14mm buck drivers - do any exist?

Im wanting to mod a maglite AA to use 2x14500 and run an LED.
With the limited space available it would be beneficial to install the driver in the body of the flashlight to allow more room inside the head for the LED and heatsink pill.

Is there enough demand to build such a driver? Could any of the open source designs be redesigned for a 14mm PCB?
I would be happy with something with 3 modes, 6V and 3A output.
Im happy if i have to get the boards made and solder the parts on the board myself. If anyone who is good with eagle is able to draw up a sketch ill happily try out the gerber files and test it out.

TIA :slight_smile:

I think you need to start with pill design, and try to fit bigger driver size. Negative battery connection will be an issue.
Custom designed buck driver dont look easy and cheap solution. This can took hundred hours, several samples and etc.

BTW, what led are you going to use? Cree XHPs dont look pretty with stock reflector.

I was going to design a pill that extends down into the maglite body itself and drill out the barrel so it can slide down inside the maglite.
It would step down to 14mm diameter inside the end of the barrel, but would make the other end of the pill 20mm diameter and will machine out the head of the maglite itself.
I would wrap the part that sits in the barrel with kapton tape to insulate it from the barrel and when the head is screwed down, it makes contact with the face of the pill to complete the circuit.
I hope this makes sense.
I was hoping that the footprint of an existing driver could be modified to fit a 14mm board.
Perhaps smaller inductors etc can be used if the design was limited at 3A.
This board would be perfect for what I plan on doing, but is 17MM. 17mm MTN-MAXlp HP 1A-5.5A Low-Profile Buck Driver - 5V-18V
I could fit this in a mini mag head, but only have about 16mm max depth to work with if i make a complete pill in the head itself.
This leaves no room for a reflector or lens inside, but ive seen mods using multiple LED’s which can use a multi-lens instead, but still these lenses ive seen are only 20mm and not a prefect fit.

I was looking at this option and would work with a 17mm driver and give me lots of free space inside, only downside is that it will protrude out the head of the light by about 5mm.
I will also need to grind and polish down the base thickness to make it fit inside and allow the ring to screw down all the way, but it might not look too bad cosmetically.
Im considering running either an MT-G2 or an XHP70 at 3A for the high power mode.

I made Mag AA cross-section drawing several years ago, but have not found any ways for simple mod. To make driver place, you need to fix head position and add some extra brass rings (and plastic isolators) for connection. To make spacer fit, you need to bore head (as usually done with triple mod). To make pretty beamshot, you need different lenses. And tons of work to add switch to the tailcap.
It could be more simple if some small drop-in (smaller P60 brother) was available. But atm using different host looks more reasonable.

Yes thats right, I plan on boring out the head. You have about 16mm depth to work with.
With the convex lens here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32863781246.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.36e63c00BBNLi9
how close could you typically have an LED behind it?
I think this could work if done right, just not sure on cosmetics.
I see people using these type of lenses too, but 20mm would be too small, so not sure what sort the likes of match was using.
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=68_69&product_id=194

Finding a 3A Buckdriver with 14mm diameter incl. modes is not easy :frowning:
I knew only 14mm Buck or Buck/Boost driver from this source Converter Boards - CRE Loaded Ecommerce (Max 1000 mA)

I use to make quit a few cut down 1AA mini mags. I use to make a heatsink that held a 17mm driver that was isolated from the pill with a press fitted delrin sleeve. So that when the head was screwed all the way down the barrel end came into contact with the driver and completed the connection, which made it a twisty. I also had to bore out the head to fit the aluminum heatsink. The barrel was also shortened a little.
It worked very well. I don’t see why this wouldn’t work with a 17mm buck driver.
I dont know if this will help but I’ll post a few pics.
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Yes i have seen their drivers, i have no idea what voltage LED they are for either. Only single mode which is not that useful either.

Using different optics will give me alot more space anyway.
It would be great if i could find a plano convex lens the right size.

Looks quite a nice mod. Similar to what match was doing with the exception of the delrin ring and cutting down the barrel.
I was wondering about the possibility of cutting down the threads, but was not sure how supportive it would be, since my one flops around a bit when screwed out half way.

“15-minute match mod”, seriously.

Just need a 20mm step-bit, and D26 drop-in of your choice (ie, build to suit).

It’ll then take a regular 17mm driver of your choice.

lol 15mins, where did i say it was that mod? :person_facepalming:

He has modded tons of mini mags.
Here are some similar mods of his im talking about.

Yeh, you could probably even use a 20mm 3-up setup like for a S2+. Even shorter, so more room vs a 1-up reflector, and even 1-up TIR.

Im not sure what diameter his 3 up lens was on that mod.
i can only find 20mm, but you really need a 22mm lens to fit properly

Don’t hold me to this but if I remember correctly there’s a slight taper to the threads from maglite. The further it screws in the tighter they become. I cut the barrel to make the light shorter and to make sure the o-ring is covered by the head. In my pic you can see where I have cut a slight taper to the first 2 or 3 threads. This makes the head screw on very easy, the threads mess up quick and seems to make the twisty action very smooth (probably because less threads are fully engaged). Without the taper it was a little difficult to get the threads to mess, cutting a taper solved that.

Ok that makes sense, ive taken a look at my light and I think your right, it does look a bit tapered to me.

Anyway, ive got an older mag i dont mind messing up.
Just need to find some nice optics now!
I bought a bunch of these, have no idea what the bean will be like, but should be able to make it fit if I do it right.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Beam-25-PMMA-Condenser-Lens-Reflector-High-Power-LED-Lens-Stand-D-22-5mm-H-10mm/273878530569