Coat / Paint the mod PCB

[tailland]

Taking into account that coating and protecting the PCB in our mods still isn't industry standard, why not do it ourselves? Surely we've seen too many boards being destroyed by ejuice crawling through the 510 socket, slowly making its way to the sensitive parts of the mod.

I'm remembering a trend in the (PC) modding scene from many years ago, where people actually primed and painted their motherboards (of course with non-conductive paint), only leaving out all the direct port interfaces and surfaces which needed to "breathe" aka get rid of heat easily. Since our mod PCBs are way less complicated, this should be a rather easy method to keep juice from destroying our mods, no?

Has anyone done this? Is there a particular reason why we shouldn't?

 

[bombastinator]

I have no idea but I love wild supposition

One would think that even with no need for heat sinks some sort of heat transfer would be useful. Also you want something that holds up against ejuice which for whatever reason somehow seems to be unreasonably corrosive. I’m thinking silicone spray paint. Silicon transfers heat pretty well and shrugs off ejuice. It’s also non conductive.

A quick google search turned up this stuff
One question would be would the thinners in the paint which are probably wildly toxic damage the pcb?

 

[Shawn Hoefer]

Why not ship your mods off to this:
Watersafe Technology For Device | liquipel.com

 

[tailland]

Why not ship your mods off to this:
Watersafe Technology For Device | liquipel.com

That wouldn't protect your PCB once the liquid enters through the 510, would it? Plus, it's 60 dullerz - which would be ok if the mod costs 200, but that's usually not the case...

I'm looking at a spray can of something like this:
Hydrophobic Electronic Coatings | Conformal Coating Alternative
Hydrophobic and oleophobic. Should do the trick!

 

[Fidola13]

Taking into account that coating and protecting the PCB in our mods still isn't industry standard, why not do it ourselves? Surely we've seen too many boards being destroyed by ejuice crawling through the 510 socket, slowly making its way to the sensitive parts of the mod.

I'm remembering a trend in the (PC) modding scene from many years ago, where people actually primed and painted their motherboards (of course with non-conductive paint), only leaving out all the direct port interfaces and surfaces which needed to "breathe" aka get rid of heat easily. Since our mod PCBs are way less complicated, this should be a rather easy method to keep juice from destroying our mods, no?

Has anyone done this? Is there a particular reason why we shouldn't?

According to DJL there are a few companies already coating their boards. At the moment I can’t remember which ones they were though!! I’ll look through my YouTube history and see if I can find out.

All manufacturers should be doing this. Hopefully it would eliminate electrical shorts caused by juice on the board and is a safety issue.

Edit: it was the Yihi SL Class That DJLs was reviewing and he mentioned that it and the DNA had a coating on their boards.

 

[Shawn Hoefer]

That wouldn't protect your PCB once the liquid enters through the 510, would it? Plus, it's 60 dullerz - which would be ok if the mod costs 200, but that's usually not the case...

I'm looking at a spray can of something like this:
Hydrophobic Electronic Coatings | Conformal Coating Alternative
Hydrophobic and oleophobic. Should do the trick!

The coating is supposed to protect from any liquid. As such, it should protect the board from liquid regardless of where the liquid comes from.

Yeah, it's $60, but spending that to save a $200 mod is a deal.

Having said that, I'm not gonna do it. I have several mods that are waterproof to begin with (Aegis Legend, Aegis, Emask to name a few), and on mods that don't have that feature, I lean towards leakproof tanks...

 

[diagrammatiks]

A dna board is at most 80 dollars to replace. Given that they are already conformal Coated and protect against light spills. Any process taking over 10 bucks doesn’t seem worth it. Also heat transfer has to be taken into account.

It’s be better if more companies actually designed their mods so there are seams and juice entry points everywhere.

 

[tailland]

One question would be would the thinners in the paint which are probably wildly toxic damage the pcb?

I researched a bit more, and modders from back then used acrylic based isolating lacquers (like this one), which can be bought in cans for as little as 8€, and which is especially made for protecting CBs and its parts against water, oils, acids, etc, and which can even deal with temps up to 100°C for short amounts of time.

The modders used this is a protective layer, upon which then primer and paint was applied. For us, that 1st layer of protective lacquer is all we need.

So it looks to me as if protecting our mods against "death by juice" is a [$10 max/device] job... realistically, a 400ml bottle should be enough to coat the CBs of 4 or 5 mods, so the cost would be down to $2.50 to $2 per device.

(sidenote: the manufacturer of that lacquer also produces a specialised cleaning liquid for PCBs, which is excactly the type of cleaning agent that @Swoop03 is looking for if he seeks to rid the CB of his mod from ejuice remainders)

 

[untar]

acrylic based isolating lacquer (like this one)

Yep, that's the usual homegamer remedy (and you won't need the whole can for a DNA board). Some companies specialize in coating and may throw your board in along a regular big order for a small fee (or free of charge if you dress up sexy ).
The advantage is they usually check if the coating was applied evenly and without missing a spot plus their coating is usually a bit thicker and tougher than that from a can (unless you apply multiple layers of course).

 

[diagrammatiks]

I researched a bit more, and modders from back then used acrylic based isolating lacquers (like this one), which can be bought in cans for as little as 8€, and which is especially made for protecting CBs and its parts against water, oils, acids, etc, and which can even deal with temps up to 100°C for short amounts of time.

The modders used this is a protective layer, upon which then primer and paint was applied. For us, that 1st layer of protective lacquer is all we need.

So it looks to me as if protecting our mods against "death by juice" is a [$10 max/device] job... realistically, a 400ml bottle should be enough to coat the CBs of 4 or 5 mods, so the cost would be down to $2.50 to $2 per device.

(sidenote: the manufacturer of that lacquer also produces a specialised cleaning liquid for PCBs, which is excactly the type of cleaning agent that @Swoop03 is looking for if he seeks to rid the CB of his mod from ejuice remainders)

Ya if you are doing this yourself. It’s a good plan.

Dna and yihi boards are already coated. I believe so is the aegis legend board.

But 4 dollars additional cost for a mod is quite a lot per unit for most producers.

 

[tailland]

but 4 dollars additional cost for a mod is quite a lot per unit for most producers.

If they did this on an industrial scale, adding this feature to the production line would cost them probably.. what.. 20cents per device? Maybe 10?

I was very conservative with my estimation of how many CBs you could paint with 1 can of that stuff. 400ml of paint go a very long way, if the CBs you coat are as small as the ones we have in our mods.

Personally, I'd feel more comfortable doing this at home. In order to ship/hand this over to remote personell, you'd have to completely decouple the CB from the device. Takes time and poses a risk for successful re-assembly.

So, as I see it, that isolating paint goes right on my vape-related shopping list.

 

[untar]

If they did this on an industrial scale, adding this feature to the production line would cost them probably.. what.. 20cents per device?

Maybe even less... we're talking China.
The usual process is a bath in the compound under low pressure and hardening with UV light afterwards, there's big batches involved. Shenzen should have several companies specialized in that.

And in the end it doesn't matter because the consumer would pay for it anyways, not the manufacturer (which I gladly would).
They could even use that to advertise their board as "juice proof". Sure would be a nice change from fng useless features like gesture or voice control...

 

[Izan]

In a previous life, I used Glyptal type products.

It insulates and protects, but is not designed to be removed...ever.

Cheers
I

 

[Zaryk]

Clear fingernail polish is a cheap and easy way to waterproof a board as well. Two coats works like a charm and is very durable and resists a lot of different liquids. I have used this trick a few times for multiple hobbies of mine that use electronic boards.

 

[RayofLight62]

Conformal coating has always been a mandatory requiment for MILSPEC electronic equipment.

It can be applied as spray or with a brush. It must have some specific dielectric properties, as normal lacquers would impair circuit operations.

The most common conformal coating is an epoxydic resin; basically, a similar material to the PCB itself, which is a mix of epoxy and fiberglass.

It is essential in civil avionics too.

It protects the PCB and the parts both from contaminants and strong vibration.

I'm glad to see my ML class mod and a DNA75c board, to have conformal coating applied.

It would be a great step forward if all mod manufacturers would apply conformal coating to the PCB of their devices...

 

[tailland]

well then, let's prepare a form letter and send it to the manufacturers.

 

[diagrammatiks]

well then, let's prepare a form letter and send it to the manufacturers.

Do it.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Conformal Coating is widely used with many electronics for it protects not only against moisture but other elements such as oils transmitted in the manufacturing process. It is not a means of mitigating damage from water/liquid exposure, however it could be implemented in such a fashion should the manufacture wish.

Also, if not performed correctly it could cause more damage than good. A perfect seal is needed otherwise fluid can enter under the coating and not have a means to escape.

The below 2 pictures are of a Pulse 80 board, which you can see a run in the coating as indicated with the circle. And a DNA75C board which you can see the coating lifting from the board as indicated by the arrow. This is not good but this board could have been a review sample. DNA boards also have exposed connections for the use of 3rd party buttons other than their own. These connections are not coated.

Pulse 80

DNA75C

 

[tailland]

Do it.

a non-native speaker preparing a formal letter for non-native readers. should be fun ^^

 

[untar]

a non-native speaker preparing a formal letter for non-native readers. should be fun ^^

Use google translate an odd number of times and make sure you use japanese at least once

But in principle a good idea. We'd have to get the biggest streamers on board though or all we get back is 哈哈哈哈