The made in America project.

[Lance_Wallen]

So,

I've set a personal goal, which you've probably caught snippets of in various threads where I've asked questions.

I'm a huge fan of the concept of "Made in America". I think we "used" to make the best stuff on earth, now we buy the best stuff on earth and a lot of times it's sorely lacking.

I set out to start making my own ecigarette over a year ago and managed to pull a few off. Mostly copper tube stuff, one hardwood frankenbox with a rebuildable atomizer built into it, all very ugly. The 510 versions used the "Modders" connectors from various sources which are, of course, chinese factory products.

I've picked up a hobby sized CNC machine and am in the process of building a mod from scratch. I'm making the 510 connector myself, the box, the button for my switch and the knob for my pot. The things I can't really control are:

The dna board and Charging Board. I don't think these are made in america but they're from an American company so, for now I'm willing to look over it a until later (see below)

The switch and pot.. bought em from spark fun to get me going. I'm not happy about it but it's dang near impossible to find small electronic components made in america. We just don't do that, so I try to buy from american companies at least.

The batteries... also, impossible to find an american made LiMN cell... I'll have to deal with it.

Anything I have any say over will be american made. I am planning to fix up a mechanical switch that I make myself in the near future but I'm focusing on the overall design first, making my own 510 connector has been sort of my focus lately. I want it to be all the things the chinese versions arent. Durable, quality material, consistant.

I'd love to hear from anyone that has any sources for american made switches/potentiometers, or anyone that has info on where the actual Evolv stuff is manufactured and if they know of an american source for power regulation in a similar form factor. I've scoured the internets and can't find anything that would do the same thing as effeciently and in the same size package.

So, what it boils down to is I'm making my own project box and connector... not spectacular but at least it'll be 'mostly' made in american. =\

-Lance

 

[asdaq]

My mods are Made in Poland and America, but there are pieces that are from the People's Republic as it is just too hard to escape for the little stuff without wasting your time or money. But, I'm down to zero ecig parts Made in China.

 

[slimest]

Hahaha! My atomizers made in Russia with support from Russia, Germany, Poland, USA etc. Proudly made with the community help

 

[perlionsmitnick]

From what I've seen it's hard to beat the machining skills I've seen coming out of Russia, Croatia, Poland etc. Anything totally American made is going to be cost prohibitive.

I am all for American Pride, but what is more wonderful is that worldwide community efforts can now be possible for everyone with these types of forums. Ten years ago it wasn't possible.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

I'm not doubting the craft capability of anyone... I'm more judging the janky crap I see coming out of china. It's like the lava tube... is it a decent product? sure, it's a rip off provari. It doesn't function as well, isn't as solid, but also doesn't cost quite as much. that's what happens... they take a winning concept, make it as cheap as possible in multiple regards and then sell it and we buy it cause it's cheaper. A craftsman is a craftsman regardless of country, I imagine there's some chinese "mods" made by individuals that are outstanding, but the mass produced factory stuff is questionable.

I don't want this to be a "Other countries suck" thread. I'm turning it into my build thread for the next iteration of the mod I'm making... so in closing on that topic: My pride and my desire for a product made with quality in my home country is not intended to denigrate other countries or their capabilities. It's simply pride in myself, my home, and our capabilities.

Moving on from that... I'm going to use this as my build thread for the newest project.

Requirements/Plans:

Power regulated: will use the DNA board.
Rechargeable via Micro USB: Evolv sells a charging circuit for the DNA.
1600mAh+: Will either use 2 parallel 18350s or a single 18650 (IMR obviously)
No dependance on cartomizers/atomizers: Building a RBA into the mod.
Easy maintenance: ???? re-thought tank design for RBA, possibly rethought coil assembly, use stainless steel where possible.
Pretty: Will build out of delrin initially, hardwoods later.
Compact: will engineer out as much void space or excess material possible to fit all components.

(sorry if that's dry, I do this before any project at work and fill in the question marks as I go).

 

[Skyway]

The actual circuitry that is put into a DNA, I agree, not sure. The DNA, Kick and circuitry in the Darwin are all manufactured by Dimension Engineering out of Akron Ohio. When I looked them up on google maps, they are only about 30 mins or so from where Evolv is located. I used to have a contact there name Alex but he is no longer working there. That is how I got a beta test Kick last year.
They make a lot of stuff for robotic uses and such.
I would love to do what you are working on. How much did the Hobby CNC machine cost you? I was thinking of doing something similar.
I have a guy that is close to me that can mill out parts but I am not sure how well he could do the small stuff like connectors and such. He mostly does pipe work for Motorcycles.

Edit* one thing to think about. Do some research on SS as some of it is not good for us. Zen~ gets a deal on his implant grade SS and that is why he can make make the Zenesis mods at the prices he does.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

I'm not going iwth stainless, it's too hard to work on my small machine. I'm probably going to be going all delrin at first then work up to some fancy hardwoods.

As for the CNC machine, the kit from Sherline that I got ran around $4000, the catch is the software. CAD/CAM software can run another 2-10k depending on what you need to do.

 

[darren molnar]

So who made your cnc machine Sorry, just a gentle poke, no harm intended. Looking forward to your project. I don't like the standard 510 connectors either, I think they could be designed safer and more secure.
But if your making a rba mod, why bother with 510s at all?

 

[asdaq]

So who made your cnc machine Sorry, just a gentle poke, no harm intended. Looking forward to your project. I don't like the standard 510 connectors either, I think they could be designed safer and more secure.
But if your making a rba mod, why bother with 510s at all?

Sherline made it:

Domestic Content—Every part we can possibly make ourselves, we make and assemble in our own factory in the USA from castings, extrusions and billet stock that is produced in the USA . For those parts we cannot make ourselves we make every effort to purchase first from a US company. Our goal is to assure that Sherline tools contain as high a percentage of US content as is humanly possible in today's global marketplace. We support the American worker and economy.

Almost brings a tear to my eye, as does their 'dated' website layout.

Lance, 4 grand?? I had a peek before and figured $1000 plus a couple of hundred in stepper motors, but wow! You sure get serious with your toys.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

What Asdaq said. That's why I own a sherline and not another slightly cheaper CNC I could have gotten from china.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

Yeah... well... I've been wanting one for years. I'm hoping I can do some odd projects and sell some stuff I make eventually to pay it off, but ultimately I don't care. I just wanted a CNC machine and this was the best one for the price and one of the only ones with as much effort to be "american made" out there in general.

Sherline made it: Almost brings a tear to my eye, as does their 'dated' website layout.

Lance, 4 grand?? I had a peek before and figured $1000 plus a couple of hundred in stepper motors, but wow! You sure get serious with your toys.

 

[Switched]

Wow! 4Gs I'm with asdaq on that one.

When I viewed the site I thought they had relatively reasonable pricing, mind you I didn't delve into building a system. Considering the limitations you are faced with or explained to us, it is in all honesty a little pricey whether made in America or not.

I had the same vision you had when starting out, make the product pay for the equipment. The reality is I now have a small scale machine shop and I am no where near breaking even. OTOH I am left with a machine shop which permits me a great deal of flexibility wrt manufacturing what I need outside of this industry, not a bad trade off actually. The tooling I acquired in the past year and half has improved productivity 10 fold, albeit the business paid for my equipment, it is still an out of pocket expense.

I recently looked into laser engravers and quickly dismissed that idea, it is cost effective for me to share with the local economy than to own one.

In closing it all depends where you are headed but I believe a word of caution is required here, as you have come face to face it's limitations. Please don't be overly optimistic with its capabilities, it is not a production machine. I understand my own limitations wrt production #s, but I can still pump out qty 50 x 510 connectors complete with insulators and centre pins in a day manufactured from 3/8 delrin and brass. I'm still fuzzy wrt why you chose threaded rod for your connectors, what have I overlooked?

 

[Salt&PePPer]

How much did that CNC Mill cost you?

I'm looking into getting a Bench Top / Hobby Metal Lathe since you can Turn you Mods. And they are far more cheaper than a CNC Mill - so it's cheaper for me to get into one as opposed to the Mill.

If I had a mill I would be doing a lot of work similar to Reo stuff, since that is how those boxes are made!

Awesome, you are living one of my dreams at the moment.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

well, the 4k was a package not just 'the mill' and it's not easy to find an actual CNC mill for anywhere near that price, made in america or otherwise. I got the mill itself, stepper motors, upgraded the lead screws and tables, controller and computer, 4th axis rotary table, a variety of tools, 2 table risers, a mill vise, step block hold down set, collet set, 2 end mill holders, a drill chuck holder and a variety of other doodads.

Basically I had a turn key 4th axis CNC in the box, all I bought was the computer and I started working. I've since purchased a few special end mills and other various bits but the 4k bought the full system. There are a few CNC routers out there that are a little cheaper but you don't get any of hte accessories, no 4th axis or in a few cases where they have similar features they lack work envelope.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

And in this episode I complain about size constraints and batteries.

I really don't want my mod to be enormous...

I finished the design on the RBAT and insert to connect it to the case and started working on arranging components (DNA board, charging board, batteries, switch, pot, etc) trying to figure out the most effecient way to put it all together without making it overly huge.

Ignoring components like the board, switch, pot, charging circuit... just the RBA and battery side by side with enough sidewall in the material that it won't be flimsy the mod ends up being ~70mm tall and 50mm wide. That strikes me as WAY too big. back to researching high drain LiPo batteries ><

 

[rusalka]

I'm not going iwth stainless, it's too hard to work on my small machine. I'm probably going to be going all delrin at first then work up to some fancy hardwoods.

As for the CNC machine, the kit from Sherline that I got ran around $4000, the catch is the software. CAD/CAM software can run another 2-10k depending on what you need to do.

Found something for you: LinuxCNC.org

 

[Lance_Wallen]

oh, it's not the Controller software I need. I'm running EMC2 (linux CNC) on the box. that came with the machine It's the CAD/CAM that costs a fist full of money.

But thank you very much

 

[Lance_Wallen]

RANT ALERT

So I got all excited about a hobby license for some CAM software that supports "multi axis and full 4th axis machining" listed with full continous 4th axis and indexed 4th axis machining capabilities. Knowing this I went ahead and modeled one of my parts assuming I could do that.

fast forward to last night when I start trying to generate tool paths... apparently when my software programs "rotational" or "continuous" 4th axis it no longer has any capability for Y axis movement. How is it 4 axis machining if you're just sacrificing Y for A? that's still 3 @#$% axis! The only way to get all 4 axis is if I run indexed and then I can't do turning cuts for things like o-ring grooves, etc. I'm very cranky this morning.

Gonna have to tweek my design or run multiple operations to get my part cut now which is just going to make it take that much longer to produce ><

 

[Skyway]

That sucks. I hope it isn't a limitation with either the software or hardware.

 

[Lance_Wallen]

It's the software. If I go indexed I can keep my Y axis but the A axis is just an indexing action so cut on XYZ, rotate, cut XYZ, rotate, etc. In rotational cutting or "real" 4th axis I could cut while it rotated sort of like a really slow lathe. The part I'm working on really needs both and the loss of the Y makes it almost impossible to do the part in a single job even with multiple operations. It'll have to be 2 separate jobs with 2 operations each.