Today I Grieve My Third Mod

Mark Linehan;2046416 said:

A sad day indeed. Today I bid farewell to Puffy. (I name my mods, so what!?)

Puffy was only 2 days old. I built puffy out of a 3AA box, used a 3 pin 5v regulator. I used a nice sturdy 5v 5a switch. I used a small PCB to organize all the wiring properly. I put 470 ohm resistors before both my master switch LED and my fire switch LED. I fire tested the mod several times before commencing to mount everything in the box. It all tested excellent. I metered the mod, It was putting 8+ out of the batteries at full charge, and a very stable 5v at the atty positive post. It was vaping even better than my USB passthru that I made a few weeks ago. Puffy was a good little mod.

I am a stickler for wanting things to be sturdy and safe. Heck, I even put a regulator on my 5v passthru for no other reason than I figured it would not hurt.

Well.. Earlier this afternoon, Puffy died. <sniffle> Puffy did not die in his sleep. He did not die quietly. Puffy suffered an agonizing death. Puffy actually had a noisy demise for some reason. ..and YES! I admit it! Damn it, it was all my fault!!

I killed Puffy with flagrant disregard for epoxy safety! I wanted Puffy to last. I just wanted him to be safe and happy. I admit that my soldering iron is very old. It is not the greatest in the world, and I should buy a new one. ...but I keep spending all my money on mod parts! So, my fire switch's led resistor did not look terrific to me. Where it came out of the PCB there was a fleck of black. A bit of oxidization that most likely came off of my soldering iron which oxidizes in a matter of minutes these days. I can't keep this darn thing clean and tinned. So, I thought, I would insure that no matter what happened at this solder joint, I would not have to worry about it. I emptied half a tube of Epoxy into the entire AA slot holding my components and most of the PCB. I kept the regulator clear and I thought I had let the epoxy set. but I must not have waited long enough.

Since I had used a large 5v 5a switch, the only place I could mount the switch in my design was in the bottom end of the AA slot opposite my atomizer. The epoxy either ran down to the switch before setting, or I dropped a glob and never noticed. Either way, what happened next was bad. I hit the switch, and I vaped myself a nice cloud of my personal Salem Witch Brew recipe. Then I put my mod down in front of me on the desk and got into a chase in Need For Speed: World. I wasn't paying attention to Puffy. I don't know if he tried to get my attention or not. I was too wrapped up in my game to know he was in distress. Until ... he started screaming. Well.. not screaming, but there were several clicking type noises and one short high pitched squeal that puzzles me still. I picked him up and immediately knew something was keeping puffy puffing! I checked the switch, and sure enough it was still engaged. I tried to pop the switch out with my fingers, but could not grasp the tiny edge. I wanted to pull the batteries, but of course I had found a screw that fit perfectly in the single battery cover screw hole. Smoke was billowing out of my mod. Puffy wasn't supposed to be smoking. He was too young and this is a vaping house now!

Puffy died a long black smokey death. A death filled with terrible sounds, smells and sights. A death I will never repeat.

Plus, a death I don't want any other poor mods to go through. So let this serve as several warnings.

1. Be careful with your epoxy and switches.
2. Do not make your batteries hard to get to with a new mod, even if you tested it extensively.
3. Like me, you may be much dumber than you realize.

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