Shortened D-MAG XM-L howto (aka 'Baby-D' a 1/3D mag) - no lathe required

I got a couple questions on how i built this little mag;

so here's a write-up on this relative simple build:


NEEDED PARTS:
-D-Maglite
-Go to dealextreme for a copper board XML (SKU 54704)
-Go to KD for a mag cam MOP reflector (Id:1739 - SKU: S004023) and a 2800mA driver board (Id=10995 - SKU: S009742) (in most pictures here you will see the SMO reflector but that sucks with the xml, i had to mist it to MOP myself to get a decent beam profile)
-Get a GOOD lens (flashlightlens.com has some nice stuff, thats where i got mine)
-Go to your diy store to get a solid copper slug (or brass) to fit inside the KD reflector cam (tight press-fit is best), you can also make a P60 base to fit (like i did)
-Find some STRONG 2 component metal glue
-Get some solarforce or alike complete tail-assembly
-Get some arctic silver epoxy and normal paste

Now put everything together:

-Disassemble mag, toss the lens, light holder/switch assembly
-Cut the mag-tube, if like me you don't have a lathe, go like this this:

So cut (red lines in pic) the middle part out. On the head-side just behind the groove for the o-ring and on the tail-end just on the length you want. Then, grind the inside of the cut tail-end so the o-ring groove fits in there barely (a tight press-fit is best, dont forget to also sand the head part where the o-ring sat a bit for good electrical contact) and then press and glue together with the best 2 component metal glue you can find. You will now need a new thinner o-ring because it will now sit at the base of the threads instead of the (now re-purposed) o-ring groove.

Drill holes in the copper/brass base slug for the wires to go through (p60 base has these already), solder the XML board to the center, feed wires through holes and epoxy the driver board to the back of the slug. Epoxy the slug in the cam (with the cam cut down straight about half-way). Screw the cam on the reflector with plenty heat paste (tighten hard for good electrical contact) and put the reflector assembly in the head with again plenty heat paste where they meet. I found that this is enough heat-sinking for the XML to burn through two full 18650's on max without the temperature at the slug exceeding 50 celsius at room temperature with the outside of the head always keeping within 5 degrees of the slug temperature... so thats a pretty good thermal path.







Now comes a tricky part, you need to make a connection between the top of the new shortened tube to the reflector. I just took an old MAG spring and bent this in the same diameter as the tube, then sand down the top of the tube where it will meet the spring. Works brilliantly. Unfortunately i didn't take any pictures there...... here's a quick drawing on the idea:


Yellow is the reflector, blue is the led/driver/slug, grey is the tube and the red dots is where the spring sits to complete the circuit between the tube and the driver (through the reflector)

Okay, now take the solarforce tail assembly and maglite tail, and take apart. Drill a bid ol hole in the mag tail (about the size of the rubber boot on the solarforce tailcap) file/grind down the solarforce tail so the button sits flush.







Make the inside of the solarforce tailcap sit flush with the bottom of the mag spring.



When you are satisfied with everything sand down the inside of the mag tail and again put your super metal epoxy to use and make the two tails one, keep the parts pressed together as the glue sets (to make sure its water-tight and strong and to ensure electrical contact).

Well, that should just about cover it all.. let me know if there's anything i let out! You should now have a short D-mag with a stock head that can be completely disasembled like any mag should and also an easy to replace clicky (makes for easy to source replacement parts).

This light works brilliantly on any big li-ion cell (i use 18650 in a plastic tube and have some big fat cells on route) and you can also run this baby on eneloops!!



And this is what my reflector currently looks like after a quick SMO->MOP mod:



I hope you guys like!

Hello RepProdigious,

I certainly do like what I see.
Is this type of build something you do for a fee?

Best regards,
KC

KC_451 said:

Hello RepProdigious,

I certainly do like what I see.
Is this type of build something you do for a fee?

Best regards,
KC

Click to expand...

Well, yes and no (yes i build, no not for a fee). For friends i build all kinds of stuff from key-fobs and jewelery to small buildings (currently designing a garage for the inlaws) but i've never taken this whole hobby to a commercial level for a simple reason; I'm a perfectionist and i'm never completely satisfied with what i build and when its at friends i visit often i can improve/patch stuff up as i feel needed. If i would have to build something on a comercial level it would have to be perfect and done by the time i ship it out and that just takes too much time to be economically viable (i simply do not have the tools i need to do most builds good and fast, almost everything i do is done by hand).

I do however encourage everybody to try stuff i do themselves, if i can do it everybody can!! So that's what im going to do right now:

Why dont you buy an old used maglite ($10) and give it a shot? The first basic step for this specific build involves as little as a hacksaw ($10 if you dont have one), a half round metal file ($10), mega glue ($5) and plenty of time. This will give you everything you need to cut your basic tube in the way i described above. After that if you still think doing stuff like that if fun you can go and figure out how to get a nice hole in the mag tail (i used a power drill and a pocket knife to make it rounded).

Or if you really dont like to do this i'm very sure you can find someone here on CPF that does have the proper tools to cut a mag quick and neat!

I really like garage builds! How did you do your flames? I used to cut the inverse from aluminum tape, then bead blast the anno off. Nice work!

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Aircraft800 said:

I really like garage builds! How did you do your flames? I used to cut the inverse from aluminum tape, then bead blast the anno off. Nice work!

Click to expand...

I don't do blasting because, well, i dont have the equipment to do so

This i my way;
-Draw inverse-flames with nail-polish (just borrow a bottle from the misses)
-Throw light in warm water with drain cleaner
-Remove nail-polish with nail-polish remover
-Done

Oh, and when doing this do NOT touch the warm drain cleaner, do not allow it to get even close to boiling point (i will warm up during the process), do not inhale gasses, avoid open flame, wear eye-protection and so on and so on.... its dangerous stuff.....

RepProdigious said:

Oh, and when doing this do NOT touch the warm drain cleaner, do not allow it to get even close to boiling point (i will warm up during the process), do not inhale gasses, avoid open flame, wear eye-protection and so on and so on.... its dangerous stuff.....

Click to expand...

i really like the simplicity of your build ! it encourages newbies like me to have a go ! what is in the drain cleaner that removes the coating ,hopefully i will be able to find something like it in the uk, NOW WHERE'S THAT OLD MAG :naughty:

all the best
devon stalker

Drain cleaner is pure Sodium hydroxide, so what you're basically making when creating a solution of it in water is lye. Dangerous stuff, the fact that it dissolves aluminium confirms this.

I stole this little bit from wikipedia:
Solid sodium hydroxide or solutions containing high concentrations of sodium hydroxide may cause chemical burns, permanent injury or scarring, and blindness. Lye may be harmful or fatal if swallowed.
Solvation of sodium hydroxide is highly exothermic, and the resulting heat may cause heat burns or ignite flammables.
The combination of aluminium and sodium hydroxide results in a large production of hydrogen gas: 2Al(s) + 6NaOH(aq) → 3H2(g) + 2Na3AlO3(aq). Hydrogen gas is flammable; mixing lye (sodium hydroxide) and aluminium in a closed container is therefore dangerous. Lye intoxication can cause esophageal stricture.

Hi mate I really love your shorty Mag. Thank you for writing such a great how to with all the parts and numbers listed, very helpful for a Noob like myself.

Made another little addition to the light;

I dual-bored.... erm... 'ground' the tube

I still don't have any fancy tools and a hand file got me no-where but after some experiments i found that a dremel cutting wheel and a steady hand work surprisingly well for this purpose. It will not give you a pretty result but for a quick and dirty garage hackjob its works pretty decent, even overly thick protected cells fit with room to spare.



So now i don't have to keep hunting for proper 32600 cells (mostly overpriced for my purpose and less capacity than 2x18650 anyways)

How long did it take you to dual-bore/ground the tube? And good job! Not the prettiest but it works and who's going to see inside?

beekeeper5 said:

[..] but it works and who's going to see inside?

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly!

Took me half an hour to figure out how to do it (and to locate a piece of steel exactly the right width that i could jam in the tube to see where it would scratch the wall to find out where i had to remove more material) and then about an hour or so steadily grinding / 'measuring' / grinding and so on. Bit of a pain but in the end im really happy i did this, not only has runtime roughly doubled, the light is now significantly brighter for some reason! Still pulling clean 2.8A from the cells but i guess the voltage sag is way way less now.

hmm I'm very eager to try this out. What dremel grinder did you use? I tried using a stone grinder and all it did was clog it up.

Well, aluminium does tend to do that when you dont use the proper tools and oil.... However, the disposable cutting wheels dont clog up!! They just do a good job, i guess they wear before they have time to grab all the aluminium bits and smear it all into their own crevices. Took me 4 or 5 wheels for the length of this tube on 2 sides but do keep in mind that you need quite the steady hand for this.... cutting wheels aren't made to do this kind of thing

I do also have the flexible axle thingemebub for the dremel and you kinda need that because the dremel itself is a bit too clumsy and big to get deeper into the mag tube but the flex thing has a great fine handle thats perfect for the job.

Wow, love this thread! Great inspiration :thumbsup:

Chongker said:

Wow, love this thread! Great inspiration :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Great to hear, now hit the garage!! Really, my modified maglites have become some of my most used lights where before they were just so out-dated that i couldn't use em even if i wanted to, the misses pinky sized itp eos aaa light was brighter than most of em