No Laughing at my skills!

[MastiffMike]

Thanks all for the compliments but seriously, look around this forum and you'll see works of art! This is like an Elvis painting on black velvet (and the fat Elvis!) compared to the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.

What I want to see happen is someone (modder or supplier) to make something similar but out of better materials and then send me one (for free of course!).

When the economy turns around I may look into seeing how much it'd cost to have a one-off cnc machining done or even have it made by 3D printer. Until then I'll try not to drop it!

 

[MastiffMike]

Anyone got an tips on how to bend sheet metal successfully? I have some sheet aluminum (in both 1mm and 2mm thicknesses) and I would love to wrap the middle with it but I don't think I can do it and get a decent result. I'm sure the seam will look atrocious (the wood and plastic seams turned out alright, especially since I can just cover it with my hand , but metal )

To bend the plastic I just used a piece of metal pipe, a hairdryer, a space heater, a chunk of time, and a fair amount of bad words, but bending metal makes me nervous!

 

[MastiffMike]

Oh and if anyone wants to run with this form factor, I did originally design it to be rechargeable like a cordless phone. You know, just set it into a charging base and it charges without having to disessemble it. Ultimately I did not put that functionality into it but that (and I wanted flexibility for LED placement) is why I have both positive and negative leads in all 3 pieces.

Now someone build me one out of brushed aluminum and send it to me!!!

 

[addisdaddy07]

I have been working on something very similar for my gtus! Glad to see somebody finally fully fleshed one out! Great work, and never feel like you have to be ashamed here.

 

[kempo63]

No laughing here! Pretty cool mods. Did do a double take on your avatar though!

 

[Mylt1]

if you want to have it like a drop in charger look into kydex. you can buy it in sheets and bend/form it with a heat gun. it will be more than strong enough for a charger.

 

[santo19586]

that is an awesome mod that you made, like it alot..

 

[MastiffMike]

OK, here's an update on how I built this for anyone interested. If you have questions just let me know (I'm sure this won't fully explain it but for some people it's probably too much info and for others it isn't enough)

Exploded Parts View:

View of the underside of the top section. Note that the button area is lined with sheet metal (which the button rubs against) and that goes thru a groove to the bullet splice. Also you can see that I added a piece of styrene plastic on the top and drilled out a hole on the button side that is slightly smaller than the button (to form a lip) to prevent the button from being pushed out by the spring. The hole on the tank side I just made flush:

Here's a closeup of the bottom section: The fender washer is installed upside down to form a well to catch any minor leakage. I did have to slightly enlarge the washers hole to get the 510 connector to fit. I used epoxy putty to attach the washer/connector in place. The negative battery plate you see on the left is just a piece of scrap I had lying around and underneath that is a layer of styrene for the bottom. Keep in mind once that bottom plate is glued on there's no way to get back inside so make sure your connector is wired up and working! One of the bullet splices is connected to the negative plate (not necessary but I did it so I could later add LEDS to the middle secion if I wanted) and the other is connected to the positive part of the 510 connector.

 

[MastiffMike]

Here's a view of the button parts:

Here's the bottom and middle sections together:

Here are the bottom and middle sections with a tank installed and the button parts:

 

[MastiffMike]

Here's the parts I used for the top, middle, and bottom sections:

To build the middle section I used 2 layers of the very thin walled plastic tubing (cut one layer lengthwise so that it can be placed inside out outside the other, and glue them together to help add rigidity). Note that in the picture I have the cut tube inside the non-cut one which is opposite how I actually built my mod. I placed the tue that was cut lengthwise on the OUTSIDE of the uncut tube because my tank just barely fit. With the cut tube outside it leaves a slight gap where the cut is and after glueing the layers together the gap works nicely to glue against the gap from the other sides tube.

 

[MastiffMike]

And here's just a size comparison. Note that the blue mod on the left (the one this thread is about) is in 18350 mode and it's slightly longer when in 18500 mode.

 

[dragonbone]

WOW!!! That is so cute and awesome!
I'm a teensy bit disappointed though, because I was all ready to have a good old laugh hehe...
P.S. Not sure if you know this, (even though there are NO flies on your modding skills) there may be a fly on your tounge .

 

[Cyrus Vap]

subscribed!

 

[kwalka]

Let me just start off by saying your way too self critical, as any good artist is. Also for us blooming modders who have recently caught the bug and have no clue where to begin, threads like these are invaluable. The links to places we didnt even know existed nevermind knowing to look there for the parts. This alone is priceless. So, thank you for your hard work and the valuable info.

 

[danwelsh]

It looks way better than my box mods...

 

[P1NkY]

I can only wish my skills "lacked" in that way, MastiffMike.
The internal tank, the button, the form factor, the ingenuity of it all: simply amazing!
Exceedingly well done, good sir. I salute thee!

 

[kwalka]

Ok guys if you want to feel better about your work here ya go. This is my first attempt at a box mod. Be gentle. BTW its post #27 in the linked thread.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-1st-mod-resistor-question-4.html#post6245554