3AA Minimag ideas?

I have a 3AA LED Minimag that I killed the driver on (destroyed the coil.. )

I have an XP-E on a 10mm board lying around, and I'm thinking of doing a DD NiMh/Alkaline mod. I don't know how to go about making a heatsink for it, though. I might just make a plug that I glue/epoxy the LED to, and then mess with figuring out how to get it so I can connect the positive terminal of the battery to the positive lead of the LED.


Are there any other mods I can do? I have access to a Garbage Freight lathe, so I can turn down some aluminum, but no threading capabilities (the one thing I REALLY want!)

The head on mine is fairly long, and has a REALLY deep reflector in it. I'm getting better throw than a D26 module. That may be partly due to the fact that it's a smooth reflector vs the MOP of the D26

~Brian

Not interested in finding a replacement inductor?

You can buy a mariposaoyako heat sink to make your 3AA DD Mini Mag mod.

Or just turn a piece of aluminum to make your own heat sink (top-hat shaped). Drill 2 holes for the LED hookup wires to run from top to bottom. Hollow out a small cavity in the bottom of the heat sink to fit a blank contact board (e.g., de-solder all of the components from some dead driver, trim to fit, and use this for your contact board).

Since you can't do any threading, don't bother with the threaded ring that you see on the mariposaoyako heat sink. Just use an o-ring or c-clip to hold the heat sink in-place at the top of the Mini Mag tube.

The heat sink top hat has a wide "brim" for the base and the narrower "crown". Both brim and crown are cylindrical. The brim diam has to fit into the Mini Mag tube, so it should be roughly 14mm diam. If you have a dead 14mm Sandwich Shoppe driver as your contact, then you'll want the brim to be slightly wider than 14mm (e.g., 14.2mm) so that you an hollow out a 14mm driver cavity for your contact board.

The height of the brim can be about 0.3", which is the height of the stock plastic incan AA Mini Mag base that sits inside of the battery tube. The height of the crown would be whatever the focus height is in your current LED Mini Mag.

It's looking like it will just be simpler to drill out the internal "retaining ring", since the LED Minimag's are completely different in that aspect than the incan ones, since the clone ones won't work.

Thank you for pointing me out to him, though. Now I just need to see if I have a drill bit close to 14mm.

This is just for a personal note, so I don't forget:

I'll just drill out the retaining ring, see how long of a plug I can make, make the plug, then drill out a little bit in the center, and then make a brass post that fits inside the hole, for the positive lead. Then, once I make sure it fits inside, I will use thermal glue to hold it there, after soldering the positive lead to the brass plug, and feeding it through the aluminum plug.

I will then drill another small hole, for the negative lead, and make another brass plug, and sandwich the negative lead between the brass plug and the aluminum heatsink.


~Brian

Good luck and report back. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I was just about to make my first Mini-MagLED heatsink. If you want I can make you one out of aluminum or copper. PM me if interested.

Justin Case said:

Good luck and report back. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

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Thank you for the help, though. If it weren't for that, I probably would've ended up wasting the little bit of 3/4" aluminum I have left.

PCC said:

I was just about to make my first Mini-MagLED heatsink. If you want I can make you one out of aluminum or copper. PM me if interested.

Click to expand...

I'm interested, but broke. I can't afford to buy anything right now, which is why I'm making stuff with what I have on hand. Kinda like with my 3D Mag. Gotta remove the anodizing on the inside of the tailcap, so I can use 4 C-cells in it, so I can power my showerhead LED dropin.

I do appreciate the offer, though. Maybe throw a feeler out there, and see if other people are interested. Can't hurt to try.


~Brian

I've successfully used Liquid Plumber Gel to de-anodize the inside of Mag tailcaps. Soak for about 20 min, wipe off softened anodizing under running water. Liquid Plumber Gel seems gentle on the exposed aluminum.

Justin Case said:

I've successfully used Liquid Plumber Gel to de-anodize the inside of Mag tailcaps. Soak for about 20 min, wipe off softened anodizing under running water. Liquid Plumber Gel seems gentle on the exposed aluminum.

Click to expand...

I spent about 10 minutes with a wire brush for a dremel. Worked quite well, actually.


The aluminum spacer (to replace the spring) is made, and I had to make another spacer, because I accidentally made it too short. I guess that's what I get for not knowing the dimensions, thanks to misplacing my calipers.

I'll have a pic up tonight, after I try to finish the MiniMag. Hopefully that one will be as easy.

~Brian

Justin Case said:

You can buy a mariposaoyako heat sink to make your 3AA DD Mini Mag mod.

Click to expand...

FYI, I have a few of his heatsinks and they do not fit LED mini mags. I think he only made them for incan. Someone else may confirm this.

stinky said:

FYI, I have a few of his heatsinks and they do not fit LED mini mags. I think he only made them for incan. Someone else may confirm this.

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I think that the OP bstrickler already stated this -- "the LED Minimag's are completely different ... than the incan ones":

bstrickler said:

It's looking like it will just be simpler to drill out the internal "retaining ring", since the LED Minimag's are completely different in that aspect than the incan ones, since the clone ones won't work.

Click to expand...

Sorry it took so long to get pics up. Here's 3 pics of the heatsink I made.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/Bstrickler/SNC00101.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/Bstrickler/SNC00102.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/Bstrickler/SNC00103.jpg

The tiny brass piece in the background ended up not going on the heatsink. It was supposed to be a post for the negative lead to solder to, but I couldn't get it to fit in (it was just a little too oversized). I ended up unsheathing the negative lead, and having it friction fit between the flashlight body and the heatsink. I also had to make a thinner brass plug for the positive post, because the big one there constantly was shorting out to the heatsink. It works great, now, though. Wish I had 3 NiMh's, so I could see more of its true capabilities. It uses the original reflector, too, but thats a little scratched, because I tried cleaning it before I found CPF, and learned that you cant use anything to clean the reflectors other than canned air.

Due to removing the way the MagLite normally functions, pushing the plug, to disconnect the contacts, the light is now constant on, so you have to remove the batteries to shut it off. I haven't looked into it a whole lot, but I've been thinking of cutting the body tube down some, if it has the spare room, and throwing one of the clicky tailcaps in there from LightHound. I may have to just make a spacer, though, to allow that capability.

I'll be posting pics of the showerhead 3D Mag later, too. Might consider selling it as well (probably about $50, including 8 C-cell batteries, 3 D-cells, and the original spring, so people can decide between a low-power, long life, using the D-cells, or having the ultra bright from the 4 C-cells). I'd say it easily puts out 300 lumens OTF, if not more. Would benefit from a UCL lens, though.

~Brian

Will a Terralux TCS-1 reverse clicky AA Mini Mag tail cap switch work in the 3xAA LED Mini Mag?

No, the 3AA Mini-Mag has the longer tail cap. If you sand down the very end of the mag tube and a matching part of the tail cap switch then it can be made to work.

Justin Case said:

Will a Terralux TCS-1 reverse clicky AA Mini Mag tail cap switch work in the 3xAA LED Mini Mag?

Click to expand...

If you have some kind of spacer, to make up for the lack of spring length, it will work.

Also, if you have a method of removing the anodization off of the internal threads, you will be able to get the Terralux TCS-1 tailcap to work.

I accidentally shortened my light too much, and now there's about a 1/16" gap between the tailcap and the outer wall of the flashlight body, when screwed in fully. If you decide to shorten the tail of the light, and remove the anodization off of the area where the lip on the tailcap touches the end of the flashlight body, you will need to shorten the tail of the body about 1/8", and it should work perfectly fine.


I just don't get how they think theres really such a thing as "reflector wear and tear" on a MagLite. I have never heard of or seen the cams or bases of the reflectors crapping out.
What I'm talking about is this:
http://www.google.com/products/cata...log_result&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CCkQ8gIwAg#

~Brian