Noob cutting Mini Mag

[Dez]

Hey guys!
I found an old Mini Mag AA from my military service and thought I´d do something with it as a first modding project.

My plan is to put some more lumens into it, runtime around and hour or so, cutting it down to one AA cell and adding a glass lens.
Something like this:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=236493

I´m a noob and have been searching around but can´t make sense of some stuff. I have seen many results here in the forum but not really any guidance in how to do it.

Would the Madmax Plus Step Up Converter and a Cree XR-E Q5 work on a single standard AA and any idea of the runtime/lumens I can expect?
If I succeed I´d like to make more like this for giveaways so I don´t want to use any other cells than standard AA.

Where do you cut the body? Back or front end?
I would like to be able to activate the light the old fashion twisty way and keep the stock end so I can attach it to the keychain.

Maybe you know any threads I have missed?

 

[garilla]

One of the easiest ways to shorten a battery tube would be turn down about an inch or so of the middle section and reduce the thickness of the walls to half. Then cut off the tail end. Take the tail end and bore the inside for about an inch reducing the wall thickness to about half. This is common method to join two tubes together. Do test fits of tail to body until a tight fit is achieved. A bit of epoxy/locktite will hold it together. Of course you would have to do several measurements but no threading is involved just simple boring and turning. Make sure that you don't coat entirely all the aluminum to aluminum contact area as epoxy is an insulator.