because the shoulder interferes with some long body drop ins. The forward shoulder is available on request but takes more setup time so please add $40.00 if you need this feature.

The smaller tube L1/A2/E-series & Scout Lights can be bored for either a 17mm protected cell or for a standard size 18mm cell (like the AW2900 mAh or AW3100 mAh). There's no excess of material to work with so the small tube lights are minimum bored, meaning that the cell will just slip into the bore. The newer AW3400 mAh cells are larger in diameter than any prior AW cell & may not fit in the E-series ... AW2900/AW3100 are the best choice. Final inside bore diameter is 18.50mm & will fit many but not all 18650 cells - you'll need to sort through your cells for best fit. Cell length is important in L-series light & they require the shortest flat top cells in order to function.

NOTE #1: most Surefire machining mods don't require the entire light. Please ship only the parts to be machined, usually just the bare body. Removal of the clip, O-rings, combat rings, etc. is greatly appreciated.

Note #2: The newer X-Series from Surefire have thread locker sealant (glue) at the body to head joint. Their website offers this caution:
The heads of some SureFire flashlights and WeaponLights are fixed in place and are not meant to be removed. If the head of your illumination tool cannot be unscrewed with moderate hands-only effort, then it is not meant to be removed.
I can bore the X-Series lights with head attached but it is much more complex & time consuming & cost is 3X more than a normal (head removed) boring job. Full details in post #199.

Prices below are for 2-week turnaround.

All prices below include return shipping USA. Please email for an overseas shipping quote.

Boring (with head removed)*:
One cell lights are priced the same as two cell.
Two cell lights like the Fury P2X/6P/M2/etc are $100.
Three cell lights like the Fury P3X/9P/C2/M3 & any E-Series or L-Series lights are $120.
Four cell lights like the C3 & M4 are $140.

*Recent X-Series light have required boring with the head attached & cost is 3X more than shown above.

Weapon Lights require a much longer set up & take more machine time. Pricing is based on how many parts have to be machined:
One piece WML's are $140.
Two piece WML's are $160.
Three piece WML's are $180.

PREFERRED PAYMENT - please send a check or money order with your light.

Paypal is accepted for the 2-week service, please add 5% & pay to: [email protected]

LEO-MIL-FF-EMT - please provide proof of status for special pricing & fast turnaround on your duty light.

SHIPPING in USA is by Prioriy Mail with tracking.

SUREFIRE is a registered trademark of SureFire, LLC, 18300 Mount Baldy Circle, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 USA

SureFire, LLC, which manufactures and sells Surefire[emoji768] flashlights is not associated in any way form or fashion with Precision Works. SureFire, LLC, does not sponsor, warrant, or endorse any Precision Works modifications. Modifications to Surefire flashlights will void the warranty. The use of the Surefire[emoji768] trademark is strictly for the purpose of identifying the host flashlight for the Precision Works modifications.
 

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precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

Lots of members have followed the "Boring Thread" for almost a year. During that time it grew to 17 pages with almost 500 posts. Pretty hard for me to locate something among that many posts & almost impossible for others. Having this sub forum allows starting separate threads & better organizing each one. Over the next days & weeks "new" boring thread will have quite a bit of info transferred from the original thread.

This should be a worthwhile improvement for everyone.
 
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precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

Someone (me) typed the wrong email address on all the website pages :(

The email is now correct so please re send any questions or communications that went into cyberspace.
 

precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

Milky sent an LX2 that he'd modded with his MOAL magic. Nearly 600 lumens OTF on my shop built sphere :devil:

The owner wanted to run 1x18650 so this job is similar to boring an E-series tube. The biggest difference is that the battery sits farther down in the E-tube while it's a bit closer to the head in the LX2.

(Edit: can't find the original image but here's an E1E bored for 18350)
 

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ExZeRoEx

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

It's like a magical glow coming out of that shiny tube.
 

precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

It's like a magical glow coming out of that shiny tube.
A McG Sundrop is located just out of the frame in the upper right corner & provides the internal highlights. To reach that level of smoothness requires:

1) boring to a final diameter around 0.720"-0.722" (18.3mm). Half a dozen passes are needed because the factory bore is so small & the boring bar is very large relative to bore diameter.

2) reaming to 0.7283" (18.5mm). This improves the surface finish while producing a true cylindrical shape. Taper & ovality are almost always present after boring & the reamer removes these small defects.

3) ball honing with 320 grit followed by 600 grit & finally 1200 grit. Honing enlarges the bore slightly & it finishes at 0.7288"-0.7291" (18.51-18.52mm). Surface smoothness is much improved over reaming.

Overkill? Probably :nana:
 

smarkum

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

:wave: I love this thread. . . nice to see it starting fresh. Will make searching through it much easier!
I love your pics and descriptions. I have NO idea about milling or any of the mechanical processes you discuss, but I very much enjoy the reading and learning that does come from your descriptive posts! Keep up the great work Barry! :thumbsup:
 

OneBigDay

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

I just found this subforum. Somebody suggested in the V10R Ti+ thread that precisionworks could bore the AA Extender tubes for the V10R Ti to fit a 17500 cell. Is this a service you offer and if so what would it cost?

Also interested in having the "hex" shape ground down to just a simple cylinder that matches the diameter of the rest of the light. This is more of an optional wish but depending on the price I might go for it.

I can't tell whether this forum or an email to the address in OP in the preferred way to ask a question like this. TIA for any replies or suggestions.
 

precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

I just found this subforum. Somebody suggested in the V10R Ti+ thread that precisionworks could bore the AA Extender tubes for the V10R Ti to fit a 17500 cell. Is this a service you offer and if so what would it cost?
If there's enough wall thickness in the AA Extender it could be bored for 17mm. I'd be glad to measure it if you'd send it in.

Image-9853934-153778968-2-WebLarge_0_9f4e096ae859462d782282ec448fae87_1

Boring the extender for 17mm is $20. Turning down the outside to remove the hex & remove the Ti.AA.EXT. marking is $20. Machining three grooves in the smoothed off extender is $10.

can't tell whether this forum or an email to the address in OP in the preferred way to ask a question like this.
Either one is fine.
 
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ExZeRoEx

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

3) ball honing with 320 grit followed by 600 grit & finally 1200 grit. Honing enlarges the bore slightly & it finishes at 0.7288"-0.7291" (18.51-18.52mm). Surface smoothness is much improved over reaming.

Overkill? Probably :nana:

Wow, 1200 grit!
 

nfetterly

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

The smaller tube L1/A2/E-series can be bored for either a 17mm protected cell or for a standard size 18mm cell (like the AW2900 mAh or AW3100 mAh).

I may be missing something - I've got a couple of L1 based lights with Milky heads, being a single (CR123) cell light no advantage boring to 17mm - are you just referring to the A2 & longer e-series.

Is L1 body capable of boring to 18mm?
PD Piston - I have one from a PD-S with no trit slot. I'm presuming that you could put a trit slot in that one?

I've got a couple of lights that arrived back at the office today from Matt (AOTH), so I'll basically have all my lights back (except for 2 at Tom / Torchlab / Titanium Engineering / Oveready) so I need to see what I'm going to send for trit slots & boring. If an L1 can be bored to take a 18350 I think I'm in. I can measure my 18350s (4 or 6?) and send the fattest one or two if that would help. I'm thinking of getting my Mac's Ti SST-50 EDC bored to 18mm for the 18350 (somewhere you previously quoted a price) & probably some trit slots.
 

precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

I've got a couple of L1 based lights with Milky heads, being a single (CR123) cell light no advantage boring to 17mm ...


IMO the most practical bore diameter for either the L1 or the L2 is 17mm. The reason is that both lights have a very tiny O-ring groove at the switch end, but it is large enough for a 17mm "long bore" where the tube is bored straight through without stopping the boring tool.

From the factory the tube contains a central divider, boring removes the central divider and easily allows the use of a 17mm cell



Milky can confirm whether his L1 modded head can be re-modded for use with 18mm, but I know he can do this for the L2 head. The issue with 18mm in both the L1 & the L2 is the O-ring groove at the tail - the 18mm bore has to end before that reduced diameter section (orange line is the negative end of the battery):
Image-9853934-154416161-2-Web_0_333c4692f763daf49b0640cf0bd1ffbd_1


This "short bore" causes the positive end of the battery to interfere with full seating of the head. Milky then re-mods the head so that it works with the new battery location.

PD Piston - I have one from a PD-S with no trit slot. I'm presuming that you could put a trit slot in that one?
Certainly, not a problem. Here are the prices for slotting either an aluminum or brass piston:

1.5x5mm slots are $12 each
1.5x6mm slots are $15 each
2x6mm slots are $22 each
2x8mm slots are $26 each
2x12mm slots are $30 each
2x24mm slots are $36 each

(Longer slots will not fit on a PD piston and are shown only for reference).

If the piston is titanium please double the price shown above.

I'm thinking of getting my Mac's Ti SST-50 EDC bored to 18mm for the 18350 (somewhere you previously quoted a price) & probably some trit slots.
I'll be more than happy to mill all the trit slots you want but I'm no longer boring any custom titanium lights. The large risk far exceeds the small profit that is made. Someone else may do this for you & you may want to post a request in the Materials/Mechanical/Machining forum.
 

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precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

mikesantor

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03-15-2012



Barry,
How is the boring going with all the ti work you have been wrapped up in? Thanks.



Mike, your light is done :)

Surefire E1E bored for 18350 ...

Image-9853934-202203168-2-Web_0_adf783427f965a7dfdd9b731d6b84526_1


Image-9853934-154551182-2-Web_0_d4fb347f45de335bcd2c0752eb532de5_1


Battery tube is first bored to near net size & then reamed to 18.50mm (.7283"). Bore is then refined with a 300 grit ball hone, followed by 600 grit, and finished with 1200 grit. Honing opens up the bore to 18.52mm (.7290"). The 18mm test cells will just slide into the bore without binding but there is no wiggle room - this leaves the wall thickness as great as possible.
 
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mikesantor

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

SWEET!!!

I Have an XML drop in waiting for this baby!
 

precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

I just found an E2E body that has no owner's information. The shipping envelope shows an eBay seller "outfittu.com"

If this is your body please post here or send an email through my website. Just need to know who it belongs to and if you want it bored for 17mm or 18mm.
 

ExZeRoEx

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

I just found an E2E body that has no owner's information. The shipping envelope shows an eBay seller "outfittu.com"

If this is your body please post here or send an email through my website. Just need to know who it belongs to and if you want it bored for 17mm or 18mm.

Maybe it's a gift from an appreciative customer. :laughing:
 

precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

Maybe it's a gift from an appreciative customer. :laughing:
LOL :)

Even more unusual is the McGizmo that was purchased by a member in China from a member in the USA - who shipped it to me for tail trits. I've send emails indicating that the light is done & that I will ship it as soon as payment is received for the trit work but no response.

Now that would be a nice gift :nana:

EDIT - figured this out by going back through my paypal statements & matching purchases with payments by members.
 
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precisionworks

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

Just a note about 18650 batteries ...

For quite some time the AW18650 2900 mAh has been the battery most often used in the lights I've bored. AW now offers an 18650 3100 mAh (red top). Most of you already know this but the reason for posting is to mention that the 3100 is somewhat smaller in diameter than the 2900.

Either battery works well in a full sized light that is final bored to 0.738" (18.75mm). The 3100 is a better choice for the small tube lights like the E-series which are minimum bored to 0.728" (18.5mm). The 3100 cells that I've measured run fully .002"-.003" (.05-.07mm) smaller than the 2900's and slide more easily into the minimum bored lights.

Both the 3100's & the 2900's will fit into the E-series. The 2900 is a snug fit & the 3100 is a more perfect fit. Other brands may or may not fit into the minimum bored E-series so please send a battery or two with any light you want to have bored.

Will the super fat batteries fit into a standard bored light ?

There are a least two brands (RediLast & UltraFire) that run larger in diameter than the AW cells. No one has yet mentioned any issues with using the fatter cells in a standard bored light. Again, sending along a battery or two guarantees that your cells will work properly. I can bore and ream to 0.750" (19.0mm) if you want that done - please include a note with your light or lights stating that you want the larger bore. There's no extra charge for the larger diameter boring.



EDIT: Every light that was on the bench is now bored. Waiting on two pay pal payments so those can ship out. Trit slot milling will start later today & I appreciate everyone being so patient while waiting for their lights to be finished.
 
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F250XLT

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Re: Boring service for Surefire® and other aluminum or titanium lights

Might be sending you a C2 soon...
 
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