# Mini Mag triple xpg



## z_Match (Feb 17, 2011)

Hey guys, although I don't post on this particular flashlight site too often, I thought some of you may enjoy my latest project:



From outside appearances, except from the front, it looks like any other 2xAA mini maglite. Stock dimensions, stock tail, stock finish.... a real sleeper! Behind the front lens though lies a lot of lumens. How many?



Darn good question: I tried two setups, one at 1.4a to each led and 950ma to each led. Not having and intergrating sphere, I can only go off other published data. For example, at 1.4a the general consensus on the emitter lumens seems to be @ 1350LM. I wonder if that makes this the highest lumen mini-mag yet? Enough speculation, let's get into the build!



The first step, as usual, is complete disassembly. After writing down all the dimensions, a quick design sketch showed me that I had a bit over 20mm width by 16mm deep space to work with comfortably... i.e. not much. 



Easy enough to do straight with a drill press. I used two blocks of v-notched wood covered with scrap leather as the clap and to prevent marring the head. I also drilled it slightly under 20mm (19.7mm) to allow hand lapping the copper pill/heatsink later. Once that was done, it was time to move onto the pill. In this case, the pill is (needs to be) a big hunk of pure copper. Since the diameter was @20mm, I was able to bore out the tail to exactly 17mm to allow the driver to fit completely. A lot of grinding, polishing, sanding, and coffee went into this and here she is:











After that, it's time to put everything all together. I lapped the star and the top of the pill to make a perfectly flush seating surface, then used artic silver with Fujik on the very rim to seal it down. The driver slides into the back, with the inductor bottoming out inside just as the base is flush with the rim...pefect! (Note, driver has now been thermally potted with fujik inside the pill):






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The last step left was to prep the body tube to maintain stock twist for on/off (opposite now). I removed the silly stock plastic parts and used a stepper bit to slowly enlarge the opening. This was done to ensure the no contact is made to the positive center post by the body. The anodizing is removed from the top of the body to allow it to make and break contact with the negative ring on the pill. Simple yet elegant.



Now comes assembling the light. The pill slides in and bottoms out leaving the proper spacing for the optics. 



And now, the finished product!

















And that's it! Total project material cost turned out to be under $30, and that includes the light. Using two flame trustfire 14500's I get @ 1.5a at the tail which is roughly 1a to each led. I'm quite suprised on how well the heatsink design handles the heat. Make no mistake though, gripping the head firmly is definately a necessity for extended use. Operation is simple and robust with a slight variation to the stock twist-off / twist-on design. I'm pretty happy the way this project and design worked out. All the parts fit together like a swiss watch, and it's soon becoming one of my favorites.


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## Mathiashogevold (Jul 23, 2011)

Thought i should bump on this thread, 
as far as i know it was lost in the crash 

Fantastic build! It's amazing!


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## red_hackle (Jul 23, 2011)

Mathiashogevold said:


> Fantastic build! It's amazing!


 
+1 very elegant mod...


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## Bimmerboy (Jul 24, 2011)

Yet another pill-in-head Minimag! 

Missed this one first time around, but for me, it's the second one this week. lovecpf

Match... looks like a fantastic mod, and pre-dates the other one I'm recently enamored with. I assume you're not here much, but next time you see this thread, could you tell us more about this?

What's the reason for a two piece heatsink? Did something prevent you from making it from one piece?

What driver are you using? The picture shows the emitters in parallel, so I can't imagine what converter this is since it's giving 4.5A, bucking down 7.xVin to 3.xVout, and in such a small format. Please tell!

Any pics of the back of the assembly would also be highly appreciated.



Red Hackle... excellent sigline!... lol.


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## marlon1911 (Jul 25, 2011)

Driver:

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=6386


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## 350xfire (Jul 26, 2011)

Very cool. I have a bunch of the Minis waiting for projects like this one!


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## cdrake261 (Jul 29, 2011)

How much would you charge if I had you build me one just like yours?


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## Match (Aug 9, 2011)

Whoa...it's been awhile since I've posted here. Ok...here goes:

The heatsink is one solid milled piece. The two separate pieces in the above pictures are just random chuncks of copper I used to prop up the light for the photo.

I've tried a couple of different drivers. The first one was a 1A buck driver from KD that was modded to greatly increase output... but it it didn't last long (*poof*). For version 2.0, I now use a variant of the one listed above by marlon1911.

With NW xpg's at 3 amps, I measure @ 760L, 240, and 40 OTF for high/med/low respectively. 

I'll have to dig up other pics of the build. 

As far as selling them, dunno. I've only sold one after I was contacted on another forum. I may be making a few more in the near future if there's interest. If so, I'll post them up at the marketplace.

Oh, and I do still have the original in the post above, with a new driver (single mode) that's good for a bit over 600L OTF, that I'd be willing to sell.


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## tjhabak (Aug 31, 2011)

I'd definitely be in for one if they're ever for sale!


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## Changchung (Sep 4, 2011)

Just... WOW


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## Hiro Protagonist (Sep 4, 2011)

This thread made me smile. Such a hot rod sleeper light. I'd be interested in a 3 level (L-M-H) in a neutral tint (5c1 or 5b1). Please keep us posted and thanks for the grins!


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## tlyon1022 (Sep 4, 2011)

I want one!!! When are you going to be mass producing?!? :O


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## Lightdadark (Sep 5, 2011)

I would like one too. Please PM me if you are going to produce some.


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## PhatPhil (Sep 8, 2011)

I'd be interested in one. PM me with more details please


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## Quest4fire (Sep 10, 2011)

The ultimate sleeper! Where were the three up XP-G board and optics sourced from?


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## grayhighh (Sep 10, 2011)

I want one real bad, if available i'd be in for one. Great mod.


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## indadark (Sep 10, 2011)

Same here! Let me know if you will be selling any.


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## Changchung (Sep 10, 2011)

I will like to know too were to buy the parts...


SFMI4UT


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## henry9419 (Sep 16, 2011)

that is awesome...i have tue led version of that...p7 i guess? i want to do that mod to mine but i dont have access to a drill press or lathe so any suggestions on how i might be able to go aboutbdoimg this myself and could you add a parts list also please?


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## PhatPhil (Nov 8, 2011)

Take it you decided not to make some more of these?

Still interested


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## tjhabak (Nov 8, 2011)

PhatPhil said:


> Take it you decided not to make some more of these?
> 
> Still interested



+1

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk


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## lover018 (Jan 20, 2012)

EDIT: I have to ask. Is there any way to give us some measurements for the head? I was wondering how much space takes the optic and what is the height of it, As I was calculating is it possible to mod it with a single MC-E and optic for it.

Great build. I'd like to see some outdoor beam shots if possible.


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