I said I was going to build 12 Maglites for the Holidays. Well, I decided to make sort of a reality build, with a time limit and time frame, blow by blow. I am going to mod 12 of the 2AA Mini Maglites. Two of each color (Black, Red, Blue, Green, Grey and Camo). All of them will have copper heat sinks and will be Direct Drive with Nichia 219 leds from IS. The Nichias will be reflowed onto 14mm Cree XP-G stars. The optics will all be TIR and vary from 15 degree to 45 degree. There will be some form of cosmetic mod on all, except for the Camo, which will remain stock looking.
I actually don't have 48 hours, since I am starting at 8:00 AM Saturday and I have until Midnight Sunday. I did one thing in advance and that was to cut the copper pipe for the heat sinks last night.
I was supposed to have orders come in yesterday. I ordered 8 2AA Maglites from Lowe's online. They were supposed to come yesterday. They didn't! Damn, I'm already under pressure. Now I have to go run around town to try to find 8 2AA Maglites in the right colors. 8:00 AM and the wife's feeling really bad. Have to go to Wal-Mart to get some things for her, then I have got to find the lights!
8:30 and I'm just leaving after getting the wife set up for her morning coffee! Went to Wal-Mart and lo and behold, there is a new shipment of 2AA Maglites, that weren't there Friday! I must have a Rose stuck up my butt, cause I just came out of the first trouble smelling sweet! Back to the house and here's all the Maglites.
4 of them came from Zbattery, the rest from Wal-Mart. 9:00 AM and it's time to start getting them out of the packages.
9:20 AM and they are ready to go.
Only 8 have holsters. The Zbattery ones didn't. Too late to get more, just go with it.
Batteries anyone?
I need a helper, just to take out the trash!
9:30 AM - time to go inside and get food cooking for the wife and take care of the cat. Ya, I got plenty of P***y around the house, but they don't know a thing about being helpers!
9:45 AM - back to disassemble the lights.
Here they are, ready to mod.
Back to the house, to take care of more stuff inside.
10:00 AM - finally, back to the mods. Time to put some parts into the Degreaser and get them bubbling away.
10:10 AM - Time to get out the Heat sink components.
and the Copper shot.
I decided to set it up as an assembly line. Put down the larger discs, set the copper pipe pieces on them, fill them with shot and solder them all at one time.
Well that BS went well! Damn, Damn Damn!!! I ain't got time for this crap! Why the hell did I ever try this stupid idea!!
(Hey, any decent reality show has to have some turmoil in it, LOL)
I did set them up in an assembly manner. Here's the large rounds with the copper pipe sections soldered in place.
Filled with Copper shot and then they will be filled with solder.
The smaller rounds are soldered and will go on top of the heat sinks to the right.
11:15 AM - Stage 1 complete.
11:45 AM Stage 2 complete, with the center posts soldered on. The soldering is done. This is the easy part. The time consuming part will be to clean off all the excess solder off every one of these buggers. That will take up the rest of my first day and I haven't even started on leds and wiring or cosmetics yet!
I really am going to be a tired old fart by Sunday night.
And the parts are still cooking in the degreaser. I have turned them over and now it's time for lunch dammit!
DiGoirno! and this post will take care of lunch (after I fix the wife's lunch that is).
See you in a while crocodile.
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1:30 PM - Lunch is over and the wifey is trying to sleep. I'm back in the garage and the parts in the degreaser are done.
1:40 PM - Starting on the heat sinks. They require a lot of filing! The OD has to be filed down, since the 3/4" top disc is "a little" too big and all the solder has to be filed down. The OAL has to be checked and the bottom post has to be filed down if the OAL is at max or above. It's trying my patience...
2:20 PM - two down, 10 to go.
2:50 PM - four down eight to go.
3:30 PM - six down and screw it! I'm taking a nap. Ya, A Nap, got a problem with that? Huh?
It is a pain and all that Pizza always makes me sleepy..... ZzzzZzzzZzzz
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5:00 PM - So much for a nap. I finished off the DiGiornos and went to the couch to take a nap. The cat decided I was a great pillow. She slept and I read a book. Way of life...
So, I am back at the Heat sinks again. 6:25 PM and they are all finished.
All of them fit in the heads, but a couple of the posts are just a little off center, not much and it wouldn't hurt, but I need to make sure the post won't touch the body. Besides, I am using larger posts now, which are more stable, so, less clearance. I'll just go ahead and open the mouth of the bodies.
6:35 PM - First I will work on the Isolation washers. They go between the positive contact and the post.
Both sides need to be sanded, so they will stick to the AA Adhesive. I do them by rubbing them across a sanding block, with my fingers. No wonder my fingers are so swollen all the time.
7:00 PM - Washers are done and it's time to make the positive contacts.
A small piece of 0.012" thick copper sheet and use a washer as the guide.
I cut the pieces into squares first, then I cut across rhe corners to get an Octagon. Then cut again across the 8 corners and round it off with sand paper. Yes, I just hold those tiny things and sand them by eye.
7:55 PM - A damned hour later and I can't feel my fingers any more. I tried turning on the radio to keep me awake, but I can't find a decent rock & roll station in all of East Texas. What the hell... Gettin tired. This is about 6 hours more than I ever spend out here. Whine, whine, whine. Can if I wanna...
8:00 PM - Time to open all the bodies up at the mouth. Make 'em big mouths.
Now those pesky center posts will clear.
8:20 PM - Done with that and on to removing the ano on the tops of those bodies, so they will make contact with the heat sinks.
8:40 PM - Done with those. Time to polish those 5 tail caps and bezels that I had in the degreaser.
Done, Done, Done, Done, Done...
9:30 PM - I am done for the night. I need some rest. I need to be fresh to try to reflow 12 Nichias onto XP-G stars and a good night's sleep ought to help. Those things are so small and so picky that I don't want to try them when the hands are swollen and the eyes are burnin.
Looks like I've got a good start on gettin this build done. I still have some cosmetic stuff to do and I have to do 12 leds and wire them, but I might just make it by tomorrwo night. It isn't like I got a lot of time. Sundays are busy. Housework, watering and weeding the garden and all the rest, so it will still be a race to the finish.
What reality show would finish hours before the deadline anyhow?
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