Help me build a mod out of this cool tube I found!

[Creniker]

Above are some pics of what I would like to turn into a VV mod. I would like to make it run off of 2 18350 batteries. I have a VV board that I salvaged from a old mod, a button and a connector. I cant seem to figure out a way to make the positive and negative work. I also am not sure how to make the batteries stay in place. They fit slightly lose, but I'm not sure if thats a good or a bad thing. Please help me out with this. Or better yet build it for me The tube is plastic btw and the caps are aluminum I believe.

 

[Dudeman]

1. How thick is the tube? The madvapes chip tends to get pretty hot. Melting or yellowing of the tube is likely.

2. It's going to be a very tight squeeze getting the circuit and switch in there.

3. You'll need to run a wire or copper tape up through the battery section of the tube for the negative.

4. As far as keeping the caps in place, screws or maybe a pin in the cap and a slot in the tube. (see breaktru's copper mods)

5. A rubber grommet with a screw for the positive battery connection would work.

I put a lot of thought into building something similar but out of an aluminum swiffer sweeper handle using 16340's. After a lot of considration, I bought a Buzz Pro. lol

 

[Creniker]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing with the madvapes board. I guess I could poney up for a nice switching regulator.

I think I can fit it in.

This is where I am having trouble understanding what to do. The caps stay in place fine, but if I ran a wire up for the negative, how would I get the cap off without tearing the wire. And I need to fuigure out how to keep these batteries from pushing up to far.

 

[P1NkY]

I put a lot of thought into building something similar but out of an aluminum swiffer sweeper handle using 16340's.

OMG, dude! I'm still hiding the remains of my wife's swiffer in my toolbox! It's now many short tubes of various lengths, and all I've done towards building is slipping the batteries in and out of it! LOLLLZZZ!!!

 

[Creniker]

OMG, dude! I'm still hiding the remains of my wife's swiffer in my toolbox! It's now many short tubes of various lengths, and all I've done towards building is slipping the batteries in and out of it! LOLLLZZZ!!!

Same here so far lol.

 

[P1NkY]

Post edited by P1NkY. Reason for editing: May be misconstrued as inappropriate.
I apologize. I meant nothing by it, honestly. Vape on.

 

[Dudeman]

. The caps stay in place fine, but if I ran a wire up for the negative, how would I get the cap off without tearing the wire. And I need to fuigure out how to keep these batteries from pushing up to far.

That's why I mentioned the copper tape. A ring of copper at the battery end would make contact with the aluminum cap and help keep it a bit tighter.
As for keeping the batteries from pushing up, I put the circuit in a 6ml bottle with the top cut off (probably too small a diameter for your tube) and it fit perfectly in my tube. I epoxied a nut to the board so I could use a screw to hold it all in place in case I needed to take it apart for repair.

 

[Dudeman]

OMG, dude! I'm still hiding the remains of my wife's swiffer in my toolbox! It's now many short tubes of various lengths, and all I've done towards building is slipping the batteries in and out of it! LOLLLZZZ!!!

lol. My tube has been sanded, polished, drilled for the switch, pot and screw and put away. The only thing that really prevented me from finishing is that I couldn't find anything I wanted to use as a top cap.

 

[Creniker]

I like that copper tape idea. Man this is going to be hard. I want to get a preassembled switching regulator for it preferably the smallest one I can find. Hopefully I can fit a small voltage display in there as well. I still need to fuigure out a way to stop the batteries from moving too far up the tube. A small bottle may not be a bad idea.

 

[Tarnacc]

I recently experimented with some copper mods and what I did for the positive battery terminal might work well for you here. I went to the local harware store and found some hard rubber washers to fit the inner diameter of the pipe I was using. I then used a positive terminal connection from a 2AA box I had torn up for another project and glued it to the washer with the wire unning through the hole in the washer. I then glued the washer in the pipe at the proper depth.

I used plain old super glue and it held spectacularly. I would recommend placing the washer at depth in the tube and then carefully dropping a couple drops of glue to secure it. A little bit goes a long way and too much will cause run off that is pretty much impossible to remove.

Anyway, what this did for me was create a stopper and positive terminal for the battery.

 

[Creniker]

Not a bad idea at all. I will have to do a lot of planning befoe I start this. Anyone know where I can get some copper tape for the negative terminal? And what is the absolute smallest voltage display I can get? The one that James is using in his krimson mods seem pretty small. Any idea where he gets them.

 

[asdaq]

That display really isn't any smaller than the rest:

 

[Creniker]

Thats still relatively small. I might be able to squeeze one in there.

 

[P1NkY]

Anyone know where I can get some copper tape for the negative terminal?

STEWMAC.COM : Conductive Copper Tape

Good stuff; I use it to shield my guitars from interference. Even the adhesive is conductive and the 1/4" roll is less than 3 bux.

ETA Much cheaper stuff available from eBay, too!

 

[Creniker]

I will definitely look into that. I hope I can pull this off lol. It would be a good looking mod.

 

[Dudeman]

I'd like to suggest against super glue in a clear plastic tube. The fumes will discolor the inside of the tube.

 

[Creniker]

I found a old aluminum tube that housed a AA for a flashlight. It fits nice and snug in the bottom cap, so now I have a negative terminal. I think I can find the old top and modify it for a positive terminal. I think I'm going to cut this one down and make a simple 3.7v mod for now and see how it turns out. If all goes well then I will go ahead with a VV one next.

 

[Creniker]

Well I got the basic shape and fuction, but my its not make a connection. Cant figure it out. It looks ok, a little disappointing on some of my cutting work, overall if I could get it to work I would like it for out and about use. I'm tired of it tonight, hopefully tomorrow will yield some findings.

 

[Scubabatdan]

Looks like a cigar tube, If you squeeze the sides of the tube does it give? If so I would measure the ID and get some polycarbonate tubing the same ID and use the ends you have, that would make it very strurdy.

I would also sugest making a custom PCB that incorporates the VV chips and LED display, that way you could save space and wire runs making look cleaner. Two boards, one that is the postive connection point (Round same OD as the ID of the tube), and the other soldered perpendicular to that board to mount the VV stuff, switch and LED to. That way you could slide it in and out if needed for maintenance.

Also use a strip of the copper tape to run the length of the tube to provide a neg contact point to the top.

Just some ideas,
Dan

 

[Creniker]

All very good ideas. The tube doesnt have any give it was actually a pen case. Not poly as far as I can tell but it is very sturdy.