Am I missing anything?

[rhm3769]

Still figuring out a mechanical switch

 

[Pdizzle]

No wires at the bottom of the sled?
I would have Bridged the bottom two contacts. then I would have installed your 510 off center above the positive cell and connected it to the positive contact and then tried to figure out a way to make a switch make contact to the negative contact
Either using the fat daddy mechanical switch or using the same set up al usef did in his YouTube video

 

[rhm3769]

Was considering a bridge on the negative as well....

Eventually I'll get a hinge or something on the cover, as well....

It's not going to be an out and about mod, I don't think....

 

[rhm3769]

Grrrr.... Need to get new batteries to marry up for this.... Tried out some switches I crafted out of some copper wire and a spring, had an build that was good enough on a single vtc4, pulsed it a few times, everything was good.... Took the batteries out to check voltages to make sure I had everything good, as they rolled across the table, I saw a dark area under the wrap towards the negative end of one of them, like liquid got under the wrap....
Voltage is the same on both, completely dry inside the box and neither battery was warm.... Just an unlucky faulty or old cell maybe? They've been in a cabinet since November and only been once and as a pair.... Not too overly worried, it gives me one spare to eventually work into my rotation and replace my one that is coming up on a year of usage....

 

[rhm3769]

So it appears I had a bit of juice on the outside of a bottle in the cabinet that ended up on the shelf.... Turns out, I didn't see it because the wife is ocd and needs every shelf covered with liners and I sat the batteries there after rearranging everything while working on the box last night....
Figured it out this morning when I changed out batteries this morning and the other from the pair had the same dark/wet area under the wrap....

 

[rhm3769]

I bought some stuff to work into this.... A sheet of copper and aluminum rods to make a switch and a hinge for the cover....

 

[rhm3769]

Made a bit of progress since the last post.... Started filing the lid down a bit to get a hinge on it.... Started to make contacts for the switch, I was figuring a strip of the copper plate big enough to touch the negative contacts and the box, connected to some of the aluminum stick and then on the outside of the box, springs would keep the inside piece from completing the circuit when not pushed down, but I found out I don't have the patience for soldering aluminum to copper.... So, I'm taking a piece of the aluminum, wrapping it in copper and going from there....

 

[rhm3769]

Made a bit of progress since the last post.... Started filing the lid down a bit to get a hinge on it.... Started to make contacts for the switch, I was figuring a strip of the copper plate big enough to touch the negative contacts and the box, connected to some of the aluminum stick and then on the outside of the box, springs would keep the inside piece from completing the circuit when not pushed down, but I found out I don't have the patience for soldering aluminum to copper.... So, I'm taking a piece of the aluminum, wrapping it in copper and going from there....

 

[rhm3769]

It's not finished, but it is usable, with caution, right now.... I'll try to get pictures up....
For the switch, I took a length of aluminum and ran some copper wire through it, bent it at the ends and back over the length of aluminum, and bent them up where they met, stuck another piece of aluminum over the two to keep them together, stuck the two ends of the wire through a hole in the cover, spring over the wire, bent the ends to keep the spring in.... Very very crude.... Requires two hands due to switch placement and because the switch is a bit finnicky when trying to only use one hand....
Haven't put the hinge on yet, still running through so checks, I crafted a similar switch to use without the lid on

 

[edyle]

Bought a Hammond 1590b, a parallel 18650 sled, a 510 connector last week. They're being delivered sometime this coming week. I'm making a mechanical switch, so figured I didn't need a MOSFET.

I just need a connection from the positive of the sled to the center of the 510 connector and a connection from the negative of the sled to the outside of the 510, right? Is it better to have the switch on the negative connection or the positive connection? If its on the positive, I've have to have some kind of insulation on the switch itself to avoid shorting with the case, right?

In general, positive switched is used.

In general, the negative is treated as ground, and tied to the body. This is standard practice; you can see it on your car for example.

With negative switched, on a mod, a torn battery wrapper could cause autofire.

 

[rhm3769]

In general, positive switched is used.

In general, the negative is treated as ground, and tied to the body. This is standard practice; you can see it on your car for example.

With negative switched, on a mod, a torn battery wrapper could cause autofire.

Thanks for the explanation/reminder. I think I'm safe in my case, no conductive material contacts the batteries except the contacts in the sled. Sled has insulation/space off the back of the box, there is space between the sled and the cover.
My switch is the only moving part in the box and it can only bridge the negative tabs on the sled to the case.... It isn't really feasible to use out and about right now, I can't use it like I normally use my other mods (phone in one hand, mod in the other) so things will change with it as time goes on....