Idea for a Mag85 parts kit

[NotRegulated]

I just love this forum for the ideas and creativity. Oh, and the flashlights too.
I too have an idea. Now, being a newbie to homemade lights and having no electrical background, I am looking for a way to put together a light that I would like. I'm sure someone has thought of the idea already, it's just that either I haven't run across it in the threads or I haven't been around this forum long enough.

What about offering all the parts needed to make a Mag85 (or other variation) all in one package?

A new lens, reflector, bulb choice, bulb socket (MC bi-pin type part), batteries and battery holders. It seems that the most difficult thing associated with this build is to get your hands on all the right parts. We could do the work of assembling the parts into our own Mag. I just took my old, (20 yr old) Mag 6D apart last night for the first time ever with the information provided on this forum and it was easy. In the recent past I posted a thread, Can I buy a complete Mag85? After taking the Mag apart myself I think that it would be much more fun to put it together myself rather than getting a completely assembled turnkey unit. It would be much more rewarding.

Now before you say to me, "Well, go ahead and do it then", I would submit that I am proposing this idea to the people who have already done this and know what to do or suggesting this as a product offered by one of the company's that are already advertising on this forum to stock the parts and offer the "kit". I also am acutely aware that there would not be a huge retail market for these outside of the usual flashaholic community and that buying up these parts and assembling kits ties up capital and takes time and effort. It would have to be someone who really wants to do this for other than profit.

What do you think of this idea?

 

[bwaites]

The problem is that most of us are hobbyists and don't have enough funds to pull this off except on a limited basis.

I just did a run of about 10 lights, but am now out of pieces to make them.

I made enough money to buy parts for 20 or so more lights, but have to wait for the group buys to get more parts, though I do have everything but battery holders due in in the next 2 weeks or so.

Bill

 

[Bright Scouter]

From the standpoint of someone else that is planning to make a Mag85BP and a Mag66BP and ,,, I like the idea. But I don't think anyone here would want to go through all the hassles to get the hard to find parts and package them up as a kit. You would be, in effect, doing multiple group buys. You would be waiting for the shipments to come in from multiple companies on totally different schedules. Some as far apart as weeks or even months. And then trying to package up the kits to ship out.

While it would make my life simple. I also know it would probably take a lot longer than if I just break down and get the individual parts on my own. I don't think anyone would want to do the parts kits for a small markup either.

But I may be wrong.

 

[Ginseng]

Welcome and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here's what I think.

The CPF community seems to split alone DIY and TK lines. That's "Do it yourself" and "turn key". For the vast majority of folks, the Mag85 and associated mods, are easy enough that it doesn't really warrant contracting a modder to do it for you. On the other hand, the parts needed to build one must come from at least four different sources. For someone to want to do the integration for no profit, it'd really have to be a labor of love. For a vendor to do it would be ill-advised. This is because adding in a reasonable profit margin would make this mod that much less attractive from a value standpoint. And affter all, we want our advertising/sponsoring vendors to be profitable and to continnue operating so that we can continue to buy neat stuff from them.

So, I see this sorta paralleling the McLux platform, I think. Parts are commonly available. Buy the ones you need and stick it all together with a minimum of tinkering and end up with a reasonably priced, very bright light. And you get to bask in the glow of personal achievement.

What do you think?

Wilkey

 

[NotRegulated]

Ginseng, thats it exactly! The idea came in part from the variations available in the Aleph system. You can buy your own parts and assemble the light into different variations.

Many people I know, once they have played with some of my lights (stock rechargables such as Streamlight SL-20's, Stingers, etc.) have gone out and popped for $100+ lights on there own. They usually never new such lights existed.
Almost all of them had Mags already. To them, a Mag was a real good light. It is, within its class. This mod is also reversable. I think that if people could use a familiar Mag platform they like and get more power it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[bwaites]

Lightedge is trying this, but even with purchasing power and an established business, he has found it hard to get lamps and reflectors and I don't think he has a source yet for battery carriers like the 3AA-to-D or FiveMegas 9AA carrier.

Bill

 

[paulr]

I don't think this question can be answered from abstract principles. You have to get into the details of what goes into a Mag85 to decide if the notion makes sense. What would a kit have to cost, anyway? Assume you're not going to sell enough to get any significant quantity discount on the parts.

1. Borofloat lens - around $8?
2. Three 3-to-D holders, $5 each (but you can't get them now), $15 if they become available again
3. Magcharger switch core, $11
4. Reflector, $25 but again these are hard to get
5. Nine NiMH AA cells, say $15
6. NiMH charger, $10 for a cheap overnight one
7. Two 1185 bulbs at around $5 each, total $10
8. Mag 3D host, $20

That's $114 and any reasonable profit margin puts it way over $150. To get a 40% margin you'd have to charge $190.

That's really not all that attractive compared to alternatives, like a brand new Magcharger at $85 or so, or at the other end, a Surefire 10X Dominator at around $300. Jim Sexton is even selling complete turnkey TL85's for a little over $200 or so.

I've slowly been accumulating the parts for an Mag85BT and that makes the pain sort of bearable (I'm spending $10-20 here and there rather than $150+ all at once, plus I already had the Mag 3D host). But even still, I feel like I'm doing something dumb, since an MC60 would be much more cost effective.

Hmm, if you really want a parts kit, maybe I can sell you the parts that I've acquired, instead of building my own Mag85BT with them. Then I'd do something else instead. I'd sort of been thinking of selling the complete 85BT after I've built it up and played with it a little.

I'd think there isn't much DIY satisfaction from putting a Mag85 together. It's just unscrewing the old parts and putting in the new ones. It's just a glorified bulb upgrade.

 

[bwaites]

Oh yes, it is a glorified bulb upgrade, but what an upgrade!

If you can bring yourself to sell it after playing with it, I'll be shocked!

I have several and everytime I build a new one it is hard to sell it!!

Bill

 

[bjn70]

Part of the fun is getting the pieces and putting it together yourself.

If a person wanted to do this and sell them it would be advisable to start with Mag85's. All you need to do is add a different bulb, modify the charger, and build a battery pack. This way you don't have to order switches, order lenses, or order reflectors.

It seems like building an integrated battery pack would be easier than messing with the separate AA's and AA-D adapters. Couldn't you get 9 cells with tabs, solder them together, shrinkwrap the whole thing, add a spacer on the end, and be set?

 

[paulr]

Bwaites, how can I think of selling a Mag85? Well, you may have noticed I'm on the list for an Ultimate Stealthlite.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also I already feel annoyed at the hassle of charging the batteries in a Mag85 (remove 3-to-D's from light, remove cells from 3-to-D's, perform several iterations of swapping the 9 cells in and out of a 4-cell charger, then put it all back together). I'd much rather use a Magcharger with a modified charger so I can just plop the whole light into a charging base without taking it apart. So I'd probably "downgrade" my Mag85 to an MC60 (= MC with 1160 and stock battery and charger) and then later maybe upgrade the MC60 to an MC85.

The idea of an integrated pack is interesting and -that- might be a worthwhile product for someone. Externally it could look like an oversized 3-to-D, i.e. a long plastic holder with the triangular pack, wiring, and a spacer inside. Mag85's and MC85's would both be able to use it. For Mag85's, there would have to be an accessory charger.

 

[bwaites]

You can order MC85 packs like this from CheapBatteryPacks.com using the high current 1650's. Not the absolute longest running Mag85 variant, but probably the brightest for the longest since the 1650's will flat out put out the current!

I have a handbuilt 2000Mah pack built by Ginseng in one of my Mag85's and it works great. I could run it in the MagCharger, but I find that I forget to take it off when it reaches full charge, so I just charge it on the Triton and go.

Getting the packs isn't the problem, it's getting people to have the right chargers to take advantage of the packs!!

Bill

 

[CPFMan]

How about doing a 2nd run? Just like other modes I've seen. Maybe there are CPFer's out there who missed out on the 1st run or newbies who want to get a hold of one. I've seen quite a few threads asking about it. If we have enough people to join in, maybe... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif