# Which glue for securing a tritium vial?



## Planterz (Apr 4, 2006)

I've got a tiny tritium vial that I'd like to place inside the little recess in my new Jil Intelli. I imagine some sort of clear epoxy would be best (as opposed to, say, hot glue gun). Is there any particular brand/kind that's reccomended? I should note that I want it to be secure (obviously), but I'd also like to be able to remove it if I need to, including getting the tritium out of the glue blob, and without damaging the anodization of the light itself. Is this possible, or should I simply resign the Jil/tritium combination to being permanent. If it's permanent, that's OK too, however I might wait for the revised Intelli and put it in there.

Finally, what would be the best technique for gluing it in? I'm figuring I'll fill the hole about halfway with the glue then let it set. Then I'll place the tritium vial on top, then fill the rest of the hole. The hole is fairly deep, so I'd have to create this "shelf" so that the vial isn't too far down. 

I assume that if the glue is clear, it's OK to have at least a thin layer of glue on top of the vial, "protecting" it. At least, on my McLux PD III there seems to be some glue on top of the vial.

Or should I just stick with some glow powder/epoxy?


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## greenLED (Apr 4, 2006)

Clear epoxy should do the trick.
If you can, choose a kind with low temp rating, that way you can boil the part to soften and remove if need be. It'll still be hard and virtually unremovable at room temp. I just removed some extra GID+epoxy I had on my GL3 (by boiling) and the anodizing below is intact (I used a bamboo skewer thingy to push the epoxy off - came right off, in a single piece).


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## Rudi (Apr 4, 2006)

If the tritium vial is mounted in a groove, clear nail polish works well. As it cures it shrinks, and more can be applied until satisfied.


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## xochi (Apr 16, 2006)

Klean Strip brand "Premium Stripper" will dissolve epoxy. As a matter of fact I just finished removing a largish vial from the lanyard loop on a BA lioncub because I plan on having it hard anodized. I had dremeled out the lanyard groove and completely filled it with epoxy/tritium vile and glow powder on the bottom layer. It can be time consuming as it requires soaking and then wiping off the epoxy but for something like removing a trit I like that I don't have to rush things and risk breaking the vile. 

I don't recommend using this stuff around plastic , rubber, or reflector metalization but it should be just fine if you need to remove the vial from your Jil. 

I've also heard that painting the area below the vial white will help to maximize visibility (acts like a reflector).


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