That’s not a screwdriver mod…THIS IS A SCREWDRIVER MOD!

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farrar01

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I once posted that “Necessity is the mother of all modding”. I was wrong. Sometimes you build mods just because it’s there to be built. They just sort of present themselves and say “Here I am, come build me”. This is just such a mod.

I was out in my shop cleaning out an old tool box and came across this old Skill Twist electric screwdriver. It was in a toolbox that had gotten a good dose of Washington winter weather in the back of my pick up (usually referred to as torrential rain). It would not work and had lots of rust and such on it. I was going to just toss it but decided to see if I could fix it instead. That happened long before I had ever heard of an e cigarette.
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I came across it in the shop some months later and happened to notice that it had a perfect battery for my stock 901 atty, 3.6 volts and it had its own recharging station. I also happened to notice that it was indeed a screwdriver. The large light bulb above my head came on! HEY, I can mod this sucker!

I tore it apart and found that it had an awesome heavy duty double sided momentary “on” switch in it. No worries about that one burning out! I also noticed that it had all the room in the world inside it after I removed its motor and transmission. I figure it will hold at least 2 extra attys (carts attached) and a bottle of juice with no problem at all in the motor compartment. Maybe I will get around to modding that section later along with adding the requisite LEDs that should be present on every great mod. It won’t be a problem there is a lot of room in there.

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It was an easy mod to do really. I just removed the 4 screws from the screwdriver body, popped the case open, and removed everything that was metal from the switch to the tip. Soldered on a black and a red wire to either side of the switch contacts and attached the other end of the wires to a size N coaxial DC power jack w/switch that you can get from Radio Shack (catalog #: 274-1583).

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Then I cut a small circular piece of plastic out of a peanut butter jar lid about an inch around +/-. In the center of the disc I drilled a hole big enough to accept the RCA jack. I used a little J B Weld to hold the RCA jack on the plastic disk. I would have used the supplied set nut to hold the RCA jack but that does not leave enough shank for the atty to make contact with the jacks center pin. Fortunately for me, up at the tip of the case is a slot that was molded into the inside plastic on both halves of the case that the plastic disk slides right into.

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I put the two halves of the case back together, attached my 901 atty to the RCA jack, reinstalled the battery and gave it a vape!
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Holy Cow, what a cloud! This thing kicked up such a cloud of vapor it nearly choked me on the first hit! With this much battery I really don’t know when I will have to recharge it.

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I am on my 4th cart of juice and it is still going strong. Every hit is exactly the same as the first. This is what an e cig should be like! It beats my DSE 905 hands down.

Pros to this mod:
Makes an awesome amount of vapor
Won’t have to worry about the battery going dead very often.
It comes with a matched battery & charger.
It’s very comfortable to use while watching TV in my recliner because of its length and big switch.
Because of the case design it doesn’t roll around on the table.
It’s nearly indestructible.
It is a POWER TOOL nuff said.

Cons to this mod.
It’s not really practical for travel as it is pretty big.
It is very thirsty for e juice.
 

gemini2281

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Jan 29, 2010
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Several of my family members worked for Skil years ago. My mom worked in the reconditioning center repairing returned tools. When it was deemed that a tool would cost too much to repair she would bring them home since I loved to tinker with pretty much anything. At one point I had a box with about 20 of the Twists in it. I'm gonna see if I can't find it and throw some of these together.
 

farrar01

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Wow, After reading the new announcement (see post here) about mods blowing up I think I will stick to using my own rig rather than buying a fancy store bought unit. It isn't pretty or fancy but at least I know how this unit is built and what its made from. I also know that the case is not going to short out the batteries.
 

farrar01

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Still going strong. I would guess that I have probably put 6 or 8 carts through it now. Had to stop vapin for awhile after taking the pick of me using it. Its hard to vape and take your own picture. I used up a whole cart before I got it right. A little to much nic at one sitting. lol Should have cut my 18 mg down or used some zero.
 

farrar01

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Jan 31, 2010
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I think I am going to stay away from the metal shelled mods. I have had the unfortunate experience of having Li-ion batts go nova on me. It is not much fun. Better to surround them with something that cannot conduct. That way if the shrink wrap on the bats ever gets compromised it isn't going to be a catastrophic event. Looking at some of these burned up rigs, I think that may be part of what is happening. Another part to watch is the RCA connectors like the one used in the mod on this thread. The connectors on the back can slide around and come into contact with each other or if you are using a solder bridge to defeat the switch (inside the RCA jack) you can short the 2 pins out that way. Probably should have included this in my original post now that I think back on it.
 
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