Mar
29
Fenix pocket holster
Filed Under Bombproof bargains, Personal | Leave a Comment
I carry my Fenix light in my front pocket, but I found it was constantly shifting around and bothersome. More worryingly, I went to use it one day and found it was extremely dim. After examining the light, I found a dime had wedged perfectly into the bezel, completely covering the light (couldn’t be a more perfect fit if it had been designed that way).
I slapped this together in about a 1/2 hour, to keep it upright in my pocket while still being easy to get out. I took some thin thermoplastic I had laying around, probably scavenged from a vent cowling. I cut it to shape, then heated it and formed the “tube” using a lighter. I flared the opening a bit to make inserting the light a bit easier.
The plastic is slippery and I wanted to keep the holster itself from shifting around in my pocket. I cut some thin leather (scavenged from a $5 pair of thrift-store leather pants I purchased years ago for projects like this) and glued it on rough side out with 3M Super 90 spray glue. Not shown here, I enclosed the bottom so that change couldn’t get up into the bezel.
Finally, to keep the leather from de-laminating from around the ‘tube’, I punched a few holes and ran 2 small zip ties through.
The light is completely loose in the tube, held in only by gravity but because its also in my front pocket it’s completely secure. The leather-coated flat part on the side provides vertical stability in the pocket, and also provides a lot of additional friction to ensure the holster doesn’t come out along with the light.
Finally, to give the otherwise smooth light body some grip when my hands are wet, I cut some 3M stair grip tape to fit the milled flats of the light.
I’ve been using this setup every day for a month now and I’ve been hard pressed to find anything to improve in it.
Mar
2
(image from wikipedia) Our next instrument of non-destruction is, well, an instrument (or close enough that I can’t be bothered to come up with a better witty introduction).
Shure describes the model SM58 microphone as a “unidirectional (cardioid) dynamic vocal microphone is designed for professional vocal use in live performance, sound reinforcement,and studio recording” with “Legendary Shure quality, ruggedness and reliability.”
Their marketing team is obviously a bunch of pansies.
Let’s try “the Sure SM58 is a small, hand-held tank, suitable for use in all hazardous environments including areas of nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) contamination and active military combat operations, which also does a surprisingly good job of recording sound. And it shoot laser beams”
That’s better.
Mar
1
The rare ingredient required to supply the ‘bombproof’ part of our equation is extreme durability testing. Since this is invariably difficult, time-consuming and expensive, we must plum the depths of esoteric fanaticism, following where ever it may lead. The “flashlight-nut” subculture illuminated earlier can’t hold a candle (sorry, pun allotment now used) to the fertile ground tilled by our next group: gun-nuts.
Their nuttiness is our gain. Debt acknowledged, I bring you the amazing story of the Glock pistol.
Mar
1
Cheap and bombproof: More Fenix flashlight goodness
Filed Under Bombproof bargains | Leave a Comment
Another flashlight geek managed to inadvertently test the durability of a cheap Fenix flashlight…
Fenix and the Ultimate Drop Test
For those of you wondering just how tough the new Fenix L1P is, I found out today. I was working on top of an elevator in New York replacing some hatch wiring, when I dropped my very new L1P. Now in the elevator industry nothing dropped while on top of an elevator cab stays on top of an elevator cab. As I watched my new light roll off the top of the cab I thought thank God I bought two because this one is a goner. Now to make this story complete I must tell you that I was working between the 17th and 18th floors so I was pretty sure the little light was history.
My partner who saw me drop something asked “that wasn’t your light was it”. Well I told him that it was and since I had given him an L1P also, he knew how pissed I was at dropping it, and offered to take one of the other elevators down and look for it. When he came back up he showed me the light, which was dented and gouged and generally looked like it had fallen 17 stories, and without saying a word clicked the end of it. Well needless to say the light came right on, of course this would be a real crappy story if it didn’t. So if anyone is thinking about buying a Fenix but thinks it might not be well built or tough let me tell you this is one tough little light. I am not saying they all could take this kind of fall but if one can then certainly it falling out of your pocket or off a ladder should be no problem.
