Good Morning Gentlemen!
There's a lot of D cell XML mag mods out there, from singles, triples, and more... I finally got around to completing an idea for a triple XML build on a 2D Mag last night. As you can guess, I did things a tad bit differently. Wanting to make a light more compact than the MadMatch, yet still have a lot of lumens, I came up with this design here:
Let's get on with the build...
Designed around the 32mm triple xml-U2 board and CUTE lens from Cutter, along with the reworked head, it's more or less a drop-in. The only modification that needs to be done to the stock body is to cut away the bulb holder from the switch assembly and remove the acompanying ground strap:
The neat thing about the 32mm triple board is that it seems like it was made to be dropped into a D mag tube. Now that we have cleared up room above the switch, the next step is to make a BIG heatsink. I have a penchant for using pure copper (because it works like a champ), so here's a shot of the emitters and what I made to handle the heat:
Once the wires were soldered in place and the heatsink polished up, I used Artic Silver thermal epoxy to hold it in place. I made an insulated nipple for the positive connection out of an electrical butt-splice, because I had one handy and it seemed to fit (best reason I could come up with). After soldering the positive wire to the end of the butt-splice nipple and epoxying it in place, it turned out like this :
The spring in the second photo above is a cutdown tailcap D mag spring. It will be used to put pressure outward on the heatsink because this puppy is going to get infinate brightness via QTC. This way the head can be rotated and set to desired output yet still be activated by the side pushbutton.
To hold the QTC I reused the little spring cup from the stock bulb assembly. I lined it with a ring of plastic (again, cut from an extra butt-splice), and set the QTC pad in the center:
In this photo you can see how it will all go together with the QTC cup and the cut down tailspring:
Next comes the modifying the head. I'll admit here that I wasn't sure how it would turn out, or how I was going to retain the 32mm lens, but figured if it was a failure I could hide all evidence of the attempt and go back to reading Clive Cussler and Stephen King
. As you'll see, it turned out ok (In my opinion anyways...). What I did was mill a stock D maghead down and then make a retaining ring out of stainless to act as the bezel. Here's how this little idea turned out:
The light golden color is a result of me not paying attention to how hot the stainless was getting on the lathe. Although after looking at it assembled, I kinda like the mild contrast it offers. It's no FoyBezel™, but it serves its intended purpose.
Power comes in the form of 8x14500 LifeP04 westinghouse cells that I got at Walmart setup in a 4Sx2P configuration. I'm not using popsicle sticks to hold it all together, but still need to finish my battery carrier (Currently made out of stainless rod and poly).
Here's the neat thing... I could cut the body down to slightly less than a 1D size, since I really only need 4 cells to power it. Runtime wouldn't be the greatest, but would make a more compact package. I still may do this ( I have an extra D cell body to mangle).
And now onto the finished product, along with a couple of shots with it's 3xpg mini-match sibling:
Final Test Results:
Since I now have a I.S. to do testing with, the first order of business was with that. I tried it both with and without the QTC pill installed, just to see the difference. Tailcap draw was 3.3amps:
Max with QTC: 2,733.7L !!
Max w/o QTC: 3,138.3L !!!!
I ran the test a total of 6 times just to make sure, and the results always came back within a fraction of each other. I haven't tried a single XML U2, but if this is what is to be expected, it's a winner.
(A note about the optics - I had ordered the narrow version of the CUTE 32mm lens, but as you can tell from the pictures, I got sent the wide version. In talking with them, they wanted me to RMA back that lens, but considering the postage would cost as much as the lens, I'll keep this one and order another...hopefully correct this time).
Beamshots: Last night I ventured back on to the golf course to snap a couple of pics. Distance to far treeline is 130yds (same spot where I tested the MadMatch).
In order of apperance, they are Control, SC60, L2P w/UF XML, and my new triple (need a name for it, guys...)
Control
Zebralight SC60
Solarforce L2P w/ UF 3 mode XML drop-in
New triple xml-U2 build (insert appropiate name here)
What suprised me is that I don't outright hate the wide lens they supplied. Enough photons are being generated that it still throws fairly well, and illuminates EVERYTHING in front of me. With the cut down head, this thing actually rides quite well in my back pocket (won't fit in your pocket you say? Buy bigger pants
!), and if need be can safely be used to keep ships from hitting the rocky shore.
A quick note about tint: This was the triple U2-2S bin pcb from cutter. I'm not sure if you can tell from the above beamshots, but it is much creamier/whiter than the standard T6 affair I've been used to. The more I play with this thing, the more I like it...a lot! It's now become my backup light for nightly walks...not because I need it, but because it's just so damn fun to play with.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Thanks again for reading folks, I hope you enjoyed it.
(I'm going to reserve the next comment spot for any future updates)
. Nice Job!
