$225 conus.
I seem to have developed a thing for stubby Mags. They just look and feel right. This may not be the shortest D Mag ever built for 650 batteries but it must be somewhere down toward the short end of the scale ( 5.67" ).
A DSW0J P7 provides the photons. Hold on a second, isn't the P7 outdated? It's true that the SST-50 is the flavor of the month and a fine emitter but at the current level for which this light was designed, the P7 remains an excellent choice.
One of the keys to minimizing the length is to use a tail cap switch instead of the much more bulky Mag switch. The point of this exercise was to come up with a way of recessing a McClicky so that it looks like it belongs to the rest of the light. I've done some other short Mags with the switch boot hanging off the back but this is a more satisfactory arrangement. It is relatively complex and time-consuming to make but the result was worth the effort.
The first step was to open up the end of the tail cap and thread it internally.
An adapter ring was made to accept the switch boot flush with the tail cap.
The boot and switch were placed in the adapter ring....
...and held in place with a threaded retaining ring.
The ends of the body tube were re-threaded to take the tail cap and the head.
Even though it is a tight fit in the tube, the heat sink is subject to being pushed forward by the force of the springs. In theory, it can be held by backward pressure from the base of the reflector but this doesn't seem like a great idea since the reflector is made of very thin aluminum. Instead, two 2-56 flat head machine screws were countersunk into the tube and threaded into the heat sink to keep it in place.
There isn't a lot left of the original gray body tube, just less than the knurled portion of a 3D Mag.
The driver is a ShiningBeam 1217. The current at the tail cap (IMR 26650, Fluke 117 with short, heavy leads) is .29A on low, .865A on medium, and 2.83A on high.
To conserve space, the driver was recessed almost flush with the base of the heat sink. A brass sleeve was pressed into a matching bored hole to provide a surface for soldering.
Two battery tubes are provided, both machined from plastic. The black one fits an IMR 26650 and the white one reduces the bore further for an 18650.
The reflector is an MOP from DX that was machined to fit in the Mag head. The lens is glass.
This will be a very nice and unique unit for someone who wants lots of light with good run time.
Beamshots:
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Unique Transaction ID #0WY460123K620033F
