DotMod dotSquonk

[Keket107]

My DotSquonk may be DEAD to me...
Autofires as soon as a battery goes in.
Not sure what is happening as they really didn't want a consumer getting into it...
Anybody have an idea what might be going on?
Is it worth my tearing it open to repair, should I try to warranty, or just let it RIP?
Any advice welcome...
I've had it since December or January, bought at a B&M locally. Very sad, but for the last few weeks I noticed things that indicated this might be coming...

Did you try turning the fire button clockwise to screw it back?

 

[untar]

melting the peek insulator

F ing hell that doesn't look good at all, seems it's the wrong material choice for that insulator, there should probably be a ceramics bushing (or whatever the correct name is ) in the middle of that.
Or an entirely different design. This seems to happen to a significant amount of people, there's something wrong with that thing. Seems like a miracle nobody blew their balls off yet.

There should be a statement from the manufacturer and a redesign for that assembly, doesn't look like user error to me. Can that be disassembled further? Can that button be screwed out maybe?

 

[Ben85]

Looks like these are destined for the scrap heap.

 

[Keket107]

F ing hell that doesn't look good at all, seems it's the wrong material choice for that insulator, there should probably be a ceramics bushing (or whatever the correct name is ) in the middle of that.
Or an entirely different design. This seems to happen to a significant amount of people, there's something wrong with that thing. Seems like a miracle nobody blew their balls off yet.

There should be a statement from the manufacturer and a redesign for that assembly, doesn't look like user error to me. Can that be disassembled further? Can that button be screwed out maybe?

F ing hell that doesn't look good at all, seems it's the wrong material choice for that insulator, there should probably be a ceramics bushing (or whatever the correct name is ) in the middle of that.
Or an entirely different design. This seems to happen to a significant amount of people, there's something wrong with that thing. Seems like a miracle nobody blew their balls off yet.

There should be a statement from the manufacturer and a redesign for that assembly, doesn't look like user error to me. Can that be disassembled further? Can that button be screwed out maybe?

Yet is the optimal word it's only a matter of time before somebody gets a nasty surprise. On the other hand if you just get in there to clean it properly from time to time I'm sure it'll be okay

 

[Joru'us C'baoth]

Yet is the optimal word it's only a matter of time before somebody gets a nasty surprise. On the other hand if you just get in there to clean it properly from time to time I'm sure it'll be okay

They make that almost impossible however. That's what kills me.
Why in the name of all that is holy would you EVER design a mech with failure built in, and no way to get in and maintain it? Just seems like a bad plan from the first moment it was designed...

 

[untar]

On the first pages of this thread someone mentions the plastic bucket is just pinched in place by 2 screws, one from the front and one hidden behind the back panel. The trickier bit seems to be to remove the 510 plate if you so want to.

 

[jfcooley]

Try to make a long story short.
Mine began to auto fire and then also smoke from the switch in or around the peek block insulator. I took it apart but decided against trying to remove the switch.

Instead I contacted dotmod with all the info they asked for on the warranty page. I had little hope it would be fixed without issue.

I sent the email with a short video and received a reply within about 20 minutes from a CS rep. She told me to send it in and we mailed it this past Saturday.

Whitney was responsive, letting me know it was received yesterday (Monday). Today I received an email that it was on the way back and all "internal working mechanisms" had been replaced. Tracking says back by Thursday USPS willing.

I agree it's not the best design. I won't attempt to defend it. I will say that the service was quick and painless.

I mentioned that there were others with the same or similar issue. She encourages those to reach out and contact them.

 

[Fidola13]

That’s really great customer service! Hope it works well for you when you get it back.

 

[untar]

Granted it's good customer service.

There's still a problem though: the service only comes after a failure that could potentially be catastrophic and seems to be caused by a fault in the design of their mod. All people here were lucky that they noticed the autofire, some poor soul might not have that luck.

Maybe someone with that problem should ask them if they're planning to do anything about it and if not we should try to find a youtuber who's willing to speak about the issue. This needs to be known.
Not to smear dotmod but to alert owners of the dotsquonk.
On top of that the FDA is watching the scene, the less blown off limbs the better and if manufacturers show they're acting in a responsible way that may also be a positive.

 

[Ben85]

Whilst great service, it doesn’t take away from the fact that there are issues with the inherent design. This is basically a very expensive disposable mod.

 

[jfcooley]

I agree, but I'm not willing to dispose of it yet.

Interested to see if they just put in the same switch or if anything's different.

 

[Asbestos4004]

I wish companies would quit trying to beat each other to the sales counter and actually use their stuff for awhile before releasing it .

This is why I'm happy building my own.

 

[Joru'us C'baoth]

Granted it's good customer service.

There's still a problem though: the service only comes after a failure that could potentially be catastrophic and seems to be caused by a fault in the design of their mod. All people here were lucky that they noticed the autofire, some poor soul might not have that luck.

Maybe someone with that problem should ask them if they're planning to do anything about it and if not we should try to find a youtuber who's willing to speak about the issue. This needs to be known.
Not to smear dotmod but to alert owners of the dotsquonk.
On top of that the FDA is watching the scene, the less blown off limbs the better and if manufacturers show they're acting in a responsible way that may also be a positive.

Can't agree enough.
Yes, customer service is all good and fine, but the problem shouldn't exist, and therefore should not have been put out to the public.
A general recall should be issued.
It's dangerous, and no good will come of it as it is now.

 

[SureManCool]

Alright, I'll try my best to be concise here, and will try to get some images up eventually to "showcase" the innards and what we're dealing with.

I tend to get wordy, so I'll stick to the three main offenders, as I see them:

1) This is sold and advertised as a mechanical device. There may be some semantics to debate here, but the device uses a wire, which is soldered to the positive switch. Unregulated, yes. Mechanical, no.
- On that note, the wire is connected to the positive (moving) end and thus moves with every draw. This connection is on borrowed time.
- All of the working components arenestled into a beautifully thought out plastic (maybe delrin) housing that slides in and out of the body to ensure no shorts on the body. Hysterically, the housing is open on either end, so if the wire moves out of place just a little, you have a hard short waiting to happen. Side note, all connections are isolated, so that's something good.
2) The 510 construction houses the pin, top plate and switch mechanism in what appears to be a PEEK block. This poses a few problems in a few areas:
- The 510 pin is held in place by a small metal disc that is not easily removed. It can be done, but I'm not confident most people could do so without breaking something, even with tools.
- Due to the soldered wire, the switch assembly cannot be fully broken down.
- The PEEK block combines with the 510 plate on either side of the body/enclosure, and then is held in place by two tiny hex screws (one of which is obscured by the back panel) that literally pinch things into place. There are no notches or anchor points, you just crush the plastic as much as you dare.
3) Yes, star-head drivers are reasonably easy to come by. No, I dont find it acceptable to need specialist tools to get into my device. Mechanical or not, this is an unregulated device and requires routine maintenance/inspection. Aside from some heavy-handed attempt at forcing consumers into warranty service, I see no reason for this decision.

There are some really nice things going on with this little device, even a couple of slick design moves that should be implemented in future products. But the missteps are big ones and come with very real safety concerns in the long term (and certainly very possibly the short term). Routine maintenance is essentially all but impossible due to the switch design.

I might dig into the nice bits at some point, but since this is a new product from a popular brand, it feels irresponsible to point out anything else right now. I'll try to be in a position to take pics next time I tear this thing down. Given the troubles I've been having I may attempt a full disassembly of the switch too, since at this point what would be the harm?

Was wondering why I hadn’t seen anything about the bad fire button anywhere but here! Thank you for the in-depth review! I treated my dot squonk real nice, never dropped it, and after about 3 months it just stopped firing. How did you end up fixing yours? Did you have to resaulder it yourself? Really don’t know if I should throw mine out or if it’s worth fixing very disappointed with this purchase.