DIY Cut Mag 1C SSR-50 with Deep SMO with beam shots & lux readings

ma_sha1

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A few reasons motivated me to do this, based on findings from this recent DIY-1D/SST-90:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/273748

1. I really like the Mag Rebel SMO deep reflector & I always liekd C Mag better than D mag.

2. I felt that I could do better on the Mag C DIY Cut, as the C tube is smaller.

3. I have a rare Green Mag 3C that's beat up pretty bad, thus I don't have to worry as much when cutting & filing.
It could become my go-to outdoor light that I could toss around, don't have to baby it.

4. With SST-50 /Rebel SMO, I could make the furthest thrower Mag 1C possible,
with ample spills without going to Aspheric mod which would turn it into a toy.

Part I, Prep. the host.

First, I used a $12 Home Depot Pipe Cutter (Modified slightly to accept mag C diameter) to make the mark on where to cut & where to grind.

This is important as I wasn't able to make a prefect circle on the D mag in the link above, so i wasn't able to joint the 2 -piece seamlessly. I feel that I could do better with the Circle line as guide.
img0788qn.jpg


Just a Before photo to show how tall it is next to my mag 1Cs.
img0791g.jpg


I bore out the tube the same way as seen in the Mag 1D DIY in the link above. Also need to bore out the section
between the tail cap & body, to allow 26650 to pass through. I used a Metal grinder bit, round metal file to do this
& finished it with & brake hone which is more smooth but slower.
img0792c.jpg


I was able to re-join the body without the need to hid the seem as I did in the Mag 1D cut-down.
The seem is where the curling meeting the smooth, it isn't very obvious even you look at it close.
Here is the finished cut down 1C:
img0797d.jpg


To manege the heat, I made a Hybrid heatsink, by adding a copper piece to the rear of a H22A Aluminum Mag C sink
& use it up-side-down, i.e. Copper smooth surface will be the SSR-50 mounting surface.

The, the original led mounting post will be ground down & face the switch.
I clamped the two pieces together with Arctic-Silver, then it'll be further filed to match the
diameter of copper piece to aluminum piece.
img0793ce.jpg


There is where I run into complication #1, the heat sink turns out too small for older mag C, so I end up making a copper sleeve.
This is how it looks when deep mounted into the Mag C tube.
I Used Thermo Glue between sink & Sleeve & Thermo paste between Sleeve & mag C tube.
Deep mount is required for using the Rebel SMO deep reflector.
img4603h.jpg


When I try to test putting the Rebel reflector, I run into complication #2.
It won't go in, the neck is in the way! So, more grinding & this is what's needed to get it in deep.
img4600d.jpg


Now the reflector goes in all the way. The heat sink is sitting on the metal ring op top of the switch,
there is absolutely no room for a driver, luckily, my plan was 26650 IMR direct drive.
img4610y.jpg



The last complication, for now, is that I realized I could not center the reflector, as seen from the Mag D mod.,
the rebel reflector slightly elevated from the led to get optimal focus. So I end up making a centering ring by
carving it from TEFLON Rod, this took me quite a while, using small grinder & fine hobby knife:
img4606j.jpg


Unfortunately, this is all the time I have this weekend,
so, I'll have to wait for later to actually hook everything up.

Stay tuned...
 
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ma_sha1

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Re: DIY Cut Mag 1C SSR-50 with Deep SMO

hey ...
where did you buy the mag rebel reflector?
thx

I get them from whatever ways I can. I have 3 so far from 3 different sources. First one from a 2D Mag Rebel LED, also bought one on CPFMP. Called up Maglite Inc. to order some as I couldn't find it from any of the resellers, they decided to send me one for free.

They should be available from Mag retailers soon, none of them carry parts for the rebel Mag Led yet.
 

ma_sha1

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Re: DIY Cut Mag 1C SSR-50 with Deep SMO

Thanks, that little piece took me as long if not longer than making the heat sink, and still not totally done. It's slight wider than the reflector hole, I'll need to file the top half by 0.5mm but keep bottom OD as is, so that the reflector stops just before touching the solder blob when wired, that way, isolated from being melted or deformed by heat as the SST-board could run very hot.
 

ma_sha1

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Re: DIY Cut Mag 1C SSR-50 with Deep SMO

I finally was able to finish it up.


Here is with LED installed.
img4619hy.jpg


Reflector centered
img4614e.jpg


I used 0.5mm think Lexon glass as front lens due to the
reflector is soo deep that I need the extra 1.5mm room saved vs regular 2mm lens.
img4610o.jpg


The last thing I did is the tail cap low resistance mod:
img4628c.jpg


I also used super short 1.5" wires to connect LED to the switch, total only 3" of 20AWG Teflon wire was used to keep the resistance as low as possible. I got 4 Amp using the freshly charged IMR 26650.

Wow, it's bright!
img4630b.jpg



Took side by side beam shots against my two most throwy reflector based lights
at super low exposure: 1/1000, F2.6, ISO 400
Top: WF500 with Dx 5 Cree drop in, 2x18500.
Bottom: SSR-50 4 Amp Rebel mag deep SMO
img4631xp.jpg



Top........: Mag 1C SSR-50 4 Amp Rebel mag deep SMO
Bottom:.....Mag 1.5D SST-90 8 Amp Rebel mag deep SMO
super low exposure: 1/1000, F2.6, ISO 400
img4632d.jpg
 
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ma_sha1

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Re: DIY Cut Mag 1C SSR-50 with Deep SMO

Lux Reading of this light with fresh battery:
1C Mag SSR-50, Rebel SMO IMR 26,650 DD (4 Amp):........................... 5 Meter Lux: 1450:...................1 Meter Lux 36,250

Previous reading of the two control lights plus Mag 1185 from my other threads:
1.5D Mag SST-90, Rebel SMO IMR 26,650 DD(4 Amp):......................... 5 Meter Lux: 1350:...................1 Meter Lux 33,750
1.5D Mag SST-90, Rebel SMO 4xAA Eneloops DD (8 Amp):................... 5 Meter Lux: 1800: ..................1 Meter Lux 45,000
WF500 with DX 5 Cree drop in, 2x18500: ..........................................5 Meter Lux: 1130;....................1 Meter Lux 28250
1.5D Mag 1185 mini hotwire 3x17670:.............................................5 Meter Lux: 950;.................... 1 Meter Lux 23750
 
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ma_sha1

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hey ...

where did you buy the dark green mag c-cell (I may have asked this question already)

thx

btw your centering ring is cool ^^


Thanks.

As for the Green Mag C, I picked up from CPFMP, It's an old old one, as Maglite hasn't made colored C mags for quire a few years.

I called them a few days ago asking for color C mag info., was told that one can have any color they want with minimum order 40,000 pieces :nana:
 

ptolemy

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Thanks.

As for the Green Mag C, I picked up from CPFMP, It's an old old one, as Maglite hasn't made colored C mags for quire a few years.

I called them a few days ago asking for color C mag info., was told that one can have any color they want with minimum order 40,000 pieces :nana:
sounds like a group buy waiting to happen :nana::nana::nana:
 

Al Combs

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Where did you get all those colored Mag-C's? Don't mind me, I'm just jealous. Very nice job of cutting down. The cut must have been at the end of the knurling because the knurling is shorter than it used to be. But you're right, you can't really tell.

Mag gave you a Rebel reflector for the price of the asking? Sweet.:cool: I'll have to give them a call...

Wow, $800,000 for a colored Mag-C.:faint: When I win Lotto I'll buy my own anodizing factory.:laughing:

On a more serious note, I am curious if you ever tried another type of IMR besides the orange guy from BatterySpace? That one despite its extra capacity only has a 2.5C max discharge rate. That's not much better than a Cobalt Li-Ion. I suppose if you made the Spinel cathode thinner, there would be more room in the "jelly roll" for the chargeable electrolyte. Here's a discharge test that cmacclel made of a BatterySpace IMR26650. A Molicel 26700 only has a capacity of 2,900 mAh but a max discharge of 40 amps. They don't specify continuous or momentary pulse. If you look at the two discharge graphs, the Molicel is a few tenths of a volt higher on the 10 amp discharge curve. It might give you the extra voltage you need. Perhaps an AW IMR26500 with its lower capacity is at least easily obtainable for a test, without spending $200 for a power tool battery pack.
 

ma_sha1

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I don't have knowledge of the other IMR 26700, but i did compare AW 26500 side by side, the AW starts out a bit higher AMP, but the amp droping like flies, within minutes, the IMR 26650 takes the lead, 2× capacity, 2x the staying power.

At 4 Amp, the 1C heats up head to tail within a few minutes, so I am content to leave it at 4amp with 26650 for now. Can't tell the difference vs. AW IMR but runs 2x longer.
 

Al Combs

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I knew I had a LuxLuthor Shootout of safe Lithium chemistry. My bookmarks are a mess. Here you can see the Emoli's are very similar to the AW batteries performance wise. Of course he was testing 18650's. The 26mm size would probably have similar performance. Except of course for reduced capacity of the AW cell being only 50 mm long. Basically if you've already tried the one, the other would be similar.

Could you explain why a centering ring is necessary? You mentioned a Mag D mod, but you've had so many recently.:grin2: I have an SST-50 I'd like to try with a Rebel reflector. Just wondering what I'm likely to run into.

Thanks :wave:
 

ma_sha1

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sst don'nt need the ring. as heat sink post dost the centering.

for ssr star, the ring helps if star isn't peferectly centered.
 

ma_sha1

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Update:

I have previously observed SST-90 with doom fell off actually get brighter hot spot. Recently,
BigC reported 3x lux gain on his de-doomed SST0-50 light.

SO I decided to de-doom this sucker && see how much throw I could get from the already
impressive 36K lux @ 1meter with the doom (+ Rebel Deep SMO):

Doom is gone, I added a drop of Norland 61 to protect the Die.
img4910u.jpg


The spot got smaller & brighter for sure, still have useful spill.
img4925m.jpg


It's going up against Mag Aspherical for Throw challenge:
The Aspheric Mag is Ledean Mag ASpherical, use Cree XRE P4 Direct drive paired up with
Surplus Shed 52mm Aspheric lens. It did well in LuxLuther's mag ASpheric Shoot out a while back:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/202045
.
.
img4899r.jpg



Check this out, at ultra low exposure ISO 100, 1/1000" & F2.6:
The Top is Ledean mag Aspheric & The bottom is De-doomed SST-50, Rebel Deep SMO, about 4 Amp.
img4894r.jpg


Up against the legendary Mag85: Mag 85 on Top & SST-50 on bottom.
You can barely see the mag85 at this level of ultra low exposure, it got spanked!
img4923z.jpg


Last Picture: The business end of the two compact Mag 1C throwers.
Both are in the >50K lux @ 1meter league, with he Reflector based Mag 1C slightly out-throw the
Aspheric mag plus ample spill making it a useful illumination tool vs. the Mag Aspheric/zero spill being just a toy.
img4904c.jpg
 
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IsaacHayes

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De-Doomed? De-domed! :) hehe

Have you looked at the SBT vs the SST? The SBT is dome less and says in the documentation it's better for optical coupling due to smaller aparrent image. Might work well for reflectors and asperhicals over the SST? I wonder if anyone has tested one yet?

Hmmmmm. Maybe I'll give that a shot when I do my 50 or 90 with projector lens assembly and Pentium 4 heatsink... hehe
 

bigchelis

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De-Doomed? De-domed! :) hehe

Have you looked at the SBT vs the SST? The SBT is dome less and says in the documentation it's better for optical coupling due to smaller aparrent image. Might work well for reflectors and asperhicals over the SST? I wonder if anyone has tested one yet?

Hmmmmm. Maybe I'll give that a shot when I do my 50 or 90 with projector lens assembly and Pentium 4 heatsink... hehe


I have seen the CBT-90 or domeless SST-90.

Where is the link for the SBT-50 aka. Stock factory built SST-50?

I want :grin2:
 

ma_sha1

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I haven't seen one, don't think it exist.

What happened to your CBT-90? Did you measure the lux with rebel SMO?
 
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