more vamo repair tips

[MarkyD]

So lots of us are taking off top-caps and fixing ground wires, soldering and replacing flaky switches. I'll post a few more tips that help me with successful repairs.

- use painters tape to protect your display window and body tubes from getting scratched.

- removing top-cap, mount the battery tubes in place of the tank beauty ring, grasp with both hands, and wiggle the top-cap off in a circular fashion (not twisting).

- if you take the circuit board out, dont use needle-nosed pliers to pull or grab it. Take out the half-pipe shaped plastic piece that holds the board first, then push out the board (with wiggling) from the bottom using something blunt and pushing against the battery positive post.

- If youre handy with soldering, dress up the solder connection on the battery positive post, the factory was very stingy with solder on mine. Dont apply so much heat that the positive post falls off. Use a decent low-wattage temperature controlled soldering station like a Weller.

- When reassembling, hold the body with buttons facing downward so the board slides back in easily and the buttons dont fall out. Keep the board raised upward so it clears the buttons as its pushed in.

- Reassembling the top-cap, twist it to the correct orientation so the wires curl and tuck in toward the circuit board without getting pinched. Dont twist top-cap from this position when reassembling.

- Use the battery tubes to reassemble like you did when taking the top-cap off, including the battery cap, and a piece of wood or tape to protect the battery cap to give something to tap against without damage.

- Nearly all vamo parts are interchangeable between versions, top-caps, circuit boards, body tubes, everything. You can use a V5 board with V3 tubes and a V2 top cap, leading to some interesting and custom hybrids.

Good luck with keeping your vamo's in top vaping condition.
M

 

[MattB101]

Anybody got pics of the board. Especially the switch and surroundings. I'd like to do a little planning prior to disassembly.

Sent with my arthritic thumbs with proofreading help from the hound!

 

[MarkyD]

Vamo PCB


The fire switch measures 11mm square x 3mm high (normally-open, momentary on). The switch button rises approximately 1.2mm above the top of the switch body. digikey.com should have these. I scrounged one from my box-o-boards from an old dvd player button board. When pressed, the switch makes contact between the pin on the lower right and the pin on the upper left (in this image). Check with ohmmeter to verify before unsoldering the old one. Its helpful to put a drop of new solder on each pin before unsoldering the old switch, then heat one pin at a time and use a jewelers screwdriver to lift the switch body just enough that it separates while the solder is molten. Trim new switch leads with diagonal cutters (or a good pair of nail clippers) to the same length as old switch leads, and bend them so the switch will sit flush against the pc-board. Clean up solder pads and/or pre-tin them and switch leads with solder when installing the new one. Tie down one pin first to get it centered up, then solder remaining pins while its aligned. A good low-wattage (60W or less) soldering station with a pencil-tip is a must for this repair... too much heat and youll lift the solder pads from the board. Getting the new switch flush with the board is also critical, if its too high the fire button wont work properly. When reassembling, check switch operation before and after replacing the half-pipe shaped plastic piece that holds the board in, before reinstalling the top-cap.

One unfortunate thing about sitting here is that I can explain how to do something, but I cant teach someone how to solder or good soldering technique from way over here. If this is your only mod or value your mod more than gold, and youve never soldered something delicate before... Warning! danger Will Robinson! Proceed at your own risk. I can only offer that you practice on something non-descript, like an old button board from a vcr/dvd/stereo/etc first. That way youll be confident beforehand in doing the actual repair.

 

[MarkyD]

It'd be nice if there was a US vendor that carried all the various vamo parts at one shop... pcb's, heads, tubes, springs, switches, windows, etc. For all the negative things I see written about build-quality and cheapness... I kinda like them anyway. The parts are interchangeable, theyre fairly easy to work on, the pwm power control works well and its just a decent generic sort of vv/vw device.

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

Vamo PCB
View attachment 273994

The fire switch measures 11mm square x 3mm high (normally-open, momentary on). The switch button rises approximately 1.2mm above the top of the switch body. digikey.com should have these. I scrounged one from my box-o-boards from an old dvd player button board. When pressed, the switch makes contact between the pin on the lower right and the pin on the upper left (in this image). Check with ohmmeter to verify before unsoldering the old one. Its helpful to put a drop of new solder on each pin before unsoldering the old switch, then heat one pin at a time and use a jewelers screwdriver to lift the switch body just enough that it separates while the solder is molten. Trim new switch leads with diagonal cutters (or a good pair of nail clippers) to the same length as old switch leads, and bend them so the switch will sit flush against the pc-board. Clean up solder pads and/or pre-tin them and switch leads with solder when installing the new one. Tie down one pin first to get it centered up, then solder remaining pins while its aligned. A good low-wattage (60W or less) soldering station with a pencil-tip is a must for this repair... too much heat and youll lift the solder pads from the board. Getting the new switch flush with the board is also critical, if its too high the fire button wont work properly. When reassembling, check switch operation before and after replacing the half-pipe shaped plastic piece that holds the board in, before reinstalling the top-cap.

One unfortunate thing about sitting here is that I can explain how to do something, but I cant teach someone how to solder or good soldering technique from way over here. If this is your only mod or value your mod more than gold, and youve never soldered something delicate before... Warning! danger Will Robinson! Proceed at your own risk. I can only offer that you practice on something non-descript, like an old button board from a vcr/dvd/stereo/etc first. That way youll be confident beforehand in doing the actual repair.

Viable replacement?

X15!!!!
15 Pcs 11 x 11 x 3mm Black Push Button Square Tact Switch | eBay

 

[MarkyD]

From that page, thats the pic of the 100pcs 6x6x5mm. The pic of the 15pcs 11x11x3mm looks like the button is too tall, though they dont really say how tall that aspect of them is. Body height + button height is the most important measurement to make the metal actuator work without either rattling around (too short) or being bound up (too tall). I bet lots of different momentary contact switches can be made to work, depending on how much fidding around youre willing to do. Too tall can be trimmed down with a dremel. Too short, add a drop of locktite ultrabond or hot glue.

 

[MarkyD]

larger view of stock switch


hack switch #1 with slightly taller body, flush plunger and sliced hot glue drop.
note equal overall height. this worked longer than the stock switch did without any problems.

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

From that page, thats the pic of the 100pcs 6x6x5mm. The pic of the 15pcs 11x11x3mm looks like the button is too tall, though they dont really say how tall that aspect of them is. Body height + button height is the most important measurement to make the metal actuator work without either rattling around (too short) or being bound up (too tall). I bet lots of different momentary contact switches can be made to work, depending on how much fidding around youre willing to do. Too tall can be trimmed down with a dremel. Too short, add a drop of locktite ultrabond or hot glue.

Corrected...thanks

Yeah...I would bet a diamond bit cuttoff wheel on a rotary tool could easily zing off a mm or two on that too tall plastic button, might be a better find out there though...it's what I could come up with my Googlefu

 

[MattB101]

Vamo PCB
View attachment 273994

The fire switch measures 11mm square x 3mm high (normally-open, momentary on). The switch button rises approximately 1.2mm above the top of the switch body. digikey.com should have these. I scrounged one from my box-o-boards from an old dvd player button board. When pressed, the switch makes contact between the pin on the lower right and the pin on the upper left (in this image). Check with ohmmeter to verify before unsoldering the old one. Its helpful to put a drop of new solder on each pin before unsoldering the old switch, then heat one pin at a time and use a jewelers screwdriver to lift the switch body just enough that it separates while the solder is molten. Trim new switch leads with diagonal cutters (or a good pair of nail clippers) to the same length as old switch leads, and bend them so the switch will sit flush against the pc-board. Clean up solder pads and/or pre-tin them and switch leads with solder when installing the new one. Tie down one pin first to get it centered up, then solder remaining pins while its aligned. A good low-wattage (60W or less) soldering station with a pencil-tip is a must for this repair... too much heat and youll lift the solder pads from the board. Getting the new switch flush with the board is also critical, if its too high the fire button wont work properly. When reassembling, check switch operation before and after replacing the half-pipe shaped plastic piece that holds the board in, before reinstalling the top-cap.

One unfortunate thing about sitting here is that I can explain how to do something, but I cant teach someone how to solder or good soldering technique from way over here. If this is your only mod or value your mod more than gold, and youve never soldered something delicate before... Warning! danger Will Robinson! Proceed at your own risk. I can only offer that you practice on something non-descript, like an old button board from a vcr/dvd/stereo/etc first. That way youll be confident beforehand in doing the actual repair.

Thanks for the instructions. This is not my first rodeo where soldering is concerned. 20 years as an Operations Specialist (Radarman) in the Navy did manage to teach me a few tricks. I did need an excuse to buy a new soldering station though. Guess my Mapp gas torch won't work for this one.

Sent with my arthritic thumbs with proofreading help from the hound!

 

[MattB101]

Viable replacement?

X15!!!!
15 Pcs 11 x 11 x 3mm Black Push Button Square

Looks like the 1.5mm high switches carried by the same vendor would probably be an exact match. Or close enough for government work anyway.

Sent with my arthritic thumbs with proofreading help from the hound!

 

[clphoton]

Truth about soldering!
But after getting my ss v2 back to working I'm thrilled about having successfully done it myself.

Sent from my RAZR using Tapatalk