She's a beaut'!! Makes me wish I was more mechanically inclined...
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thanks guys, appreciate the compliments. at first I was deciding between starting with a regular grand vs a VV grand and there are a few reasons why I went this route, and why if I do it again I would still probably choose the regular grand over the VV grand
#1 is I really do like the button placement on top, the side button just looks like it would be a drawback to a mod that's going to live in my pocket
#2 is, with this setup my door is now much more secure because now it slides down to a definite stop and the only way to open it is sliding it up, the door sliding up and down was less than ideal to me
#3 is, the dna20 doesn't like getting wet at all, including wet from juice as I learned with the previous mod I built, even a little juice here and there can result in a dead board. with this setup the dna20 is sealed off in the bottom and I can even wash the whole head of the mod in the sink. I will seal this one up enough that it will be very water resistant, this would not be as practical in a VV grand body
#4 is I hated to spend the extra $60 or whatever just for electronics that I would rip out and throw away, the difference between a grand and a VV grand actually paid for the dna20 chip and the charging module
honestly I wouldn't mind playing with a VV grand to see what it's like under the hood but for the reasons above I think I'd probably just stick with the regular grand for this even for the next one if I decide to build another
as far as building these to sell, sorry but I'm just a hobbiest and really don't have the time or capacity for that. this one is all hand made and the amount of hours I have into this would make selling it not profitable at all, took me about a week of all my spare time and then some to build this one, over 25 hours of labor and tinkering here and there. I built my own new stainless steel firing pin and built my own fire button assy for this too, and I also made the up and down buttons for the dna20. of course now that I've built one and learned from it I could build the next one in almost half the time but still, it would not be very cost effective and I don't have the time, plus something like this takes a great amount of patience, not sure I'd have the patience if I was just building it for profit, there are easier ways to make a buck doing what I do as a career which is working on cars, sad truth is that I could make in a hour what it might take me 10 hours to do here so I won't be doing these to sell but I'd be happy to show anyone here how I did it and give as much help and advice through the keyboard as I can. this can be built with a dremel and a sander and basic hand tools but it takes a great deal of patience too
I do have a mill and a lathe in my home garage that I picked up a while ago because I love to tinker and build stuff but haven't done all that much with them since I got them, I used the mill to dig out the bottom cavities on this but all a mill really is is a giant stable dremel and this could have very well been done without the mill as I have done for years before having the mill. same thing with the lathe, I used that to make the bottom screws and the brass actuator button but honestly almost the same thing could be done with a drill and a grinding wheel or a drill and a dremel held in a vice. most of the work to build this thing was not done with the mill and lathe, most was done with a dremel and a drill and a belt sander, a lot of time on the belt sander shaping and evening up/matching surfaces. next one I build would use the mill a lot more to save a lot of time but I was just doing what I am more used to doing, gotta make more use of the tools I have I guess but the point is that basic tools alone are enough to build something like this with enough patience and desire
I'll put up some shots of the insides in a bit
#1 is I really do like the button placement on top, the side button just looks like it would be a drawback to a mod that's going to live in my pocket
#2 is, with this setup my door is now much more secure because now it slides down to a definite stop and the only way to open it is sliding it up, the door sliding up and down was less than ideal to me
#3 is, the dna20 doesn't like getting wet at all, including wet from juice as I learned with the previous mod I built, even a little juice here and there can result in a dead board. with this setup the dna20 is sealed off in the bottom and I can even wash the whole head of the mod in the sink. I will seal this one up enough that it will be very water resistant, this would not be as practical in a VV grand body
#4 is I hated to spend the extra $60 or whatever just for electronics that I would rip out and throw away, the difference between a grand and a VV grand actually paid for the dna20 chip and the charging module
honestly I wouldn't mind playing with a VV grand to see what it's like under the hood but for the reasons above I think I'd probably just stick with the regular grand for this even for the next one if I decide to build another
as far as building these to sell, sorry but I'm just a hobbiest and really don't have the time or capacity for that. this one is all hand made and the amount of hours I have into this would make selling it not profitable at all, took me about a week of all my spare time and then some to build this one, over 25 hours of labor and tinkering here and there. I built my own new stainless steel firing pin and built my own fire button assy for this too, and I also made the up and down buttons for the dna20. of course now that I've built one and learned from it I could build the next one in almost half the time but still, it would not be very cost effective and I don't have the time, plus something like this takes a great amount of patience, not sure I'd have the patience if I was just building it for profit, there are easier ways to make a buck doing what I do as a career which is working on cars, sad truth is that I could make in a hour what it might take me 10 hours to do here so I won't be doing these to sell but I'd be happy to show anyone here how I did it and give as much help and advice through the keyboard as I can. this can be built with a dremel and a sander and basic hand tools but it takes a great deal of patience too
I do have a mill and a lathe in my home garage that I picked up a while ago because I love to tinker and build stuff but haven't done all that much with them since I got them, I used the mill to dig out the bottom cavities on this but all a mill really is is a giant stable dremel and this could have very well been done without the mill as I have done for years before having the mill. same thing with the lathe, I used that to make the bottom screws and the brass actuator button but honestly almost the same thing could be done with a drill and a grinding wheel or a drill and a dremel held in a vice. most of the work to build this thing was not done with the mill and lathe, most was done with a dremel and a drill and a belt sander, a lot of time on the belt sander shaping and evening up/matching surfaces. next one I build would use the mill a lot more to save a lot of time but I was just doing what I am more used to doing, gotta make more use of the tools I have I guess but the point is that basic tools alone are enough to build something like this with enough patience and desire
I'll put up some shots of the insides in a bit
ok, I know we all love pics so I'm going to put up some here for you. first is the mod I tried to build before this one. this was back when I was still hating on the square box look so I built it from a Vmod. it worked good but it was a little to tight space wise and it winded up killing the dna20 from juice leaking anyway, that was the final straw that just made me buy a reo that day
that Vmod is now in the trash where it belongs
here is a pic of my reo the day I got it, hell was only a week and a half ago
here is a pic of what I originally started out as, my plan was to put the dna20 in the bottom and then put an adjusting wheel inside the battery compartment so it couldn't accidentally be adjusted up and down
here is what the cavity for the dna20 looks like and the stainless steel bar stock it's made from
then I decided that to make it more waterproof I would do the buttons in the base instead of a knob inside so I made a spacer from brass for this
then I made my buttons and installed the dna and wired it all up, only to realize that I underestimated how much room I needed for all the wiring
so I used it for a day or 2 with scotch tape holding it together because it was too overstuffed to actually close it up
then I made the firing button
then of course I made the second spacer so I could bolt it all together. I was considering stainless steel for this and I was even considering the possibility of using some other materials too but decided in the end to just do it from bass, same as the button spacer, which brings us to the mod as pictured in the first post
now here are some under hood shots. first here is the new firing pin I made from a home depot #6 ss screw drilled right down the center. this was made with a drill and a grinding wheel, would have been nicer on the lathe but old habits die hard
I used an insulator from my aga t for the firing pin, I need to find a source of insulators like this
new firing pin was done to accommodate a better way of connecting the wire from the dna module and because I wanted to remove as much brass as I can from the juice stream
here is my modified upper plastic holder piece with the firing button in place, I added an o ring to the button and then sealed it all up in epoxy
heres a shot of the upper brass positive contact. there are no springs in my design, the battery is a snug press fit with the slight flexing of the upper plastic housing providing the little extra compression necessary for a good snug connection
here is the lower brass battery contact
and a few more under hood shots as assembled
I should have used a black wire for the firing wire down the center too but didn't have anything the right gage
that Vmod is now in the trash where it belongs
here is a pic of my reo the day I got it, hell was only a week and a half ago
here is a pic of what I originally started out as, my plan was to put the dna20 in the bottom and then put an adjusting wheel inside the battery compartment so it couldn't accidentally be adjusted up and down
here is what the cavity for the dna20 looks like and the stainless steel bar stock it's made from
then I decided that to make it more waterproof I would do the buttons in the base instead of a knob inside so I made a spacer from brass for this
then I made my buttons and installed the dna and wired it all up, only to realize that I underestimated how much room I needed for all the wiring
so I used it for a day or 2 with scotch tape holding it together because it was too overstuffed to actually close it up
then I made the firing button
then of course I made the second spacer so I could bolt it all together. I was considering stainless steel for this and I was even considering the possibility of using some other materials too but decided in the end to just do it from bass, same as the button spacer, which brings us to the mod as pictured in the first post
now here are some under hood shots. first here is the new firing pin I made from a home depot #6 ss screw drilled right down the center. this was made with a drill and a grinding wheel, would have been nicer on the lathe but old habits die hard
I used an insulator from my aga t for the firing pin, I need to find a source of insulators like this
new firing pin was done to accommodate a better way of connecting the wire from the dna module and because I wanted to remove as much brass as I can from the juice stream
here is my modified upper plastic holder piece with the firing button in place, I added an o ring to the button and then sealed it all up in epoxy
heres a shot of the upper brass positive contact. there are no springs in my design, the battery is a snug press fit with the slight flexing of the upper plastic housing providing the little extra compression necessary for a good snug connection
here is the lower brass battery contact
and a few more under hood shots as assembled
I should have used a black wire for the firing wire down the center too but didn't have anything the right gage
here is a few shots of it standing next to some other mods, still the shortest mod I have
Wowzers! I thought it was awesome with the first set of pics, with the 'under the hood' pics I have an even greater appreciation, so much so that I just made up a new word to describe it: superawesome. Look for it in the next dictionary edition with a pic of the dna20 REO next to it.
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Absolutely amazing stuff!!!
Thanks for sharing it with us!!!
I must have one!!!
Thanks for sharing it with us!!!
I must have one!!!
Mighty fine work, turbo. A real "turbo" charged REO. Now, put this one up for auction and get started on another one.
Beautiful job. Thank you for sharing and providing such great pics/commentary... Truly a unique piece.
Thanks for those extra pics, I can see a lot of work went into that. One of the coolest reos I have seen here on ecf.
thanks guys, I'm very happy with the way it turned out and the way it feels in my hand. the rounded back with the brushed finish and everything flush and smooth really feels good, I also really like the feel of the fire button on this mod, overall I'd say it was a successful project, at least it didn't wind up in the garbage like the Vmod did 
fatherdano, you are so right, you predicted that I'd wind up getting a reo and modifying it even when I was thinking I didn't want a reo, I winded up having to go back to the thread I started to see what you were even talking about but, honestly nothing I have said in that thread has changed really, this reo is a great bottom feeder and I built it instead of the vmod to have something to use immediately, yes, and I will probably get another reo or 2 and modify those too, but to be perfectly blunt I do still feel that this still isn't what I consider the ultimate bottom feeder and I do still intend on building my own vision of what I think would be the "ultimate" bottom feeder some day, it's just that I know that will take a long time to develop and is a long way from done, I can't build what I have in mind as quick and easy as something like this reo, that will probably take several months of tinkering and testing and developing to get it to work exactly how I want, where this one was buildable in a week and also it's great that I can experience the reo's so I have a benchmark to compare to, at this point this satisfies me very much but I still will build what I have in mind to build for myself
fatherdano is talking about a thread I started before I got the reo and it's about me wanting to build a bottom feeder that uses a glass tank and a pump instead of squeezing a soft bottle. the thread is here : http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...n/454929-building-ultimate-bottom-feeder.html
fatherdano, you are so right, you predicted that I'd wind up getting a reo and modifying it even when I was thinking I didn't want a reo, I winded up having to go back to the thread I started to see what you were even talking about
but, honestly nothing I have said in that thread has changed really, this reo is a great bottom feeder and I built it instead of the vmod to have something to use immediately, yes, and I will probably get another reo or 2 and modify those too, but to be perfectly blunt I do still feel that this still isn't what I consider the ultimate bottom feeder and I do still intend on building my own vision of what I think would be the "ultimate" bottom feeder some day, it's just that I know that will take a long time to develop and is a long way from done, I can't build what I have in mind as quick and easy as something like this reo, that will probably take several months of tinkering and testing and developing to get it to work exactly how I want, where this one was buildable in a week and also it's great that I can experience the reo's so I have a benchmark to compare to, at this point this satisfies me very much but I still will build what I have in mind to build for myself fatherdano is talking about a thread I started before I got the reo and it's about me wanting to build a bottom feeder that uses a glass tank and a pump instead of squeezing a soft bottle. the thread is here : http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...n/454929-building-ultimate-bottom-feeder.html
Most of the technostuff is beyond me, but I can still appreciate great work when I see it. Well done! The other side of the coin is that untechs like me need uncomplicated stuff, very easily operated and repaired - like the mechanical Grand in it current format. BUT, do not delay your dream any longer - there are thousands of people out there that will go for it. You can create your own Reoville! You just need to do it!
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