The new caravela clone sigelei 8w

[State O' Flux]

The switch is definitely a step down from my Chi You clone, as it has a lot of wobble to it. I did the o-ring from a CE4 trick to reduce the throw, are there any other tricks to make it better?

Yes... there is a way to remove (most) of the radial button clearance - even for those with no ability or equipment to make or modify a button assembly, to produce a minimal, yet still smooth clearance.

This is a variable... and, depending on your individual button, it may, or may not work. To start, you need some thin wall shrink tubing. You can find shrink tubing in a number of materials, shrink rates and reduced thicknesses.
That's the key to this... what is the reduced wall thickness of the shrink tubing. Play with it. ;-)

In this instance, the button shaft on my sigelei 19e measures 7.98mm... or, to keep it simple, 8.0mm. For non-metric troglodytes - 0.314". The collar or bushing for the button is 8.48mm... simple - 8.50mm. Trogs - .335".

So... we have a 0.50mm/.020" radial clearance. Man... that is quite a bit, and, because the plastic bushing is so short, the support to prevent radial cocking rests more on the clearance of the locking collar than on the bushing.... which is 19.90mm/.785" minus 19.50mm/.770"... for a clearance of 0.40mm/.015". Oddly, less than the shaft clearance.

Numbers:

• Shaft radial clearance = 0.50mm/.020" This is the clearance we want to reduce.
• Button radial clearance = 0.40mm/.015" We'll leave this alone for now... but may look at ways to "tune" this as well in the future.

We want to reduce this to something that will still allow free, smooth movement in the collar bore, but with minimal eccentricity and radial play.

I found some medical grade, Teflon shrink tubing that when reduced has a wall thickness of 0.11mm/.0045"... which gives me a new radial clearance of .28mm/.011". A bit more than half my starting clearance.

• 0.50mm/.020" button radial clearance minus (0.11mm/.0045 X 2 shrink tubing) = .28mm/.011" new button radial clearance.

I'm sure if I looked, I could find a shrink tube that would reduce clearance even less... but this is just an example of what you can do. The button, due to the self-lubricating properties of Teflon and the substantially reduced clearance is now both smooth and nearly radial play free. A side benefit is that it's absolutely silent.

Like I said, find some shrink tube and play with it. You want at least 0.04mm/.002"... and probably more in the range of 0.12mm/.005" and up.

That's it.

 

[zipflint]

That's exactly what I was using on mine.
Wear gloves.

The other metal polish thing I've tried is Cape Cod Polishing Cloths.
Amazon.com: Mtl Polishing Cloth Kit: Home & Kitchen

Both work great. But I'm no expert.

Awesome, I have a K100 so I'll try that. Also, what do you guys think of this stuff for polishing it:


Amazon.com: Simichrome Metal Polish: Automotive

 

[Scope666]

That's exactly what I was using on mine.
Wear gloves.

The other metal polish thing I've tried is Cape Cod Polishing Cloths.
Amazon.com: Mtl Polishing Cloth Kit: Home & Kitchen

Both work great. But I'm no expert.

Ah, the Cape Cod, that's the stuff Phil loves in his recent videos.

 

[zipflint]

Yep, that's where I heard/saw it first. It DOES work pretty great!
Be sure to have a clean towel/rag or something to wipe it down with after
you're done with the polish stuff. I've got a load of micro-fiber towels that I use
for these kinds of things.

Ah, the Cape Cod, that's the stuff Phil loves in his recent videos.

 

[Scope666]

Yep, that's where I heard/saw it first. It DOES work pretty great!
Be sure to have a clean towel/rag or something to wipe it down with after
you're done with the polish stuff. I've got a load of micro-fiber towels that I use
for these kinds of things.

Just ordered some ... I do have some micro-fiber towels laying around so should be good there.

 

[Mozzer]

So just got my 8W in the mail today ... quite beautiful to behold.

The switch is definitely a step down from my Chi You clone, as it has a lot of wobble to it. I did the o-ring from a CE4 trick to reduce the throw, are there any other tricks to make it better?

Also, what are you guys using to polish yours? I was thinking of ordering a buffing wheel on the Dremel, but wasn't sure what kind of polish to use.

Thanks!

I use Sharkhide. I did some progressive sanding to get them to mirror. Now just a periodic, very thin, layer of Sharkhide, and buff off with microfiber.

 

[Scope666]

I use Sharkhide. I did some progressive sanding to get them to mirror. Now just a periodic, very thin, layer of Sharkhide, and buff off with microfiber.

Is that a liquid or the actual hide of a shark? ;-)

 

[Mozzer]

Is that a liquid or the actual hide of a shark? ;-)

haha! yah, I find thresher shark hide works best. Even better if they're still alive. They do most of the work for you.

 

[Scope666]

haha! yah, I find thresher shark hide works best. Even better if they're still alive. They do most of the work for you.

Yeah! Way less elbow grease ;-)

 

[Zappa00]

Yea I'm really liking the 8W, but I think I might actually get a slightly stronger spring so it doesn't have as much wobble.

I took out the spring and stretched it a little. It took out enough of the wobble but is still easy to push.

 

[djslik]

I actually polished all the internals of the switch to a mirror finish. After I did that there was no binding,grinding,resistance nothing. Before that I had a gritty scratchy binding switch. Now I can press at all angles with no binding, the only time the wobble matters is when tail standing and it's a minor annoyance. It actually feels like the wobble is gone when in use but I think that is more a result of no more binding which makes the wobble dreadfully apparent.

 

[Scope666]

Ugh, I had the WORST time with this thing last night, ending up in a situation where I need a new switch, and the little tube that you use for a Kick or 18500. This makes absolutely no sense to me, but for some reason, last night the switch suddenly decided that it would not thread into the smallest extension tube. It would thread half way, and then just stop. What doesn't make any sense is both the male and female ends of the problem connection threaded fine to anything else, they just wouldn't thread to each other. So like an idiot, I tried to thread through the tightness, and ended up with the switch completely frozen into the extension. Continuing to be an idiot, I tried to separate the two by wrapping each piece with one of those rubber jar openers, and using pliers to get more leverage. End result, both pieces are completely destroyed.

Looks like I can order a new switch for $10, but not sure what to do about the little extension, it's still frozen to the old switch. ...

 

[djslik]

Mine did not come with a kick tube only 18350 and 18650, where did you get the tube. Looks like you cross threaded and probably both switch and extension tube are toast, unless you chase threads.

But that extension does not have the same finish as the main tube, is it after market?

Torch might help, pb blaster, wrap in leather and clamp body in bench vice, then grab vice grips and wrench off.

 

[Scope666]

Mine did not come with a kick tube only 18350 and 18650, where did you get the tube. Looks like you cross threaded and probably both switch and extension tube are toast, unless you chase threads.

But that extension does not have the same finish as the main tube, is it after market?

Torch might help, pb blaster, wrap in leather and clamp body in bench vice, then grab vice grips and wrench off.

It came in the box... it was ordered from Vaportekusa.com. I managed to separate the bad switch from the kick extension, I should be able to salvage the extension. It has a couple of light scratches that I hopefully can sand out. Switch is definitely toast, but it does look like I can order another one. I did notice that you never see this extension in any of the pics. In person the finish does match, and it threads pretty much everywhere else, just doesn't like to have that switch threaded into it. (for example it has no problem threading onto the top 510 piece.)

 

[doubliner837342]

Mine did not come with a kick tube

Me too. Sure would be nice to have that kick tube. I looked on vaportek's site and couldn't find anything specifically about a kick tube for the 8w. I'd love to get one and a smaller top cap sans ego threading to make for an even more compact piece.


Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[djslik]

Got mine from vaportek also about two weeks ago no kick tube. That's probably why it didn't thread. Mine came in black box, separate black box contained 18350 tube.

 

[xtwosm0kesx]

Ugh, I had the WORST time with this thing last night, ending up in a situation where I need a new switch, and the little tube that you use for a Kick or 18500. This makes absolutely no sense to me, but for some reason, last night the switch suddenly decided that it would not thread into the smallest extension tube. It would thread half way, and then just stop. What doesn't make any sense is both the male and female ends of the problem connection threaded fine to anything else, they just wouldn't thread to each other. So like an idiot, I tried to thread through the tightness, and ended up with the switch completely frozen into the extension. Continuing to be an idiot, I tried to separate the two by wrapping each piece with one of those rubber jar openers, and using pliers to get more leverage. End result, both pieces are completely destroyed.

Looks like I can order a new switch for $10, but not sure what to do about the little extension, it's still frozen to the old switch. ...

Wow that really sucks, i almost feel like that kick tube isn't meant for the mod (makes no sense) and they sent ya the wrong thing or something.

Don't feel bad though, i tore my button up pretty good last night while opening beer bottles with it in a drunken stupor.

 

[Scope666]

Got men from vaportek also about two weeks ago no kick tube. That's probably why it didn't thread. Mine came in black box, separate black box contained 18350 tube.

Hmmmmm, well that is peculiar ... I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what's up. Thanks for letting me know!

 

[Scope666]

Wow that really sucks, i almost feel like that kick tube isn't meant for the mod (makes no sense) and they sent ya the wrong thing or something.

Don't feel bad though, i tore my button up pretty good last night while opening beer bottles with it in a drunken stupor.

Thanks brother, that does make me feel a tad bit better ... at least I'm not alone.

 

[djslik]

Good things are:
1. It's a $40 clone at worst not a $200 Caravela
2. You didn't destroy the main tube so you're actually lucky there
3. You are only out like $10 bucks for a switch

Cheer up man we all screw things up from time to time, that's why I buy clones so I won't cry as hard when I do F things up haha. I screwed up on my EHPro EA Clone but luckily I was able to fix my mistakes so I know how you feel.