Alright, so I've had my eye on this silver/pewter 2C Mag at Home Depot for the past month. I've never seen a C Mag for sale that is not Black. Also, it has an older package, and is quite dusty. I figure it's a discontinued colour that's been on the shelf a while
And, at $30 before tax for a ***** 2C Incan placed in too close of proximity the latest $9.99 Shower Head Special, it wasn't going anywhere fast.
I caved and bought it based on it's colour collectability.
So now what do we do with this ? Lets build a Mag 11 !
As you can see I already have the required equipment in my arsenal to install into the business end. Its just a question of modding that tailcap to accommodate 2x 18650 Lion cells.
But, I do not have any custom springs ? Nor any solvents to dissolve the anodization, and I don't feel like busting out the Dremel.
I want to do this quick. So after some deliberation, a few experiments, and some MacGyver inspired ingenuity, this is what I came up with . . .
First, we scrape the hell out of the bottom of the cap with some sort of tool, this file was appropriate for the job.
It's not a clean as other methods, but just as effective, I'm sure.
Then, you fashion a spacer out of toilet paper!
No literally. I'll cut up toilet paper/paper towel tubes to length, wrap them in electrical tape, and sometimes pack some paper towel sandwiched between layers of cardboard till everything fits to taste.
(I already had one made for a 2C to 2x18500 mod)
Making a battery spacer tube could not be any easier.
And finally, the secret ingredient !
Between the top of the battery and the Mag Positive contact on the switch assembly, we drop in Two Canadian Pennies !
Exactly 2 Canadian Pennies. (Sorry Americans, your pennies will not work . . . jk, lol)
Last but not least, we excersize the obvious final step.
And what do you know, everything lines up, and the Mag 11 roars to life !
Now, this particular mod is a bit finicky. You basically have to tune your coil count to match your particular cell. 2 pennies only really works for those particular cells. When I tried cells of different makes, the fitment was off.
Ultimately, you're going to want a spring. A good place to get one is off a 6v Lantern Battery. So far they've turned out to be jsut the right size. You can cut them off, like so. . .
Once you have a spring, you can fit it inside the spare bulb foam that came with your Mag.
Afterward, the obvious once again. The spring will do its job, and the foam will keep it in place preventing it from falling out between battery changes.
In Other News:
This is not the only cheap but effective tailcap mod I've pulled out of my arse-anal.
Fact is, I'm a LiFepo4 fanboy!
I invested in couple sets of 26650 LiFe cells even before I knew this forum existed.
Now, I will show you how to employ this wonderful new safe battery tech to some of your favorite hotwires.
First off: The Mild Mannered Mag85.
For this receipt, you will need 3x26650 LiFe Cells. A 3D Mag with the appropriate hardware installed into the business end. A patented Conte exclusive paper towel tube wrapped with e-tape battery adapter. And, the top button piece carefully pried of the top off a sacrificial Alkaline D Primary Cell.
Illustrated here, is how the 3 LiFe cells are behaving in the obvious manner that we will not bother discussing further.
Now, I'm not exactly sure how this works, because to the eyeball, it does not look like it should, but for some reason, it fits perfectly.
We simply drop the top button piece of the D Cell into the tailcap like so, and couple the cap together with the body in holy hotwire matrimony.
Hell we could still fit a spare bulb under there.
And BAM ! A LiFe Powered Mag85 comes to life. . . . . . po4 !
Now I know what some of you are thinking.
"But Conte, that's not in overdrive, you're loosing out on precious lumens!"
Yeah, I know, this is a conservative mod. The neat thing about the working voltage of the LiFe cell, is that it will run the Mag85 perfectly in its spec operating range. For this reason, I dub this hotwire, the Mag85s! S as in Spec.
It's ok tho, It will still produce Copious Gobs of Lumen Luster while offering maxium
proof bulb life. AND, as this mod is designed for 65mm cells, you can always drop a Trio of 18650 Lions in there to awaken the King of the Hotwire Jungle.
Last But Not Least: The Reverse Spring Mod.
In today's episode we will be executing one of the most complicated and intricate Mag Mods known to the Hotwire World.
For Experts only, we will be loading a 2D Mag up with a pair of 26650 LiFe cells for a mod that I sometimes refer to as "Magcharger V2.0".
Once again, an image that speaks a thousand words, saving me from explaining in great detail the obstacle that we are trying to overcome.
And here is how the magic happens. 15 hours on the lathe later . . . (jk)
We simply reverse the spring.
In this pic I am using a spring from a modern "Rebel LED" Maglite.
If you have this spring, its perfect. Otherwise you may need to bend the innermost ring of the stock mag spring inwards and smaller to accommodate (18650 cells), or (backwards A123 cells when using AW's Awesome Incan Driver).
But in the end, without having to do anything more to the 2D mag, we can mod it to accommodate 2x 18650 or 26650 cells.
As an added bonus, because of the length ratio of the 2D, it can be the basis of a modular system, where you pick up two 65mm extension tubes from FiveMega or Jesus Hernandez allowing you to scale the 2D up to 3 cell and 4 cell systems, enabling you to use One light, to fire up virtually every popular Mag Incan Hotwire.
But for today, our 2D Mag 60/61/11s/Mc2.0 comes to LiFe !
And, at $30 before tax for a ***** 2C Incan placed in too close of proximity the latest $9.99 Shower Head Special, it wasn't going anywhere fast.
I caved and bought it based on it's colour collectability.
So now what do we do with this ? Lets build a Mag 11 !
As you can see I already have the required equipment in my arsenal to install into the business end. Its just a question of modding that tailcap to accommodate 2x 18650 Lion cells.
But, I do not have any custom springs ? Nor any solvents to dissolve the anodization, and I don't feel like busting out the Dremel.
I want to do this quick. So after some deliberation, a few experiments, and some MacGyver inspired ingenuity, this is what I came up with . . .
First, we scrape the hell out of the bottom of the cap with some sort of tool, this file was appropriate for the job.
It's not a clean as other methods, but just as effective, I'm sure.
Then, you fashion a spacer out of toilet paper!
No literally. I'll cut up toilet paper/paper towel tubes to length, wrap them in electrical tape, and sometimes pack some paper towel sandwiched between layers of cardboard till everything fits to taste.
(I already had one made for a 2C to 2x18500 mod)
Making a battery spacer tube could not be any easier.
And finally, the secret ingredient !
Between the top of the battery and the Mag Positive contact on the switch assembly, we drop in Two Canadian Pennies !
Exactly 2 Canadian Pennies. (Sorry Americans, your pennies will not work . . . jk, lol)
Last but not least, we excersize the obvious final step.
And what do you know, everything lines up, and the Mag 11 roars to life !
Now, this particular mod is a bit finicky. You basically have to tune your coil count to match your particular cell. 2 pennies only really works for those particular cells. When I tried cells of different makes, the fitment was off.
Ultimately, you're going to want a spring. A good place to get one is off a 6v Lantern Battery. So far they've turned out to be jsut the right size. You can cut them off, like so. . .
Once you have a spring, you can fit it inside the spare bulb foam that came with your Mag.
Afterward, the obvious once again. The spring will do its job, and the foam will keep it in place preventing it from falling out between battery changes.
In Other News:
This is not the only cheap but effective tailcap mod I've pulled out of my arse-anal.
Fact is, I'm a LiFepo4 fanboy!
I invested in couple sets of 26650 LiFe cells even before I knew this forum existed.
Now, I will show you how to employ this wonderful new safe battery tech to some of your favorite hotwires.
First off: The Mild Mannered Mag85.
For this receipt, you will need 3x26650 LiFe Cells. A 3D Mag with the appropriate hardware installed into the business end. A patented Conte exclusive paper towel tube wrapped with e-tape battery adapter. And, the top button piece carefully pried of the top off a sacrificial Alkaline D Primary Cell.
Illustrated here, is how the 3 LiFe cells are behaving in the obvious manner that we will not bother discussing further.
Now, I'm not exactly sure how this works, because to the eyeball, it does not look like it should, but for some reason, it fits perfectly.
We simply drop the top button piece of the D Cell into the tailcap like so, and couple the cap together with the body in holy hotwire matrimony.
Hell we could still fit a spare bulb under there.
And BAM ! A LiFe Powered Mag85 comes to life. . . . . . po4 !
Now I know what some of you are thinking.
"But Conte, that's not in overdrive, you're loosing out on precious lumens!"
Yeah, I know, this is a conservative mod. The neat thing about the working voltage of the LiFe cell, is that it will run the Mag85 perfectly in its spec operating range. For this reason, I dub this hotwire, the Mag85s! S as in Spec.
It's ok tho, It will still produce Copious Gobs of Lumen Luster while offering maxium
proof bulb life. AND, as this mod is designed for 65mm cells, you can always drop a Trio of 18650 Lions in there to awaken the King of the Hotwire Jungle. Last But Not Least: The Reverse Spring Mod.
In today's episode we will be executing one of the most complicated and intricate Mag Mods known to the Hotwire World.
For Experts only, we will be loading a 2D Mag up with a pair of 26650 LiFe cells for a mod that I sometimes refer to as "Magcharger V2.0".
Once again, an image that speaks a thousand words, saving me from explaining in great detail the obstacle that we are trying to overcome.
And here is how the magic happens. 15 hours on the lathe later . . . (jk)
We simply reverse the spring.
In this pic I am using a spring from a modern "Rebel LED" Maglite.
If you have this spring, its perfect. Otherwise you may need to bend the innermost ring of the stock mag spring inwards and smaller to accommodate (18650 cells), or (backwards A123 cells when using AW's Awesome Incan Driver).
But in the end, without having to do anything more to the 2D mag, we can mod it to accommodate 2x 18650 or 26650 cells.
As an added bonus, because of the length ratio of the 2D, it can be the basis of a modular system, where you pick up two 65mm extension tubes from FiveMega or Jesus Hernandez allowing you to scale the 2D up to 3 cell and 4 cell systems, enabling you to use One light, to fire up virtually every popular Mag Incan Hotwire.
But for today, our 2D Mag 60/61/11s/Mc2.0 comes to LiFe !
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