Bahnzo's Hardwood Mods

[Bahnzo]

Thanks for looking!

Here you will find the thread for selling my handcrafted hardwood box mods. I make 18650 battery mods w/510 connections, using various hardwoods, and made painstakingly by hand. Please see the posts below for a description of what goes into making each of my mods.

Generally, price is $63 (including shipping), but may vary a bit depending on cost of woods used. I only ship to US locations, but shipping to other countries can be done on a case-by-case basis at my discretion.

I only make a few each month, so keep an eye on this thread....when they come available, they don't last long.

Link to the old thread: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-bahnzos-box-mods-hardwood-box-mods-more.html

Thanks!
-Ken

 

[Bahnzo]

How do you make a Bahnzo's Box Mod?

Thought I'd document what goes into each hardwood box mod I make. Here's Part 1. This is all for an 18650 mod.

First, cut a board roughly to length for the mod size needed. Then get out the hand plane and square up the board.


Then measure the side and cut to length. Repeat 3x so you have all four sides.


Each side needs to be the same exact length and width. So back to the hand plane to further square and trim each side precisely.


Don't forget to measure every couple slices or so....


And then finally make sure it's square.


And when you are done, you'll have a little pile of lumber that's perfectly matched and sized.

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 2..........

So, I've got all my "lumber" cut and sized, so it's time to glue it together. But first, I had to come up with a way for the pieces to come together and allow the grain to "flow" around the mod. The way to do it is to cut a 45degree "miter" on the edges (think picture frame), but doing it on a 1/8" piece of wood isn't something you can do with a saw.

So I made this: it's called a "donkey's ear" (don't ask me why, I didn't name it...)


It attaches to my shooting board and holds the board at a 45 degree angle for the hand plane. So you put the wood in, plane away, check it, plane some more until the wood is cut at the angle. Then turn it around and do it again on the other edge.


Then do it 4 more times....


Then I take some tape, and fasten all the pieces together. I've numbered the pieces when I cut them so the grain matches up and flows from panel to panel.


Take some water-proof glue and cover all the edges, fold the panels around (this is why it's taped, holds everything together), and finally some more tape to hold the whole thing together tightly. And let it dry for 24 hours.



Then, do it 3 more times.


Time to let it dry overnight and on to part 3. It seems a big part of making these things is simply letting stuff dry.......

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 3....

Now that the glue has dried, I take out the hand plane and once again square up the ends.


I then put the box in a jig I made, and with a special fine tooth saw, cut it in half.


Then I take a chisel and remove any excess glue, and once again pull out the hand plane to smooth and square up the edges I just cut.


I take some very thin basswood, and cut strips which will hold the mod together. I glue them in the mod, clamp for 15 mins, and then slide the top on to let the sides dry into position.


Another 24 hour dry time.....

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 4:

Time to cut the end pieces and glue them on.


Once cut, out comes the hand plane to trim them up....


Since it's rosewood, I use some mineral spirits to help clean some of the oils from the wood.


And then clamp them up:


And (say it with me): 24 hours drying time.

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 5:

Once again I use the hand plane to trim the ends, and then soften the corners on the edges.


Then the sanding begins. I start with 100 grit.


I use a dye with water to color the wood.


And then I sand with 150 grit. This allows the dye to soak into the more absorbent "flame" grain, and when I sand, it only removes the upper layer of dye. It's not evident, and in fact doesn't look all that great until later. I then wipe each mod with mineral spirits to remove any dust and oils.


I dye again with a slightly darker dye, this time mixed with a thin cut of shellac.


And then I sand again with 220 grain. You can kinda see the darkness of the grain beginning to come out.


I then wipe down the mod again with mineral spirits to remove any dust and oils in the wood, and then give each mod 2 coats of a 1 pound cut of shellac followed by a 2 pound cut of shellac. I then leave it to dry overnight.

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (or so)

Really not much to show for a bit now.

After letting the shellac dry overnight, I start adding the coats of the final finish. One coat per day, 5 coats total, with some very light sanding with a very fine paper between coats. The wood doesn't really start to look good until about the third coat, and five coats provides a good protective layer.

And then after all the coats are applied, it needs about 5-7 days to really cure before I start the buffing/polishing.

 

[Bahnzo]

Here's a shot after the 3rd coat of finish. You can see the figure in the wood is really starting to come out and give that 3d effect that makes curly maple such a cool wood.

 

[Bahnzo]

Just letting them dry.....

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 10?

The boxes still need one more day probably to cure. It's been unusually humid here (I won't cry about it, I grew up in the midwest where %60 humidity was great) so at least one more day before I start other things. But I can at least work on some small stuff that's needed.

First (not pictured) I whip up a large batch of epoxy and coat the "rails" inside with a thin coat. When this dries, it will strengthen those rails considerably and help insure the mod fits solidly together.

Then, I need to cut some end pieces to fit inside the box. These hold the battery and the battery contacts. Like just about everything else, the hand plane comes out to square and trim the pieces to exact size, and then they are epoxied in.


While the epoxy sets, it's time to do some soldering to get the internal pieces ready for installation.


And, when the epoxy has been given plenty of time to set, I cut the top battery piece. Square, trim, and drill a hole for the wire...I also cut a small edge off to allow for the negative battery wire to fit thru to the switch.



Epoxy that in, and give it some time to dry...I really like to give it a day to fully set...I don't buy that "set's in 5 mins" stuff.

Tomorrow I should hopefully be able to buff the mods to shine them up, and start installing the guts.

 

[Bahnzo]

Part 11 (or whatever it is at this point)

Been under the weather a bit, and combined with the hot weather, I just relaxed yesterday. Today's a nicer/better day....

Time to polish. I do this in a 4 steps. I first use 0000 steel wool with some furniture wax and give each mod a once over. This helps to smooth the mod's finish overall and get any dust mites that have settled out. Then the wheels come out. I use them in a drill locked in a vice. I use two different buffing compounds, a red tripoli buffing compound, and a white jeweler's rouge. The tripoli is courser, and the rouge is fine. Then I finish them with some pure carnuba wax.


And then they are polished and ready to be drilled and have guts installed.


Not sure if I'm going to drill them out tonight. I have time, but still a little sick and the drilling part has to be precise or it ruins the whole thing. Better to wait until tomorrow I guess.

 

[Bahnzo]

Final Part!

First we start off with my most hated part. I know I said it was sanding...but really, it's drilling the holes. How do you ruin hours of work in 10secs? Drilling a hole completely wrong is how.

I first drill the hole for the button with a 16mm bit, then a hole for the battery connector. They are never quite perfect (drill bits never seem to be exact) so I have to break out some sandpaper and smooth the holes so the parts fit just right.


Once the holes are drilled, then I can start putting in the guts. First I start with the battery connections...a little bit of epoxy and a small clamp and let it sit for a bit. Then do the same with the positive connection.


Once those are set and hardened, it's time to break out the soldering gun and melt some wires together. Lots of time, lots of patience...working with tiny wires in a tiny space not my cup of tea.


And then I put a small magnet in the lid. It connects with the battery and holds it firm.


And then finally they are done!!


You'll notice I built these with drip cups on them. I've been going round and round with myself on these. I don't necessarily like them, I think they break up the beauty of the wood somewhat. But over time, even being careful with juice and drips and atty leaks the wood starts to stain. So I decided it's something that needs to be added. I tried looking and asking around about getting something custom from delrin or stainless steel made, but it was much too cost prohibitive. So I went with what everyone else uses and visited the hardware store. In the end I don't think they look bad, and will certainly help with protecting the wood from ejuice and atty leaks.

 

[Drottwiler]

NICE The c cups a good idea. I'm still enjoying mine. I stalk on a regular bases


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lynleestar]

Beautiful~!

 

[DrOckW]

Glad to see you're still here! Congrats on the mod success... I have subscribed, can't beat the shipping time from Colorado to Colorado!

Congrats on one year! I just figured out that I am a veteran myself. I figure a veteran should have a classy mod. Yeah, that's my excuse.

 

[Bahnzo]

Glad to see you're still here! Congrats on the mod success... I have subscribed, can't beat the shipping time from Colorado to Colorado!

Congrats on one year! I just figured out that I am a veteran myself. I figure a veteran should have a classy mod. Yeah, that's my excuse.

Thanks. I haven't been motivated recently...with the hot weather the last thing I feel like doing is working/sweating more. I'm ready to see summer off and have fall come around.

 

[RippleInStillWater]

Yeah, those years just fly by, huh, bahnzo?

They look awesome as usual!!!!

 

[sotong]

Yeah, those years just fly by, huh, bahnzo?

They look awesome as usual!!!!

Hi John... another beauty isn't it.


Hi Ken, will this batch goes VV?

 

[surfsuphere]

Thanks so much for the great photos showing the massive work that goes into a wood mod .

 

[my4jewels]

Are you currently making any of these? If so, what are you offering. If not, when will you be making more?