First let me point out that most of these ideas come from other people here so I must give credit where credit is due. Actually my original idea was to take something like an O-sink or hotlips and mount a socket to it, but I found this post first and went in this direction.
where I got my socket inspiration
I visited my local hardware store and finally found a ceramic socket similar to the one in the thread. I also bought some small bolts, nuts, and teflon washers.
My work:
1. Remove switch, cut off end of switch carefully leaving metal strip intact.
2. I soldered a short piece of copper wire to the center contact of the switch.
3. I cut a small rectangular piece of aluminum and drilled holes in it. I drilled a couple of holes in the switch as well.
4. I had taken careful measurements of the original mag including the location of the stock bulb filament at optimum focus. With the measurements I was able to determine the length of the bolts for my assembly. There is some adjustment capability built into this system.
5. I bolted the socket on and then soldered the wires. In the photo you can see the remaining part of the long strip sticking out towards the camera with one wire soldered to it. I left a lot of slack in the wires so that if I had to adjust the bolts or whatever there would be room to work.
6. Once reinstalled in the light everything worked well. For optimum focus the head needs to be screwed out about 1.5 turns, which isn't bad. Also I could remove the assembly and make fine adjustments to it as well. To center the bulb all I had to do was to remove the front lens and reach in there to move the bulb around by hand, using a wrag so I don't touch the bulb directly.
Here is a photo of the assembly, including an 1185 bulb.
where I got my socket inspiration
I visited my local hardware store and finally found a ceramic socket similar to the one in the thread. I also bought some small bolts, nuts, and teflon washers.
My work:
1. Remove switch, cut off end of switch carefully leaving metal strip intact.
2. I soldered a short piece of copper wire to the center contact of the switch.
3. I cut a small rectangular piece of aluminum and drilled holes in it. I drilled a couple of holes in the switch as well.
4. I had taken careful measurements of the original mag including the location of the stock bulb filament at optimum focus. With the measurements I was able to determine the length of the bolts for my assembly. There is some adjustment capability built into this system.
5. I bolted the socket on and then soldered the wires. In the photo you can see the remaining part of the long strip sticking out towards the camera with one wire soldered to it. I left a lot of slack in the wires so that if I had to adjust the bolts or whatever there would be room to work.
6. Once reinstalled in the light everything worked well. For optimum focus the head needs to be screwed out about 1.5 turns, which isn't bad. Also I could remove the assembly and make fine adjustments to it as well. To center the bulb all I had to do was to remove the front lens and reach in there to move the bulb around by hand, using a wrag so I don't touch the bulb directly.
Here is a photo of the assembly, including an 1185 bulb.