DIY Glow Gaskets for Triples and Other Glow Stuff

I designed the linked 3D print on Thingiverse. Whilst I based my design on the Carclo reference drawings, it’s far from perfect but is functional; GITD brightness/duration/colour is entirely dependent on the filament selected, though I’ve yet to see a filament that can hold a candle to the handmade CRX ones, I imagine because the amount of GITD material is limited in the filament, in order that it is still able to be printed; GITD filament colour options also seem to be very limited (green or blue is about it), plus ABS GITD is even rarer; PLA GITD has more options/availability, but starts to soften at around 60c which I believe would be less than optimal (ABS doesn’t start to soften until over 100c I believe).

I printed in EICE GITD ABS green and whilst initially fairly bright, dims rapidly, though with night adjusted vision is visible well into the early hours. Addition of trit vials is the best of both worlds and to be honest, I may go back to a black gasket (as I loved the look) with trits.

If I can get away with International Economy, I’d be happy to send a few over to you, if you wish?

Where do you source your UV glue? I can't find it for a good price (except from China, but shipping is too long). So instead I combined what you and Rusty did:

I used Rusty's thingiverse STL, and 3D printed it. 0% infill, 2 shells, white PLA, and stopped the print before the top layer was printed. Ended up with an empty shell of the glow gasket without a top, which I filled with glow powder and put a layer of two-part epoxy over. This is result:

Glowtimes are probably better than GITD filament (heat degrades the GITD material), but probably not as good/dense as CRX's UV-glue-based gaskets. I say probably because there's no way for me to test it. But it seems like a good compromise between the two, especially cost-wise (at least for me).

I haven’t ever bought any, but lots of people use UV curing glue for tritium vials. If you poke around some threads where trits are mentioned, you can probably find somebody that can tell you where to get the glue.

No promises, but maybe in THIS thread, you can get somebody to help you?

I use Kafuter

Hey guys, update on my progress with these. I have successfully made it work. It’s not fantastic but if anyone is like me and doesn’t have a drill press or a steady hand for this I finally made a successful file with ZenitPCB. I sent it to OSH park and got the board i used to line everything up with in the mail. I did have to use a diamond file to get everything to fit right but it took less than ten minutes. I have shared the OSH park file if anyone else runs into issues with drilling the MCPCBs also.

Note: I know mine are ugly right now but they work so I wanted to share… I will make more until I get some that look the quality I want. Thanks so much CRX for helping me get this done!

Are those GITD?

They are. Used the UV Glue mixed with GITD powder.

Are UV glue and UV resin the same thing?

Getting there Pw :+1:

Probably very similar.

Hey mate, are you still selling the GITD gaskets and the fobs? :beer:

I was revisiting this topic and in a post from back in 2018, there’s an image of an FW3A with GITD insert. Time travel? Hah, then I realized it was edited in June 2019. Sneaky. :wink:

CRX

Im loving these glow gaskets!

Im testing using them without precharging before turning on a flashlight when I wake in the dark. I want them to work as a marker on the nightstand. So far, all are winners for that application.

I waited til I woke in the dark last night (at 4am) to learn more about how visible they are after sitting in the dark for 6 hours. They were all still visible. The Aqua was really bright!

I could not see the colors, my vision at that time was scotopic (if Im using the word right)

next I will install one of them in a light and learn how visible they are under an optic

having tons of fun playing with this stuff

I think your two layer versions are absolutely brilliant!

for example the one with aqua on the bottom and orange on top, benefits from the brightness of the aqua feeding the orange

I also really like the orange under Red

the orange/orange is also very nice, easily visible as a marker on my nighstand…

the aqua is actually brighter than the green glow tape I have…

so, in all regards, excellent outcomes for these glow rings in my application as locator markers.

Next I get to play with the glow gaskets installed in my nightstand light… Im expecting a whole other layer of color entertainment :slight_smile:

great work!

thanks
Jonathan

This is great

Glow gasket from crx came today , super high quality , nice packaging , couldn’t recommend enough
Very high quality and I’m super impressed

Thanks crx

Been messing around myself recently whilst waiting for the resin to arrive…. I just used thick superglue which actually dried rubbery, but rigid and not brittle.
Made a glow disk for my little fatty BC15 and filled the lanyard ring on the FW3A, looks quite trick :wink:

! !

I’ve been making some glow gaskets for my C8+ Anna-40-6 conversions. I tried to find some good glow in the dark 3D printer filament. The best I found was made by SunTop, which was OK, but not great. The other stuff I got was just awful.

I then tried moulding one with UV resin and Strontium Aluminate. I made the mould using alginate and dropped in one of the 3D printed gaskets, it worked, but the mould dried out.
I bought green and aqua Strontium Aluminate, the green is brighter. I also bought some LIT, the world’s glowiest glow pigment, by Stuart Semple. The Strontium Aluminate is just as bright as LIT and much cheaper. The brightest below is the original Strontium Aluminate UV epoxy cast (mid left), next brightest is the SunTop filament (bottom left), the rest are the best from a pack of 6 glow in the dark filaments, which are useless.

Next step was to 3D print some positive moulds, to make negative moulds using RTV silicone, then some slow set crystal clear resin and Strontium Aluminate to make the final gasket (sorry no photos). As well as the Anna-40-6 I made some Anna-40-7, a skull lanyard bead and some large hole beads from a mould off ebay, to use up any excess. First gasket and bead went on a C8+ conversion I made for my Dad, and gave to him on Fathers day. The second batch are in the garage curing. The resin used a 1% hardener ratio, which is difficult to measure. I had to buy some more accurate ‘drug dealer’ scales. It also takes 7 days before you can start to clean it up.


I’ve already put the designs for the Anna-40-6 and Anna-40-7 on Thingiverse (Anna-40-6 glow gasket by ecotack - Thingiverse). I’m not saying they are great, but they work on my Anet A8. I’ll put the moulds on there if anyone wants them.

Nice job!
I used 50/50 Green LIT and Strontium Aluminate (coarse, not powder - better glow) in the disk and just yellow LIT in the lanyard holes (to try it out on it’s own).
I’m not that impressed with the LIT really, it doesn’t last anywhere near as long, mixed it seems to work better though.

Hi all,

Bravo CRX for all these amazing creations, you are both an artist and an extremely skilled craftsman!

I'm new to the GITD world and would like to start with easy jobs on flashlights, hence a few requests for advice:

  • In your first post ("experimentation with some GITD tape & powder mixes" section) you mention some AE GITD sticker: does AE stand for AliExpress? Any more precise product identification (link)?
  • I would like to fill the Trit hole of a Sofirn C01S AAA flashlight with GITD stuff. What do you recommend to fill this hole: many layers of GITD paint, or a GITD powder + resin?
  • Can you suggest a GITD job for the LED side of such small lights? No space for a gasket I suppose, maybe only a very thin ring of paint on the aluminium head around the lens?

On the other hand, I've found a few GITD powder and/or paint suppliers, but most charge deterrent shipping fees to France: Glow-on is $18 for an item weighing only a few grams (4.6ml vial + small sheet of glow film), i.e. more than the item value, and Glowtec although UK based (the country nextdoor) charges even more: £25 for such a tiny item

Glowinc charges slightly less (about USD15 if ordering through eBay), moreover their website is extremely informative.

Any other supplier suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

another option… strontium aluminate in nail polish

glow paint arrived :slight_smile:
pic is a link to more info