18650 Powered Surefire 6P

Boomer8404

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
30
I had an extra 6P and an extra 18650 laying around, and I know I'm not the only one who hates buying CR123's. I have some RCR123's, but those are tasked to other lights, and I wanted a backup that could be used with all three types of batteries if needed.

I watched a youtube video of a guy who used the "sandpaper wrapped around a taped up socket extension in a power drill method." Well suffice it to say after 2 house of getting after it w/ 80 grip emry paper and a corded power drill, very little progress had been made. So I decided to just go chuck it up in my old Atlas/Craftsman lathe and bore it out, which took maybe 30 minutes to do including setup. Don't asking me why I decided to use the sandpaper & power drill method, maybe it was because I wanted to sit on my butt watching a movie, lol!

I don't know the actual measurement of metal removed because of the sanding I did before taking it to the lathe, and I didn't measure it either. I figure though, I opened the bore diameter up by at least .040" or so, just enough for the 18650 freely slide in and not be snug. I had to do it in two operations, flipping the body, because my boring bar is too short to make a full pass through the bore.

But, it works though, w/ a cheap Chinese ebay special LED 650 lumen drop-in!

P.S. I will post some pics later, my internet at work in trolling me and I can't pull up photobucket.
 

ven

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
22,533
Location
Manchester UK
For my 6p i just bought a few 16650 cells, yeh i know i am lazy :laughing: and not as flexible as 18650 for higher A asks...........but i am:)

For higher V drop ins i have some 16340 cells ready and waiting! (2x16340)
 

Boomer8404

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Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
30
I did some measuring and the original bore measures .688-.689 average for several of my CR123 Surefires. Resizing the bore to fit the 18650 took the diameter to .740. So total material removal was .026, opening the bore diameter up by .052.
 

sween1911

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
2,049
Location
Pennsylvania
Funny this should come up, last night I was messing with this. I had a dowel and sandpaper chucked into my old giant battleship gray Milwaukee drill, which I chuck into the vise and use as my lathe to hog out the inside of my 6P to get an 18650 through it. Still not there yet. Lots of aluminum dust everywhere though.
 

Boomer8404

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
30
Funny this should come up, last night I was messing with this. I had a dowel and sandpaper chucked into my old giant battleship gray Milwaukee drill, which I chuck into the vise and use as my lathe to hog out the inside of my 6P to get an 18650 through it. Still not there yet. Lots of aluminum dust everywhere though.

Oh yeah, that aluminum dust gets everywhere. I'm glad I got my boring bar setup going, I much prefer the mess of chips over dust lol. I just got 6P/6P LED's bodies number 4 & 5 bored over this past weekend. Getting my process refined. Takes me about 5-6 passes and I can bore one in about 30-35 mins.

How did yours turn out?
 

kosPap

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
2,909
Location
Naoussa Greece
I did some measuring and the original bore measures .688-.689 average for several of my CR123 Surefires. Resizing the bore to fit the 18650 took the diameter to .740. So total material removal was .026, opening the bore diameter up by .052.

you are a hasty guy....if yuo had search the forum some you would find a critical dimension to follow.
0.5mm off material left under the tailcap oring.

also it is prudent to check inner tube wall to outer body allignment. the Surefire that broke off were missaligned. with a lathe and a dial this is easy.

nevertheless congrats!
 

RIX TUX

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
451
Just bored my 6p led today, here is the method I used...
I Used a 18v drill, took 2 batteries
Take the o rings off
I used a socket wrench extension wrapped in duct tape to
get it to the right size

Cut a piece of 60 grit sandpaper taped (about 1/2
inch bigger on each end than the tube) and wrapped around in the right direction
the drill rotates

Used a heavy leather work gloves to hold the
body

It gets kinda hot if run fast so I would rinse with
water every 10-15 minutes and try to put a battery in it

I Had to change the sandpaper 3-4 times and add more duct
tape

You might use a bad battery when testing it because the
wrapper may get damaged

Bore it enough so the battery can fall out on its own,
the battery should not be a tight fit

Dont bore it too big, the tube is thinner near the end
and where the o rings are

After it is bored enough I smoothed it out with fine
steel wool

It is important to get the tube smooth so the batteries
wont get damaged being taken in and out

Took about an hour and a half
One of my nitecore batteries would not fit and I didn't want vto bore anymore,
the nc battery seems to have a lot of wrap or thick paper but I have 20 other batteries so it was no big deal
 

Boomer8404

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 24, 2014
Messages
30
you are a hasty guy....if yuo had search the forum some you would find a critical dimension to follow.
0.5mm off material left under the tailcap oring.

also it is prudent to check inner tube wall to outer body allignment. the Surefire that broke off were missaligned. with a lathe and a dial this is easy.

nevertheless congrats!

I didn't think to check the forum for any dimentions before I started. I did the project on a whim and figured as long as I go slow and keep the deminsions close I would be ok. I take the time to indicate the bodies in the lathe chuck to within less than +/_ .002, which is about as good as I can get it with the old equipment I'm using. And I indicate off the outside of the body, because all the outside factory truning operations would have been done at the same time on a CNC, so I'm confident that if I'm running as close to true off the outside, that I will be good on the inside. Critical dimention under the tailcap o-rings leaves me at .015 +/- .001. Its getting thin, and that's why when I developed my process, I did so by just opening the bore diameter to the fit feel of the battery. Just enough for it to fit and not be snug, and in the case of the Nightcore batteries (their protected cells are the thickest I've seen), they will usually have the slightest bit if drag as its gets inserted in the body and thats only at the very end of its travel.

Just bored my 6p led today, here is the method I used...
I Used a 18v drill, took 2 batteries
Take the o rings off
I used a socket wrench extension wrapped in duct tape to
get it to the right size

Cut a piece of 60 grit sandpaper taped (about 1/2
inch bigger on each end than the tube) and wrapped around in the right direction
the drill rotates

Used a heavy leather work gloves to hold the
body

It gets kinda hot if run fast so I would rinse with
water every 10-15 minutes and try to put a battery in it

I Had to change the sandpaper 3-4 times and add more duct
tape

You might use a bad battery when testing it because the
wrapper may get damaged

Bore it enough so the battery can fall out on its own,
the battery should not be a tight fit

Dont bore it too big, the tube is thinner near the end
and where the o rings are

After it is bored enough I smoothed it out with fine
steel wool

It is important to get the tube smooth so the batteries
wont get damaged being taken in and out

Took about an hour and a half
One of my nitecore batteries would not fit and I didn't want vto bore anymore,
the nc battery seems to have a lot of wrap or thick paper but I have 20 other batteries so it was no big deal

I tried this same basic process of steps, but I was using 80 grit emery paper. It was the roughest grit I had, but after 2 hours with a corded power drill there was only about .010 of material removed and that's when I decided to move over to the lathe.
 
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