Black T-Nuts

[BluegrassHolsters]

I found them at a number of the kydex holster manufacturers. Only one was willing to reveal his source, but you had to buy in very large quantity, i.e., 25-50 thousand. The majority of the others were willing to sell from their stock.

Yep! As I was told, too, which is why the desire to find a process which allows the individual to do their own blackening. If the process is not too laborious some of us might be able to make an extra 100 or so for the smaller guys (example, I might be willing to make a few extra for someone while making several hundred for myself). If the cost is right, the addition of such a process to myself, you, Jeff, and a few others might well not be a deal breaker.....but again I am still finalizing the details and looks with a couple companies as I write.

Sheesh....not only do I not want to cart 25K of tee-nuts into my shop, I am not sure where I would store them.....and even if 4 of us split an order we would each have to store 6250 tee-nuts!

Good Grief!

The DIY solution seems the best answer all around for the small maker....stay tuned for more info as I have it.....

[Jordan]

Better get busy, thats alot of holsters to make Just a thought....couldn't a person make some small cuts on the barrell of a chicago screw and bend it to make a pointy flange ?

Edited June 3, 2008 by Jordan

[K-Man]

I guess I don't understand, Brock. Why are you going through all the research/labor to make them yourself if they're readily available through some of the kydex holster manufacturers? Not trying to say you shouldn't do what you want to do, but it just seems like a lot of effort for little return. I agree that going with a direct manufacturer of the t-nuts, at the rate of 25k, would be an unrealistic endeavor for most. But even at the rate of 6,000 per person, that really doesn't take up as much room as you might think. You could probably put that many in a couple of 12" x 12" x 12" boxes. Are you that tight on space, that you wouldn't be able to accomodate such a small box?

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to tie up that much capital in t-nuts right now. I am still just breaking even at this point, so I try not to spend any more than I have to to keep things running. In the future that will change, but for now what I want to do doesn't matter as much as what I am able to do, if you follow my meaning. To that ende, it is actually more expedient for me to pay a little more for fewer items if it means I don't have to invest as much immediately.

For all I know the rest of you are just too cheap to buy that many .

[FrankCastle]

What is the material of the T- Nut you need? If Aluminum you could do Black Anodizing at your home or shop. I remember back about 5 years ago when I was in Paintball, there are easy kits at about $100 that you can buy to Anodize your self. I had a couple buddies re-anodize their guns and they turned out pretty nice, a hell of a lot less than sending them out for Anodizing? The other thing is once you have the tools and materials, you can repeat the process rather cheaply. As far as the treads go, you can use a plastic plug to keep the anodizing off of it, or just chase it with a tap when you are done. I believe the coating on anodizing is only a few thousands of an inch. Hope this helps, if not it was an Idea.

The other thing, is if you want to get really froggy you can anodize any color you want.

Found the Link: http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/anodize.shtml

I am thinking for a T-Nut, you can set this up on a lot smaller scale to get the results you require with out to much cost.

Edited June 3, 2008 by FrankCastle

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

Thanks for the idea, Frank. I heard that home anodizing was being restricted by the EPA, but this makes me wonder if that's true. I would rather not use aluminum nuts if I could keep from it, though the idea of custom colored hardware is pretty tempting.... Hmmmmmm......

[Shorts]

Well the anodizing would be the easy part. What hardware is preferred?

[FrankCastle]

Thanks for the idea, Frank. I heard that home anodizing was being restricted by the EPA, but this makes me wonder if that's true. I would rather not use aluminum nuts if I could keep from it, though the idea of custom colored hardware is pretty tempting.... Hmmmmmm......

I am not sure how the EPA can regulate this, seeing how all the materials can be easily obtained. The other thing is, how would they know you were anodizing? As far as the colors, I think white is the only problem, everything else can be mixed and matched to your liking. Like I said, seems like this could be a solution to the issue stated by the OP.

[Jordan]

I would suspect 'anodizing yourself' could be painful or at the very least embarassing

[Srigs]

I picked up some regular T-nuts at Menards last night for one of my custom projects but not black that is for sure. You could use black automotive paint on the zink t-nuts to change the look.

If someone finds a source, I would be interested also in a share of them.