Swapping Minimag heads

As I don't yet own a LED Minimag, I was wondering if a regular incandescent MM head will screw onto a LED MM tube (3AA to be specific)? Also, do they use the same switch?

This is for a mod I'm planning, so I'm hoping they're interchageable.

I just tried this with my lights. The tailcaps are interchangable. The heads are not. The LED head will fit on the incandescent body, but the incandescent head will not fit the LED body. Also, the led tailcap has a longer spring. So if you want to use the incandescent tailcap, you need to use the longer spring from the LED tailcap. I tried the Kroll clickie with the LED body and the spring on the side doesn't quite reach the deanodized area of the LED body so it doesn't work. But I have a cutdown MagLED where the threads are bare and the Kroll works fine. So if you can strip the anodizing in the thread area, it should work fine.

Thanks for the info, Don! It is disappointing, as the incan head fitting on the LED tube was the more important of what would actually be two mods. The vice versa mod idea would simply be as a result of cannibalizing the LED tube, and having parts left over... but, looks like the main idea ain't workin'.

Could I ask what prevented the incan head going on? Was it the threading, or something else preventing it?

I had a tough time initially figuring out the cause since everything looks the same. And it felt like the threads were almost catching. Then I thought to actually measure the threads. The OD on the LED threads was 0.5mm larger than the threads on the incandescent. It looks like even though the LED head is larger, the threads themselves are deep enough to still engage on the incandescent body. However the larger LED body is just too big for the incandescent head threads.

Hmmmm... only .5mm? I wonder if there's a way to lathe off .25mm, or even file it off by hand! That would take the diameter down .5mm.

Think it might work?

P.S. While I'm at it, might as well ask... does the thread thickness and pitch look the same?

Since the LED head fits on the Incan. body, I'm assuming the threads are the same. They were indistinguishable by eye, which is why I wasn't sure why the swap worked one way but not the other until I did the measurement. I don't think you would have much thread left if you tried to remove it all off either the body or the head. You might be able to do it if you took a little off each part, but I don't have a clue of you could still get the threads to engage. Off the top of my head, I don't think it would work because, as you flatten the tops of the threads by taking off material, the thread left on the body would always be wider than the area left in the head threads. If you have access to a lathe, I think it would be better to just rethread one part or the other entirely.

Yeah, wishful thinking on my part. It's be nice if the darn things just fit, but oh well.

However, I do have a fallback solution for the initial mod idea that won't require buying a LED Mag for the tube.

Thank you VERY much for looking into this for me, Don! It is highly appreciated!

I have tried, the heads are different lengths and the Head for the MiniM@g Led is slightly wider the standard MiniM@g head, also there is a lot less thread on the head of the MiniM@g Led, also the tail cap on the MiniM@g Led is wider than the standard.
Basically nothing fits from one to the other due to different Body tube diameter.
It had crossed my mind many of times, I opted to get the Terralux TLE-5K2 droppin module to upgrade the existing MiniM@g

Bringing this thread back to life for a moment instead of starting a new one, as I have a similar question, this time regarding smaller hosts.

Does anyone know if the head from a 2AAA Minimag will screw onto a Solitaire tube?

Just giving it another shot...

Anyone ever try putting the AAA Minimag head on a Solitaire?

Well, I suppose this thread can simply serve as info for anyone who might come to wonder the same thing, as this is pretty much a "never mind" at this point.

After finding exploded diagrams, they don't look very compatible. They're a different design, where the 2AAA is much like a shrunken 2AA, and the Solitaire is like... a Solitaire. Even the tailcaps and switches have different parts numbers, etc.

I was hoping to get away with an easy swap, in order to use a 10440 to drive something, and make use of the 2AAA's head and reflector. However, I have another plan. :devil:

The Miniminiminimag will live... *puts pinky to corner of mouth*