The birth of an addiction.

[VpnDrgn]

This is my first attempt at a mod so be kind.

Like vaping, it cost me a little more than I wanted just to get the tools.

Here are my parts, only about $22 and it'll have a charging port.

A little drilling, a little cussing, some trimming, more cussing, everything fit.

Soldered in the wires for vaping circuit first. ( a lot more cussing )
That cussed soldering iron is too long.
I used the new connector that MV carries, it has the locking ring.
Don't know if it's because of my first time soldering or if that ring is bad for soldering.

After making sure it actually worked, I soldered in the wires for the charging port.
Durned stupid cat was giving me some funny looks while I stomped
around the house sucking on burnt fingers. Remember that long soldering iron,
got reminded the hard way that that sucker is hot the whole length of tube
when I tried to choke up on my grip.

More to come...

 

[Worldgod]

Looks great so far Vpn!

 

[VpnDrgn]

Moved on to the charging circuit next. They use some mighty thin wires in them
things. They broke off while I tried to solder to dc jack. Had to get the IT guy at
work to re-solder leads to circuit board.

Got it working finally.

Here is the connector.

Only place to put the dc jack, so won't be using tank on this bad boy.

After much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, here it is.

 

[Iluvthearmy]

Man one of these days I'll get that wild hair and do like you. Just Throw my middle finger up at the expensive mass producing vendors and scald my way to a homemade mod too....matter of fact, I'm on a 4 day weekend.thanks for the inspiration. Nice looking piece by the way.

 

[VpnDrgn]

Thank You, except for the charging port it is about as basic as it gets, but I'm proud of it.
Now that I know I can solder, the plug in VV box is probably next.

 

[Iluvthearmy]

I did see some sort of basic voltage switch at madvapes a while back. Did you have something homemade planned? Or you just gonna wing it? Keep the thread updated man, I'd like to see how you do the VV.

 

[Harrygrowth]

Would'ya do with the neg contact on the connector?

 

[VpnDrgn]

I did see some sort of basic voltage switch at madvapes a while back. Did you have something homemade planned? Or you just gonna wing it? Keep the thread updated man, I'd like to see how you do the VV.

Did you see scubabatdan's VV pass thru for his car? I am going to do the exact same thing except use a 12V 3amp transformer.
You can get them real cheap on Amazon. See my thread about 4.2V pass thru.http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modders-forum/175604-4-2v-pass-thru.html#post2938332

Would'ya do with the neg contact on the connector?

It's hard to see because it's a black wire, but I put the negative end of batt next to connector so it's just a
short piece of wire from batt clip to connector.

 

[Iluvthearmy]

No I haven't seen it, I'm really new to the mod scene but you can bet by tomorrow I'll have seen it. Thanks.

 

[breaktru]

I used the new connector that MV carries, it has the locking ring.
Don't know if it's because of my first time soldering or if that ring is bad for soldering.

Vpn, I used the same Madvapes threaded connector on my .44 mini mod. I used a large eye lid for the ground connection between the nut and the box base.

 

[TomCatt]

Cool Vpn! I did my first box mod two weeks ago. I used ThePuck's design. (If interested click on the link in my signature.) And am working on more! I've been bitten by the mod bug.

 

[Stownz]

Nice work, im jealous !

 

[VpnDrgn]

Vpn, I used the same Madvapes threaded connector on my .44 mini mod. I used a large eye lid for the ground connection between the nut and the box base.

I had seen that, but I couldn't find one the right size.

 

[asdaq]

Tru, nice touch, I had missed that part amongst all the other eye candy.

Vpn, nice 1st, Gummy has a name for your affliction. I understand the frustration you felt, but my favorite is dropping some tiny part on the floor when modding. I guess soldering the negative to the inside of the connector before assembling is the intended way to use these, but thankfully I'm usually mounting in metal with a common ground and soldering it in anyway.

 

[breaktru]

my favorite is dropping some tiny part on the floor when modding.

This happens to me all the time asdaq8-o I've learned to have two of everything on hand. I have so much crap laying around my garage floor where my bench is that once it hits the floor it's lost. The worst is when you're making a part, filing and fitting it to a dimension and then bam, falls to the abyss, I mean floor.

 

[VpnDrgn]

I guess soldering the negative to the inside of the connector before assembling is the intended way to use these, but thankfully I'm usually mounting in metal with a common ground and soldering it in anyway.

I had a regular brass connector and one of the threaded connectors, IMO I think the threaded connectors are better. I could have just about threaded it in the box but the plastic was too soft to hold a thread. If you are working in metal, you could definitely thread these in. I think part of my problem was the locking ring wasn't as tight as it should have been. It had just enough wiggle to make soldering difficult. I pulled that wire off, tightened everything up, and had better luck re-soldering the wire back on.

 

[VpnDrgn]

I had some concerns over the charging circuit. For some reason you don't see it very often in box mods and for
single cell mods it is very easy to add. After seeing a multi cell charger and 2 cell batt packs I thought you
could add built in charging using the same concept as I did in this mod. The charger is not expensive though
the batt packs are about 30% more.

Of course, after seeing Scubabatdan prove the concept of the VV PT, I don't expect I'll ever test that out
because I don't think I'd really want a VV box for carrying around.

The box has been through its first charging cycle and nothing blew up or even got warm. It took a little over 3
hours to charge, which was pretty much what I expected. I expect next time though I'll use a batt connector
and dc jack on a short length of wires so I don't have to try to mod the usb charger.

Vape on People

 

[Para]

I understand the frustration you felt, but my favorite is dropping some tiny part on the floor when modding.

Can't count how many hours I spent on my hands and knees looking for a spring or screw that flew out of my tweezers. Being a watchmaker you HAVE to find THAT part or you're screwed......

Best tip I can give is:
Check your clothes and where you sit first...if you aren't wearing the part, it's on the floor.
Turn out the lights, get on the floor with a flashlight, and work the floor in a grid search. Then, you concentrate only on the area the flashlight illuminates and won't miss seeing what you need to see.

Watch where you step so you don't wear it on the bottom of your shoes.

 

[asdaq]

I always try to get a glimpse of which direction it is heading, and then listen real hard for how far it is going. Working in the produce department during college honed my skills for catching falling objects, but with tiny stuff that's pretty fruitless.

 

[architectus]

American Science & Surplus : Tools Magnetic Widget Keeper it a rather handy thing to have when you are dealing with small parts got to love magnets , plus the site is worth looking over for mod bits and pieces