Maglite 2 C cell magled mod

newtimer

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Jun 23, 2006
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After I bought a Maglite LED module and put it in a 2C cell Maglite. I was not really impressed with it but I had $18.00 invested so I had to do something with it. After doing modifications I really like this light. Now just to let you know I know very little about flashlight modifications. But I went to the local

Home improvement store and bought 1/16" thick x 1" wide aluminum flat bar stock. Est.$4 - $5. Don't remember exact cost. This was for a 3 foot piece (enough to do a lot of maglites). The most expensive thing I had to purchase was a 29/64 " drill bit. Got it at the same place. It was around $8.50. I took the aluminum flat bar and cut it 1 13/16" long. I drilled a 29/64 hole in the center and rounded the squared edges (using a dremel tool) off so it would fit inside of the flashlight head. I polished rough edges off. This piece slides over the led module and sets on the top of the threaded bulb collar. I cut the tail section off of the stock reflector (using hacksaw) leaving 1/16" tail section. Actually it was a fraction longer but I cut it crooked. I took a file and filed the bottom of reflector straight. For my preferences 1/16" of tail section seemed to give me a good hot spot and it lets the reflector go all the way down holding the aluminum bar down against the flat part of the head inside. It is no longer focusable but doesn't need to be now for my preference. I wished I had pictures but I don't have a digital camera. I don't have a technical way of measuring so I set the light on a chair 6 foot from wall (when I finally cleaned a spot big enough to check it). This is an estimate because all I had to measure with was a tape measure. It has a hot spot of 6 to 8 inch diameter and decent sidespill light of about 10 foot diameter. I walked outside and shined the light on a building est. 150 foot away and I was very pleased by the throw this thing has. Back to the reflector. I cleaned the reflector by taking it to the kitchen sink and using the sprayer to rinse off particles from where I cut it and took a real soft cloth and lightly patted dry. I screwed the first reflector up by using dishwashing liquid and a dishrag it is still usable but has a lot of scratches. Don't really know how to clean one properly. Once you cut the reflector it is no longer usable with the stock krypton bulb (but I don't know why anybody would want to!). I don't know what the measurement tolerances are inside the Maglite heads but I have two C 2 cell lights and this worked good on both lights. As far as heatsink goes I put 2 new Duracell batteries in and left light on for 3 hours solid and didn't really notice a difference in light dimness but I didn't set down and look at the light continuosly for 3 hours just come by every little bit maybe every 30 minutes and checked on. After the 3 hours I removed the lens and felt of the aluminum bar and of the threaded collar and the aluminum bar was warm so I am assuming it is helping to absorb the heat. Just to let you know I did order a couple of reflectors in case I screwed another one up by getting sqirrelly with the hacksaw. This is a nice simple modification and cheap other than the drill bit. This is the first time I have ever posted. I thought maybe this could be of some help to somebody.

 

thesurefire

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Great first post man. Excellent Idea. You might try some thermal grease where the 2 parts touch for extra heat transfer. You can get the thermal goup at any computer shop.
 

nemul

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thesurefire said:
You might try some thermal grease where the 2 parts touch for extra heat transfer. You can get the thermal goup at any computer shop.

good idea
 

CM

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This thread is worthless without pictures :D Seriously though, this thread is worthless without pictures.
 

newtimer

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Jun 23, 2006
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Will try to post some pictures this week. Got to borrow a camera first and thanks thesurefire about the thermal grease will have to try this.
 

will

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I am confused here, pictures would help to understand what you did.

What problem were you trying to fix? What is the benefit of what you did?


The reflector is made like the mirrors they use in cameras, (front surface mirror) there is no protection on the mirrored surface, you wipe it - you scratch it. best bet to clean - blow it off with light air pressure. You can try to wash it, soap and water, let it air dry, best to rinse in distilled water, that won't leave water marks..

I drilled out a few reflectors to make the hole larger, I just had to blow the off to remove the dust.
 

Icebreak

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by the river
newtimer -

Excellent post.

CM -

That's a very helpful link.

newtimer -

From that discussion is a good idea:

Empath said:
A good mod project could be the development of a heat sink. It should be a pretty simple task to make a "washer" type insert that fits down over the threaded retaining ring and rests snuggly against the inside of the body. Of course it would take different sizes for the C cell lights and D cell. That way it wouldn't have to back the power down as often.

What you've done is a little different.

newtimer said:
This piece slides over the led module and sets on the top of the threaded bulb collar.

For some greater understanding of your heat sink, maybe Newbie's photo from that thread would be some help.

ma2cledh.jpg



newtimer said:
As far as heatsink goes I put 2 new Duracell batteries in and left light on for 3 hours solid and didn't really notice a difference in light dimness but I didn't set down and look at the light continuosly for 3 hours just come by every little bit maybe every 30 minutes and checked on. After the 3 hours I removed the lens and felt of the aluminum bar and of the threaded collar and the aluminum bar was warm so I am assuming it is helping to absorb the heat.

Interesting.

If your heat sink is efficient enough to cause the sense resistor to not kick in and back off the power, that's significant.

If this is the case, I'm wondering if an aluminum reflector might do the same thing.

Thanks for sharing your work...very helpful. Welcome to CandlePowerForums.

- Jeff
 

CM

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Just looked at your post count. As Icebreak said, welcome to CPF and hope you stick around. You may have to change your name to "oldtimer" pretty soon after you get bombarded with requests to have this magsink made for the drop-in LED's :D
 

will

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Apr 14, 2004
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I use www.imageshack.us to post images. The site lets you upload images from your hard drive onto their server and give you links that you can post on CPF.
 

newtimer

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Jun 23, 2006
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I hope the pictures make it here. If not ill try again
 
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