Sold/Expired WTB Tritium Vials (13) for Tain Flute

I recently acquired a beautiful Tain Flute. It has 13 trits of assorted colors. The sad part is that they are dim.

1) How can I replace them? I don't want to damage the light!

2) What size do I need?

Thanks

Bob

The size is 1.55x5mm. You can get them from Bart in the "WTS Other Personal" forum over at the CPF marketplace.

But how old are the trits? That light is probably less than a year old so the tritium should still be close to max brightness.

Tritium is not overwhelmingly bright. Do you have any other tritium to compare it to?

The size may have been 1.55 x 6 mm.

I looked up the original Tain thread where he says 1.5 x 6 mm. That's why I am confused!
As to glow, I compare it to the trits in my MBI HF and the Tain is very dim compared to those. I am surprised since I expect the glow to be good for 10 or more years. Maybe I'm expecting too much?

One thing you may not realize, is all those nice photos of tritium vials are done with long-exposure shots. This is my MBI HF flashlight, which i installed a couple green trits in it.


I'm a hobbyist photographer, so these shots are fun for me. This particular one is at f8 with a 25 second exposure, in a darkened room. If you look at a tritium vial in daylight, it won't look like it is glowing at all. As KarstGhost says, these are best with almost no ambient light. The whole reason (to me, at least) is to be able to find your flashlight sitting on your nightstand in a darkened room.

~D

RTR882 said:

I looked up the original Tain thread where he says 1.5 x 6 mm. That's why I am confused!
As to glow, I compare it to the trits in my MBI HF and the Tain is very dim compared to those. I am surprised since I expect the glow to be good for 10 or more years. Maybe I'm expecting too much?

Click to expand...

The tritium's are 1.5 x 6mm.

What colors do you have on the Flute, and the MBI HF?

Some tritium colors are brighter, and some are dimmer. Green, Yellow, Ice Blue are the brighter ones, and other colors are dimmer.

Larger vials are also brighter, i.e, 2x12mm trits are brighter than 1.5x6mm trits.

Tain, thanks for the reply! The trits are assorted colors. The ones on the MBF are green which probably explains why the ones on the Flute look dim. Is it possible to switch them to green without doing harm? BTW, I love the light!!

Best,
Bob

Switching vials is possible, and I won't speak for all who have done this, but for me it is a generally destructive process. Not in regards to the light itself, but in regards to the vials. You have to use heat to soften the Norland to the point where it can be removed. The process of heating the norland/trits and/or the process of picking out the Norland - generally the vials break. It is about 50/50 for me depending on the type of setting, and it takes a long time. I'm just saying to expect it to cost a good amount of money to replace 13 trit vials.

Thanks Sean, I'm not worried about breaking the vials but I don't want to damage the light itself!

What colors does the light have now and what colors were you thinking of going to. We may be able to help out to let you know if some of those colors will be brighter or not.

Presently arainbow of different colors, all the ones available I think. Would prefer all green for max glow.

On Ti and SS lights I've got great results with acetone. Sinking for a while (depends on NOA61 volume and age) the part of the light where the trits are installed makes them release without damage and they become reusable.

Did you use nail polish remover or do I need the industrial stuff? Also has anyone tried clear silicone instead of Norland?

I tried industrial stuff (use gloves) but I don't see any inconvenience using the commercial nail polish remover (maybe a longer time?).
Clear silicone is a soft stuff inaproppriate for that purpose. I've tried polyester resine with catalyst and got optimal results but it's more complicated to manage that NOA61