I've been reading ECF for some time now, so I figured I'd try a post. So I'll get straight to the point, here is how I make my 5 volt USB passthrough, which I've dubbed the "Lip Ripper:"
Materials:
1 sealed prewired 510 battery connector:
Prewired 510 Battery Connector, Sealed
1 Horn style switch:
Horn style switch -- Black
1 Reducing tee (1/2" x 1/2" x 3/4"):
1 Gorilla epoxy glue:
...and all this:
The USB cable is from an old computer mouse. I'm pretty sure you can use any USB cable for this project. Just keep in mind, most USB cables (if not all) are going to have more than two wires coming out of the end, and you'll want use the red and black colored wires. So, you can just ignore any wires with colors other than red and black. In the pic above, the long black thing and black rectangular thing next to it are both heat shrink tubing. The solder wire is LEAD FREE. Oh yeah, you'll also need a rubberband and electrical tape.
Step 1: You'll need to cut the 3/4" tube off of the reducing tee. This is the part with the larger hole coming out of the middle of the reducing tee. You can do this with a hacksaw. I would sand it down after cutting it until it is smooth. If this doesn't make sense, check out this pic of a reducing tee:
Now keep that pic in mind and compare it to the upcoming pics in this post.
Step 2: Use the Gorilla epoxy glue to glue the prewired sealed 510 battery connector inside one of the 1/2" tubes on the reducing tee. Run the wires out of the 3/4" hole. Should look like this:
Step 3: Run your USB cable through the opposite 1/2" tube so that the red and black wires come up through the 3/4" hole, right along side the red and black wires from the prewired sealed 510 battery connector. Twist the black wires together and add small cuts of heat shrink tubing to the red wires as seen below:
Step 4: Attach the horn style switch to the red wires:
Step 5: Solder the black wires together. Solder the red wires to the connectors on the horn style switch. Add heat shrink tubing to the soldered black wires. Shrink the heat shrink tubing by holding a lighter up to it:
Step 6: Use the gorilla epoxy glue to glue the horn style switch in place:
Step 7: Through the end that the USB cable enters the reducing tee, pump hot glue in, and do it fast. Fill it up until you can't get anymore in there. I like to put extra hot glue around the USB cable right where it enters the reducing tee for extra hold. Remove the rubber band:
Step 8: Add electric tape and the large heat shrink tubing to make it look like this:
I've made several of these and they are AMAZING. If you try this, please let me know your thoughts!
Materials:
1 sealed prewired 510 battery connector:
Prewired 510 Battery Connector, Sealed
1 Horn style switch:
Horn style switch -- Black
1 Reducing tee (1/2" x 1/2" x 3/4"):
1 Gorilla epoxy glue:
...and all this:
The USB cable is from an old computer mouse. I'm pretty sure you can use any USB cable for this project. Just keep in mind, most USB cables (if not all) are going to have more than two wires coming out of the end, and you'll want use the red and black colored wires. So, you can just ignore any wires with colors other than red and black. In the pic above, the long black thing and black rectangular thing next to it are both heat shrink tubing. The solder wire is LEAD FREE. Oh yeah, you'll also need a rubberband and electrical tape.
Step 1: You'll need to cut the 3/4" tube off of the reducing tee. This is the part with the larger hole coming out of the middle of the reducing tee. You can do this with a hacksaw. I would sand it down after cutting it until it is smooth. If this doesn't make sense, check out this pic of a reducing tee:
Now keep that pic in mind and compare it to the upcoming pics in this post.
Step 2: Use the Gorilla epoxy glue to glue the prewired sealed 510 battery connector inside one of the 1/2" tubes on the reducing tee. Run the wires out of the 3/4" hole. Should look like this:
Step 3: Run your USB cable through the opposite 1/2" tube so that the red and black wires come up through the 3/4" hole, right along side the red and black wires from the prewired sealed 510 battery connector. Twist the black wires together and add small cuts of heat shrink tubing to the red wires as seen below:
Step 4: Attach the horn style switch to the red wires:
Step 5: Solder the black wires together. Solder the red wires to the connectors on the horn style switch. Add heat shrink tubing to the soldered black wires. Shrink the heat shrink tubing by holding a lighter up to it:
Step 6: Use the gorilla epoxy glue to glue the horn style switch in place:
Step 7: Through the end that the USB cable enters the reducing tee, pump hot glue in, and do it fast. Fill it up until you can't get anymore in there. I like to put extra hot glue around the USB cable right where it enters the reducing tee for extra hold. Remove the rubber band:
Step 8: Add electric tape and the large heat shrink tubing to make it look like this:
I've made several of these and they are AMAZING. If you try this, please let me know your thoughts!
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