The Blues Brothers +1 - Maglite Style

I decided to make a Trio of Maglites. The Blues Brothers. I already had a 2D Blue and found a 2 pack 2AA & 2AAA Mini Mags, in Home Depot, so I brought them home to meet their big (now small), brother.

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I had already been working on the 2D, to make it into a 1x26650/3AA host, but now I will complete the trio and sell them together.

I intend on putting XM-L emitters in both the 2AA and 2AAA lights, with 2 Alkaline batteries. It should light them up direct, although not as brightly as with 3 batteries. I do have a board for the AA light (14mm board), but it's only like 700ma. 3v off 2 alkalines should put out about the same?, according to Cree specs. There is no board small enough for an AAA Maglite.

Anyhow, I will be dressing them up to match each other. It will be interesting to see if I can, on the small lights.

The AAA Sub-thread is HERE...

The AA Sub-thread is HERE...

More to come, later..............................................................

I tried doing some filework (vine pattern) on the bezel. It did not work Jack! What a mess. Anyhow I thought about tossing it, but then I just tried to make it look like something. I don't like it, but I'm not going to try to find another Blue Maglite and start all over again. The heck with it, it is what it is.

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I also made a heatsink. I don't have much room for a heatsink due to the deep reflector and shortness of the light. The only thing I did different is to make a spot for the driver, where I can solder it right to the copper outer sleeve of the heatsink and hopefully my poor ground problems will be resolved.

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Later..........................

The cosmetics are almost done:

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Being as this is a "Set", I needed to have some continuity with all 3 lights. Due to the small size of the AA/AAA and other factors, I chose to do it this way. The AA light does not have any body rings cut yet. I still have to finish it, but I wanted to give y'all a taste.

Carry on...

Tailcap Switch,

I have done one of these before, but I figure I should show this one, so newer people can get the idea. This is a home made tail switch assembly.

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Here's the components. The tailcap, A Judco switch (10amp pushbutton), A plastic bushing from lowes, a piece of 1" copper coupling and 24 gauge flat copper, a gold plated spring, a dd circuit board and some 1" plastic washers from Lowes (not shown till later).

Lowes has a bunch of specialty fastners in metal bins. I get most of my plastic bushings, washers, screws and nuts from there, as well as the copper pipe & fittings.

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I start out with a small drill, like 1/8" and drill the center of the tailcap. Then I go up to 1/2" and from there I use the rotary bit. As you can see, it's not perfect. To get it perfect, one needs "the L word".

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With this switch assembly, I decided to make a step, so that when the bushing goes into the tailcap, the step makes a stopper. This was done with a rotary tool. Again, it's rough and not a perfect fit. Thank goodness for Arctic Alumina to fill gaps and paint to cover it up.

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Here's the bushing and switch set in place in the tailcap. I used a tapered stone in the rotary tool, to give the taper to the center hole, so it's easier to access the switch button. The button is less than flush, so tail standing can still be done.

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Inside with the back part of the switch.

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The 1" copper coupling is too big to fit down in the tailcap, so it has to be split and about 1/4" removed, so it can be squeezed into the tailcap. The cutout is to clear the contacts of the switch, when they are wired. The top piece of flat stock, is to keep the switch from backing out. This copper bushing is press fit and keeps the assembly from moving back, as well as being a ground for one of the wires of the switch.

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A shot of the copper bushing going in. I will not drive it in for real until it's ready to go. I don't want to try to get it all out again, as driving it out will probably mess up the switch.

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This shot gives you an idea of how the assembly sits in place. The slot lets the contacts and wires be clear of the copper. One of the wires will be soldered to the copper.

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The last shots show how the spring assembly will go together. The 1" washers sit in the top lip of the tailcap. I use the blank board sandwiched in between the washers. The other switch wire is soldered on the bottom of this DD board and the gold spring is soldered to the top. AA will keep the washers in place.

That's about it. I showed it this way, because as you can see, it can't be seen once it's put together.

It looks like this set is already sold. A good offer can't be refused.

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Finished.

Photos:

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The reflector was SMO, but it had several rings in it and adjusting didn't help one bit. I made it into my version of an OP reflector, with Krylon Clear.

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The 26650 adapter and the modified 3AA holder.

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Garage door

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Side of house

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Across the pond.

This 1C T6 led gives a nice white light and I am starting to favor it over the neutral. The newer version of the KD 8X7135 driver giver more amps and I think it's noticeable. There is a 2nd setting. I bridged for H/M/L, but of course, the paper they sent with it is wrong and I got H/L or H/M

It is what it is.

So there's Jake, Elwood, and uh....John Goodman?

Surely it's Jake, Elwood and the lighter that Jake threw out the window after he got out of jail.

I've seen that movie quite a lot of times - often enough to count the stunt drivers in the credits. 86 if memory serves.

Not seen it for ages, time to watch it again.

John Goodman, aka Mighty Mack McTeer. Blues Brothers 2000 was an awful movie, never could compare the brilliance of the original.

My vote is for Jake, Elwood and Twiggy.

For the 2*AA / 2*AAA lights, you'd be way better off using three 2/3AA's and three 2/3AAA's respectively. They are only around 700mAh for 2/3AA's and 400mAh for 2/3AAA's, but 2x alkalines / 2x NiMH's would barely light the LED up at all, while those 2/3 types would shine in direct-drive.

You can get both types at batteriesinaflash.com, for something like $2 - $2.5/piece.

(or two 14500's (Li-Ion or LiFePO4) and a buck driver, but I doubt that'd fit + I heard you like direct-drive)

I am loving that 2D host! What an awesome set of lights!

I looked at that stuff, but I didn’t want to mess with custom spacers, since the stack ups would be 20+mm shorter for the 2/3AA and 10+ for the 2/3AAA, but it’s an idea. No way to charge them either. It’s not that I like direct drive, I just cannot solder tiny wires on tiny drivers. I always ruin them or short them out.

I just figured Alkalines would give them 3V for a little while at least, but maybe it's a waste. Guess I will have to test one with 2 Alkalines.

This might be of some use for the 3aaa

https://illuminationsupply.com/datiled-8mm-xml-mcpcb-p-67.html?zenid=5216483c5a8ae71fc94a5c9797146ba3

Of course, another way is to just leave them as Incans. After all, these are all just shelf queens anyhow. That way I wouldn't have to screw with all this crap. Just dress 'em up and leave it at that. I hesitated to mess with the AA/AAA, because basically, they are a real pain, but I just thought the trio would look good on a shelf. Make the 2D into a 3AA XM-L and leave the others as is, except for dressing them up. Not a bad idea really...

You can direct drive the XML in the 2AA with a single 14500 and a single AA dummy cell.

The AAA light, same thing. One 10440 and a single AAA dummy celL Each setup will give 4.2 V

Ya, that would work. I don’t have any Li batts or chargers. I could always make the dummies and then sell them and let whoever got them worry about getting the Li batts. It’s an idea.

Wink

For the AA and AAA lights. FD-A Boost Current Regulated 0.7V~4.2V 1.0A Flashlight PCB

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I happen to have One of them. Does anyone in the US happen to have one of these? I hate to order from KD and let this all sit for three weeks, but if no one has one, I will have to...

Thanks

Is that driver new? I've been searching 2AA drivers a long time now and the only one that seemed good to me was the DX one. This one seems pretty nice, tho its only 13mm..

Lots still too large for the AAA. Also, keep in mind that even NiMH AAA cells would struggle to put out the amount of current needed to keep this thing pushing out that much output. I'd use the 700mA driver on the AA and the AAA driver from Illumination Supply in the AAA cut down to 1XAAA. If you don't want to cut it down then I can make a spacer and drop it off with Craig to send to you along with that driver.

1A at LED needs ~1.8A with two AAA’s, Eneloops can handle that just fine (in fact, they handle up to 3A just fine) :stuck_out_tongue:

PM me if you still want one. :)

Not too large with the AAA. It will be done just like the AA that Match modded (I have too). 13mm will go right in the head, after boring it out.

I have used AAA Eneloops in P7 lights for 3-4 years. In fact I still have one. They work well and they last for about 10-15 minutes DD on a P7 C bin. I don't think it will be an issue with a 1000ma driver. They take much more than they are rated at, just like the Eneloop AA batts. It won't be a long lasting light, but it should still do 1/2 hour with a 1000ma driver (depending on how efficient the driver is and the resistance in the setup).

I certainly appreciate your offer and I am constantly amazed at the knowledge here. It really is very nice to recieve these ideas and it makes me think. If there's any problem with the driver setup, I will let you know and will try the one you suggested.

Thank you

I don’t think it’s new, I’ve seen it for a long time on the KD site. I got it for an AAA Copper light I was going to make and never did, since it’s the smallest I have seen that gives at least 1000ma, which is probably really 800ma at best.

I've been thinking about a little file work, like is done on knives. What about a pattern like this?

I only did one and I can change it to fluting, but I wanted some opinions before I commit the whole light to it.

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