quick question for a first time modder

[daniel5383]

i am literally the noobiest of noobs when it comes to modding...never even attempted it...dont have any soldering experience...but i thought hey i will give it a try...im trying the blue lightning tube mod from madvapes and got the tutorial and got all my supplies but was reading and i must have missed that i needed flux...is there a way around this or is it essential in what i am doing? thanks for the help!

 

[5cardstud]

Get pre fluxed solder. They sell it at Radio Shack and it's all I use. The only thing I use un fluxed solder with flux on is when I solder copper pipes for plumbing.

 

[Java_Az]

Might want to check out this how to video on soldering if you haven't already . Best one i have seen.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modders-forum/22122-how-solder-video.html

 

[daniel5383]

thanks for the help guys...i will check out that video...here is the soldering iron i bought...is this pre-fluxed?

30 Watt Soldering Iron KIT

 

[Java_Az]

The solder has flux in it, or not. What you need is a Flux core solder. IF you see rosin core solder the rosin is flux. Here is a example of what you want 1/4 Lb. Lead-Free Rosin Core Soldering Wire

 

[5cardstud]

thanks for the help guys...i will check out that video...here is the soldering iron i bought...is this pre-fluxed?


That should be prefluxed wire it says it's cored which is where the flux is. The solder posted by Java_Az is also good solder.
Un-fluxed wire is marked solid core usually.

 

[daniel5383]

it says underneath the solder "dismiss wash and activated core solder" then underneat that "whitesmith"

 

[daniel5383]

i am so confused...been trying to learn how to start this all out and i feel overwhelmed....maybe i shouldnt have gotten all of this stuff...i just figured i seen so many people saying how easy it was and that anyone can do it, but i cant seem to find good tutorials for noobs around here...i watched the soldering video and get it....but i literally have never done anything like this and have no knowledge of any of this...i ordered some nichrome wire off of madvapes and it doesnt seem like the kind of wire i need....*sigh*

 

[Java_Az]

Yeah it can be a bit overwhelming at first. Hang in there read as much as you can it should get easyer with time. Really dont know what your planning on building but if you can give details we can help out more. Like what batteries regulator switch case and what ever else. Or maybe you order a madvapes kit so if you can say what one it will help . Best advise i can give is take your time dont get in a rush and your can always post in here your order before you click the buy button. Lots of folks around that will check it for you make sure you getting everything you need and not getting things you dont need.

As far as the ni chrome wire it is used to make atomizers. Not sure if thats what you wanted wire for or not. Pretty sure you are looking for wire for the PV part to hook your pieces together. If thats the case 24 gauge wire is more then likey what you want. But really need to know what you plan on building to recommend a wire size. If you building a 3.7 volt mod you can get away with 26 gauge unless your a LR atomizer user then i would go with the 24.

 

[daniel5383]

ok, this is what im attempting to build :

blue lightning acrylic tube mod from madvapes
Blue Lightning DIY Acrylic Tube

here is the tutorial i found to help..
http://www.madvapes.com/assets/images/blue_lightning_mod.pdf

here are the other items i purchased

510 Battery Connector, Sealed
Horn style switch -- Blue
5mm Blue LED
Mini Pre cut Interconnect Circuit Board
NICHROME 60 WIRE this was the wire i needed from the tutorial cuz its the only wire sold on madvapes)

AD-103 Multi-volt charger
Ultrafire Protected 14500 Battery, 900 mAH
30 Watt Soldering Iron KIT
and some shrink tubing bought from china that i waited like a month to get lol

i am planning on using a LR atomizer, so i guess i should find 24 guage...see i would have never known that...

as far as the tutorial goes
this is what i dont really understand..
"Positive Head Cap ( I used a Lipton Ice tea Cap, is heavy Plastic)
Spacer for behind Positive head Cap (Optional, but help prevent any cap movement by battery) (I Used a
3ml Juice bottle top)
Something for Positive Tip (I used a old center post from a extra 510 Connector I had) (You can use
anything that will go thru the plastic and solder up to a wire)"
i dont understand the first few steps and how to make all of this...i dont have an extra 510 connector laying around for the positive tip...so what else could i use?
tools wise i have the soldering iron, solder, epoxy(would gorilla glue work?)sharp scissors, volt meter

i dont understand how to install the led either....

 

[daniel5383]

Lots of folks around that will check it for you make sure you getting everything you need and not getting things you dont need.

there doesnt seem to be lol

 

[Java_Az]

sorry been busy this morning, But after a quick look the only thing i see is the ni chrome wire. It is resistance wire used for making atomizer coils. basicly the part that heats up the juice and gives you vapor. I didnt see any wire on madvapes could be they are out or maybe don't sell it anymore. If you have any old USB cables laying around you dont use anymore you can cut it open and use the wire out of it. Or maybe a old not used anymore DC adapter you have laying around even some thin speaker wire would work. Hope this helps i will check back later got some running around to do.

 

[dgr]

daniel,
you kinda picked a difficult one as a first go around.

For that first piece, you are making a post to contact the positive side of the battery. It has to fulfill a few requirements.

1) It has to conduct electricity
2) It has to make good contact with the positive post of the battery
3) It has to be the correct distance from *wherever* that the battery makes good contact with it and the negative contact
4) It has to insulate the positive from the negative
5) It has to be easily solderable
I don't know anything about the spacing that you need to fulfill 2 and 3. You should be able to figure that out by putting your battery in the tube and seeing how far it sticks into the upper piece.

He cut a round piece out of stiff plastic and fit in the upper piece (4). He put the spare 510 positive post in that so that it would make contact with the positive tit on the battery(1,5). I won't bother telling you where to find a thick plastic top from a wide mouth bottle. For the spare 510 post, you need to find something that can be easily soldered and provide that center contact piece. You could use a brass screw, a brass or copper rivet, a metal thumb tack, a coin, roofing nail, etc. Copper and brass will be easiest to solder. Steel should be doable with what you have on hand. You could even not use solder. A short round head screw, a nut and a spade connector would get you connected, too.

So, you make your plastic disc that fits tightly into the top piece. Then you drill a hole in the center of it that is as large as the post on whatever metal piece you decided to use or big enough to pass a wire through if you decided to use something flat like a coin. Then you solder your wire to your metal piece and glue your metal piece in the center of your disc.

When done, you will have a flat plastic disc. On one side, it will have the metal tit you glued to it. On the other side, it will have the wire coming out that you soldered to your tit (ouch!).


BTW, Gorilla glue is good for some specific application. I just haven't figured out what that application is, unless it is semi permanent stains on skin.

As far as wire, make sure you get STRANDED wire. Available at radio shack

I hope that sheds a little light. If not, ask away.

 

[dgr]

BTW, if you have a friend with an old cartomizer, it will have a positive post in the middle similar to the post the writer of the walkthrough used.

 

[daniel5383]

thanks for the help dgr...unfortunately i tried to do this project saturday and was up till 2am trying...you were right about picking a hard one for my first mod...there is SOOOO little room to work with...I think if I would have started with a battery box from madvapes, I would have been better off...after spending time working on it though, I do have the whole concept of it down and understand it, but I just couldnt get anything to go as planned. I ended up making the positive post spacer with no issues...did my first solder and it came out great...then after that is where it got hard...it says in the tutorial to take the middle part out of the battery sealed connector along with the rubber piece... and then i attempted to solder the copper ground wire that came built into the tube with the inside of the battery connector...i had soo many problems...i dont know if it was the soldering iron i bought from madvapes or what, but it just wouldnt solder like i had seen on tutorial vids...the solder would only melt when it was on the upper part of the tip and I needed it to solder on the tip...my stepdad used to solder all the time and I asked him to help me and he tried and said I needed a propane solder or something like that....determined to get this working I went back in and tried harder...I ended up getting the battery connector stuck in the end of the tube then being forced to try to solder the ground cable to the connector on the inside of the tube which was the hardest thing I have ever had to do...it was very ghetto but I had gotten it to make a connection...so then I started with the switch and the LED and I couldnt seem to solder this stuff to the tang on the switch good at all...it was like blobs because I couldnt solder with the tip again...so I did what I could and put some electrical tape around it( hope that was safe lol) then run the wire from the positive post spacer through the tube and soldered that wire to the other twang on the switch...then ran the other wire up through the naked battery connector and then came across my other problem...I COULD NOT GET THAT STUPID SILICONE PROTECTOR BACK INTO THE BATTERY CONNECTOR!!! I must have tried for a straight 2 hours getting this stupid thing back in and never succeded...I ended up having everything wired and ready to put into place, checked the connection through and it worked!! then I checked the original connection from the inside of the battery connector to the ground and it wasnt there anymore, which means I had to take everything back apart and at that point I gave up because I ran out of solder and I think I need another battery connector....I wonder if someone could build this for me as I don't have the patience to do this as I found out the other night...But if I had it built for me, I would want it 5 volt I might give it one more try here soon because I was so mad that I let it beat me lol

 

[WillyB]

You need a clean nicely tinned tip. This is essential to help transfer the heat to the work. You should also to pre-tin all your wire ends.

And yes you should have started with some simple box mods to hone your technique.

There are tons of soldering vids on YouTube.

 

[dgr]

daniel,
Willy brings up a good point. Wet sponge. Wipe the hot tip on it and "re-tin" by applying fluxed solder to it. If you can't get it shiny, you'll have to get a block of sal ammoniac to clean the tip. If it isn't one thing ....

 

[Kahuna]

I find that if I put in the chip, whether 5v reg or a MOSFET, last I get less heat stress and lessen the chance of burning out the chip working on some stubborn joint.