M@g 1C sst-50 DD w/ tailcap mod tutorial

[Hill]

I love the Mag 1C form factor - not quite a pocket sized light, but small and powerful. Here is my 1C + sst-50 DD mod. On fresh charge, it pulls ~ 3A from IMR 26650 or 26500. I was a little dissappointed with the lower than expected current. I tried to build this with thicker (20G) wire and make the necessary low resistant mods. Others have done similar builds and shown higher current. Rather than mess around with this one (which came out pretty good), I am waiting for the new Taskled H6flex driver and will mate it with an sst-50 driven by 2 x IMR 26500 in a 1.5D mag.


Specs
Mag 1C bored
Stippled stock reflector
Deanodized bezel/tailcap
sst-50 on star SSR-50-W65S-R21-GJ100
Custom Al heatsink
Custom tailclicky
1 x 26650 powered

Ok, enough already, onto the eye candy...

mag2D..............mag1.5D............ mag1C

Thanks for looking. Comments/suggestions always welcome

 

[bigchelis]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

Wow, very clean mod. You did an awesome job on that tailcap too.

Did you use JB Weld on the tube/bezel area?


You get 3A:shakehead, well it could ve worse. If you got 5.5A~6A it could turn blue and lumens would sky rocket down.


The good news is that I had a similar build with D2flex switch and recorded the lower current modes; which are steady with little drop in the 1st 3 minutes:thumbsup:

At 4.55A at the tail with IMR 26500 = 986 OTF
At 3A at the tail with IMR 26500 = 725 OTF lumens
At 1.8A at the tail with IMR 26500 = 483 OTF lumens

I don't know the bin on my 1C SST-50, but with the impressive OTF numbers at lower current I guess it was a good bin.

 

[Fichtenelch]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

How did you build the tailcap?

 

[chefgrill]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

That's a nice little light, I like it.

How did you build the tailcap?

I'm interested in that too.

 

[Hill]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

Wow, very clean mod. You did an awesome job on that tailcap too.

Did you use JB Weld on the tube/bezel area?


You get 3A:shakehead, well it could ve worse. If you got 5.5A~6A it could turn blue and lumens would sky rocket down.


The good news is that I had a similar build with D2flex switch and recorded the lower current modes; which are steady with little drop in the 1st 3 minutes:thumbsup:

At 4.55A at the tail with IMR 26500 = 986 OTF
At 3A at the tail with IMR 26500 = 725 OTF lumens
At 1.8A at the tail with IMR 26500 = 483 OTF lumens

I don't know the bin on my 1C SST-50, but with the impressive OTF numbers at lower current I guess it was a good bin.

Hi BC,

Yes, JB weld was used to join the head and body. Acutally, I think my current draw was even less than 3A, probably more like 2.5A. I've played around a bit using slightly higher input voltages. If give the emitter ~5V, I do get it up to ~5A output. I know this is way over the Vf, but since I have some amount of resistance in this build, it doesn't seem to be an issue. Problem is there is no battery config that will supply that odd input amount. I used 1 x 26650 + 1 NiMh. I know that mixing chemistries is highly unsafe, I only did it for the purpose of testing how high I could go before the blue shift.

 

[Hill]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

That's a nice little light, I like it.



I'm interested in that too.

I'll get a photo of the switch disassembled. Basically, a hole is drilled in the tailcap and dremelled to smooth and flare the edges. The switch was originally going to be a 10A push button from Digikey, but I ended up going with a Fenix type switch I bought from Lighthound. I used copper wire coiled into a spring (visible in pic #8) to make the battery (-) contact which is connected to the switch spring. The switch positive contact is connected to the flashlight housing. Some delrin washers were used to keep the assembly in place.

EDIT: Ok, here is a photo-torial of how I made the custom tail clicky. I used a clicky from Lighthound and fabricated the remainder of the parts from various washers available at any hardware store. The process was a bit trial and error with some amount of grinding/filing to get components to fit. I have more parts than are probably necessary, but wanted a robust tailcap that could withstand some amount of abuse without creating flicker due to poor electrical connection.

So here we go....

Exploded view of all components

Rubber switch boot inserted into hole drilled in tailcap

Tail clicky switch with fiber washer used to position into tail cap

Copper washer to make switch(-) connection with flashlight body

Strip of aluminum to complete switch(-) connection with flashlight body (inside of cap needs to be deanondized)

Plastic insulator to isolate switch (+) and (-)

Next are a series of rubber washers to hold the components in place. One would probably due, but I wanted the fit to be snug

Finally, a "T" shaped plastic washer press fit into place to complete the tail assembly and lock the components in place

Since the switch spring is too short, I added a thick copper coil to make contact with bat (-)

 

[aurum]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

Any beamshots? thanks ....

 

[Mettee]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

The SST-50 is very picky, you really have to heatsink it well...I noticed this in a build I just did. And what I mean is that you have to have the thinnest layer of epoxy, I mean almost a small enough amount that its scarry... so there is the best heatsink contact. The SSR-50 is a lot more forgiving due to the star and you can press them down well. And I think that your choice in star will really benefit you in the long run. That is a cool mod by the way.

ETA: I just wanted to add that unsolicited info for others that want to build something like this didnt mean to preach sorry or take away from the origional posters work, sorry hill.

 

[Hill]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

Any beamshots? thanks ....

I try my best at those but only have a point and shoot camera with no manual settings. I'll try to capture a few and post.

Also I updated post#6 with a pictorial of the tailcap clicky build.

 

[Old-Lumens]

Re: M@g 1C sst-50 DD

I'll get a photo of the switch disassembled. Basically, a hole is drilled in the tailcap and dremelled to smooth and flare the edges. The switch was originally going to be a 10A push button from Digikey, but I ended up going with a Fenix type switch I bought from Lighthound. I used copper wire coiled into a spring (visible in pic #8) to make the battery (-) contact which is connected to the switch spring. The switch positive contact is connected to the flashlight housing. Some delrin washers were used to keep the assembly in place.

EDIT: Ok, here is a photo-torial of how I made the custom tail clicky. I used a clicky from Lighthound and fabricated the remainder of the parts from various washers available at any hardware store. The process was a bit trial and error with some amount of grinding/filing to get components to fit. I have more parts than are probably necessary, but wanted a robust tailcap that could withstand some amount of abuse without creating flicker due to poor electrical connection.

So here we go....

Exploded view of all components

Rubber switch boot inserted into hole drilled in tailcap

Tail clicky switch with fiber washer used to position into tail cap

Copper washer to make switch(-) connection with flashlight body

Strip of aluminum to complete switch(-) connection with flashlight body (inside of cap needs to be deanondized)

Plastic insulator to isolate switch (+) and (-)

Next are a series of rubber washers to hold the components in place. One would probably due, but I wanted the fit to be snug

Finally, a "T" shaped plastic washer press fit into place to complete the tail assembly and lock the components in place

Since the switch spring is too short, I added a thick copper coil to make contact with bat (-)

It's well worth bringing up older threads like this. For people wanting to know how to do something different and unique with hand tools. Great mod on that tail cap switch!

 

[Hill]

Thanks Justin!