Midsize Minimag? Two pill or not two pill? New pics added

Ever buy a battery and then try to decide on a light to put it in? That’s what happened here though it wasn’t hard to make up my mind. I wanted a work light edc. Something that I wouldn’t worry about scuffing that had maybe a little less output in favor of run time. Enter this battery:

A 14650 imr from efest. I enjoyed making the M&M Mini as much as I hated parting with it so to satisfy my lumen addiction I picked a plain silver AA Minimag as the host and came up with this: The mid size mini.

It sports a triple Nichia 219 and 105C with one chip removed.

I wanted to see what I could do with the hacksaw/drill press lathe and wanted to keep the tailcap removable as well as keep the smooth sections balanced so I cut of the tail and reamed it out back to the threads and used the drill press to size about 5mm of the knurled section to fit. While not perfect, it’s more by touch than by sight that you can tell. It’s a snug fit but not enough for a cold weld so I used JB. On the left is my new OL Minimag for size comparison.

The head was reamed with a hole saw and finished with a sand paper wrapped drill bitin the press. I haven’t finished the pill yet but these are the parts for it.

And this is how I ground the board.

For size comparison.

I wasn’t happy with the fit of the first pill so I did another and used copper sheet for the middle layer of the cylinder. The driver is isolated from the rest of the pill so that the ground path only goes through the tinned ring back to the battery tube. Otherwise, the light would always be on. I drill the holes for the 3 ground posts one at a time soldering only to the board as each is done. Then tin the ring, redrill, and reflow with a hot iron. Then I add the led wires and pot the driver into the sink. AS the mcpcb to the sink and solder the wires.

The tailcap mod is easy. 5/16” copper refer tubing is a nice tight press fit into the tailcap so I cut a short piece and solder a disc to it and a spring opposite and press it in.

I decided to make a second led option for this light with an XML U21D on a 16 mm board, a 15^ optic, and an AK-47 with 3 added chips. The smaller mcpcb means more copper in contact with the head than with a 20 mm board. The driver also ends up thinner not needing the contact plate.

This time the sheet layer is the outer one with one piece each of 1/2” coupler and 1/2” pipe cut and expanded to fit. Again, I size the outer two layers with a jig made of spare boards and then add the discs and stop. Also, again the ground ring is isolated from the sink using Fujik.

Very cool. I finished reading about your solitaire mod only moments before spotting this one. Still picking this stuff up, but from what I do understand, it looks great.

And, by the by, I’m just as amazed as everyone else by your abilities on the drill press/hacksaw “lathe.”

Nice build! How do you attach the Minimag to your "lathe"?

Very nice work there Rufusbduck. Its nice to see the real thing. Tell me if I'm wrong. (Still trying to understand all this). If that was a 7135 x7 chip, If you wired in parallel because you are stuck with 3.7 volts you would have about .7 amp to each LED?

stunning bit of work there and that should make a really lovely everyday light. Just out of curiosity, why did you go with the triple instead of a single+20mm TIR? Very impressed with your work using a drill press, better not get a lathe or you’ll start embarassing some of the machinists on here :wink:

Very nice work!

Thanks for sharing the build.

I have my old original red Mini-Mag from the Before-Times when such lights were an impressive bit of flashlight. Every time I see these great mods, it makes me want to mod my light, but I hate taking a hack-saw to this light; there's a bit of sentimental attachment there....

Nice work yet again!

BTS, polishing fingernails now. Thanks

NC, the same as with the brass sleeve for the solitaire, with a 1/2” carriage bolt and shims. Eliminating wobble is the key.

MRs, 850mA with 380mA chips.

mm, because I have the Nichias but no XML’s in a tint I like(3C).

Thanks OL, I need to edit the op to credit your black MMag.

K, you’re right. It’s much easier to cut up a new light than hack an old friend but I somehow manage to do both(insight to my flavor of the addiction).

Yeah, getting rid of the wobble isnt easy.. thanks. :)

I know that black is best for heat, but I sure like a polished or silver light better than any color. I like that seam job too. Can't really tell at all.

If the table on your drill press has a center hole you can press a bushing into that hole as a guide for the bottom end of the bolt. I use a 1/2” x 7” carriage bolt with the head cut off so that I can chuck the part with no threads. That pretty much takes care of the bolt. 2 layer of brass tubing(#s 140 and 141) and some painters tape make a nice snug fit in the battery tube. Other bits work in the head depending on how or if it gets reamed.

Mr duck. Your creativity is bordering on very clever. I like it.

Were can you buy those batteries, do you have a link?

Also how do you think it stacks up against a good 14500? I was going to get an AW 14670 for my p60 Mini Mag, but they sold out and aren’t available any more. This might be an option, although I’m now running 2x 14500 instead which performs much better than a single li-ion.

eBay, r-lsales is the seller from salt lake city. Search 14650. What driver do you use?

My brother, niece, and nephew are in town for an extended weekend so of course I had to do a show an tell with the new mods. The Wows were quite satisfying when I showed first the solitaire lighting up a tree 25 yards away, and then my BLF mini 01, and then the Midsize with the U2 1D drop in blowing the tree away. Now, mom wants a Pink Ribbon Solitaire, bro wants a blue AA Maglite mod, and nephew wants to learn how to do it himself. A very successful weekend and I get to play golf too! :bigsmile: Btw, bro lives in Durham N.C. and is first in line for a new brand of enclosed e-bike but apparently the stock headlights are a bit inadequate. This was the excuse for the s n t to show the beam and tint of a few LEDs. I’m hoping the existing wiring is adequate to allow a simple emmitter swap as the thing that worries him most is visibility to other vehicles. He is worried no more.