Complete flashlight rebuild - suggestion on heat and driving current

[Fallingwater]

I have this Cree light (grey one), which dates back to when Crees were all new and fancy and DX was probing the waters to see if there was a market for tiny CR123 Cree lights.
Turned out it was, so they started producing native Cree lights and stopped selling pre-hacked MXDLs.
I EDCed the MXDL for a while, but eventually stopped due to the single-mode driver ruining my night vision and sucking cells dry in no time.

Now I have a few AMC 2-mode drivers from DX on the way, along with some SSC P4s, so I got the idea of rebuilding it completely in order to make it more practical.
Problem is, when I took the light apart for my review, I found a big hole right where heat conductivity is most important.

If I had a lathe I'd turn a copper slug of the same size but filled and with threading all the way to the end; since I don't, I have to use the stock one.

The question is: with that big hole there, how hard can I drive the SSC and be confident that it'll sink its heat in the sides of the pill?
The original driver fed the Cree about 700 to 800mA, and I never had any problems with the emitter, but then I didn't EDC it for long, so I can't say whether it would have eventually died - or dimmed too much to be useful - due to excessive heat.

The AMC board comes set to 1050mA at max power, but I'll unsolder one of the AMC chips and bring the current down to 700mA. Do you think this is enough, or would I have to further reduce it to (gasp) 350mA by unsoldering another AMC?

Thanks.

 

[clg0159]

Well, if you have access to a dremel you could make a plug for your heatsink out of copper rod, or even a penny and AA it into the hole. Or maybe a kind fellow CPF'er would turn one for you on their lathe

 

[Fallingwater]

Huh... didn't think of using pennes (or in my case, eurocents). Thanks, I'll do that.
What do you mean "AA it into the hole"?

With the hole filled it should be able to dissipate the heat from a SSC driven at 700mA, right?

 

[Cydonia]

Be advised that the eurocents are probably only copper plated steel like the US 1 cent pieces made after 1982.
So it won't be a pure copper heat sink. You'll have to google and check what the coin is made from

 

[Fallingwater]

That's indeed what they are made of, but I figure copper plated steel is a whole lot better than air...

 

[clg0159]

AA is Arctic Alumina thermal adhesive. You could also use flux and solder it if you have a gas torch. If you want pure copper you could also open a piece of copper pipe with tin snips and hammer it flat. Just a thought.