Frank Schwab
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2002
- Messages
- 46
I picked up a Garrity Ozark Trail 2*AA flashlight at Wally World a couple weeks ago, as described Here
I have successfully mounted a MadMax and LS that I had that needed a home in this light. It requires some serious garage machining, but in the end you probably get the world's best heatsinked LS in a 2AA flashlight.
1. Take the tailcap off, and stretch the spring. On mine, it was weak straight out of the package and caused the light to flicker. Stretching the spring a bit solved this problem.
2. Unscrew the head. You can remove the reflector and front lens by pressing (hard!) on the back of the reflector; it and the lens will pop out the front of the head.
3. Unscrew the bulb assembly. This is a machined bit of brass with a bulb press-fit in the center. Push the bulb out backwards (push on the glass; you will have to push hard, so protect your thumb so that you don't get cut if the glass breaks). Pop out the silver bulb-holder recessed into the brass by sticking a screwdriver under it and popping.
4. I had a MadMax kit - rather than fully assembled as Dat2Zip is currently selling them, I got one where the anode board was seperate from the converter board. This is important.
Measure the diameter of the Anode board. On mine, it was 0.500 inches. The Converter board was larger - around 0.55 inches, IIRC.
Attach the wire to the converter that you'll be using to connect to the Anode Board.
5. Drill the brass insert with a 1/2 inch bit. You must center this hole extremely well - I was off by 1/32 of an inch or so, and messed up the threads on one side of the brass insert. Not a big problem, but looks pretty ugly. If the Anode board doesn't fit in this hole, use a file to make the Anode board slightly smaller in diameter. Fitting tightly is a GOOD thing. Alternatively, you could try drilling with a smaller drill bit, and filing the anode board down even more.
6. If you thought the last step was difficult, try this one: enlarge the hole at the knurled end to fit the MadMax converter board. I used a Dremel tool and a cutter head, and a great deal of patience, to enlarge the hole to fit my converter board. The enlarged hole must be deeper than the converter so that the various components on the board don't contact the brass, but not so deep that you cut through the brass below the knurling. The converter board face should be flush with the front of the brass insert.
7. Insert the Anode board, contact face facing out. Place some solder blobs on the inside of the brass right up against the anode board. It won't solder to the board (there's no copper on the back side), but this provides a solid "step" to hold the anode board from getting pushing deeper into the brass insert by the batteries.
8. Insert the MadMax conveter board into the brass insert, LS facing out. Fix the board so that it is flush with the front face (what's left of it!) of the brass insert. Heat sink the brass insert (maybe screw it into the flashlight after removing the O-Ring). Carefully solder the ground plane of the converter board to the front face of the brass insert. Be careful; if the solder starts flowing down the inside of the brass insert, it may short components on the board to the side of the insert (don't ask me how I know!). 2 or 3 spots should be sufficient unless you are planning on running outrageous current through your LS, in which case you'll want to solder nearly the entire circumference.
9. Remove the Anode board. Clean the flux from the inside and outside of the brass and the top of the converter board.
10. Run the wire from the converter board through the anode board, place the anode board back into the brass insert, and solder the wire.
11. You now have a brass-encased MadMax Pill that screws right back into the flashlight.
12. If you desire, an LS acrylic optics can be fitted into the head of the flashlight, and held in place with the plastic lens. Remove the little tit on the back lip of the optics.
13. Alternatively, you can modify the original lens to fit around the LS. I filed off the nub on the back of the lens, then drilled it out large enough to fit around the LS. I preferred the light output with the reflector, it was less intense in the center "hot spot", but had a larger and brighter corona around the outside.
I'd post a few pictures, but frankly I'm embarrassed by the workmanship. From the outside, however, the light looks pretty slick.
/frank
I have successfully mounted a MadMax and LS that I had that needed a home in this light. It requires some serious garage machining, but in the end you probably get the world's best heatsinked LS in a 2AA flashlight.
1. Take the tailcap off, and stretch the spring. On mine, it was weak straight out of the package and caused the light to flicker. Stretching the spring a bit solved this problem.
2. Unscrew the head. You can remove the reflector and front lens by pressing (hard!) on the back of the reflector; it and the lens will pop out the front of the head.
3. Unscrew the bulb assembly. This is a machined bit of brass with a bulb press-fit in the center. Push the bulb out backwards (push on the glass; you will have to push hard, so protect your thumb so that you don't get cut if the glass breaks). Pop out the silver bulb-holder recessed into the brass by sticking a screwdriver under it and popping.
4. I had a MadMax kit - rather than fully assembled as Dat2Zip is currently selling them, I got one where the anode board was seperate from the converter board. This is important.
Measure the diameter of the Anode board. On mine, it was 0.500 inches. The Converter board was larger - around 0.55 inches, IIRC.
Attach the wire to the converter that you'll be using to connect to the Anode Board.
5. Drill the brass insert with a 1/2 inch bit. You must center this hole extremely well - I was off by 1/32 of an inch or so, and messed up the threads on one side of the brass insert. Not a big problem, but looks pretty ugly. If the Anode board doesn't fit in this hole, use a file to make the Anode board slightly smaller in diameter. Fitting tightly is a GOOD thing. Alternatively, you could try drilling with a smaller drill bit, and filing the anode board down even more.
6. If you thought the last step was difficult, try this one: enlarge the hole at the knurled end to fit the MadMax converter board. I used a Dremel tool and a cutter head, and a great deal of patience, to enlarge the hole to fit my converter board. The enlarged hole must be deeper than the converter so that the various components on the board don't contact the brass, but not so deep that you cut through the brass below the knurling. The converter board face should be flush with the front of the brass insert.
7. Insert the Anode board, contact face facing out. Place some solder blobs on the inside of the brass right up against the anode board. It won't solder to the board (there's no copper on the back side), but this provides a solid "step" to hold the anode board from getting pushing deeper into the brass insert by the batteries.
8. Insert the MadMax conveter board into the brass insert, LS facing out. Fix the board so that it is flush with the front face (what's left of it!) of the brass insert. Heat sink the brass insert (maybe screw it into the flashlight after removing the O-Ring). Carefully solder the ground plane of the converter board to the front face of the brass insert. Be careful; if the solder starts flowing down the inside of the brass insert, it may short components on the board to the side of the insert (don't ask me how I know!). 2 or 3 spots should be sufficient unless you are planning on running outrageous current through your LS, in which case you'll want to solder nearly the entire circumference.
9. Remove the Anode board. Clean the flux from the inside and outside of the brass and the top of the converter board.
10. Run the wire from the converter board through the anode board, place the anode board back into the brass insert, and solder the wire.
11. You now have a brass-encased MadMax Pill that screws right back into the flashlight.
12. If you desire, an LS acrylic optics can be fitted into the head of the flashlight, and held in place with the plastic lens. Remove the little tit on the back lip of the optics.
13. Alternatively, you can modify the original lens to fit around the LS. I filed off the nub on the back of the lens, then drilled it out large enough to fit around the LS. I preferred the light output with the reflector, it was less intense in the center "hot spot", but had a larger and brighter corona around the outside.
I'd post a few pictures, but frankly I'm embarrassed by the workmanship. From the outside, however, the light looks pretty slick.
/frank
