Custom metal grip bezel

wosser

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Joined
Jan 19, 2019
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156
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England, UK
Added a bit of bling to my XT2CR...

32019173077_ec5db3219a_z.jpg


The white thing is a 3D printed prototype that I used to fine-tune final dimensions for the metal version. I decided against putting a lanyard hole in the final design because it was awkward to use in that location, so I put my logo there instead :).

I took a sheet of 3mm brass plate, and used a drill press to roughly outline the part with a series of holes. Then I used a small hacksaw to connect the holes up and remove all excess material. Then it was a matter of slowly filing the inner diameter to closely match the barrel diameter of the flashlight. The thickness was reduced to 2.1mm using my milling machine (you can still see the machining stripes on the surface) and I applied the maker's mark with my "W" stamp and auto centrepunch.

Once that was all good I sanded it off and installed it.

Looks and feels a lot better than the crappy $3 one that Klarus sell IMHO. Stops it rolling away too :D
 
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wosser

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Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
156
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England, UK
Nice mod wosser. How did you hold the piece to mill the thickness down?

Well I had to go from 3mm to 2.1mm thickness. The workpiece started as basically a round disc of brass.

I used a T-slot toe clamp to hold the brass disc by one edge (say at the 9 'o'clock position). I had the luxury of using a HUGE amount of clamping force since any dent I will make will soon be removed by the milling machine!

Using only drag cuts (aka conventional milling cuts) I carefully took away the topmost 0.9mm of brass in one pass with a 4mm end mill, using some light machine oil as a cutting fluid to prevent chip welding.

Since I'm only holding the part at 9 o'clock, I can mill about 75% of the disc in one operation. Then I released the clamp and spun the part 180 degrees. Then clamp down again but using a piece of soft metal (aluminium in this case) to spread the force over the brass without damaging the freshly milled surface.

Then mill off the remaining area. Now the entire disc is 2.1mm thick and ready to be hand-tooled to the final design.
 
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