Welcome to BLF!
Hope you enjoy your stay here. 
garrybunk wrote:
BTW, ImA4Wheelr, I'm gonna call you "ImA" for short from now on, is that ok? I get tired of figuring out how to type your name correctly (and having to scroll back and forth to see it).
Of course, no prob. Any shortened version of it is fine.
Well you have all been a lot of help so far and it seems i have a lot (more) of reading to do. Oh, and some experimenting, lol. I think my first thing is that i want a small hand held light that has a great throw. Still want some battery life so it doesn’t need to melt the paint off of whatever it hits, lol. I guess a hundred yards seems pretty good but let me know if that’s a lot.
I do have one other question though….can any of you turn me on to a good place for supplies? Probably gonna need another multimeter too. Damn, here goes the money! It’s all starting to spiral and i haven’t even started.
Oh, well, thanks again everyone.
I’m new to this myself but came up with this, maybe it’ll help.
I’m sure it will be corrected if I’ve got anything wrong.
I’d start by buying the cheapest p60 drop-in that you can find, take it apart. - 3-8v range
Buy the cheapest p60 host that you can find, take it apart. Would do fine.
2x3v 123A cells - these will do.
I’ve just done a quick search of FastTech and come up with that lot for about $15
The batteries are not rechargeable but the drop-in only needs 3-8.4v and you’ll be feeding it 6v, quite adequate.
Taking the host and drop-in apart, after making sure everything works, and putting it back together will give you practice for when you build your own from scratch.
Me, I’m happy enough buying hosts and drop-ins and have no need to mod anything.
Buying a good quality charger and batteries is probably the next step, but that’s up to you whichever way you want to go.
Fasttech for the more common parts.
Illumination Supply for more specialized parts or if you just want it faster.
Lots of information on meters around here. Beware though that more than likely you'll have to make your own thick wired leads (12ga wire with banana plugs on one end is what I use). Many meters will be ok (many times meters are accurate enough but come with junk leads), just stay away from the low end stuff.
Two US sources I've used for soldering/ test equipment supplies are MCM Electronics and Parts Express (both in Ohio). MCM especially will run email / print ad specials with lower prices or shipping discounts. I've been eyeing up some of the Tenma DMM's (there is one currently backordered for $29.99 - think web shows $34.99) but I've no experience with them. MCM also carries a "936" clone soldering station that is frequently $19.99 with a discount code.
FastTech will be your best bet for flashlight related & some electrical supplies.
-Garry
Well being impatient i went ahead and gutted a probably less than ideal specimen for my first kill, lol. It’s a Rayovac Indestructable (not anymore!) 3C. I’d rather do something new to it instead of putting it back together stock. better throw would rock. Now i’m not really sure what i’m working with here as far as the driver and emitter go so does anyone else wanna chime in on what i may have here or where to proceed from this point? 
and…
Thanks everyone!
Hi BS follows. Welcome to our lovely BLF forum.
19.5mm driver is kind of an odd size. And the pill is hollow. This could limit your options.
The easiest mod might be to swap in the following emitter and driver:
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1609/10001905/1311504-cree-xpgbwt-xp-g2-r5-1a-472-lumen-6500-7000k-led-e
http://intl-outdoor.com/amc71353-5mode-circuit-board-nanjg-ak47c20-p-596.html
Shipping might take a while.
I'm guessing that's an XP-E and the driver is nothing more than direct-drive with a resistor inline. The XP-E will have a tighter further throwing beam than most other emitters (driven at comparable levels). Think you could push that XP-E up to 1.5A drive current (there are 17mm 1.4A 3 mode Nanjg AMC 7135 drivers or here.). Be sure to use thermal compound (light thin coat only) under the star where it contacts the pill. Oh, another issue - 17mm is a more common driver size - you may have to use that old "driver" board as a "contact board" to mount a new 17mm board in/on the pill. I would remove the resistor and then just wire neg(-) to where neg(-) made contact on the old driver board and pos(+) to where pos (+) made contact on the old board. The new driver shouldn't need much heatsinking, so it can just sort of dangle inside the pill so long as nothing will short out. Here's a link to a neutral white XP-G2 (us source). You may want to try out a neutral white to see how you like it. Note: I'd link something around 4000k like a 4C tint, but Illumination Supply doesn't have any. Here's another option from Int'l Outdoor Store which is slightly warmer in tint and on a copper board too. Oh, and the XP-G2 could be pushed much harder than 1.4A though your heatsinking issue limits you. You also won't be able to run alkalines very well at all. You will be able to get away with alkalines at around 1.4A or less (even then you won't get full power and definitely not for long). You'll have to switch to NiMh rechargeables (or adapt for an 18650 Li-Ion). You can buy AA->C adapters if you already have AA's. I have an XP-G 3C Maglite with a 1.4A Nanjg driver using AA->C adapters and it works ok (never measured runtime on alks).
It would be nice if you could find some aluminum/copper to plug that hollow pill with (create a solid flat surface under the emitter, but don't mess up the driver mounting area. Take the pill into Lowe's / Home Depot and see what plumbing parts you can find to fit (or be persuaded to fit :) ). Try copper plumbing "end caps" (I've had better luck at Home Depot for those).
BTW - My first mod was an XM-L emitter swap into a Lowes Task Force 2C. I never touched it's "driver" (pretty much identical to yours).
-Garry
Alert - I mentioned MCM Electronics above, well I just got an email that they are running a $5 shipping special on all web orders through Sunday. Might want to look into getting solder, soldering iron, possibly a meter, etc. . . The $5 shipping for them is a good deal. And dangit I just threw away the newest MCM sale circular with the discount codes for some of the items - WAIT, see this link with the flyers in digital form and the "source codes" given on that page.
-Garry
If you have a Metal Supermarket nearby, you can probably get some aluminum bar stock for very little money. Their motto is "No sale is too small". They may even have some in the scrap barrel. That stuff sells by the pound. Looks like 3/4" bar may fit. You have to measure that hole in the pill. You want something that will have to be pressed in (You can use a hammer and wood dowel). You need to round the leading edge of the bar stock so that it doesn't damage the pill as it's pressed in.
If you want more light. go xml or xml2. You will get less throw. Since you sound like you want some throw, I would recommend xpg or xpg2. You will get more light than a xpe, but just about the same throw.
Be careful with the reflector. You want to keep it clean. Most reflectors do not respond well to cleaning. Even just careful rinsing with distilled water can hurt some of them.
I think it's an XPC. It's got one wire visible. XPE has two. Max recommended current for XPC is 700mA I think.
I don't think he should drive anything past 1A in that pill unless he mods it somehow. Even a relatively cool running emitter like the XPG can fade noticeably at 1A on a hollow pill. It would be even worse at 1.5A.
I’m still not sure which emitter and such to get but i am for sure going to try and slug the center for both heat sink and a solid mounting surface because i think it will be flimsy on the battery side because of the way i had to remove the board. It was crimped in i guess you would say.
Now that i have read a bit more i think that it would be better to go with some 18650 batteries since they seem to be the battery i would get the most use out of as far as projects go and would give me plenty of power. I don’t know if they make adapters for them to fit in a C cell but i’m sure i could come up with something. Now that’s been said i’m left in a new realm of choosing an emitter and driver for that battery set up. Not sure how my heat sinking will be once i’m done i’m not really sure which way to go. Still want some throw but don’t want to cook my light (or my hand) because i went too far.
Only other things i was wondering is about solder and wire….is there a certain gauge of wire and type of solder i should be using for this sort of stuff? Also, when i see people saying something about stacking chips does that mean they are putting in multiple drivers in one light and wiring them in series or what? Sorry for the total newby questions, lol, but everyone’s input has been awsome. Thanks a bunch.
Now for the most part my main problem is i am impatient. 
Stacking chips refers to AMC7135 regulator chips - see Relic's thread on that. Try 3/4" PVC pipe for an 18650 adaptor. You'll have an issue with length though and will need to make a spacer from a bolt or something being careful it can't short out to the battery tube.
I'd suggest picking up various gauges of wire. You'll need something small for the driver to emitter wiring - like 22 or 24ga (others can chime in as 22 might be too big sometimes). Look for silicone/Teflon coated wiring. Also, I'd recommend 63/37 solder, but 60/40 should work. Make sure it's for electrical work and not plumbing solder. I use rosin core solder.
-Garry
You light looks like it can handle quite a bit of current. The pill is nice an big too. Once plugged, it should very good at pulling the heat from your emitter and driver. If you decide to go xml or xpg2 on copper, I would go with this driver:
If the light gets too hot on high, just click to the next lower mode (medium). How many C cells does your light hold?
The light holds 3 c cells so I could probably fit 2-18650’s and make a spacer? I can’t find anything for a plug here so I’m gonna order some round stock I guess. Man I wish I had a lathe!
welcome to BLF, Midwest here too.
Welcome to the forum!
Welcome to the new family!