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Posted: 4/18/2013 11:33:14 AM EDT
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PrecisionWorks, is offering some very creative and well done mods for the very popular SF Fury light.
The first modification is machining grooves into the body to add O-rings which greatly increases the ability to grip the light. The second mod consists of boring out the body of the light to accept the Panasonic 18650 Li-ion rechrgeable battery instead of CR 123s (which will still work BTW) All of the machine work here is flawlessly done. It is immediately evident that Barry (owner of PW) is a professional who knows what he is doing. He price is the deal of the century (both packages were less than $80) and the return time is very quick. Most importantly, at least to me, he is a gentleman to deal with and was on top of his comms. That's the way it SHOULD be but as many of us here know when we order things, it is far from what happens a good deal of the time. When you read the other post, the Fury I sent him was the one SF had chosen to bond the head to the body with red Loctite that at last check couldn't be removed. He instead sent me his personal Fury and kept mine to deal with another day. Pretty awesome. This Fury is the 15/500 lumen dual mode. I carry it with me every day in my front pants pocket. On to the pics: The body had 6 rubber O-rings added to the body. I find the Fury to be quite slick, about my only complaint with it. My hands are quite large and the O-rings add tremendous grip while still allowing me to draw the light out of my pocket without hanging up. The rings are securely in the grooves due to Barry's machining. They are easily replaceable should you break one. 
The machined grooves with the rings removed or peeled back. 
Inside the bored out body. Smooth as 20yr old Pappy Van Winkle. 
The 18650 battery installed. 
The 18650 batteries. Panasonic is the premium manufactuer of these batteries. Some companies relabel them with Panasonic's permission, like these. I would be very careful in battery selection. (again, described in the other linked post). I bought three. One for the light and two charged spares that I keep in my truck in a plastic container. 
Chargers are also important and there are many good ones out there. I chose the XTAR SP2 intelligent charger from the same place I got the batteries. It protects the batteries from over charging, charges at various rates and most importantly has a car adopter that I keep with the spare batteries. 
The spare battery container. 
A size comparison with some OLD school lights, the Gladius and a SF M2 Centurion. The Fury is lighter, shorter and has more than twice the output of both lights combined. Lights have really come a long way. 
Compared to the beast, the R1 Lawman (which sits in my OSOE E&E bag in my truck) 
Another 500 lumen light, the SF X300 Ultra. Small 1000 lumen versions of these lights can't be too far away I would imagine. Amazing. 
In sum, these are practical mods that are very, very well done. Price inevitably raises its ugly head so here is a very rough breakdown: -Grooving and boring: $76 -18650 batteries (3): $57 -Charger: $20 -Total: $153 plus your Fury Of course, one of the benefits is that you need only recharge the batteries but the greater benefit is significantly increased full power runtime before performance begins to taper off. CR123s = 60 minutes at full output and tapering down 30 minutes to 50 lumens. 18650s = 90 minutes at full output and tapering down 50 minutes to 50 lumens. |
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Why not just buy a Streamlight ProTac HL 600 lumen light for $69? It can be programmed for High output only, and the money saved will buy plenty of 123 primary cells. I agree the Surefire Fury is not easy to grip well, but machining grooves for o-ring's seems like more trouble than it's worth, and obviously the o-ring grooves and internal boring make the lifetime warranty worthless.
Paladin |
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Flashlight modding is part of the community. Customizing your own flashlight is a great way to tailor your light to your needs. This is the reason why many of the older discontinued surefire models are popular because they can accept numerous dropins. The newer models are non "non legoable" and aside from head swapping, you're pretty much stuck with what you have and are forced to buy the next model.
Boring out a fury is probably the only mod I would consider getting until surefire makes a decently priced light that can take rechargeable cells. |
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Boring out a fury is probably the only mod I would consider getting until surefire makes a decently priced light that can take rechargeable cells. Trying to justify $153 in mods to make a Fury gripable and use a 18650 is bullshit. Paladin I'm not trying to justify nothing lol did you even read my post? Spend time over at CPF and check out the Surefire Fury thread and their breakdown. Posts like these are normal over there which wouldn't be considered normal or "justifiable" over here. I can bore out a Surefire for $20 or $30 and I already have reachargeable cells. The OP probably posts there as I saw the same exact pictures in that thread. I wouldn't spend that much on a light, but many flashlightaholics would, especially using surefire as a host. |
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Boring out a fury is probably the only mod I would consider getting until surefire makes a decently priced light that can take rechargeable cells. Trying to justify $153 in mods to make a Fury gripable and use a 18650 is bullshit. Paladin Not justifiying anything. Didn't realize I had to. Maybe instead of having an aneurysm over it just don't buy one. Pretty simple. I don't care what it cost. I don't care the warranty is void. It's what I wanted and I got it. Of all the incredibly stupid, useless, shit that is posted regularly on this forum, I thought this would be somewhat interesting. Still think it is. |
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NICE!!!
Looks like I will be buying a fury after all. Been thinking about upgrading my current work light which is the Surefire M3 with the TNVC 600 lumen head. Making a fury take rechargables will do that nicely. I know I will be losing some brightness but the size difference and rechargability makes it worth it. Thanks OP. 
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Was a vent hole added to the body, in the event one of the 18650's decides to blow? Interested as well. Looked up the post in CPF. OP, how long did it take to get your light back? I see they state up to 6 months. I'm hoping that would be worst case scenario, considering I would only be wanting the boring out. |
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"Another 500 lumen light, the SF X300 Ultra. Small 1000 lumen versions of these lights can't be too far away I would imagine. Amazing."
http://www.oveready.com/custom-flashlights/triple-xpg2-surefire-x300/prod_211.html |
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"Another 500 lumen light, the SF X300 Ultra. Small 1000 lumen versions of these lights can't be too far away I would imagine. Amazing." http://www.oveready.com/custom-flashlights/triple-xpg2-surefire-x300/prod_211.html And now for the BUT. Must use 2x 16340s. This is a highly driven light. Primaries will barely run the light. Max runtime is 20 minutes continuous with optimal conditions and a perfect thermal path. |
| Nice write up, but 500 lumens for a light used for CQB is not smart. Typical men, we think the more lumens the better, right? Care to imagine how many people blind themselves with their own light when it reflets off something like a light colored wall? IMHO 120 to 250 lumen is the ideal CQB light. Now if you are hunting hogs in TX at midnight, then break out your 10 million candlepower torches and have a ball. |
| Nice write up, but 500 lumens for a light used for CQB is not smart. Typical men, we think the more lumens the better, right? Care to imagine how many people blind themselves with their own light when it reflets off something like a light colored wall? IMHO 120 to 250 lumen is the ideal CQB light. Now if you are hunting hogs in TX at midnight, then break out your 10 million candlepower torches and have a ball. |
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Nice write up, but 500 lumens for a light used for CQB is not smart. Typical men, we think the more lumens the better, right? Care to imagine how many people blind themselves with their own light when it reflets off something like a light colored wall? IMHO 120 to 250 lumen is the ideal CQB light. Now if you are hunting hogs in TX at midnight, then break out your 10 million candlepower torches and have a ball. Patently false. Both the 500 lumen Fury and the 500 lumen X300 Ultra are great for CQB. No imagining necessary. Never been blinded by either while on the operating side of the flashlight. And I hunt Texas hogs at midnight without a single lumen of white light. 
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Boring out a fury is probably the only mod I would consider getting until surefire makes a decently priced light that can take rechargeable cells. Trying to justify $153 in mods to make a Fury gripable and use a 18650 is bullshit. Paladin I'm not trying to justify nothing lol did you even read my post? Spend time over at CPF and check out the Surefire Fury thread and their breakdown. Posts like these are normal over there which wouldn't be considered normal or "justifiable" over here. I can bore out a Surefire for $20 or $30 and I already have reachargeable cells. The OP probably posts there as I saw the same exact pictures in that thread. I wouldn't spend that much on a light, but many flashlightaholics would, especially using surefire as a host. I've been a member at CPF since 2006. Probably own more Surefire lights than 95% of the members there. Having actually owned and used the SF Fury and the Streamlight Protac HL I feel very qualified to state that pissing away $153 to make a Fury gripable and 18650 ready is BULLSHIT. Hey, do what you want with YOUR money, just don't act like a shill for an aftermarket vendor while patting yourself on the back for wasting money. Paladin |
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Boring out a fury is probably the only mod I would consider getting until surefire makes a decently priced light that can take rechargeable cells. Trying to justify $153 in mods to make a Fury gripable and use a 18650 is bullshit. Paladin I'm not trying to justify nothing lol did you even read my post? Spend time over at CPF and check out the Surefire Fury thread and their breakdown. Posts like these are normal over there which wouldn't be considered normal or "justifiable" over here. I can bore out a Surefire for $20 or $30 and I already have reachargeable cells. The OP probably posts there as I saw the same exact pictures in that thread. I wouldn't spend that much on a light, but many flashlightaholics would, especially using surefire as a host. I've been a member at CPF since 2006. Probably own more Surefire lights than 95% of the members there. Having actually owned and used the SF Fury and the Streamlight Protac HL I feel very qualified to state that pissing away $153 to make a Fury gripable and 18650 ready is BULLSHIT. Hey, do what you want with YOUR money, just don't act like a shill for an aftermarket vendor while patting yourself on the back for wasting money. Paladin How about you just not buy one instead of shitting in this thread? Do you shit it in threads at CPF when someone posts a pic of their $150 tripLED xpg heads? How about someone spending $40 for a z68 tailcap just to make their Surefire E-series tail stand? For someone who's as "qualified" as yourself, your reaction to the norm is odd. No one is justifying you to buy it. |
Adding O-rings to the body - Ugly  but if its functional for you, great
Regarding Rechargeable - I am not a fan of rechargeable in "serious" lights. Unlike Lithium Primaries which can be fully depleted (offering decreasing light until the cell is totally dead), your rechargable cell will flat cut off once you hit your cut-off voltage built into the battery. So once you hit 2.5 volts, it's lights out w/o warning While this isn't the end of the world, on a weapon light or serious situation it could be problematic. I was under my crawl space in the middle of the night - slithering out to the middle of my house when the flashlight in my mouth (on rechargeable) cut off w/o warning. It was pitch dark  Yes, it was a cascade of fail... but it wouldnt have been so bad with at least SOME light.
So - Unless you are using your light ALL the time, I think primaries make more sense. I probably end up using 6 SF CR123 cells a year between an LX2, X300U, SF Mini Scout and EXPS2-0. Just not worth the hassle to fool with rechargeable when I only use $10 bucks of SF batteries a year. |
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Adding O-rings to the body - Ugly but if its functional for you, great
Regarding Rechargeable - I am not a fan of rechargeable in "serious" lights. Unlike Lithium Primaries which can be fully depleted (offering decreasing light until the cell is totally dead), your rechargable cell will flat cut off once you hit your cut-off voltage built into the battery. So once you hit 2.5 volts, it's lights out w/o warning While this isn't the end of the world, on a weapon light or serious situation it could be problematic. I was under my crawl space in the middle of the night - slithering out to the middle of my house when the flashlight in my mouth (on rechargeable) cut off w/o warning. It was pitch dark Yes, it was a cascade of fail... but it wouldnt have been so bad with at least SOME light.
So - Unless you are using your light ALL the time, I think primaries make more sense. I probably end up using 6 SF CR123 cells a year between an LX2, X300U, SF Mini Scout and EXPS2-0. Just not worth the hassle to fool with rechargeable when I only use $10 bucks of SF batteries a year. From the thread: That depends on the driver+emitter & in the case of the Fury the starting lumen level is identical on either 2xCR123 or 1x18650 ... but the 2xCR123 drops out of regulation much sooner. I ran the chart below (red dots) in my sphere & used 500L as the starting output - didn't want to get into a "my lumens are bigger than your lumens match", just a relative comparison. Blue line is an interpolation from a runtime chart on LED-resource.com (which is why there are only a few data points)
For the first 60 minutes the light output is close enough to call identical as seen by human eyes. The CR123's are almost out of gas at that point, the output drops out of regulation & the lumens start decreasing quickly. The 18650 runs another 25 minutes or so before the drop begins & it doesn't hit the 50L mark until almost 2.5 hours (new 3400 protected Panasonic, YMMV with other cells). I'm way out of my lane ( ) but this is what it seems like ... 2xCR123 produce 6.3v with fresh cells. Vf on the XM-L is 2.1v & the driver losses eat up another volt so the XM-L Fury needs +/- 3.1v to run in regulation. The driver is designed to buck the 6.3v to 3.1v or at least that's how it appears. The XM-L continues to have some output until around 2.8v according to my Fluke. |
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Boring out a fury is probably the only mod I would consider getting until surefire makes a decently priced light that can take rechargeable cells. Trying to justify $153 in mods to make a Fury gripable and use a 18650 is bullshit. Paladin I'm not trying to justify nothing lol did you even read my post? Spend time over at CPF and check out the Surefire Fury thread and their breakdown. Posts like these are normal over there which wouldn't be considered normal or "justifiable" over here. I can bore out a Surefire for $20 or $30 and I already have reachargeable cells. The OP probably posts there as I saw the same exact pictures in that thread. I wouldn't spend that much on a light, but many flashlightaholics would, especially using surefire as a host. I've been a member at CPF since 2006. Probably own more Surefire lights than 95% of the members there. Having actually owned and used the SF Fury and the Streamlight Protac HL I feel very qualified to state that pissing away $153 to make a Fury gripable and 18650 ready is BULLSHIT. Hey, do what you want with YOUR money, just don't act like a shill for an aftermarket vendor while patting yourself on the back for wasting money. Paladin For some reason, this thread has struck a nerve with you. I wish I had the time you appearantly have to get so wound up over something that is at the end of the day so trivial. You seem to be failing the reading is funfuckingdemental portion of these posts. Again, every, single, day someone posts something on arfcom that many feel is not worth it, overkill, useless, etc.. That's fine. DON'T FREAKING BUY IT. I can't be any more simplistically clear than that yet you seem possessed to make it the complexity equivalent of decoding the human genome. And while Precision Works does great work and Barry is a gentleman to deal with, my stating such certainly doesn't bring me up to shill status. Again, since you seem to have so much time on your hands, go check out some manufactuer's threads and watch the fan boys shill the shit out of their favorite name brand. Unfortunately, God and genetics have conspired to not allow me to pat myself on the back for sometime. (yes, I'm actually in my chair trying and I can't. Never really thought about it). For some other posters: -the batteries are protected in case something goes wrong. I would never place an unprotected battery in a flashlight. - I use the modded light for daily carry. My Fury weaponlights are unmodified and use CR123s -500 lumens is NOT too much light for carbine work. That's silly talk. |
Interesting thread, especially since I did the mods for conndcj 
Just to clarify, conndcj opened this thread without my knowledge. I'd have never seen it except he mentioned it in a PM on another forum where we post. I first started offering these mods based on comments by LEO-FF-EMT & MIL as many of them were going through a pair of batteries every night. Price out 520 of any quality CR123 (12 months worth) and it takes little time for the 18650 to make economic sense, even when considering battery cost & charger cost. The grip mod again was prompted by users who said the body is too hard to grip. ... your rechargeable cell will flat cut off once you hit your cut-off voltage built into the battery. So once you hit 2.5 volts, it's lights out w/o warning ... That's what I thought would happen until I did the rundown testing with 3400 mAh Panasonic protected 18650's. SF did a superb job designing the Fury driver & it very efficiently sucks everything out of either 2xCR123 or 1x18650.
The taper off is really gradual. Users will surely change out the battery only because the output gets so dim. ... obviously the o-ring grooves and internal boring make the lifetime warranty worthless. Yes they do & I clearly state that to anyone considering modding their light. FWIW I've voided a bunch of SF warranties ...
Was a vent hole added to the body, in the event one of the 18650's decides to blow?
Only protected cells should ever be used in any rechargeable application. Unprotected cells can & will explode, protected ones will not AFAIK.
how long did it take to get your light back? I see they state up to 6 months. I'm hoping that would be worst case scenario, considering I would only be wanting the boring out. For professionals the turn is 48 hours. For civilians it's two weeks.
... 500 lumens for a light used for CQB is not smart. Professionals absolutely love this output level, at least those who post on the LEO & MIL forums.
The Surefire Fury, EAG model, sold by BCM is 500 lumens out of the box, and is not that expensive. And as designed the 500 lumen light is great for CQB. +1
A number of people order the EAG/BCM version & have BCM ship directly to me for modding. Saves time & shipping costs. Now, let the flaming begin 
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... If the light doesn't cut out with an 18650 - that is pretty slick. It's one of the few high amp lights (AFAIK) with a long & gradual taper on 18650. I had one super-thrower running 2x18650 & it would blink one time before dead darkness occurred five seconds later. The difference is the in the efficiency & setup of the driver circuit & the Fury driver does a great job on either 2xCR123 or 1x18650. The driver circuit can't tell the diff between power sources & it sucks out a constant 1700 mA while bucking down high voltage (fresh battery/batteries) or boosting up low voltage (cell/cells near depletion). The Voltage Forward (Vf) on the XM-L emitter is 2.1 volts & most drivers need one volt over Vf in order to keep running (the one volt accounts for driver losses & is a factor only the designer can change). With all that in mind the light should have gone dark at 3.1 volts or maybe 3.0 volts but it kept shining until the test was terminated at 2.8 volts. |
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"Another 500 lumen light, the SF X300 Ultra. Small 1000 lumen versions of these lights can't be too far away I would imagine. Amazing." http://www.oveready.com/custom-flashlights/triple-xpg2-surefire-x300/prod_211.html Holy shit. I want one..... |
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