Discussing the NicoStick

[nicowolf]

I want to stress to everyone here. You CAN do this mod. Just follow directions and don't be afraid to ask questions. If you don't want to spend a fortune on batteries, be sure to research and LEARN about lithium batteries. You don't have to spend a fortune on buying a mod. You really and truely CAN make your own if you are willing to learn and try. The people here are willing to answer questions and share knowledge like nowhere else I have ever been. The resources are here. Just ask and read.

[seminolewind]

I guess if I can tile a floor, redo a bathroom, replace a toilet, build a chicken coop, oil change on my car, connect a sound system, start an IV, bake a cake, drive, etc, then this Nico-box shouldn't be way to hard for me. Oh, wait, my super intelligent friend made me one! Oh La, I am so lucky!

[davidM]

I've been lurking on this mod for a while, battery packs ordered, batteries ordered, once they arrive a quick trip to radioshack, and provided I don't get smoothered to death by solder I'll have my own.

Soldering irons have a habit of burning me... so we'll have the phone set to speed dial 911!

In all seriousness though, it looks REALLY easy to do, so when I pull it off I'll post a pic.

[crazyhorse]

I bought the cheapy little $8 kit from Radio Shack. It has a 30watt soldering iron, a little solder, a heatsinking clamp, a little stand to prop the tip of the iron on, and a pick-like tool. It suits my purpose, but I wish I had gotten something just a little better. I strongly recommend getting one of those helping hand solderer's tool thingys too. They have it at Harbor Freight for like $3 and it helps a ton. It saves me countless hours of losing and hunting down tiny little parts, not to mention giving me two extra hands while trying to solder. I recommend this to all who intend to try these mods. I think I like this thing even more than my soldering iron. It comes in handy just about as much as the cordless rotary tool and the pliers (tweezers for e-cig parts).

I got the same soldering kit because I couldn't find my old Weller gun. It works just fine and the doodads that come with it are nice. (Of course, buying a new one was the only prerequisite for finding the old one but such is life

I looked at my local HF for the little $3.00 robot man but all they had was the $7.00 jumbo helping hands model that comes with a monster of a magnifying lens that contains a pair of the LED's the Chinese are so fond of. These run off 3 AAA batteries and are supposed to suffice as work lights. Actually, this magnifier/illuminator contraption makes the entire unit inconveniently top heavy even with heavy cast iron/felt padded base/parts tray and handy-dandy soldering iron stand. It always seems to be in the way and the LED's are pretty much useless. It now resides in the box. For a work light, I use an old timey high intensity gooseneck bed lamp and for magnification, I use my old DA-5 Optivisor.

10-4 on the rotary tool. I don't have a cordless one but a big ol' Craftsman flexible shaft tool. I've used it on every mod. It's a pain to haul out of the case and set up. I have virtually every type of diamond cutting tool under the sun for this thing. Most of my various diamond points, blades and wheels came from HF. They have a great selection of diamond tools for dirt cheap and they hold up very well... even when using them on granite and metal. I use the same tools year after year.

[crazyhorse]

Soldering irons have a habit of burning me... so we'll have the phone set to speed dial 911!

Ehhh, getting branded by your soldering iron only hurts for a day or two

[nicowolf]

I got the same soldering kit because I couldn't find my old Weller gun. It works just fine and the doodads that come with it are nice. (Of course, buying a new one was the only prerequisite for finding the old one but such is life

I looked at my local HF for the little $3.00 robot man but all they had was the $7.00 jumbo helping hands model that comes with a monster of a magnifying lens that contains a pair of the LED's the Chinese are so fond of. These run off 3 AAA batteries and are supposed to suffice as work lights. Actually, this magnifier/illuminator contraption makes the entire unit inconveniently top heavy even with heavy cast iron/felt padded base/parts tray and handy-dandy soldering iron stand. It always seems to be in the way and the LED's are pretty much useless. It now resides in the box. For a work light, I use an old timey high intensity gooseneck bed lamp and for magnification, I use my old DA-5 Optivisor.

10-4 on the rotary tool. I don't have a cordless one but a big ol' Craftsman flexible shaft tool. I've used it on every mod. It's a pain to haul out of the case and set up. I have virtually every type of diamond cutting tool under the sun for this thing. Most of my various diamond points, blades and wheels came from HF. They have a great selection of diamond tools for dirt cheap and they hold up very well... even when using them on granite and metal. I use the same tools year after year.

I didn't look for the little robot man thing at Harbor Freight because I had already found one dirt cheap at a local discount drug store. But here is a link to find it online.

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

[Darth.Vapor]

Just wanted to report that I have now built myself the new and improved NicoStick and wanted to report back... Gotta say it works great !! Couple of things I wanted to say...

1) A fully charged battery (Using the 14500 900mAH TrustFire) lasted me 48 hours straight with pretty heavy use !! Whoo Hoo !!

2) The instructions make this look easy but I would say it is not that easy - Not for someone not used to doing this type of thing anyway !! The hardest part to me was trying to drill some holes without destroying the casing... Also I have found I am not that great at soldering... Now I have done one, I do think it will be easier next time but it took about 2 hours to go through the instructions and do everything that first time... The instructions were great by the way - thanks for them ! Now to prepare to make my second one but without the mistakes I made in the first...

3) Quick note for those who think some people may charge too much for mods, try to make one yourself and then you will think they are not charging enough !!

[nicowolf]

Thanks, Darth. Did I mention that I managed to drill into the palm of my hand making one of them little holes? It was a really stupid mistake - after 20 years playing with power tools and no injuries - I knew better than to hold it the way I was.

With my ADD, it takes me the better part of a day to make one. I am posting, modding, eating, talking, and refilling my coffee almost simultaneously. Unfortunately, nothing gets my full attention, so everything takes forever.

[qdilla]

Thank u Nico for every thing u did for us now i can make 10 in 4hrs I'm a dsl fiber tech with 15 yrs of soldering under my belt. Now my friends want them how much should i charge them for a 10 dollar box from RS? LOL. The name will always be the Nicobox,Also how much in royalties do i send you?

[emsmom]

One little note to those giving this a try - I had made the original Nicostick, so when I started on the new one, I didn't think ahead and wired everything up without setting the switch in position in the box. With the small switch in the version 1, this was not an issue. With the new model, because of the larger switch, it meant that I had to cut some already soldered wires to put the switch in place, then rewire. This new switch needs to be inserted from the top down, does not float in and out like the smaller one. Hope my mistake ends up saving someone the hassle of rewiring! I put my new one together prior to the new instructions being out. Great job on the new instructions, by the way! Anyone following them should not run into this problem. I only did because of having done the original NicoStick and assuming that the switches would install the same way. You all know what they say about assuming! Lesson learned.