Aluminum doesnt tarnish. But it does oxidize in open air. A film of aluminum oxide starts to develop immediately, after milling. Aluminum oxide is an incredibly hard substance with a rediculously high melting point. But its only a sub-micron thick layer. When welding aluminum it is best to wire brush away this layer to get better welds. Painting aluminum is also a pain in the ass because of this layer this is why most painters use an acid formulated primer for a bond layer to eat away some of that oxide and mechanically adhere to the AL.
That said, the aluminum oxide layer doesnt change the appearance much of freshly milled stock. But over time it does tend to ‘dull’ the surface. Of course, aluminum that i have worked with is usually alloyed with magnesium and silicon. 5xxx, 6xxx series. I would think that the purer the aluminum the better the chance of oxidizing. I am not a chemist but this has been my experience in the field.
Ah, see your points. But an anodized A6 used daily and tossed in a tool box would also show myriad scratches and scrapes and most of the surface ano would be rubbed off. I’ve seen those lights pretty often. Of course a good ano hardens the surface and extends the life of the item which is the entire point. You can get a Military Type III hard anodize without adding the dye to color it, may not be as shiny as it could have been in the raw but it will look much like it did before the ano process. The machining lines can plainly be seen and felt in the L2 done this way. I tested it because of this thread and with the light on, a simple 1/16th turn of the tail cap kills the light, it’s anodized all right…. just can’t tell it by looking at it.
On paper (and in pics) it looks like an edc light to beat. Large capacity potential, lots of power available (more than we would most likely need), excellent UI, reasonable size and lots of choices in emitters. It’ll be my new year’s present to myself for sure.
The first picture, looked at enlarged, you can see the broaching lines where the longitudinal slot was cut in the head. This clearly shows it’s not bead blasted which would remove all those lines. The circumferential lines from the cutting tool on the lathe are also there, can be seen and felt with a fingernail.
Um, that’s a C8, it’s bead blasted as far as I know. I’m talking about the special run of non blasted L2’s Simon did.
The machining signature looks much more pronounced at full macro of course, but these show there’s no demarkation from bead blasting. It IS anodized, just difficult to see it even at this level.
The small TIR cups should be nice for giving it a floody beam. That’s one of the things I like about the ROT66; it’s not super-throwy like most lights its size.
Thanks.