Vaping Bad's 1st DNA30, small 18650 box mod

[VapingBad]

Here is my first (and last unless it breaks or gets lost) DNA30 Mod that I completed about six weeks ago, actually the first Mod I have made. I made a list of priorities and used this to make design choices or compromises during construction.

The finished size is 75.4 mm x 38 mm x 21.9 mm or 62,748 cubic mm which is much smaller than the Hana Modz DNA V3 which is 87.1 mm x 49.3 mm x 25.4 mm or 109,068 cubic mm making that 73.8 % larger, or mine 42.5 % smaller.


My priorities:
1. Easily swappable battery without the use of tools
2. Compact, especially the height (I really don’t like big or heavy e-Cigs)
3. Sturdy
4. Elegant: All controls, screen and charger in-line on one side symmetrically spaced and 23 mm tank not hanging over the edge. Up & down buttons spaced vertically.
5. Safe: All bits secured and venting
6. Battery life and high power capability
7. Cost
8. USB Charging, very low priority, must be on the control side, bottom is no go

So 1 & 6 make the 1st decision to go for Sony VTC4 18650.

From #2 Compact we start from the biggest constraints, the Sony VTC4 18650 is 65 mm long and 18.25 mm diameter gives a start on internal dimensions of height 66 mm plus terminals (70 mm as a working figure) and depth of 19 mm.

Width: The DNA PCB is less than 19 mm wide, so (with on board fire switch removed) about 8mm for the PCB and 1.5 mm for the display gives a min of 10 mm + 19 mm for the battery = 29 mm. If we want the charging board its 15.4 mm from exterior minimum. But we want the centre of the 510 at least 11.5 mm from any side and as this is 8.5 mm diameter that’s 15.75 mm from the side (external), so that’s enough to fit the charging board if the side is either thin or we cut the inside. So now we have min of 16 mm + 19 mm (battery) = 35 mm + the thickness of the side wall by the battery.

So it is possible to pack it into 70 mm x 35 mm x 19 mm internal. Now we need to find a box, I looked at hundreds and could not find any close. I went through lots of ideas on paper and the only way is to manufacture a box (without any machining tools). I settled on making the sides (inc top & bottom) from rectangular extruded aluminium the smallest that I could find on eBay was 3” x 1.5” by 1/8” thick, that’s 76 mm x 38 mm by 3.3 mm thick. The internal space is 69 mm x 31.4 and the clearance for the 510 needs is min of 16 mm – 3.3 mm = 12.7 (say 13 mm) than add 19 mm for the battery = 32 mm internal, so we need to widen by removing metal from the internal walls as the aluminium is thick it should be fine. I used 1:1 scale drawing on 1 mm graph paper and tracing paper to check.

Then a lot of time spent cutting, sanding, drilling and gluing, the highest quality and most advanced tool I have for this was a Dremel. Filling off interior thickness of the box took ages, whish I had a machine shop or even a small power file. I messed up fitting the 510, the hole was too tight and I bent the top and sides as well as popping off the side I had epoxied on. I managed to bend it back almost to the intended shape with G-clamps, but it’s not perfect and I haven’t got enough spare time starting again. I also got the screen dimensions wrong so the battery gauge is only partially visible if you hold at an angle. This is not a problem for me, but to get the full screen visible you would maybe need to junk the USB charger in order to space the buttons nicely (I have only used the charging once to check it workrd in six weeks). I used 1.2 mm sheet aluminium for the sides held by interference fit, plan to add magnets to hold the side on in the future but its fine as is for now. The up and down buttons are recessed enough that I don’t need to use the lock feature.

Materials:
I used high temperature 20 wire for the battery and output, Stealth-Vape BB buttons and cut down 510, 1 mm thick copper hot-spring from ivapour-elixir.co.uk and 8 mm PCB to make the battery terminals. Also used Epoxy glue, 3M double-sided tape (as used to hold iPhones together), the white stuff in the pictures is Sugru to help seal against battery venting.

Looking back at my spec it is thinner, but I don’t use any 23 mm toppers. There are some pictures after about six weeks of all day use, I could Scotch-brite out the scratches if I could be bothered.




Next to 18350, 18500 & 18650 small mechs, you can see the battery gauge is hidden.









Sorry for the picture quality, mobile phone.

[Steve (VapeStorm)]

Great looking mod

[Pezz]

A very ambitious first mod but you've done a fantastic job and should be very proud of the achievement.

[davidegee]

nice work. Looks like a lot of thought went into it!

How did you countersink the up / down buttons?

[VapingBad]

Apr 24, 2014 10:53:40 GMT davidegee said:

nice work. Looks like a lot of thought went into it!

How did you countersink the up / down buttons?

Cheers, it was a lot of work to make the casing, the soldering and gluing were easy enough.  To counter sink the buttons I used "90 Degrees Countersink HSS Drill Bit Wood Steel Aluminum 8.3mm" I got from eBay with a hand drill and polished with felt dome on the Dremel.

Also thanks to Steve & Pezz for your kind comments.

[robby]

Verrrry nice work

[Steve (VapeStorm)]

Apr 24, 2014 12:51:13 GMT robby said:

Verrrry nice work

When will the clone be available robby?

[Super-Shiny]

Very nice VapingBad bet you feel very proud of making such a nice mod

[VapingBad]

Apr 24, 2014 14:10:51 GMT Super-Shiny said:

Very nice VapingBad bet you feel very proud of making such a nice mod

Thanks Super as I know you understand what's involved very well, very satisfied is how I feel about it, maybe proud of the design, but it could be been better executed.

[philmepowers]

Stunning......the size is incredible

[londongemini]

This is a beautiful beautiful mod. Well done!

[Super-Shiny]

Apr 24, 2014 21:13:45 GMT VapingBad said:

Thanks Super as I know you understand what's involved very well

That i do and many sleepless nights thinking about the next day of work involved

[300]

Looks great, you did well to fit it all in.

[piper1]

Absolutely fantastic job, well done.

[maccafan]

Outstanding!

Especially since it is built with hand tools. Labour of love.