My first Mag mods

[EASTWOOD]

What started with the simple intention of beefing up a Maglite for work use has turned into something else. So, I figured I would share my progress so far.

First, this was originally a black 2D mag but it became this:

The entire light was sanded to remove all knurling and texture. I used a belt sander and sandpaper from 240 through 2000 grit. Mother's Mag polish really brought out the shine to a mirror finish. This thing is completely smooth from top to bottom.
But, after about 2 weeks of having to polish it every time it was handled (fingerprints),
I decided to save my sanity and it became this:

It has now been powdercoated yellow and the bezel was sandblasted which has given a really nice orange peel texture. I think it contrasts the yellow nicely.
Then, the internals were modified to accept a 5X Cree R2 drop-in module from Dealextreme running on 2X 18650 cells. The light, as of this post, looks like this:

My current problem is that I won't use it for work because I like it too much. So... it sits on a shelf. Sitting on a shelf doesn't help me while I'm at work, so I made this one:

This Mag started life as a blue 2D but I still couldn't resist altering the appearance even though that's what got me into trouble with the first light. As you can see above, the light received a fair amount of polish to certain areas but I really didn't want to travel down fingerprint lane again so... back to the sandblaster. It is now sporting a XM-L module from DX and looks like this:

Mission accomplished; it actually has seen use at work for a few weeks now and received some bumps and bruises.
The light output is what I was after and runtime is around 1+ hour.
That's all for now. Let me know what you think.

 

[las3r]

WOW............awesome job how long did it take u to sand down that host ?

 

[lover018]

Splendid work. I am amazed. I find blue and silver just the way I like. If I gather some money I am making a custom. :D

BTW, did you had to shorten the body to fit a 2x18650 in it?

 

[EASTWOOD]

I should probably mention for the sake of transparency that I did not do the powdercoating myself. I have a friend that did that for me. Everything else was done by me.

 

[EASTWOOD]

WOW............awesome job how long did it take u to sand down that host ?

The belt sander took off all of the knurling and text in about 10 minutes. Hand sanding to achieve the final finish took about 3 hours because I was nitpicking every flaw (this was a Mag I've had for years and it had a few scratches).

 

[EASTWOOD]

Splendid work. I am amazed. I find blue and silver just the way I like. If I gather some money I am making a custom. :D

BTW, did you had to shorten the body to fit a 2x18650 in it?

I didn't shorten the body on either host to accomodate the 2x 18650 cells. In fact, the spring in the modded tailcap sits about 1/2 inch shorter than the stock spring. I didn't want a great deal of tension pressing/turning against the lithium cells every time the cap is screwed into place. The spring was tweaked a few times till I was happy with the results. Now, the spring creates a firm connection and recesses 1/8 of an inch into the PVC sleeve before it makes contact with the cell. There is no rattle at all. BTW, the PVC sleeve is 5 1/4 inch in length.

 

[simplec6]

Any details on which XM-L driver you used and what current it's running at?

How about that DX 5-led drop in? Does it come with the reflector already put in place and the led's already on a board? What current does it run at and how's the output?

Awesome external mods on both of them by the way. What belt sander are you using for that work?

 

[EASTWOOD]

Any details on which XM-L driver you used and what current it's running at?

How about that DX 5-led drop in? Does it come with the reflector already put in place and the led's already on a board? What current does it run at and how's the output?

Awesome external mods on both of them by the way. What belt sander are you using for that work?

I don't know what drivers are in the XM-L or 5x Cree but I can give you the links:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/cree-x...-drop-in-module-with-textured-reflector-58481

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5-cree...drop-in-led-module-52-7mm-42mm-8-4v-max-35241

I don't have the 5x Cree R2 light with me but here are voltage and amp specs from the XM-L. This was calculated with 2 fully charged and rested IMR 18650 cells. Resting voltage was measured at 4.12v per cell and 8.25v in series. Voltage was measured direct at the module and amps at the tailcap using a Fluke 83 III meter.

Low - 8.02v .17A
Med - 7.74v .77A
High - 7.32v 1.84A
Strobe - 7.70v .95A
S.O.S. - 8.04v 1.82A

As for your other questions, you will be able to see firsthand from the link above that the 5x Cree drop-in is a complete package; modify the mag and wire it up. I would have to say that the Cree module is brighter than the XM-L by a small margin but the ability to switch between Low and High on the XM-L makes it my favorite for work purposes.

The belt sander is an older Craftsman upright model I believe. It was my father's and all the labels were painted over at some point. I used a 320 grit belt with a 1" diameter.

 

[moderator007]

Those are some sweet mods EASTWOOD.
I wonder if you anodized the polished mag would it still remain shiny and help with the finger print cleaning problem. I know it would be tougher to scratch and ding.

 

[EASTWOOD]

Those are some sweet mods EASTWOOD.
I wonder if you anodized the polished mag would it still remain shiny and help with the finger print cleaning problem. I know it would be tougher to scratch and ding.

Thanks for the tip. If I make a polished mag again, maybe anodizing would be the solution. I considered a clear powdercoat but wasn't sure if it would lose some of the luster so I didn't go that route. The anodizing would definitely be easier to remove than powdercoat if it didn't come out shiny. If only I still worked for one of my first employers- an electroplating shop.

 

[LilKevin715]

One word: Beautiful:drool:

I can't wait to see if you have any more future projects.

 

[Matt7337]

Oh wow, those are beautiful! :D

Couple of questions regarding the yellow one - How did you finish the coating where the body meets the head threads? Did they just cap the threads when they were coating then remove the cap before baking? How far up the body (or how close to the threads) did they coat?

Also, is that just the yellow powder or did they add a clear coat over that to achieve the glossy finish? It's a really nice bit of Powdercoating... There's only one or two places here in the UK who can coat that well. I used to work in an engineering plant that had a Powdercoating booth in it, I spent two or three days per week in the booth and the rest machining. I really enjoyed my time in the coating plant, it broke the week up nicely for me too :)

You have tempted me to get one of my upcoming mag mods powdered now! ;)

 

[EASTWOOD]

Oh wow, those are beautiful! :D

Couple of questions regarding the yellow one - How did you finish the coating where the body meets the head threads? Did they just cap the threads when they were coating then remove the cap before baking? How far up the body (or how close to the threads) did they coat?

Also, is that just the yellow powder or did they add a clear coat over that to achieve the glossy finish? It's a really nice bit of Powdercoating... There's only one or two places here in the UK who can coat that well. I used to work in an engineering plant that had a Powdercoating booth in it, I spent two or three days per week in the booth and the rest machining. I really enjoyed my time in the coating plant, it broke the week up nicely for me too :)

You have tempted me to get one of my upcoming mag mods powdered now! ;)

Actually, the mag was powdercoated as one piece- the bezel, head, body, and tailcap were screwed together with each piece backed off about 1-2 turns. This protected the threads from being coated and prevented the parts from being stuck together. I didn't intend for the bezel to remain yellow and simply sandblasted it after the powdercoat. Keep in mind that the anodizing has to be removed from the threads to powdercoat as one piece. If the anodizing wasn't removed, there wouldn't be continuity through all of the pieces for the electric current to attract the powder. There is no clear coat. I guess the finish is just a result of how smooth the mag was before powdercoating. In fact, my friend was hesitant because he said that he had never coated anything that smooth before.


BTW: Thanks to all of you for the kind words! I'm fairly new around here and appreciate the warm reception.

 

[mervin82]

:twothumbs:twothumbsI really love the yellow mag! Splendid work!!

 

[EASTWOOD]

Update-

The blue/silver light is finished (I think). First off, the driver board in the XM-L module died so I put the 5x Cree R2 module in its' place (the XM-L is now direct drive in another light). Before installation, I did some sanding on the R2 module so that it would be a press fit into the mag body and added some thermal transfer compound. This has helped a great deal with heat transfer. I ran the new setup for 25 minutes continuous on fresh cells and the body was only comfortably warm with no signs of blue in the beam. I don't know if it would be able to run continuous for the duration of a full charge (1+ hour), as 25 minutes was long enough to more than satisfy my needs for this light.

Next, the appearance of the light just didn't feel quite right to me so the head was blasted and I added a stock blue mag bezel. The entire light was then given a clear powder coat. The clear coat gives a nice shine to the mag and added protection.

Before

After

A few beamshots:
Control

Stock 2D incan mag at 12'

5x Cree R2 module at 12'

 

[The Jinx]

Question, if i would like to use the same DX drop in/setup what type of 2D maglites do I need? 2D Standard (Xenon) or 2D LED?

Thanks,
Jinx

 

[EASTWOOD]

Question, if i would like to use the same DX drop in/setup what type of 2D maglites do I need? 2D Standard (Xenon) or 2D LED?

Thanks,
Jinx

Both of the mags I used for these builds are standard 2D incans (xenon). The LED mag has a deeper reflector which is useless for these mods since the stock reflector is discarded anyway.