CR2 Mini-Mag LED

Today I cut down a 2xAA Mini-Mag LED and bored it out to take CR2. This has been done before on incan MMs, but I've never seen it done on a MM-LED. Yeah, I know I could have used an incan MM and added an LED drop-in but I like the stock MM 4-mode LED (with a nice creamy white Rebel) just fine, so I saw no need to go to the trouble.

Even though this has been done before, I was still a little worried that boring that far out would weaken the threads excessively. Fortunately, my fears proved to be unfounded as there was still plenty of meat left for 5/8-28 threads I tapped (single-pointing them is a little beyond my meager skills at this point). Ended up with a 15.15mm bore, a tad undersized for the CR2 spec but my battery slides in and out just fine.

My first boring attempt gave me a conical ID -- battery would not fit all the way down, oops! Worse, I was using a 4-jaw (my 3-jaw is too small to swallow the battery tube) so I had to dial it in again. Still, I'm happy with the way it turned out. This will be a Christmas present to someone who's not a flashaholic so I hope they like it.




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Nice job..

I have a similar mini lathe. I bored out the 3 jaw chuck so it can fit the body tube of the mini mag lites ( not for the faint of heart ) There is enough material in the chuck, just be careful of the screws in the back.

I really like that, I wonder if I could do that without a lathe. Hmm

gearhead1972 said:

I really like that, I wonder if I could do that without a lathe. Hmm

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I'd say so. I think you could probably widen the battery tube with a 19/32" drill bit -- since drills tend to drill a little oversize, that might put you right on target. If not, a Dremel and one of those little sandpaper flap wheels would get the last few thousandths.

You'd also need to Dremel out the first couple threads after tapping (to make room for the tailcap O ring), but precision is not critical.

The drill bit and tap would be a bit of an investment but afterwards maybe you could sell them to another CPF'er wanting to shorten their MM.

tylernt said:

I'd say so. I think you could probably widen the battery tube with a 19/32" drill bit -- since drills tend to drill a little oversize, that might put you right on target. If not, a Dremel and one of those little sandpaper flap wheels would get the last few thousandths.

You'd also need to Dremel out the first couple threads after tapping (to make room for the tailcap O ring), but precision is not critical.

The drill bit and tap would be a bit of an investment but afterwards maybe you could sell them to another CPF'er wanting to shorten their MM.

Click to expand...

I am pretty handy with the Dremel, have had one in my hands since I was like 12. I am pretty sure I already have a 5/8-28 tab in my tap and die set

That is very cool!!! I might have to try that one. I'm new to all of this, but this looks like something that might be do-able!?