reo bottom feeder with dna20D installed

[turbocad6]

hey guys, just wanted to share with you the modification I've done to my reo, really liking the juice on demand of a bottom feeder and wanted to enhance the electrical side of things a bit. i showed this mod in the reo forum but for those modders who don't frequent the reo forum I thought I'd share it here too

the reason I did this is because, well, there are several reasons really, but the main reason is because I really like the consistency of a VW electronic controlled device. with a mechanical the vape is stronger with a fresh off the charger battery, then it kind of settles to a nice vape and then by the time the battery is half way dead the vape power starts to drop off and a fresh battery would be swapped in for a nice strong vape again or you continue to use the half dead battery and get weaker and weaker vapes, then go back to fresh off the charger strong vape again, where with a good VW device the power delivery is the same throughout the whole battery cycle, from fresh off the charger all the way to just about dead, same strong vape, the electronics monitor battery power and adjust the output to the atty accordingly to maintain a consistent power level...

also, by having and electronic control there is no longer any mechanical switch and no longer contact issues and the maintenance needed or the suffering of power losses as the contacts degrade with use. how man times have you heard of someone deciding to really clean there contacts up and how much of a difference it made, well with a setup like this the contacts are direct brass buttons adjusted to a tight compression fit to the battery and the dna20 is very efficient at doing the actual high power switching with very little loss, losses that are on par with high end mechanicals at there best with all clean contacts, and because it's electronic these contacts always remain at there peak and never need maintenance


none of this is meant to say anything bad against mechanicals, I do still have and use and like mechanicals too and they do have there place, a mechanical is absolutely required if you want to do very high wattage vaping, your not going to run a .3 ohm coil on a VW device so each has there advantages and disadvantages, but the dna20 with 20 watts is enough for me to get a really good vape and honestly since playing with the dna20 and the nivel chip I rarely ever revisit my mechs, the consistency is just not the same. right now I'm running a .9 ohm coil at 4.2 volts which is about the same as you'd get on a fully charged battery with a .9 ohm coil, but the power will not drop and drop as you vape, instead it will give the same vape as a fully charged battery throughout it's cycle, even when the battery is 3/4 down it still vapes like a freshly charged battery would, all the way till it's almost dead. this is the main reason I wanted an electronic control and decided to build this mod into my reo, here are a few pics of the end results
















I added a usb charging port too. did this so I can build a few docks/cradles so I can replenish power throughout the day. that combined with the 9ml bottle upgrade means that I can go straight for a few days without even having to even slide the door open

















and here is how it fits in my hand, although I have extended it and made it longer I also made it a bit thinner by machining the outer walls to almost 1/2 there original thickness and rounding off the corners a bit, I rounded to rear corners a lot, feels really good in my hand, smooth sleek and the brushed finish gives it a nice grip without being too slippery, I did have it high polished at one point and it looks beautiful all polished up but the aluminum main body scratches very easily when polished and the mirror finish just made it feel a bit slippery too, I'm going to use and abuse it now that it's done and the brushed finish will stand up and stay looking good much longer, then when it gets pretty beat up I can just easily brush it again in a few minutes and make it look new again so I think I'm going to just stick with the brushed finish





hope you enjoy seeing what I've done to my reo, I know I love it and it works and feels awesome, def one of my favorite vaporizers atm

 

[BernieVideo]

Nice Mod!

A question. I thought Reo also made a VV/VW model? Or is it just VV?

How does the DNA20 differ from the Reo VV?

Just wondering.

 

[turbocad6]

the reo vv uses 2 stacked 18350's and has no display or battery gage or onboard charging, and is limited to under 15 watts and the module is in the head so more susceptible to damage from juice leaking. you also need to remove the door and turn a dial to adjust it. it's pretty different from this and the single 18650 can give more than double the mAh that you can get with the stacked 18350's

photobucket is acting up right now, I'll put some build pictures up in a bit when I can

 

[turbocad6]

ok, I know we all love pics so I'm going to put up some here for you. first is the mod I tried to build before this one. this was back when I was still hating on the square box look so I built it from a Vmod. it worked good but it was a little to tight space wise and it winded up killing the dna20 from juice leaking anyway, that was the final straw that just made me buy a reo that day





that Vmod is now in the trash where it belongs

here is a pic of my reo the day I got it, hell that pic was only a week before I finished it's transformation



here is a pic of what I originally started out as, my plan was to put the dna20 in the bottom and then put an adjusting wheel inside the battery compartment so it couldn't accidentally be adjusted up and down








here is what the cavity for the dna20 looks like and the stainless steel bar stock it's made from






then I decided that to make it more waterproof I would do the buttons in the base instead of a knob inside so I made a spacer from brass for this





then I made my buttons and installed the dna and wired it all up, only to realize that I underestimated how much room I needed for all the wiring



so I used it for a day or 2 with scotch tape holding it together because it was too overstuffed to actually close it up







then I made the firing button




then of course I made the second spacer so I could bolt it all together. I was considering stainless steel for this and I was even considering the possibility of using some other materials too but decided in the end to just do it from bass, same as the button spacer, which brings us to the mod as pictured in the first post

now here are some under hood shots. first here is the new firing pin I made from a home depot #6 ss screw drilled right down the center. this was made with a drill and a grinding wheel, would have been nicer on the lathe but old habits die hard







I used an insulator from my aga t for the firing pin, I need to find a source of insulators like this








new firing pin was done to accommodate a better way of connecting the wire from the dna module and because I wanted to remove as much brass as I can from the juice stream






here is my modified upper plastic holder piece with the firing button in place, I added an o ring to the button and then sealed it all up in epoxy







heres a shot of the upper brass positive contact. there are no springs in my design, the battery is a snug press fit with the slight flexing of the upper plastic housing providing the little extra compression necessary for a good snug connection




here is the lower brass battery contact






and a few more under hood shots as assembled







I should have used a black wire for the firing wire down the center too but didn't have anything the right gage

 

[turbocad6]

I finished this mod almost a month ago, here are just a few quick pics of what this thing looks like as it get seasoned and used, I like it, starting to look like a quality tool, I don't mind wear and don't mind the worn look, I guess I even prefer it to the bling bling shiny new look even. this thing has performed flawlessly. biggest thing I like about this over a mech is no contact issues ever, never get to the point where you have to press the button really harder to get a good connection and get to the point that power drops off because your contacts are dirty, it just always fires with full power with just a very gentle touch of the switch each and every time, and still at full power output even when the battery is getting low, it has performed flawless so far

also I never really have to take the battery out, I get a full days use then just plug in the usb at night and ready to go next morning, just have to fill the bottle every other day, really working out well so far, it has been my primary all day vape since I started using it

 

[turbocad6]

when I first built this reo I anticipated using the cyclone atty with the air flow control head, the afc doesn't fit in the atty well so instead of using an extension I machined the head of the reo almost flush to the connector, with an o ring the atty now sits flush to the deck




so it took a while for me to get my hands on a cyclone atty with afc cap and it fits awesome, lines up perfect, it's a little big, especially compared to all the tiny attys like the rm2 and igo s, but I like the way it fits.

also I hate o-ring retained caps cause there usually easy to move around or pop off if you try to pull the reo from pocket by it's head, but this one has like twice the o ring surface and uses fat cushy o rings so it's very very secure when set in place,i can pull it from a pocket and it ain't gonna budge, almost as good as a screw on I guess, gotta live with it a few days and see.

























first thing I noticed was it doesn't vape as well as the tiny chamber atty's like the rm2 and igo s, so then I think the solution for that is dual coils, this atty is made for duals. twice the coils will literally halve the chamber size per coil, so I tried it and bingo, the dual coil setup is now like the rm2 or igo s on steroids, works really really really well, I mean really nice, the adjustable aircap and the adjustable power let me tune it to a really really nice place, the vape is nicer than I've ever had, I wind up liking a tighter draw, never really knew with others because opening up the air is a one way thing, the adjustment for both single and dual coils is really sweet on this thing, I may not have to build my own anytime soon from what I'm seeing with this thing so far, I think I like it :}


duals on the cyclone, never tried duals before, never felt the need to. I did use dual coil atty's though back in my disposable atty days this thing rocks, takes a few seconds to heat up but then bam, awesome full flavor and warm thick vapor, really really nice

 

[State O' Flux]

Ah... the joys of owning mills and lathes. I miss mine everyday. Nice job... very clever, very well done.

 

[BobC]

Great job Turbo, where do I place my order (I'll supply the REO)?

I just noticed, you probably live around the corner from me, I could just come by & drop it off

 

[asdaq]

Very nice adaptation Turbo, you've put a lot of work into this and it has paid off. I like how it is aging but would suggest one thing. Throw the button in a chuck and sand those machine marks off the top. The tactile effect will be nicer and the button will be easier to clean if nice and smooth too. Then you can pack it right up and send it off to me. ha!

 

[turbocad6]

I kinda liked the design on the button, those aren't machine marks I did them purposely by chucking the button in a drill and facing it against a diamond wheel with both spinning opposite directions. I really want to redo the button completely eventually though, this button has a tiny screw that threads in from the bottom and I screwed it up a bit and it's a little crooked so the button top sits a little slanted. slant angle changes as I rotate it. I want to build a new switch button eventually but for now it's ok

 

[asdaq]

I'm not at all against the pattern, just emphasizing that the smoother the surface, the easier to keep clean. I did some engine turning on brass bottoms and it didn't last long, the circles faded and now it looks more like bumps from a ball peen hammer, if at all. All the vendors do in with patina and it let's it sort of root into the brass till it gets sanded smooth. With polish it is into the several thousand grit range, and a diamond wheel is probably about 180.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

[pdib]

Beautiful work, T-cad! I can honestly say it's the only VV device I've ever wanted.

(well, since the VAMO days)

 

[Shahzh]

Truly like a work of art.....all I can say is WOW!