Hello,
There have been some questions asked and speculations made about how I make this sight, and why it gathers light the way it does, glowing from the sides instead of the end.
I had to make up another sight, so I went ahead and took pictures. This particular set was taken after the final polishing work but right before the final brushing work, so excuse the small mess.
First, it's easiest to think of a fiber-optic rod as an electrical wire, using photons instead of electrons.
Insulated electrical wire allows electrons to flow from the current source to the termination point, whether that point be a blender, computer, or vibratory tumbler.
In the same way, photons flow from a source to a terminal point using fiber-optics. And, like a wire, the fiber-optic rod has an insulation of sorts that can be stripped or added.
All I do is add some "insulation" at the tip, and strip it from where I need it stripped, just like I would cap off a wire and strip it where I might put a Western Union Splice (not recommending that, by the way, as it's been against the NEC for some time now).
I end up with this:
This is the front sight, used to gather light.
If you'll notice, you can see the glow grow from bottom to top, where it shines with a whitish-red tint. I have trouble making it show up in pictures.
The back side.
Here it is shown at the back -- the part facing toward you, the shooter, and the rear sight. You can see the contrast even if the camera has troubles picking up the glow.
I hope this has answered some questions. It's tough getting the fiber-optic rod in there and then resizing the pin. Polishing and lapping it to the sight hood really takes up the rest of the time until the bare metal is blued, then
that has to be polished and left to season a bit. Labor is about three hours on the pin itself, if everything goes as it should.
I hope this answers some questions.
Josh
