Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery sleeves.

I recently bought some Surefire G3's and wanted to be able to use AA's in them, I checked out Oveready but their 17mm/AA sleeves were out of stock and had been for some while, typically they are now back in stock!

So I had a look on the Bay and found Carbon Fibre tubing for sale that was 17mm external diameter and 15mm internal diameter, the shortest length available was 50cm but as it was cheaper than 1 Derlin Sleeve so I decided to give it a go.

The tubing arrived within 14 days from order (China to Europe) and was well packaged.

I cut it to length in a mitre block and lightly sanded the ends, being careful not to inhale the dust.

They fit perfectly into the G3's and will accept standard AA's, Eneloops or 14500's.

So for less than the price of one Delin Sleeve (plus postage) I have 5 Carbon fibre sleeves (100mm each).



I found that cutting the tubes to 11.5cm they fit the G3 perfectly and do not move in the flashlight, vigorous shaking of the flashlight can generate a slight rattle but in normal us there is no noticeable rattle of the batteries.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Wow! Great idea. I like that. Strong stuff to.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

That is a great idea, Dave.
Well done.
P

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Great info and idea Dave!! Can you please post the link for us lazy ones?

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

id30209 said:

Great info and idea Dave!! Can you please post the link for us lazy ones?

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Item [FONT=&quot]322886605682 on eBay, the 17 x 15 x 500mm 3K Glossy version.[/FONT]

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Many thx![emoji106]

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Right on; will check this out, thx.

Edit: how close do you think the two diameters were to spec; right on ?
I also have an 18.5mm bored SF C3 (a vintage 3-flats :sigh: ) that I want to adapt back down to 16mm nominal for CR123's, and this product might be just the ticket.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Great idea. Thanks for posting!

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Kestrel said:

Right on; will check this out, thx.

Edit: how close do you think the two diameters were to spec; right on ?
I also have an 18.5mm bored SF C3 (a vintage 3-flats :sigh: ) that I want to adapt back down to 16mm nominal for CR123's, and this product might be just the ticket.

Click to expand...

I've got a micrometer but the battery is on the way out and I can't guarantee the accuracy but it's saying 14.9mm internal diameter and 15.9mm external diameter.

Edit: Found a new battery, externally it's between 16.93 and 16.96mm, internally 14.96 and 15.00mm so pretty close to spec.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Thank you for the measurements, so I know what to expect.
Just ordered a couple tubes, thanks Dave.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Kestrel said:

Thank you for the measurements, so I know what to expect.
Just ordered a couple tubes, thanks Dave.

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Did you receive them and how did they work out for you?

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Dave D said:

Did you receive them and how did they work out for you?

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Hi Dave; good question & thx for the follow-up.

One issue with these tubes seems to be, that when sectioned, the innermost layer of (longitudinal) fibers tends to pull out, leaving a bit of a messy interior near the cut face that needs to be cleaned up or re-epoxied.

The other issue I had was a little more intransigent; I chose the 16mm ID which is a /perfect/ fit for CR123's. However, that ID is just slightly too small for the aluminum slug in the Z41 tailcap - including the o-ring.

So I picked up a smaller o-ring, and may have a friend w/ a lathe help me out on the aluminum Z41 component. So it's on a bit of a pause unfortunately.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/piwipkildphriow/20190802_104238.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qgj5qi2dn3drq7n/20190802_104255.jpg?dl=0

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Kestrel said:

Hi Dave; good question & thx for the follow-up.

One issue with these tubes seems to be, that when sectioned, the innermost layer of (longitudinal) fibers tends to pull out, leaving a bit of a messy interior near the cut face that needs to be cleaned up or re-epoxied.

The other issue I had was a little more intransigent; I chose the 16mm ID which is a /perfect/ fit for CR123's. However, that ID is just slightly too small for the aluminum slug in the Z41 tailcap - including the o-ring.

So I picked up a smaller o-ring, and may have a friend w/ a lathe help me out on the aluminum Z41 component. So it's on a bit of a pause unfortunately.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/piwipkildphriow/20190802_104238.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qgj5qi2dn3drq7n/20190802_104255.jpg?dl=0

Click to expand...

I cut my carbon tubes with a hacksaw and then painted the edges with some clear acrylic varnish, so far they have not started fraying.

If you had cut the carbon tube shorter would that not have worked? Instead of having to change the O ring etc.

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Dave D said:

[...] If you had cut the carbon tube shorter would that not have worked? Instead of having to change the O ring etc.

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Shortening the tube had occurred to me, and is still a possibility; the other thing is that the aluminum slug (& associated o-ring) isn't retained very well by the oversize bore, and wobbles a little much for my taste (poor feel and inconsistent electrical connection in a borderline contact situation).

Plus, if some future impact causes the rear-most unreinforced end of the body to fail, all is lost.

So I am undecided overall, and it's back to the drawer for a while. :-/

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

Thank you to Dave D and Kestrel for putting this information "out there" for us!

Just wanted you both to know how much it is appreciated!

Re: Carbon Fibre AA/17mm battery tubes.

RWT1405 said:

Thank you to Dave D and Kestrel for putting this information "out there" for us!

Just wanted you both to know how much it is appreciated!

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My pleasure!! :thumbsup: