Hidra "Style" BF Mod

[Mr47]

Received the Hidra clone from fasttech today, looks like a decent mod machined from delrin with carbon fibre door a SS 510 with adjustable brass centre pin and copper contacts.
The delrin body has a clear matt coating externally which has already started to peel at one edge where the door contacts the body and also a bit around the fire button.
The supplied bottles (one without cap) are not that great as the metal cap only seals onto one thread of the bottle and it doesn't seem to be airtight, I will be using the Modmaker squonk bottle instead.
The door is press fit and is nice and tight fitting and can be put on any side you prefer with the logo facing up, down or inside out.
There is an included alan key to adjust the height of the brass 510 pin.
I will be stripping the internals for a better look and will try and upload some pictures of this later today.

 

[Mr47]

The door has a magnet under the galactika badge so will magnetise to the battery.
The internals are 0.5mm copper and have double sided foam tape and some kind of heat resistant tape to insulate the positive and negative pieces, it works but doesn't look too safe so I will be adding some extra insulation to beef it up, thinking what would work best either heat shrink, klacton tape or try and find or make a suitable insulator to fit in between the positive and negative connector.

 

[puffon]

Is there a fingernail cut out, to remove the door?
Or do you just have to pry it open?

 

[Mr47]

Just double sided tape and heat resistant tape separating the positive and negative connections.

 

[Mr47]

Is there a fingernail cut out, to remove the door?
Or do you just have to pry it open?

No cutout, I have just left a little piece of the battery ribbon out and when you pull it pops the door off or you can tap it on your hand like you do to remove tight fitting batteries and that works too.

 

[Bad Ninja]

Out of the cart.

 

[Mr47]

No cutout, I have just left a little piece of the battery ribbon out and when you pull it pops the door off or you can tap it on your hand like you do to remove tight fitting batteries and that works too.

The door is removed by pushing it in at the lower right hand corner, the internal ledge the door sits on is designed in this way, there is no ledge internally on the right hand corner so when you push the door it lifts the door on the opposite end allowing you to easily remove the door.

 

[Mr47]

Apparently the genuine Hidra Mod also has foam tape separating the positive and negative contacts and the copper contacts seem to be a slightly thicker gauge.

 

[inswva]

A word of caution to those purchasing this clone (or the authentic for that matter), the contact point indicated by the red arrow in the below image is prone to auto fire situations after repeated usage. The same design is used in the Galactika Vega (of which I've owned three). I have had several auto fires; a couple of which were unattended. The contact points are already very, very close and any deformation to the top of the vertical negative contact bar can result in bad times. The button throw is stupid short and requires very little pressure to complete the circuit. If you get one of these, please be cognizant of the contacts and never put one in a pocket or bag without first removing the atty or the battery.

The only Vega I have left auto fired after falling over on to the button on my end table. Ruined a $100 atty and the mod.

 

[Asbestos4004]

A word of caution to those purchasing this clone (or the authentic for that matter), the contact point indicated by the red arrow in the below image is prone to auto fire situations after repeated usage. The same design is used in the Galactika Vega (of which I've owned three). I have had several auto fires; a couple of which were unattended. The contact points are already very, very close and any deformation to the top of the vertical negative contact bar can result in bad times. The button throw is stupid short and requires very little pressure to complete the circuit. If you get one of these, please be cognizant of the contacts and never put one in a pocket or bag without first removing the atty or the battery.

The only Vega I have left auto fired after falling over on to the button on my end table. Ruined a $100 atty and the mod.

It's posts like this that save me money and keep me coming back to ecf. Thanks man!
BTW, the lack of bias didn't go unnoticed.

 

[Train2]

Ouch - that sucks...

I do want to say though, that I'm personally OK with the Vega design.

That basic approach is what you see in ALL the 3D and other little boxes we're seeing - Frankens, Bolts, all that stuff...
The Vega has a little more ROOM though - and while the contact area should definitely be looked at, I don't think it's a dangerous design. That extra room makes it workable. In some of the tiny boxes, the bottle is squished up against the contact strip hard enough to deform the bottle, to put resistance against the button, etc. It's just a couple mm, but it makes a big difference...

Might be a good idea to offer some kind of "off" - lock on the button, or maybe even a little insulating cover to slip over the downward contact strip, stored inside somewhere? For pocketing..

Now this Hidra, where the strips need to run over each other without touching - that's different - I'd want to see one, and more reviews like this, and a real one, too, before knowing if it seemed like a good layout.

A word of caution to those purchasing this clone (or the authentic for that matter), the contact point indicated by the red arrow in the below image is prone to auto fire situations after repeated usage. The same design is used in the Galactika Vega (of which I've owned three). I have had several auto fires; a couple of which were unattended. The contact points are already very, very close and any deformation to the top of the vertical negative contact bar can result in bad times. The button throw is stupid short and requires very little pressure to complete the circuit. If you get one of these, please be cognizant of the contacts and never put one in a pocket or bag without first removing the atty or the battery.

The only Vega I have left auto fired after falling over on to the button on my end table. Ruined a $100 atty and the mod.

 

[Bad Ninja]

If a mech mod auto fires and it's not user error, something is obviously very very wrong.
I could excuse it in a $14 Frankenclone, but thats a bit much for a project box, where you have to fix the OMs design flaws.

 

[Mr47]

Cleaned the contacts, shrink wrapped and fitted thicker foam tape under positive contact so there are four layers of insulation between the positive and negative contact now, shrink wrap around the negative contact, the original heat resistant tape on the positive contact with added shrink wrap and finally thick foam tape in between the contacts which allows a bit of spring so the battery fits snugly.
The added foam tape between the switch contacts gives the fire button a better feel when it is pressed and also added protection from the auto fire problem, also worth mentioning this mod hits hard better than the frankenclone and the coppervape.



MTL bliss

 

[TheWestPole]

Got mine Friday from 3F.

First thing, I replaced that bottle. Frankenskull flashback. Cap wouldn't even fit on it. Using an Italian supersoft, which is working fine.

Second, I reworked the squonk window a bit. Too narrow IMO and way too sharp around the outside edge. A sanding drum bit in a drill press did the trick opening it up, with some extra fine sanding and steel wool to get it soft around every edge.

Third, really didn't like the look of the stock door--knew I wouldn't going in--so I made a replacement out of a piece of walnut. Looks okay and feels good in the hand, though I'll probably replace it with more interesting wood when it arrives. For now, I'm pretty happy though.

 

[TheWestPole]

Cleaned the contacts, shrink wrapped and fitted thicker foam tape under positive contact so there are four layers of insulation between the positive and negative contact now, shrink wrap around the negative contact, the original heat resistant tape on the positive contact with added shrink wrap and finally thick foam tape in between the contacts which allows a bit of spring so the battery fits snugly.
The added foam tape between the switch contacts gives the fire button a better feel when it is pressed and also added protection from the auto fire problem, also worth mentioning this mod hits hard better than the frankenclone and the coppervape.

View attachment 660147 View attachment 660149 View attachment 660151 View attachment 660153 View attachment 660155 View attachment 660157 View attachment 660159

Very neatly done.

 

[Mr47]

FYI looks with different materials

 

[TheWestPole]

View attachment 661025
View attachment 661027
FYI looks with different materials

Both really nice, much nicer than the colored transparent PC doors. Actually, just flipping the stock door so the nameplate is on the inside is a big improvement. IMO of course.

 

[TheWestPole]

Got mine Friday from 3F.

First thing, I replaced that bottle. Frankenskull flashback. Cap wouldn't even fit on it. Using an Italian supersoft, which is working fine.

Second, I reworked the squonk window a bit. Too narrow IMO and way too sharp around the outside edge. A sanding drum bit in a drill press did the trick opening it up, with some extra fine sanding and steel wool to get it soft around every edge.

Third, really didn't like the look of the stock door--knew I wouldn't going in--so I made a replacement out of a piece of walnut. Looks okay and feels good in the hand, though I'll probably replace it with more interesting wood when it arrives. For now, I'm pretty happy though.


View attachment 660823

There, that's better.

 

[b.m.]

Cleaned the contacts, shrink wrapped and fitted thicker foam tape under positive contact so there are four layers of insulation between the positive and negative contact now, shrink wrap around the negative contact, the original heat resistant tape on the positive contact with added shrink wrap and finally thick foam tape in between the contacts which allows a bit of spring so the battery fits snugly.
The added foam tape between the switch contacts gives the fire button a better feel when it is pressed and also added protection from the auto fire problem, also worth mentioning this mod hits hard better than the frankenclone and the coppervape.

View attachment 660147 View attachment 660149 View attachment 660151 View attachment 660153 View attachment 660155 View attachment 660157 View attachment 660159

MTL bliss
View attachment 660161

Do you happen to remember what sizes of shrink tube you used for this?My Hidra clone will be here in a few days,and i want to go ahead and get stuff ready to do this when it gets here.

 

[b.m.]

3F has the white version of this now,looks pretty nice.