mill slots for tritium vials

Sam, tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. It's the stuff of "hydrogen bombs".
In this case, you have a little vial coated on the inside with a phosphorescent compound like the inside of a fluorescent light. The tritium gas inside gives off radiation, which makes the phosphors glow green, like on modern watch dials.
 
very cool, i am in california. i will find some vials to get the dimensions. it would be a kershaw blur. and yeah i have trijicon sights on my sig p229
 
I've had troubles with the tritium vials on my flashlights breaking when in my pockets. Be sure to mill the slot deeply enough to protect the vial from keys, and cover the vial with something clear (epoxy) to protect it too.
 
i wonder if bedding it in something soft will help keep it from breaking and then coat it with epoxy.
 
IMO the thinness of the glass and coming into contact with keys is what did them in. You can read a lot about them breaking on Candlepower. You can also order glow in the dark powder. I bought an ounce of it. It glows for hours. I'm going to fill a slot with it and then dribble super glue over it until its full. Then sand it flush and have glow power that won't break.
 
If you bed the tritium vials in wet epoxy (JB weld is great if you can get it in cleanly and a thin coat) then after the base has had sometime to harden 1-2 minutes for 5 minute epoxy and an hour for 24 hour epoxy coat in fresh clear epoxy pour in smoothly and try not to get bubbles in, it pretty much ruins the entire job.
 
Maybe a job for the vacuum chamber to make bubbles disappear before curing? If somebody wanted to go through the effort to ensure it were bubble free, that could be the way to go.

I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once... :D
 
Back
Top