My first modified maglite - 2500 Lumens Goal

[cdrake261]

Alrighty, been a while since I've updated...The part of the main heatsink that slides into the body is roughly 26mm long and and the space between the top of the tube and the switch cut completely flat is also roughly 40mm, so that gives me 14mm to work with if I don't cut the main heatsink back(ideal for XM-L's heat management) or if I trim the heatsink back by 13.5mm(not ideal for XM-L's heat management) and I would then have 27.5mm to play with. So I am considering angling the driver, which throws the driver heat monitor and cut off features out of the picture, status LED may not even make it in the picture either...

The h6flex is a hair bigger then 33mm and the maglite tube is 34.16mm and originally I was going to lay the driver horizonal but that wouldn't give me enough room for my 18ga. wires(diameter of about 1.88mm). This driver is just plain too large for this maglite without fancy heatsinks to angle it.

Another option is to not use this driver and find a smaller 2 or 3 mode driver that will fit inside the heatsink ID of 26.5mm or smaller....any idea's?

Here's my thoughts on the driver heatsink if I decided to go with the TaskLED driver...

 

[cdrake261]

Got hole drilled for the plug, and plug installed...works better than expected!

 

[cdrake261]

 

[Rando]

Looking good, can't wait to see it fired up! Is the voltage monitor a function of the H6Flex or is it something separately installed?

 

[cdrake261]

Looking good, can't wait to see it fired up! Is the voltage monitor a function of the H6Flex or is it something separately installed?

Yes... Voltage monitor and cut off, as well thermal cut off and status led(green light) are part of the h6flex.

Heatsink will hopefully be done getting a trim job at my uncles shop, if so, I'll be mounting the driver this weekend. Send my maglite head out to Jesus today, or that's the plan anyways. I think I'm gonna get either an accurcell-8 or icharger equivalent. Ichargers are nice, but money is tight....

 

[cdrake261]

Scored a mitutoyo caliper at a pawn shop for $25 bucks...good deal?

 

[cdrake261]

Here's my heatsink machined down, this weekend I'm going to drill some holes to route power and ground to the led...

 

[cdrake261]

more pictures!!!

heatsink after being cut down, before heading to drill press...

Pictures after drill press...

You know the drill(like the pun?

), feel free to ask questions and make suggestions.

 

[Broker]

Scored a mitutoyo caliper at a pawn shop for $25 bucks...good deal?

That's a micrometer, not a caliper, & yes, that was a great deal!

 

[cdrake261]

That's a micrometer, not a caliper, & yes, that was a great deal!

Oops...tehe....

Anyways, flashlight build is on hold for now because power has been cut so the roofers won't kill themselves...

 

[cdrake261]

I'm not going to fin the head as I originally planned, so chance of beam shots tonight pending if curing of arctic adhesive.

 

[cdrake261]

awesomeness....its pretty bright!

 

[moderator007]

Waiting to see those beam shots cdrake261. :thumbsup:

 

[cdrake261]

Waiting to see those beam shots cdrake261. :thumbsup:

Unfortunately the build took a turn for the worse...one of my cells dropped to 1.35v and my driver won't light up a single xm-l with a 6v power source let alone the triple xm-l and 16.8v

Dead driver and a dead cell? I'm not the happiest camper at the moment.

 

[The_bad_Frag]

You can try to connect your driver to your car battery. It must light up a single or triple XM-L with that... Maybe you have a broken power supply...

 

[cdrake261]

good news is that the one cell was tripped...putting it on the charger elevated that. If the driver isnt dead, it probably just shorted out. testing driver with a simple cell/led setup to check functionality now

 

[cdrake261]

Driver works with simple setup....now just have to remove arctic alumina and reseat driver onto the heatsink... But first I'm going to modify the heat sink to help prevent grounding out the wires that passes through the heatsink

 

[cdrake261]

Alright...everything tested and everything works!! Phew!! Going to grab me some liquid electrical tape to make sure there's no grounds anywhere....beam shots tonight, unless another failure...

 

[moderator007]

Glad to hear she's alright. Looking forward to seeing the beam shots. You have put alot of effort it in to this build I was hoping you had not killed it.

 

[cdrake261]

turned my flashlight on for 5 secs then shut off