Baked / Heat Colored Convoy Pictures

Please post what you did to color it.

I did a blue in my electric oven on broil, it just became a more metallic lighter blue.

Picture (Black, Gray, Baked Blue)

Then I did a Gray in my electric oven on broil, it removed all the blue coloring from the gray light (Gray convoy S2+'s are slightly blue)

Picture (Gray, and Baked Gray)

I was kind of hoping the gray would turn that nice tan color I have seen others change to like this picture here:

I like those results. How long and what temp?

that is amazing. so you just put them in a hot oven and wait? looks fantastic, well done.

First, you have to remove all the guts and if it is a host, don't forget that spring and emitter centering thing they stuff into the tube) and give them a good wipe down with rubbing alcohol to clean off any oils. Don't forget the threads, I did on the last one and it smoked the lube. Makes me feel bad about boiling off whatever chemical/lube was on them in our cooking oven. If you do that you should be fine and pretty much fumeless. I baked mine with the 18350 tubes so I could watch all the pieces together. On my blue light, I had to overcook a couple pieces to get them more uniform, so it's good to keep an eye on the parts. For the gray, they all baked pretty even the first try, including the 18350 extension tube.

I just set the oven to broil for both and left them for about 1/2 hour or so (Longer for the gray). YMMV since all ovens are a bit different. I'd suggest checking every 5-10 minutes anyways. The blue one colored shifted a bit as it cooled down.

I'll try to get a picture of the whole lineup I have acquired so far soon. It is very addicting :) I think I will either torch my blue or bake a black next.

Black Convoy S2+ 365nm UV

C8

It matters what HA finish you are baking. HAIII finish will not bronze up like the HAI / HAII finish. It will only lighten up in color a bit.

Formerly Black. 550°F for 30 minutes suspended on a wire between oven racks. The room lighting makes it look almost purple, but it’s more of a rust brown in sunlight.

Part of my UV-squad. The one in the middle used to be a dark grey Convoy S2 Simon sold with a generic UV-led.
Baked 30 min at 300 deg.C in an electric oven. The color is a bit off. It’s actually slightly golden/brownish.

I have a green Convoy S2+. Wonder what it would look like after a bake. My luck it’d probably turn pea green

I am tempted to buy a bunch of the coloured extension (distension?) tubes just to bake then so I don’t ruin any lights. My grey Convoy turned that bronzey silver only at higher temperatures and after a bit longer. It originally just turned silver like yours.

which convoy was it? I'd be tempted to either re-bake this one, or buy another one to play with. They are only $8-10 for the host :)

I tried a Blue S2+ and it got crackly looking. As if there was a thin glass layer on top that broke. Couldn’t get it to change much on Broil close to the element. Had some others that each piece went completely different shades. All the Fails got stripped and polished.

My older Glossy Black M2 did turn out well.

Just finished baking my Astrlux S41. I forgot all about the 350 tube it came with, and baked it with the optional 650 tube. It looks like the optional 650 tubes were possibly leftovers from the BLF A6, since the tail cap and bezel changed to a slightly different color. I will bake the 350 tube tomorrow and see if it matches. Either way, it doesn’t look too bad. If anything, the 650 tube matches the copper better than the bezel. I never liked the black contrasting with the copper anyway.

1 Thank

@RobertB What temperature and how long did you bake the S41? I should receive the one I ordered and 18650 tube in about three weeks. I ordered it earlier today with the intention of baking it. I hope for a closer match from newer stock but would be satisfied with results like yours. It looks good. The S2+ looks REALLY nice.

550F on bake setting. (Thats as far as mine would go). String a bare wire from one end of rack to other, string the parts through and let them hang without touching rack. Put rack in oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool, put o-rings back on.

I washed the parts with dish soap, water and dried them off first.

@RobertB :+1: Thanks!

Wow! these look really nice. I think i’ll try this with nap gas. I have used ceramic header paint on projects and I take a torch with nap gas and heat the paint just shy of burning and the glassy colors are awesome. I love the heat baked look of these lights. :smiley:

Nice nice
Have baked several but no Convoys :wink:
I use the flames of gas furnace and it is done in a few minutes instead of pre heating oven and pit it in for a long time.

Very nice brown color, just like the teriyaki Salmon I had for dinner.

How did you protect the “convoy” label from getting scorched?

40 Minutes at 250°C. The tailcap needed about 15 minutes more to get the same color as the battery tube.

Regards

Kenjii