Tritium slot machining

[fyrstormer]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Whatever the reason, it's clearly slowing the reaction and reducing the heat generated to a level that the material can absorb without boiling.

The Sundrop UV is a bit more convenient to hold than the death ray you got, though. :devil: I'm content to stick with it.

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

The Sundrop UV is a bit more convenient to hold than the death ray you got, though. :devil:

LOL

I surely do like the DeathRay. Set 10 trits this morning, stacking a 2x6mm over a 1.5.5mm in five slots. That was tough with the dental light but it isn't so bad now. Each double slot requires four shots of Norland - one to preset the small trit, a second to preset the large trit, a third to final fill the small slot & the fourth fills the large slot. Still a bit tricky to get it right but it is so much easier because the Norland now precures in roughly 10 seconds. It was endless with the dental light.

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Set 10 trits this morning, stacking a 2x6mm over a 1.5.5mm in five slots.

As my friends say "Pictures or it didn't happen" so here they are. Outside blue vials are 2x6mm, inside green vials are 1.5x5mm. McGizmo Haiku body.

With the shop lights on:

Shop lights off with a few blinks from a McGizmo SunDrop to make the Ti body visible:

If you look closely at the green trits there is a tiny bit of bleed light from the blues. Same thing goes for the blue trits. In addition to the ten in the tail there are five 2x6mm in the forward collar & six 2x6mm in the head

The Haiku done in February 2012 was mechanically identical but had yellow outer trits:

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Installed the remaining trits today. Total of 10 in the tail (blue over green), 5 at the shoulder (all white) & 6 in the head (alternating red & green). A "well dressed" Haiku

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Jeff Hanko's stainless steel Damascus trit bezel for the V10R. IMO the most beautiful bezel I've ever seen. The color & texture of the bezel are a close match for the stone washed body.

 

[tobrien]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Jeff Hanko's stainless steel Damascus trit bezel for the V10R. IMO the most beautiful bezel I've ever seen. The color & texture of the bezel are a close match for the stone washed body.

that looks phenomenal!

 

[Launch Mini]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Not sure how I missed this thread before, but this is very cool.
Toying with the idea of adding 4, 5 or 6 to the tail end of a Haiku.
Will need to look at my light tonight and see what I think would work.
Would you only want the tail section mailed to you or the whole light?
I would install my own trits, so just need the slots.
Assuming shipping back to Canada would be around $30?
Thanks

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

that looks phenomenal!

Thank you for your kind words. Jeff gets all the credit for machining the bezel & milling the trit slots, my job was to install the trits with Norland.

Would you only want the tail section mailed to you or the whole light?
I would install my own trits, so just need the slots.
Assuming shipping back to Canada would be around $30?

Just the tail section is needed & you can send it with the clip attached if you want. I use only the MIP Thorp driver to remove or reinstall titanium screws - if you don't have a Thorp driver please don't try to remove the clip.

Priority Mail Intl is $13.00 USD, Express Mail Intl is $60.00 USD.

 

[bltkmt]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Is there any place on an Aeon that these can be successfully installed?

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

any place on an Aeon

I've look an the Aeon that I EDC and cannot find any area that's both wide enough & deep enough for a slot. A 1.5x5mm vial could possible be glued down next to the raised ridge on the tail & that's something that might be possible.

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Received a TnC titanium P60 host, V1 head & anti roll tail. The light came with six 1.5x5mm slots in the tail & eight 1.5x5mm in the head. I emailed the owner to let him know that I was about to start installing his fourteen trits & he asked if there might be room for fourteen more

It's a good sized host so there's lots of room. He also decided to add three more 2x6mm vials in the raised section of the tail.

Finishing up one of the tail slots. Tail is mounted on a 5C expanding arbor that grips from the inside. When carefully machined these arbors have less than 0.01mm run out & that means all the slots are identical in depth, +/- 0.01mm:

Dry fitting a 2x6mm vial to make sure the slot depth is correct - 2.0mm for the vial plus 0.2mm more so the vial seats slightly below flush:

 

[Mattaus]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

I need better lights so I can get this sort of work done to them...but I also need more cash

One day

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

Snapped my last 1.5mm end mill during test cuts yesterday but Red Label (early delivery) UPS came to the rescue

IMO the most interesting slotting jobs are those that involve matching existing slots. One has to reverse engineer the setup used by the prior machinist & then exactly duplicate those parameters. Let's see ... hang out the "closed" sign, lock the shop door, select a good station on internet radio & go to work. A friend of mine is a sky diver & says that the most exhilarating moment is not the free fall but rather the milliseconds that elapse between pulling the ripcord & waiting for the chute to deploy. That's how I feel when making the very first touch off cut :nana:

This complex method is used to keep track of indexing moves:

Finishing the first slot (the other two slots were already milled at TnC):

Testing for depth & fit (slot with trit is the "new" one):

Looks to me like it was there all along & that's what has to happen. Total time to set up & mill the first slot - 120 minutes. The remaining five slots will not take as long.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: Laced up my running shoes and blitzed through the last five slots in only 75 minutes. Counting setup time that comes out to 32.5 minutes/slot. I need to raise my rates :devil:

 

[dbleznak]

That is incredible !!!!!

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

That is incredible !!!!!

Thank you for your kind words Dan

Had planned to set the tail trits in Norland after dinner but SWMBO had other ideas. Trits go in first thing tomorrow but here's the finish milled tail:

Same setup with slightly different lighting:

IMO the additional slots add more visual balance to the tail. Always a pleasure to work with anything TnC, whether aluminum or titanium, as the machining is so well executed.

 

[jhanko]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

This complex method is used to keep track of indexing moves:

That's funny. I used to do a very similar thing. I got tired of it, so I made a simple spreadsheet that I printed out and taped it on the wall next to the mill. It's really convenient and saves time. You're welcome to it if interested. It prints out on 2 landscape pages, then tape them together. This way it's big enough to see at a distance. I stopped at 16, as I figured if someone wants more than 16 vials on a flashlight's circumference, they need a Psychiatrist, not a machinist...

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

... I figured if someone wants more than 16 vials on a flashlight's circumference, they need a Psychiatrist, not a machinist...

ROFLMAO

I am interested in your Excel spreadsheet - would you email that?

The most interesting one in recent memory is the Haiku sent in by Henk Lu.

The owner requested nine slots at the tail & the challenging part of that was figuring out how many slot positions are taken by the clip. IIRC the spacing ended up at 25.7°

 

[jhanko]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

ROFLMAO

I am interested in your Excel spreadsheet - would you email that?

A download link is in the post. Just click on the words "simple spreadsheet".

 

[mohanjude]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

A download link is in the post. Just click on the words "simple spreadsheet".

What I find quite challenging is on the SVM V10r there are the dreaded 4 holes for a key chain. So when indexing you have to accomodate those holes as well. I had a system where I used to space 3 slots between the 90 degree holes on the bottom shoulder but find it cumbersome as it is difficult to estimate the centre of the holes.

1st slot 20 degrees from hole
2nd slot move 25 degrees - 45 degrees
3rd slot move 25 degrees - 70 degrees
20 degree slot to next hole

total 90 degrees.

Anybody have a simple method to accomodate the holes, clip holes ?

 

[precisionworks]

Re: Tritium slot machining & installation

it is difficult to estimate the centre of the holes.

For the slots to space out exactly the hole center cannot be estimated. Centering doesn't have to be dead on but it does need to be no more than 0.025mm in any direction from exact center. More more than that & the error is easy to detect by people who have 20/20 vision.

The traditional way to find exact hole center is to touch off the inside of the hole with the tip of a dial test indicator. Rotate the spindle 180° & note the reading, adjust the table to split the diff, rotate 180° again, split again, etc. Then repeat by turning the spindle 90° and going back & forth. When done the indicator can be rotated around the entire inside of the hole & will not move more than 0.025mm. An optical centering microscope is a little easier to use & most run no more than about $200 USD. Hemingway Kits in the UK makes a nice one.

You may want to post that question in the Machining Forum & will certainly get more suggestions.