Locating parts

[Thommi]

I got hooked to this howto on a DNA20 mod
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-mods/366666-milo-dna20d-mod-step-step-how.html
I´d love to try and use this manual to build one myself, but the question I´m having is much more general.

The howto mentions a few sources, of where to find the parts, but those are partially obsolete, partially I would like to have something slightly different and if I try to locate alternatives I´m frequently getting lost between 100s of websites without finding the right thing.
Even if I do find the right things, I find only one piece at a time and if I imagine I would order each and every piece of such a mod seperate, adding up to $30 shipping to every piece, I end up paying several $100s in shipping for pieces worth less than $10.

I did check sites like madvapes.com but it´s the same problem, when it comes to international shipping the cost of shipping by itself exceeds the duty free limit, meaning on top of the price of the device and the price of shipping I would have to pay customs plus taxes, which would make one single "project box" more expensive than a complete mod elsewhere.

Of course, one could order 1000 pieces and save through the quantity, but I´m not a seller, I´m a private user trying to build something for myself, at the most I might make 2 or 3.

So where do you guys find parts without spending a fortune on shipping?

 

[kaddigart]

Unfortunately there's really no "one stop shop" as of yet, not in my experience anyway. I could point you to the parts, but they are mostly US sellers that will still rape you on shipping charges. Many of the Chinese sights ship free to the US, but they take weeks to deliver and I'm not sure if they do the same for Italy anyway.

Have any American or Chinese friends you'd trust to forward parts to you? Have them order your items then mail them to you. It would at least be a bit cheaper I'd think.

 

[Thommi]

Thanks for the answer.
I like the idea of finding someone trustworthy in the US and do the shipping private, that way even the duty free limit is increased to about $60.
Finding someone trustworthy shouldn´t even be a problem, I never had any bad experience in trusting someone online, all it takes is a tiny little bit of checking, i.e. a user in this forum, having say 500+ posts will very likely not try to cheat me for maybe $10.
Still such shipment will very likely get stuck at customs control for at least 2 weeks, so unless I can find a shop within the EU, that´s the same as chinese shops doing free shipment like Fasttech.

Either way, I´d love if you could give me a few urls where I could find the parts, incl. names of users on here who do such orders for themselves and wouldn´t mind ordering a couple of pieces more and forward them to me in private.
I´ll give you the list of specific things I´d like to have for my first project, but of course, I would also love to have addys of general modding supplies.

Project box, not yet sure whether or not it´s a good idea, but while madvapes has them only in plastic, at least I want to take a look at some in metal.
Buttons with metal caps, instead of 3 small buttons, I want the fire button bigger, but madvapes doesn´t have bigger buttons with metal caps and other electronic shops have them only in huge sizes.
510 connector, I´d love to have a real durable one with spring loaded center pin, rather than a fragile thing for 99 cents.

 

[mamu]

If you know the part number, go to octoparts.com - you should find country specific suppliers for that part.

Two of the biggest parts distributors that modders use to buy parts from, digikey and mouser, have Italian web addresses and outlets. Other parts distributors, such as arrow and newark, may have Italian outlets.

 

[Thommi]

I already found mouser in Italy, but aparently they must have kept a bit too much from their "mother" company.
For orders within Italy even for a value of only a few cents they still charge 20€ ($26) shipping.

Octopart I didn´t know, that seems to be a real nice option, I´ll check it out.
Thanks.

 

[Thommi]

Update:

Found quite some good stuff today, only one thing seems not to exist .... a fire button.
The parts list in the howto uses 3 tiny metal buttons from madvapes, but most mods use 2 small buttons for + and - and one bigger button for fire.
The closest thing to my wishes that I found is
Vandalismusgeschützter Taster 12 mm 48 V/DC 2 A GQ 12B-N Schraubklemmen im Conrad Online Shop | 701257
but even though I want it bigger than those tiny ones from madvapes, 12mm is a bit too big.

I tortured Google with any search term I could think of, but I couldn´t find anything better.
I even found an electronics shop here in town, they have plenty of these switches, in plastic they have them in any color, any size, but in metal the smallest is 19mm.

In short:
Someone point me to a tacticle switch, diameter 10mm, with metal cap, please?

 

[asdaq]

Conrad is probably the #1 electronics parts source for Germany, like Digikey or Mouser for the states. I guess the shipping makes it impractical for you as it does for me, but maybe not? Your local shops get there supplies somewhere, it might be worth researching. We have wholesalers that supply the public also, so that might be worth looking into. How about the Italian version of ebay, or whatever similar service is popular? Finally, have a look in Italian forums for electronic hobbyists and see where they are getting there stuff.

It must be somewhere.

 

[Thommi]

You misunderstood ....
I have found a few shops around here, some still expensive on the shipping, but some offer even free shipping, or at least affordable.
I have not found a switch like the one from my link, the one in that link is too big and the smaller ones are always plastic.
But I do have a Vamo V2 here which has a 10mm metal button on it, so I know they do exist, I just don´t know where.
If I knew a part number, I could find it at Conrad, but not even Google can find me one.

 

[mamu]

... I do have a Vamo V2 here which has a 10mm metal button on it, so I know they do exist...

Fire buttons like this are proprietary to the manufacturer of the device - not available for purchase.

I know of no 10mm metal switch, the smallest is 12mm. A lot of us have spent tons of hours searching for that perfect part and oftentimes it just doesn't exist so we settle for next best. Good luck in your search.

 

[Thommi]

Thanks mamu.
I kinda figured by now, sometimes a compromise will have to do.

 

[asdaq]

Sorry, I was still addressing your first post, but I guess you are sorted for that now. For that particular switch, something told me not to even approach it. I have seen in mamu's threads that one is not to be found smaller than 12mm.

 

[Thommi]

Meanwhile I found the closest possible match in Greece.
D.I.Y. E-cig parts
Tacticle Switch and Horn Style Switch, not a bad price either.

Sorry if they are sold out at the moment, they had only a few in stock and I bought them all.

They do have the 510 connectors as well, so that´s all settled for the moment.

The only thing that somehow slipped through my list is the project box.
Those are available about everywhere, but at a value of $4 shipping kills the price completely.
Unless someone knows a shop that has free shipping, I guess I have to check a few local stores for that.

Either way let me thank you all for helping me out here, you´re all very nice.

 

[kaddigart]

That tactile switch is nice. Mouser has around 14,000 similar ones for those interested.

 

[Thommi]

Update: Making progress here, basically I got all the parts I need, except of the DNA charger.
There are quite a few shops having them in their list, but all the shops that I know are sold old.
Evolv themselves have them in stock, I´ve ordered one a week ago, but while all other things I´ve ordered have arrived here by now, for this one I don´t even have a shipping notification, they confirmed my order has been received, but then nothing.

Does anyone know a source where they are in stock for an affordable price incl. shippng or an alternative product that would do the same?