Which coating is tougher ?

Which coating ?

1. HA (type III)
2. Gold (don't know what purity peakled is offering)
3. Titanium
4. Stainless steel (high grade?)

I'd go for 1 or 4. Gold is really soft, and titanium scratches fairly easily.

Can you get a steel coating? I would have thought that it would have to be steel all the way through. That would be heavy, and wouldn't conduct as well as Aluminium.

I think HA III would probably be the best choice.

lol deffinatley not gold. i intentionally beat the crap out of my L4 yesterday to check out durable the HA is. it will wear off on concrete if you grind into it. and it dropped will knick and dent. but just sliding along the ground didn't scratch it, thats what the HA is meant for.

Heck, everything else on that list would scratch if you dragged it on the ground, so I think HA III has it!

The HA III is definately the toughest of the 4. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif It is (about?) the same hardness as saphire AFAIK.

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gtwace said:
Which coating ?

1. HA (type III)
2. Gold (don't know what purity peakled is offering)
3. Titanium
4. Stainless steel (high grade?)

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As far as coatings go I think that 3 and 4 are just names of colors of anodizing.

Tough isn't necessarily hard, is it? You haven't described what it is that you are coating but since HA is in the list, I assume you are talking about coating Al? Well I am not aware of a method of plating Al with stainless steel. There are TiN coatings that can be applied to Al but a hard coating on a soft substrate is not necessarily a great combo for "toughness", whatever that is. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif Because gold is soft, it will scratch easily but in a drop or surface deformation in the Al due to impact, gold might hold on where TiN or HA might chip away.

"Titanium scratches fairly easily" Well I'll give you a bar of heat treated 6-4 and see how well you can scratch it with a hack saw! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

i take choice 1 and 4.. there are MUCH MORE TOUGHER Lights out there!!!

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gtwace said:
Which coating ?

1. HA (type III)
2. Gold (don't know what purity peakled is offering)
3. Titanium
4. Stainless steel (high grade?)

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if you Want Lights that are TOUGH, and can take a SERIOUS BEATING. E.g, run over by a car. throw it from a building that is 3Levels HIGH...

Go For Lights that are made from COMPOSITE!! Pelican M10 is 1of them!! M10 is Much Tougher than the small Pelican Lights.. i abuse my M10 and NO DENTS AT ALL!!

COMPOSITE by all means have NO COATING at ALL!! They are Molded.. SureFire have a few Lights is Nitrolon.. (G2) (G2Z) (NRA G2Z) (10X) (8NX)..

Interesting point there matt1987 but I am not sure if the bulb in those lights will last very long /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I would go for HAIII. But a light made of Titanium "should" be very tough, right?

Titanium is VERY SOFT by Nature!! The process Takes a VERY VERY LONG TIME also!! that's Why you see Titanium Bicycle Frames price at SGD$3000 and above.. Titanium is not RARE, it's just a PAIN-Staking Process!! The Bulbs will Last, it a LAMP like SureFire P60... hahah~!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/santa.gif


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nexro said:
Interesting point there matt1987 but I am not sure if the bulb in those lights will last very long /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I would go for HAIII. But a light made of Titanium "should" be very tough, right?

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HA2 and HA3 will DENT No Matter How You Drop it.. They will Still DENT.. it's metal, not Composite!! you do come to Singapore Very often? maybe can meet up to see what Lights you have..

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nexro said:
Interesting point there matt1987 but I am not sure if the bulb in those lights will last very long /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

I would go for HAIII. But a light made of Titanium "should" be very tough, right?

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I don't think I'd characterize Ti as "very soft" in commercially available grades, but do agree that it is very hard to work with (especially grind...can you say FIRE), but back OT...


Not sure if a SS coating is available, but there are others that would know better. Of the remaining listed, HAIII and TiN is fairly scratch resistant but will chip rather easily when applied over a relatively "soft" metal. Gold will scratch easily, but depending on the plating, may not chip as easily.

That is my take anyway...

The HA coating is only as tough as the material beneath it - that's why HAIII might fail/break if the light is subjected to impacts. Eventhough the HAIII can withstand lots of abuse/daily wear and has a high RC, when the softer material beneath the coating bends the HA is reaching its limits.

Another interesting coating might be DLC - diamond like coating. I have seen it on knives several times and it is supposed to be very tough.

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matt1987 said:
COMPOSITE by all means have NO COATING at ALL!! They are Molded.. SureFire have a few Lights is Nitrolon.. (G2) (G2Z) (NRA G2Z) (10X) (8NX)..

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IIRC, PT's High Density Xenoy is a composite material.
Well then, check out what happened here:



It simply fell from a 5 foot height.

So much for the impact resistant composite materials...

I'd say that, among those 4 choices, HAIII is the best.
Gold would be good if the light wasn't meant to take a beating, and it was supposed to just resist to wearing through time.
Steel would make the light just to heavy, and Ti would be pretty expensive as others said already.

Richard

HAHA!!!! Are you Blur or What? i was talking about my PELICAN M10!! i did not talk about other Lights, only Pelican.. M10 is under Black Knight Series.. That's why it is the Toughest of The Pelican Lights.. You Want Proof?? Pelican Super SabreLite was DROP from a Height of 3Levels and did not break, not Dents, my dealer show me. and told me that was to test the Pelican Super SabreLite. it just turn on, Bulb never blow, only Small Dents on the Body..


PELICAN WebSite


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Sharp said:
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matt1987 said:
COMPOSITE by all means have NO COATING at ALL!! They are Molded.. SureFire have a few Lights is Nitrolon.. (G2) (G2Z) (NRA G2Z) (10X) (8NX)..

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IIRC, PT's High Density Xenoy is a composite material.
Well then, check out what happened here:



It simply fell from a 5 foot height.

So much for the impact resistant composite materials...

I'd say that, among those 4 choices, HAIII is the best.
Gold would be good if the light wasn't meant to take a beating, and it was supposed to just resist to wearing through time.
Steal would make the light just to heavy, and Ti would be pretty expensive as others said already.

Richard

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Why don't you put SureFire M2 and Pelican M10 is a ABUSE TEST to see Who is the Toughest? that would be interesting!!

The Nitrolon SFs are plastic over the metal tube inside, so at the very least, you still have a metal tube

Hey Matt... Attack the post, not the poster... Please? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif