My nemesis clone crunchy button fix - ymmv

[OB1J3D1]

All,

After a few days of hoping that my crunchy button would work itself out (to no avail), I decided to do something...

First, I disassembled the whole thing and gave it a soapy water bath and fresh water rinse. After drying thoroughly, I reassembled.

When reassembling the switch, I had trouble keeping the pin in place while setting the long spring and the brass/delrin cover. After a few successful yet, "not quite right" attempts, I figured out that if the long spring is not centered the crunchy button kept crunching. Also, I figured out that the bottom contact in the switch should be tightened (as tight as I could go with my hands and no tools) as opposed to the top pin which should only be snug after setting the atty/carto/clearo etc.

After this, my button is buttery smooth... :like:

I do not have access to an authentic (which I would assume would not have issues like this). But, with all the 1:1 talk, I think it would work for that too.

Hope this helps others but YMMV.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Interesting stuff. Can you say about how exactly you center that spring ?

Fwiw I noted that tightening the button as much as possible by hand is a must for minimizing voltage drop too. Leaving it semi tight vs really tight, I've measured an increased voltage drop of any where from .10 to .20

 

[dfwraptor]

i took the small spring out and just left the big one in it. working like a champ nice and smooth!

 

[OB1J3D1]

Interesting stuff. Can you say about how exactly you center that spring ?

Fwiw I noted that tightening the button as much as possible by hand is a must for minimizing voltage drop too. Leaving it semi tight vs really tight, I've measured an increased voltage drop of any where from .10 to .20

Looking at the construction, I first thought that the spring should sit in the "well" in the brass portion of the switch facing the spring. But it's not a large enough diameter to do so. So, I put the small spring on, the pin and then put the long spring on as "centered as possible". Finally I looked through the hole in the brass delrin piece lining up the pin and put it on as carefully as possible... Not an exact science i know but it was worth the effort.

I also screw it in tight. and retighten if it gets loose with use.

 

[Vaptor]

Yes it works smoother without the small spring. But it doesn't hit as hard because that spring is there to provide better connection. That switch is not a very good design in the fist place. The center is too narrow and causes too much friction. Glad I didn't waste money on the real thing.

 

[crxess]

Definitely YMMV and yes, some originals have issues.

I run magnetic switch's

 

[svenbrant]

the switch on the real thing is finished much nicer, had no issues with mine although i upgraded to magnets anyway, the clone on the other hand i needed to clean/ polish the hell out of the inner surfaces of the switch to get to glide smooth, also ended up upgrading that to magnets and now without looking you honestly couldn't tell the difference

 

[crxess]

the switch on the real thing is finished much nicer, had no issues with mine although i upgraded to magnets anyway, the clone on the other hand i needed to clean/ polish the hell out of the inner surfaces of the switch to get to glide smooth, also ended up upgrading that to magnets and now without looking you honestly couldn't tell the difference

Not all Original owners have been so lucky. call it luck of the draw, rough handling in shipping jarring springs or just missed in QC, but some are crunchy as reported by Owners.
Same can be said of the clones. 2 of my 3 work perfect and 1 is a tiny bit crunchy at times.

Honestly, I think I caused it and many others may have done the same thing.
Unpack vape mail
Drool over new toy
Toss in a battery
Add a topper
Test the heck out of it.
*Never thinking to Clean out the particulates from machining FIRST*
My one has a nice little(not so) scratch on the switch center post. Probably just enough to cause drag/bind. Will be fine sanding soon to correct.

 

[bncceo]

I opened up the spring a bit to fit in the groove in the switch which fixed a lot of the original issues I was having. Made the action quite a bit smoother. However, I have some dx magnets on order so as soon as they show up in a year or two I will be swapping out the spring.

 

[ncvapfan]

the spring is supposed to sit in the brass. It may seem too small but its tight. Once seated properly it is pretty smooth.

 

[CloudZ]

Here is what I did:

Sand all sliding surfaces with fine sandpaper as best as possible just a little bit, focusing on the rough spots and edges in particular.

Expand the large spring so it fits into the groove easily. Also make sure it stands straight when resting on a flat surface, bend it into shape as close as you can.

File down the index pin so it sits flush with the upper surface when it is sitting in its slot. This lets the negative contact hit the battery flat. Also round all sharp corners on and around the pin with fine sandpaper.

Clean it all up spotless and apply a tiny amount of Teflon dry lube to the sliding surfaces, spring contact surfaces, and index pin.

Do not screw the button on very tight, just snug so it doesn't come loose easily.


Button is like butter, but presses far out on the edge still bind up due to slop from loose manufacturing tolerances. Nothing can be done about it.

 

[MassiveKlouds]

Here is what I did:

Sand all sliding surfaces with fine sandpaper as best as possible just a little bit, focusing on the rough spots and edges in particular.

Expand the large spring so it fits into the groove easily. Also make sure it stands straight when resting on a flat surface, bend it into shape as close as you can.

File down the index pin so it sits flush with the upper surface when it is sitting in its slot. This lets the negative contact hit the battery flat. Also round all sharp corners on and around the pin with fine sandpaper.

Clean it all up spotless and apply a tiny amount of Teflon dry lube to the sliding surfaces, spring contact surfaces, and index pin.

Do not screw the button on very tight, just snug so it doesn't come loose easily.


Button is like butter, but presses far out on the edge still bind up due to slop from loose manufacturing tolerances. Nothing can be done about it.

Had this issue Saturday night at a hall party, followed these steps. Now "Its Butter BaBy!"

 

[jrs99]

Aight, I'm in on this one! Here's my experience and testing so far.
First I got the hcigar nemi and thought it was total junk, the switch was terrible. It would stick in the firing position, it wouldn't fire or sometimes it would fire but was still very crunchy. Took it apart and saw the little attempt of a spring and the big spring. The little one wasn't so much a spring as just a bent piece of wire, figured it was trash and threw it away. Put the switch back together and made sure the spring was inside the groove. Big improvement! By then I'd already ordered the real Nemesis from Vaperev. Hit up the local vape shop and bought a set of magnets. Came home, installed them in the clone and the switch was much better.

My real Nemi arrived and I took the magnets out of the clone and installed them into the real one. Like butter and I'm now totally in love with the real Nemesis. So back went the springs into the clone and the switch was back to being junk. Think I didn't worry so much about making sure the spring was seated inside the grooves.

Then I started thinking if this is supposed to be a 1:1 clone, what was the difference between the two switches. I took just the button from the real nemesis and put it on the clone switch and it was pretty damned close to the real one's feel.
I just found this thread and just dug thru the trash to find the crappy piece of wire that came with the clone, installed it and the main spring just as the OP says and it's working a LOT better. I'm sitting here now hitting the clone and am pretty happy with the feel of it now.

My question now is...do you still use the little spring somehow in conjunction with the magnets at all and if so, how does it go in?
I put the authentic one underneath the bottom magnet and it won't fire so I'm now back to just magnets.

I just ordered the HCigar copper mainly because I want the copper tubes but I plan on purchasing a real Nemesis switch and top cap for it. Copper/brass should look pretty sweet I'm thinking

 

[maxd]

interesting info, thanks

I've adjusted a bit the spring and followed:

...
Clean it all up spotless and apply a tiny amount of Teflon dry lube to the sliding surfaces, spring contact surfaces, and index pin.
...

now -> smooth and perfect!

UPDATED: I *WAS* looking into magnets replacement
but magnets are too strong and you have to be careful near plastic cards etc

 

[CloudZ]

Then I started thinking if this is supposed to be a 1:1 clone, what was the difference between the two switches. I took just the button from the real nemesis and put it on the clone switch and it was pretty damned close to the real one's feel.
I just found this thread and just dug thru the trash to find the crappy piece of wire that came with the clone, installed it and the main spring just as the OP says and it's working a LOT better. I'm sitting here now hitting the clone and am pretty happy with the feel of it now.

My question now is...do you still use the little spring somehow in conjunction with the magnets at all and if so, how does it go in?
I put the authentic one underneath the bottom magnet and it won't fire so I'm now back to just magnets.

With my clone, I actually took both springs and carefully bent them to be more straight and concentric, also bending the ends out a little so they couldn't grind on anything. I am pretty sure the short spring is in there just to firm up the button press a little so you can set it down unlocked and not risk it firing with a heavy topper on. I try to position the short spring so it can't touch the alignment pin when the button is pressed, not sure if this is relevant or if it actually stays oriented that way.

I've never tried the magnets, but as I understand it they are supposed to be used by themselves, without either of the springs. They should allow the button to "float" a little better for smoothness and provide enough repulsion to keep it from firing when set down unlocked. There is a magnet set available from fatdaddyvapes which seems pretty nice and readily available, so you could try that. They also have an extended pin set so you can use the beauty ring without a kick or button tops.

 

[CloudZ]

Do not screw the button on very tight, just snug so it doesn't come loose easily.

Button is like butter, but presses far out on the edge still bind up due to slop from loose manufacturing tolerances. Nothing can be done about it.

I need to correct these two things (too late to edit my post).

I actually screw the button on pretty tight now, not super tight but a little more than snug. This seems to smooth it out even more since the switch has broken in more since I made these adjustments. I also am happy to report that, also since breaking in, I can push the edges of the switch and it barely binds at all I also very rarely have to apply the teflon lube anymore, in fact I may not ever have to again (I think the teflon has filled up all the little machine marks and is staying there). My switch is awesome now!

 

[IBlowClouds]

Go get a ten pack of magnets from fastech,i'm running two on the bottom and one on top,tighten the bottom contact all the way(hand tight)and it feels like a 200$ mod now,before with the spring it felt like a china piece of junk

 

[anumber1]

Go get a ten pack of magnets from fastech,i'm running two on the bottom and one on top,tighten the bottom contact all the way(hand tight)and it feels like a 200$ mod now,before with the spring it felt like a china piece of junk

I am using the same magnets in the same configuration.
Love it. Major improvement and it will now stand unlocked with a Kayfun 3.1 in 18650 mode unlocked.