Match's Mods: Home made Deep Carry Pocket Clip

Gentlemen,

Below is a quick tutorial on how I make my own deep carry custom pocket clips. For this example, I'm going to be using a L3 Illumination L10 graciously supplied to me by Jason at sbflashlights.com. This method will work on most small lights that have extra metal near the tailcap to allow mounting the wire. Please note that the photos below will show the poor L10 tail pretty beat up. This was not done during this mod, but was a side effect of experimenting with other clip designs.

Tools and Materials needed:

- 1/16" SS Tig welding rod (available at most hardware stores)

- 1/16" drill bit

- Needlenose pliars / regular pliars

- Tape and a pen

- Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel

- Not really needed, but digital calipers do help

To start off with, first wrap the end of the body where the clip is to be mounted with tape, to allow marking drill holes. For this particular light, the clip will be attached perpendicular to the lanard hole. Mark centerline and side depth, then mark the drill holes equadistant from centerline as per the blurry photo below shows:

If you have a centerpunch it would be very helpful to use it before drilling to keep the bit from walking. If not, setting the drill bit in place and "gently" tapping on it will suffice here. Next, very carefully start drilling. Don't push too hard, and don't spin the drill too fast. Slow and steady will yeild a straight hole. If one has access to a drill press all the better, but for this mod I used a cordless drill.

Angle the hole toward the lanyard attachment and either slightly left/right of centerline as seen here:

Drill until the bit just poke into the lanyard hole. Pushing too hard on the drill will lead to the aluminum splaying out around the drill hole (as I did). Once completed, it should look like this:

Next we come to actually making the clip. Take 4 to 5 inches of the ss wire and bend it in half. The actual length isn't important at this step (it'll be trimmed later), only the 180 degree bend as shown below.

This step can be done by hand, but pliars may be needed to make the loop tighter depending on how close the holes were drilled.

Before:

After:

Now comes the time to bend the tip so that it will be easier to slide into the pocket. Using a pair of pliars, grab the U near the tip and gently bend upward to give it a nice angle.

Now, determin now long the clip will be and using the pliars make a sharp 110 degree bend on the opposite end. How much farther past 90 degrees one goes will determine how much "clipping" pressure the final product will have.

Next the extra length needs to be trimmed off. Easiest way to do this is to hold the clip over the end of the light and mark how deep the wire needs to go to be fully seated in the holes. Once marked, use a cut-off wheel to trim the wire to length. Don't try and snip it with side cutters... the wire is ss and will wreck them. Here I have my clip in position and marked (actually almost cut completely through...this step was an afterthought).

Finish the cut and round the ends with sandpaper until smooth. Next, bend each end toward each other until they both match the angles of the holes drilled. Pre-installed clip should look like this:

Finally, spread the clip out slightly to get the wire started in their respective holes. If you were careful drilling it should be an very tight fit and may require a few gentle taps to get it fully seated. Here is a photo I took just after starting both sides, but before fully seating them.

Clip installation started:

And clip fully seated:

Due to the tight hole tolerances, wire angle, and clip strength no extra step should be needed to secure the clip. I have used 2 part epoxy in the past as more of a preventative, but really wasn't necessary. Any last minute adjustments can be made with the clip installed. This usually involves bending it to one side or the other to ensure proper alignment with the flashlight body. Final results should give you this:

In all honesty, it took me twice as long to write this post than it did to make and install the clip - it's really a fairly simple process once one does it a few times. Since the SS rod is cheap, one may want to practice and experiment bending different shapes, lengths, or styles of clips before beginning. I did exactly this before my first attempt, and it did help to show me what angles were optimal. I'll leave you with a few examples of this style of clip installed on a few other lights (most of you have seen them posted elsewhere).

Good luck and happy modding,

-Match

That is really Cool!

I think you should make a bunch up (generic) and then we can drill out our lights and cut the wire ends as needed.Wink

Seriously, it's something most anyone could do. Very nice idea!

Thanks Match. Nice post.

Beautimus !

Nice!

Your profile pic keeps cracking me up.

Looks nice but it doesn’t seem like there is anything really holding it in place. How secure are these with rough use or over time?

Thanks Match!I have a couple of lights I would EDC if only they had a clip or it was in the right place.I am going to try this to see if I can make them into proper EDC lights, instead of sitting on the dresser!Thanks again!-Rick

Good job, Match!

(Everything is better when it's ho made.)

Outstanding. Simple. Elegant. And it works. 8)

Nice, simple, elegant solution.

ditto^

Very well done Match! Thanks for sharing. Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

Incredibly easy. Cannot believe no one else thought of this.

Thanks for sharing.

WHOA! I can't believe I type-o'd that! Thanks for pointing that out, Raccoon!

Nice Mod! 8)

Match, got any ideas on some type of flat stock so we could make the clips that slide/snap over the body of some of the penlight style lights? Like a streamlight stylus or even a mini maglite style?

Excellent! :nerd_face:

Great idea! Nice one.