My First Milo DNA20

[jonniemac]

Been lurking quite a while but decided to finally jump in and show my first sad little Milo.

Here is an imgur album with descriptions of my build.

DNA20 Build - Imgur

First I tried to build a really tiny one but realized that I wasn't going to be able to stuff everything into the little case I had bought. Then moved onto using the typical hammond milo case. I made a mess of the epoxy when attaching the switches so only ended up with enough room for one 1200mah battery pack. The madvapes 510 connector lasted about 3 days before the top of the little gasket sheered off and my center pin pushed in completely. Mostly my fault for over-tightening but also don't seem to be able to press the pins out for soldering without damaging the gasket at least a little. Replaced the gasket with a silicone one from avidvaper and all seems to be working alright but I am still very leary about that connector.

Hoping to eventually be able to buy some more dna boards so I can try again. Also ordered a couple larger (1590) cases from mammoth electronics and have some cheap fasttech clone mods that I am considering scavenging the top caps off based on the latest things I've seen you guys posting.

If anyone has any questions or comments I'd be happy to hear them!

 

[Gqballa]

Looks great!!

 

[williebb123]

have you tried a chi you flat top 510 conn? the ecigcrib had them for $6 but the link is not working but heres another place for ss top but its $20 Stainlesss Steel Stealth Flat Top Cap
ive been really wanting to make one just like youve got right there but havent had time im making some mod holders for the family members for xmas lol and you see its already the 29th maybe i can come up with a mod holder design for you and we could do a even swap so far ive got 2 different designs but its easy to do what ever to accomodate your devices pm me and let me know

 

[jonniemac]

Willie,

I'm going to try either a chi-you flat top cap or the top cap from a fasttech JM mod clone on my next build. Been following the other build threads and thought it looked like a good idea. Still looking for good information for either soldering to stainless or how to deal with the negative connection.

Not confident enough in my knowledge or build skills to try and make one for anyone but me yet and I only had the one DNA20 chip. Still hoping they will come back in stock so I can grab a couple more.

It's a fun challenge doing the build for sure, take your time and you'll get it done. Good luck!

Jon

 

[jonniemac]

Looks great!!

Thanks, it's pretty rough but it works and I figure that's a start at least!

 

[williebb123]

how much do you have tied up in parts i was guessing 90-120 but havent crunched the numbers till i get closer i just get so many projects going on around the house carpentry wise ( rebuilt the kitchen 1yr ago last summer rebuilt about 120ft of the deck yadda yadda yadda) between not having enough hours in the day and after you finish a project getting the motivation to start the next thing is always challenging

 

[williebb123]

i think on the neg connection ive heard of maybe using a ring tab like the kind that has the crimp tab on the side but you can always solder the tab instead

 

[jonniemac]

how much do you have tied up in parts i was guessing 90-120 but havent crunched the numbers till i get closer i just get so many projects going on around the house carpentry wise ( rebuilt the kitchen 1yr ago last summer rebuilt about 120ft of the deck yadda yadda yadda) between not having enough hours in the day and after you finish a project getting the motivation to start the next thing is always challenging

My guess would be right around $90 in the parts that are in the milo. Especially if you buy one chip and charger from Evolv which will run $60. Of course you can't really buy just a couple inches of wire or just enough epoxy so you end up spending more with plenty of left overs. Lot's of little stuff that's hard to calculate like solder, flux, heat shrink tubing, etc.

 

[williebb123]

yeah most of the small stuff like shrink, solder,epoxy,and electronic tools i have i was doing catv work for the last 30yrs

 

[williebb123]

ill post a few pics for ya on the mod holders as soon as i get these finished in the next day or two

 

[mikepetro]

Willie,

I'm going to try either a chi-you flat top cap or the top cap from a fasttech JM mod clone on my next build. Been following the other build threads and thought it looked like a good idea. Still looking for good information for either soldering to stainless or how to deal with the negative connection.

Here is something I just posted in my own thread about doing this:

With regards to soldering those SS Chi You flat top caps, here is what I tried today. This is my first attempt so it is sloppy, but it worked great.

Everything I read about soldering to SS seemed to center on getting the SS nice and clean by using an acid based flux to remove any surface oxide. I used: Airgas - HARSCLF4 - Harris Welco® Stay-Clean® Liquid Soldering Flux, 4 Ounce Flip Top Bottle and regular old Kester brand lead-free solder.

I removed the pin and plastic insulator then cleaned the surface with the flux. I could have used wire instead of the fork terminal, but I was playing around with terminals because of some other ideas I have. I heated the SS until I could get solder to flow and lightly tinned the surface area I was working in. I then set the fork terminal (or wire) on the SS and applied the solder iron to the TOP of the wire/terminal and heated it until solder would flow by just touching it. I had to arrange my work so everything would stay in place once I let go. The factor being that the mass of SS took a while to cool and I didnt want anything to move while it was cooling.

While the pin was still out of the base I took the bottom part of telescopic pin completely out and heated the top half of the pin until solder would flow inside the screw hole that was left vacant. I then simply stuck a stripped and tinned piece of wire into the solder blob. The pin held heat for a while which kept the solder molten so I had to make sure wire wouldnt move when I let go.

Cleaned off the flux with alcohol and screwed it all back together:

 

[jonniemac]

Thanks for that Mike! I've been following your thread since the beginning and have one of your "weekender" cases in my parts bin. I'm hoping to get my hands on some more DNA20 boards so I can try some more builds soon.

 

[williebb123]

jonniemac heres some pics of some mod holders i made if you ever want to do some trading let me know i can also custom to what fits your needs