My Little Family of Leaners

[asdaq]

I'd like to take this opportunity to present some things I've been busy with, having pored over these forums for quite some time and bringing together bits from here and there. A lot of the body design is similar to tornadodragon's mods, with some slight changes along the way....

As for all of these, the standard so far is3.7v, 510 powered, atty injected bottom feeders with a simple mechanical switch and in the larger of the two slow changing 5mm RGB LED's, which when fired run red for 5secs, then turn green and if you really stick around, blue. The little one is going to get lit properly soon I think.

The larger two use 18650's and the little one a 14500. I find the 14500 good for a couple of hours, but then lackluster after that- with the exception of using a LR atty, then it rocks. I've had one for over a week but hadn't put it to use, boy that was a mistake. Now the little guy has been running solid almost 24hrs now.

Endcaps are cut/ground down from a section of 1.5mm aluminum computer case which had a rather stubborn brushed black finish now mostly removed. The negative connection is switched and runs throughout the metal of the case. The batteries are positive side down and have wiring running between the tubes back up to the top for atty connection and LED's.

Each of the connectors is held in place with solder/plumber's putty and has a small brass tube from a disposable lighter (1/16" on the top, 3/32 on the bottom-- couldn't find 1/16" tubing here) up through the center positive connector to which the positive wire is soldered. once set in place putty is around the assembly on the inside to keep things sealed.

LED's have inline resistors and are swappable via small fan header sockets.

The bottles are inline with the atties and have a section of 3/32" brass tube in the inside and connect to the atty tube with a small section of silicon tubing protruding off the bottles nipple and pressure fit to the atty's feed tube. A little window by this connection provides peace of mind and avoids accidents.

The bodies themselves are two tubes to house the battery and bottle, connected with small screws on the inside along with two smaller tubes with threaded rod inside to keep the caps secure. The big one on the right uses 25mm OD/ 22mm OD brushed aluminum tubing and feels really solid. The middle one is a bit lighter and uses 22mm OD conduit. Unfortunately, the bottle tube had to be slit partly to make room for the 10ml bottle. Not a real problem, but you could I suppose squeeze the tube hard enough to pump some juice inadvertently.

The little one has exposed threaded rod and uses 16mm conduit, which is snug for the 14500 but very doable, and excellent for the 3ml bottle. There isn't much extra room though so there is only one internal bolt and the bottom cap is kept in line by two tube shaped discs of plumber's putty and will probably be how the LED gets added too. I started to work on a new body with some thin walled SS 16mm tubing but would rather get some aluminum that fits as it is much nicer to work with.

juice cups catch excess liquid and are from cart condoms/ silicon tubing, and although the ego cone is press fit over the silicone in these pics, it hasn't really been incorporated yet.

I will try to get more pics of internals soon but I've got camera/battery issues.

Hope you enjoy!

 

[Lightgeoduck]

I would have to say fine work.. can't wait to see more



LGD

 

[JamBone]

job well done, they look nice.

 

[beast775]

very nice work,i like the small mod.

 

[Sgood1971]

Those are nice and clean. Good work and thanks for sharing.

 

[asdaq]

Thanks all!

NiMh batteries are not my friends so sorry for the cell phone pics, macro does seem to be it's strong suit. Here is the big one taken apart for better detail

 

[Connman]

asdaq those look Factory made in quality. Outstanding job. Very nice clean mod and love the name of this thread.

 

[nicotime]

That is nice work asdaq, well done.

If you didn't want them to lean you could either do away with the bolts and countersink the plates holes and use flathead screws tapped in to the small tubes or tap the bottom plate holes and grind the bolts flush with the bottom...probably need to Loctite the top nut too. But they are cool the way they are too.

 

[asdaq]

Cheers nicotime,

From what I can get here at the local hardware chains M3 threaded rod is the thinnest and longest I can get, for which I've got a collection of nut options for. If I could get thinner (like M2.5) I'd be all over it. Also a knurled thumb nut would be great too. I don't know why, but the lean I actually like, it gives them a sort of tripod/kickstand aesthetic, which I adjust with the bottom nuts. Also, once removed, pretty much the whole thing comes apart, which without the large tubes somehow connected made for a real tricky time getting them back together. As it is, to service the battery or bottle one needs a tool to open, but that's ok.

General non related question: What would happen if I ran a LED without a resistor with the 14500? Worst case scenario please. I guess it would just shorten the life of the LED, but by how much. I ask as I've got barely enough room to run a 3mm one in the bottom cap of the little one but getting a resistor in there would be a pain.

 

[Jason365]

Cool mod, I like it allot. Can you tell me how to build that switch? I am going to try a variation of a mod like this.

Is it hard to change the batteries? I mean do you have to take the mod all apart?

 

[nicotime]

Depends on the LED...at worst it just pops the LED. I know there are different types you can get and tiny resistors like 1/8 watt are super tiny but maybe one of the electronic gurus here would be able to suggest better than I.

 

[WillyB]

General non related question: What would happen if I ran a LED without a resistor with the 14500? Worst case scenario please. I guess it would just shorten the life of the LED, but by how much. I ask as I've got barely enough room to run a 3mm one in the bottom cap of the little one but getting a resistor in there would be a pain.

You could look into resistored LEDs.

http://www.eled.com/data/spec/E934XXX5V.PDF

Really great looking and well thought out mods. I could see using using some contrasting brass or copper with them for a steampunk look.

 

[Charged]

You can't connect a led directly across a battery, it will blow so fast you won't even see it flash. Most LED's have a forward voltage drop of 2 to 2.3 volts. Blue and White LED's are closer to 4 volts. You would want to run the LED at between 10 and 20ma. So 3.7V - 2V = 1.7V. Resistance = Volts/Current 1.7V/10ma = 170 Ohms. Standard resistor value close to this would be 160 or 180 ohms. Hope that helps.

Nice work on the mods. Very clean and well thought out.

 

[tornadodragon]

Nicely done and very modern looking, architectural in a way. Don't worry mine lean too. With my 5v version I wasn't able to try bottom feeding because my battery is under the atty. It would be way over sized with the chip above the battery. You did a great job.

 

[asdaq]

cheers all,

more pics tomorrow, tis late now. The little one really is my fav with the lr atty, and if it doesn't get a light then oh well it is solid enough. i stuck a 3mm in the bottom cap area, really ghetto and dirty, but it makes for a pain to get back together and doesn't seem worth it, I really don't want to increase the size any. Let me repeat the lr atty rocks and getting native 5v via booster or whatnot seems like a serious goal at this point. Otherwise, heat shrink tubing over the threading is another possibility I've been toying with but... Ok I've got more beer fueled inspiration, but tomorrow as the wife has problems with the clacking keyboard, so gnite all! switch details to come.

 

[asdaq]

Resistored LED's sound great, seems like a natural solution. Having the longer leg providing the resistance by being the right parameter just makes sense. The little 3mm came out of a toy and was running at 3v from 2 button cells, and I've been using it for a makeshift circuit tester. If I do use a LED it'll have to be done right with a resistor and somehow properly mounted under the bottle, most likely with putty. SMD LED's seem interesting too, I suppose a 350MCD would be plenty..

Jason, the switch is really simple, just finger>screw>spring>washer>case>washer(maybe a few)>nut>spacer>battery negative, which runs negative current through the metal of the case. In this little one the spacer is also the screw/nut holding the tubes together, and this also makes the switch travel farther. I was disappointed with many a switch, so I went with mechanical. I do want to try replacing the spring with opposing magnets like the gg switch, but hard to source locally. A lockout would be nice too, but with the switch placement it doesn't go off accidentally.

As for changing the battery, on the large versions it's just necessary to loosen one bottom nut, remove the other, and rotate the bottom cap to the desired side for batt or bottle. With the little one the bottom cap has to come off as it has the plugs and the top too as I need to push the battery out from the top. It doesn't take long but it is fiddly and I've even dropped one nut under the car seat.

Some pics to illustrate:

 

[asdaq]

One more to show the LED woes, that's why it's notched and nibbled on the bottom

 

[Jason365]

Thanks for the info. I will post some pics of my version when I get it built.
I'm going to have a large tube for an 18650, and a smaller tube for a 3ml juice bottle. So it will look different than yours, but I think it will look pretty good.

I need to get parts first though.

 

[asdaq]

Sounds nice, do please post pics when you get it done. It would sit nice in the hand, and have a nice triangular shape. Also, you would have some space under the 3ml bottle to stick something nice, maybe a booster??

I've got an extra connector, an unused 18350 and a somewhat free weekend, perhaps a single tube version with a 3ml bottle might get done soonish.

 

[dreams n chains]

Wow! These are beautiful, asdaq! Quality work with much thought put into them. They look professionally manufactured. They remind me of Tinear's mAhmba mod very much.... but you would have never seen those pictures as they were removed months ago. He had also used computer parts in the casing of the first mAhmba.

Will definitely have to get back in this thread when I have more time... just waking up here and reading it over with drinking my coffee.... ....

Love the thread title...... it has been catching my attention for some time. I even clicked on it once but my darned internet connection messed up on me. Usually I stay out of other threads as they may get me distracted from my present modding when I already have no time. But I will definitely have to get back here again!

Beautiful work!