I consider the SMPL a bargain mod. You get an awesome performer for the price. But that's just me.
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Milling the mod out of a solid chunk of metal to me is worth that much money. Say what you will, and some may be disguised better than most, but I just can't imagine any cloner going through that much trouble. Unfortunately it's money I don't have ATM (broke, jobless, took 7 years off to take care of parents, now no one wants to hire me) so I'm stuck at hammering my top caps back in whenever they pop off. 
This was one of the big factors pulling me to buy a SMPL initially, I did a good bit of machining in my past jobs and I completely understand how time consuming and how hard it is on the tooling to machine this mod out of a solid billet of copper or brass or even worse Stainless steel because 85% of the material they start out with is entirely machined away! Plus there weren't even any clones available when I purchased my copper in October of last year, I did buy two clones from Focal to compare/check the top seam and I ended up giving them away to friends who still happily use them. The clones are good mods, I won't dispute that with anyone because they function practically the same as an authentic there are just different materials being used and different machining processes and tolerances. To me it's worth the extra $$ to know that it's real deal 101 copper and 464 naval brass machined to exacting tolerances in the USA by someone who theoretically cares about the mod.Milling the mod out of a solid chunk of metal to me is worth that much money. Say what you will, and some may be disguised better than most, but I just can't imagine any cloner going through that much trouble. Unfortunately it's money I don't have ATM (broke, jobless, took 7 years off to take care of parents, now no one wants to hire me) so I'm stuck at hammering my top caps back in whenever they pop off.
Does anyone at all have any input on the REM version 2.0 Rhodium plated switch? Personally I'm a bit weary of the base metal being Stainless Steel in the switch but if the Rhodium is as robust as I've seen in other applications it could make for a very very low maintenance switch.
I haven't had a chance to look at the new rhodium plated switches either, but as to the base metal, if the rhodium plating is thick enough, it technically shouldn't matter too much what the base metal is made of. Electricity will always take the lowest resistance path to complete the circuit, and as long as there is enough rhodium to carry the full load of the battery, the majority of the electricity should never pass through the steel - it'll just go along the layer of lower-resistance rhodium up to the battery contact.
Also, has anyone noticed that Vapor Lair has quietly changed the name from SMPL 2.0 to REMmod? Wonder what's up with that?
Also, has anyone noticed that Vapor Lair has quietly changed the name from SMPL 2.0 to REMmod? Wonder what's up with that?
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Even if the plating is exceptionally thick I'm slightly worried as rhodium isn't really the best conductor, as a matter of fact it's really just an average conductor but it's so insanely hard and resistant to electrical arcing it does have uses in electrical connections, I'm just not certain a Stainless base metal was the proper choice for a mechanical mod in regards to being the most conductive. Perhaps lack of necessary maintenance and overall switch longevity is their goal, in which case rhodium was a good choice but a brass or copper base metal would be more ideal IMO since both brass and copper are more conductive than rhodium. As it sits, even if the plating is very thick on the stainless switch I personally cannot see how it can be more conductive than a clean brass switch.
Working on a good natural patina... topped with an authentic Hobo filled with Crescent City Clouds Tucks.
I agree about the base metal; should have been brass.
I wonder, are the mod threads rhodium as well? It'd be a shame if they aren't, because then you'd be forced to use anti-oxidizing grease where it meets the switch anyway.
I wonder, are the mod threads rhodium as well? It'd be a shame if they aren't, because then you'd be forced to use anti-oxidizing grease where it meets the switch anyway.
I had to go check a resistance/conductivity chart really quick because I could have sworn that Rhodium was a substantially better conductor than the 304 Stainless we typically use in mods. Sure enough, looking at the numbers I found here (http://eddy-current.com/conductivity-of-metals-sorted-by-resistivity/), Rhodium is only a hair worse than naval brass on both conductivity and resistance, but is a full order of magnitude above 304 Stainless on both. Granted, pure copper is about 3 times less resistant and more conductive than naval brass.
Resistance Conductivity
(ohms) (S/m)
1.724E-08 5.800E+07 Copper, Pure
6.631E-08 1.508E+07 Brass, Naval (Annealed)
4.490E-08 2.227E+07 Rhodium
6.897E-07 1.450E+06 Steel, 304 Stainless
Given this, I agree that I would have personally preferred they use a brass (or copper - that would be awesome!) base metal with the rhodium plating. But that said, I think my original comment may still be correct. Yes, in cases of rhodium plated brass or copper, the coating of rhodium would be just for durability and arc prevention. But in the case of stainless base metal, the Rhodium itself is the better conductor between the two metals, and so I would think that much (but of course not all) of the electricity should in theory pass along the plating itself without entering the stainless. And, if so, the total resistance of the switch may not end up much worse than a solid naval brass switch. That said, I don't know why you wouldn't just, you know, use a brass switch with plating - it's not like they haven't been using brass switches up until now on the SMPL without issue.
I think I'll have to go ask one of my EE friends about how electricity would act in metals with thin coatings of a more conductive metal on them.
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So...both my smpl clones worked flawlessly for the first few weeks then two days ago on BOTH of them the switch gets unbearable hot when firing the mod. The battery isnt even warm and it does't seem to matter if its a low ohm build or a 1.5 ohm build, both my SS clone switches get HOT now when I fire them. I am pretty sad lol and think I will buy an authentic v2 from a shop I frequent. Why are my switches so hot. It worked like a champ until yesterday.
What atty? What battery? Something is shorting. It's probably not the mod. Also, there is no SMPL v2. It s a copy (clone, fake, counterfeit ) called the REM made by someone else, not Epic.
Sure about that? I know its made by REM but I dont think its a clone I herd a different story but I could be wrong. Nothing is shorting. I cleaned the switches again and swapped the buttons between the two I have and it made it semi-better. I know its not shorting cause I have tried 25 RDAs on it and I have tested it. Oh well. I will probably buy the "fake" one by REM seeing as I cant find the EDS one in Canada.
I think we have to be careful with this - there are so many different stories out there on what went down between VL and Epic, but all we can say for sure was that both of them were partners on the original SMPL, and they ended things with bad blood between them. At worst, I think we can only call the REM version a "clone" if we also call the Russian 91 a clone. They came out of the same situation - a partner split ways and proceeded to create a new, only slightly altered version of the original product. In this case, I feel that "fake" or "counterfeit" - words that certainly can apply to some of the Chinese mods out there even though we still tend to call them "clones" - are too harsh of a term for what is going on here. We just can't say with certainty. Vapor Lair is saying one thing, and Epic is saying another. Considering VL is being fairly civil and restrained in what they are saying, while Epic is making a big vitriolic show of publicly calling the mods their former partner is selling fakes and counterfeits, I tend to lean more toward VL's side of things likely being the more accurate (especially because the people in one of my local shops, who I trust, talked with both Epic and VL personally over the phone, and they personally believe the VL story is the more reliable).
At the end of the day, the SMPL mod I have in my hand is one of the last "Epic" labeled ones that were sold on VL, after things broke down between them, and if it's a "fake" it's a damn good one. The switch looks exactly the same, down to the placement of the grooves that keep the switch from spinning (authentics have two of them, where even the best of the clones I've seen has gone to a multi-groove design with 4-6 of them. While the infighting between VL and Epic frustrates me, I still feel like both company's mods are great, and deserve to be treated as authentics, just like the consensus is that the Russian 91% is an authentic. Heck, they both are USA made devices, with unique designs, and with warranties.
I have a bad clone with the 2 grooves. The multiple grooves seem to work better for me.
I guess my point is mainly that the REM is not a SMPL v2, it's a REM. the R91 looks nothing like a Kayfun, the REM looks exactly like a SMPL. I guess vapor lair should have put their name on the Smpl if they were so involved that they can now have someone copy it and sell it as something else.
I can agree with the idea that Vapor Lair probably should have put their own trademark on the mods if they wanted to keep making them regardless of who actually makes the mod. And I actually like the fact that they have stopped calling their new mod the SMPL v2 - it's now the REMmod up on their site. On the argument that the REM is exactly like the SMPL, where the R91 was more differentiated than the Kayfun, I think this is valid, but the issue is that there's a lot more room for originality in tank design than in a battery tube. At the end of the day, a mech mod is just a tube of metal with a switch, and this is especially true with the SMPL-type designs. All mech mods are just theme-and-variations on the same basic idea. And I think it's not fair to say that Epic/SMPL get to permanently hold the rights to be the only company making no-top-cap/screw in switch designs, when we don't hold other styles of mechs to this standard (everyone and their mother it seems has a mech on the market that's a tube with a generic switch on the bottom, and a topcap with one thread to adjust the pin, and one to adjust for battery rattle, for an example). Maybe down the road if someone can make a mech that's enough of an improvement on what we use now, and sufficiently novel that they can score a patent on it, things might change, but for now, I don't think its reasonable to call the REMmod a counterfeit, fake, or even clone, as long as they put their own branding on it and have at least some small difference (the switch design, in this case, is subtly different).
Yep.
So, may as well buy the amod, not clone, counterfeit , or copy simple style mod for an 1/8th of the price I guess. I think the SIMPL is one of the very few uniquely designed tubes with a switch on it, so when someone copies it, it seems more like a copy to me and not just another tube with a cap and a switch. This of course is just my opinion and the way I feel about it, and I'm sticking with how I feel. Anything that looks like the SIMPL design is a copy of the SMPL design, including the AMOD (with no SMPL Branding) and the REM.
I actually agree with you on this - I do like the AMOD, and had I not been supporting my local shop, I was about to pull the trigger on one just because I do feel they are different enough from the original SMPL to be called their own mod (Although I wish they would call it something other than a SMPL, honestly - seems weird to take it one step by not using the manufacturer label, but still using the name of their mod). Really for me the decision to buy something like an AMOD vs. something like a VL/REM mod comes down to how much you personally value the warranty and the USA manufacturing (or if you're like me and want to support a shop in town that consistently sells some awesome authentics even when the local market has gone mostly all clone). I actually really like that more and more high quality cloners are starting to make no-label or altered-label clones. The part of cloning I take issue with isn't the design copying (because as I discussed above, what's really to copy? It's a tube and a switch!), but with the theft of company trademark. Sure, make a Stingray X-style mod, but go ahead and make the cutouts/engraving your own art, and put your own mod name on it!
Your atty's screw isn't sticking out beyond the threads, so you're shorting out your battery.
If you read through any of the SMPL threads you would have known this.
Most likely. Wouldn't the batteries be red hot as well in that situation?? Pull out the positive pin, and grind off a few of the negative threads just to be sure there is plenty of positive pin sticking out. Make sure it can't be pushed back in when tightening the button.
I did that to my Atlantis, and it works well, and safely on my SMPL now.
Not necessarily right away.
So instead of answering the question here, he posts a new thread asking the same questions. Dude should just get a VV mod with plenty of idiot lights, and stop trying to play with the big boy mods.
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