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MagLite
Magnetic Mount
Write-up
by: Doug aka Thumps 09/20/03
I
had bought MagLite brackets a while ago in the hopes of eventually
mounting my Maglite (that was currently rolling around on the floor
behind my seat) somewhere in my Jeep. I'd had thoughts of zip-tying
the brackets to the roll bar but I never got around to it. As luck
would have it, I was stuffing the brackets into my tool bag one day
when I noticed a set of magnetic tool bases I had bought for another
project stuck on the tub next to the rear seat. The hole on the top
of the magnets looked the same size as the mounting holes in the mag
lite brackets too, hrmmmm. HRMMMMMMM. After fishing around in my cheapo
fastener collection, I found a pair of appropriately sized bolts,
nuts and washers and VOILA!! The MagLite Magnetic Mount was born!!
What
You Will Need
•
D-Cell Mag lite: $20-$40 depending on size
• Mag Lite Brackets: Forgot how much I paid, $10?
• 2 Magnetic Tool Bases: $5 each, $10 for the pair
• Bolt, Nut and washer: Probably get them all for under $2 at
Home Depot's crappy fastener selection. Maybe you can use a pop rivet
instead?
Notes
Now my mag light
is within easy reach from the driver's seat and it's not rolling around
on the floor. The magnets could be a bit stronger though (About 50%
of the time that I remove the light, the brackets come with it instead
of staying on the seat). However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If you found yourself making a night time trailside/roadside repair,
those magnetic brackets just might come in handy (see pic to the right).
I might try and beef up the ring magnets with some of those rare earth
magnets you can find inside old hard drives:
Rare
Earth Magnet auction on Ebay
You can get all this stuff in one trip to Home Depot. I found the
magnetic tool bases in their tool "corral" in the cutting
tool section. The brackets should be sold right next to the Maglites.
As for the fasteners, just look for the aisle that has the bins with
random mixes of nuts and bolts in them.
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