rawveg
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Post by rawveg on Jun 14, 2011 10:52:37 GMT
You're welcome anytime Perpetua!  |
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rawveg
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 14:53:39 GMT
Very nice mod mate,how much ya want for it?  Nice work Tim,very well done. Hahahaha, thanks very much Ian. Not for sale... yet I'm going to do a number of one offs like this until I'm confident, and then I'll probably sell them on... but not just yet Hehe I've just been looking at some wood lathes and I'm seriously tempted to do a wooden tube mod.... must stop running before I'm walking... Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 12:46:52 GMT
Yup epoxy is fantastic stuff for moulding, puttying, glueing and loads of other tasks and comes in many, many varieties depending on what you want to do with it. I tend to have the binary liquid mentioned for use as glue, but use milliput like you would clay for sculpting and filling holes - it comes as a two part solid which sets very hard. The toughest epoxy I have used is called metal bond and it sets to be the same strength as steel - it's used to repair holes in cars mainly but you could seal car doors shut with it. You can also get dyes to colour epoxies or have them set to clear. Use and types of epoxy is a whole subject all to itself. I haven't looked myself but I am sure the internet can furnish you with detailed information about different epoxies and what you can use them for. I used to use Milliput a lot when I was a roleplayer/modeller, fantastic stuff, and you can save yourself ages in sanding time by dipping your finger in water and smoothing off the surface with that. I bought a few torches that I've got my eye on modding at some point, they look like the same torch bodies that are used for the little gem, and I'll no doubt be using milliput to fill the top where the atomiser connection goes, and likely make that a concave surface so it can act as a juice catcher... But yes, milliput is fantastic stuff... don't know why the white one is almost twice the price of the grey though! lol Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 12:27:52 GMT
Or PM me and I'll hook you up with everything you need! Sean  Didn't want to PM, as it wasn't to me you extended that offer, but if there are any good resources out there for obtaining parts I would love to know.. even more so if it's not Maplins or RS Components.... Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 12:23:13 GMT
Yeah its something i have often wonderd the reason i asked was cause i was trying to get my mums phone working for her the other day and i noticed it was 800mah 3.7v and i thought hmmm? But that unit you made i envy you as i would love to pick up something and mod it.Now give me a PC and i can mod it within a couple of hours but give me something to turn into an ecig lol then forget it hehe.One day i will read more into it. Keep up the good work mate i really do think that units nice and lil Thanks very much mate. To be honest my electronics knowledge is only rudimentary, and I picked that up from doing PC Repairs and Front Line, Second Line and Principal support for a PC Manufacturer. Seriously mate, if you can fix a PC you can put together a simple mod. I'm going to have a look at modding a phone... I really like that idea Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 10:58:26 GMT
I have two dead Riva batteries that I could use the connectors from. Another good reason for me to get into modding is that I've got a box full of dead Tornado, standard 501, 910 and KR8080D batteries that need to be used up Think at the last count I had around 120 batteries! So yeah, lots of modding to do, once I can work out how to get the connectors off! Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 10:55:51 GMT
Thanks mate!
I had a similar thought once I pulled all the innards out of this unit Roachie... the battery was a 3.7v 2300Ma battery, so it should have worked, and I was kicking myself for only checking that later.
I think most mobile phone batteries would probably be up to the job in all honesty... maybe it's the chemistry that's the problem? Hmmmm, I've got a few old mobiles knocking about... I may just have to investigate that!
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 10:09:26 GMT
I like that, you could really confuse people with that lol I already did... shame I didn't have the LED's, as I would have liked to have some of those in there to get that working. The side of the case has a slot for an on/off slider too, so I may well add one of those at some point if I think it needs it. Really like the button though, it needs a very definite press to activate, and feels quite tactile. I tried to avoid the use of epoxy completely on this mod, and sadly failed... where the atomizer connector is located, there's a seam where the black plastic and the white plastic join, and the black plastic was only glued on in the first place. Of course the moment I start drilling it started coming apart at the seams (literally), and I had to epoxy it back. Sadly this also meant that when I was making the hole wide enough for the atty connector, the hole became more of a slight oval shape, and therefore the connector didn't fit in properly anymore, so I used a dab of epoxy to make sure it wasn't going anywhere... that's the only thing I didn't like about this mod, was having to resort to using epoxy resin. There's also a touch of epoxy on the battery connectors, which were epoxyed, and then a battery placed in between (as it's a firm and flush fit), to make sure that they didn't stray from the sides... The insides though, are pretty tidy. The battery connectors I ripped out of a AAA battery holder, and I was able to create enough space inside by heating up a stanley blade and slicing away the erroneous parts of plastic that weren't needed.  Overall I'm pretty pleased with it, and I'm thinking that maybe there's a use for all these unused remote controls I've got sitting in a box Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 9:57:21 GMT
Great stuff Tim ...you won't need yer Apex or provari now? ...lol Hahahaha, nice try mate |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 13, 2011 9:07:11 GMT
I got a little bored yesterday, so decided to have a rummage through my stuff to see what I could come up with. I was originally hunting for things that I could sell on... you guys think I'm bad for PV's and Mods, but gadgets have always been a particular passion of mine.. Going through my stuff I came across an old Bluetooth GPS unit, that I originally got for using as a laptop satnav, of course a few phone upgrades later, and it's gathering dust, which is no surprise... Now, I've been slowly but surely gathering all the bits I need to start making my own PVs, and on Saturday some push to make switches I ordered finally came through... what I really need is a better soldering iron as the one I have is old and terrible, and I want some other bits and pieces too, but I figured, I've got enough to get going along with. I have built a PV before, well sort of. It was a tube mod, that was really my learning piece, so I don't really count it (I call it the Sh!t St!ck), the biggest learning curve was doing things in the right order and making sure you've double check everything before you solder. The Sh!t St!ck got its name because I must have soldered, desoldered and resoldered each joint three or four times... Anyway, the end result of an hours work yesterday is this:-  It takes a single 14500 battery, has no LED's (as I don't have any), no on/off switch (as I don't have one), it's just a simple push button and go, and it works suprisingly well! I do need to get myself some new bits of equipment, I certainly need a better soldering iron, a dremel rather than the big power drill I've been using, and I need to develop more than a rudimentary knowledge of electronics I feel... but I'm getting there. Going to do an 18650 mod soon, but first I think I'm going to try my hand at a repairable atomiser tank... well, we shall see. Hope you enjoy! Tim |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 12, 2011 1:33:45 GMT
I totally agree. Will PM you Rawveg when the Menthol recipes are ready. Fantastic mate, thank you! |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 12, 2011 1:27:50 GMT
Those are the suppliers I use for TPA and F'art, I also like some of the C9V concentrates but I believe she gets some of them from TPA and F'art. At some point though I'm going to order direct from F'art since I love mixing with their Cuban supreme but could happily go through a 5ml bottle of concentrate in a week and a half easy. I know I'll have to leave the concentrate a few weeks before I use it if I buy direct though. I would highly recommend ordering direct from F'art. especially if it's a flavour you use a lot of, as you can order much larger quantities. I've had a few orders from them now, the first was a bit of a disaster as it went missing, but there was no quibble about them sending me the order again at no charge... The only thing you have to bear in mind when ordering direct is allowing them to mature for a few weeks once you've received them... very worthy advice that I got direct from Griz. |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 12, 2011 1:23:54 GMT
Of course, if you use a 5ml bottle, there's no reason why you need to fill it Besides, what do you do if you mix a 3ml bottle full and yet it just needs a couple of drops of something else? You'd have to decant into a larger bottle anyway... I say use your 5ml bottles. If you do all your calculations to 3ml then it won't matter anyway |
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Post by rawveg on Jun 12, 2011 1:21:45 GMT
Roachie, you might want to have a word with HappyVappy if she's a member here, or on UKV. She sends out samples with her orders that are in 2ml vials, which I've found are fantastic for making up small tester pots...
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Post by rawveg on Jun 10, 2011 20:38:05 GMT
River is right, not everything is about price. I've bought cheap mods, and I've bought (seriously) expensive mods... the best mods come with right service. Amongst all of the talk about your prices, not one word has been mentioned about service, support, returns or anything like that. These are the hidden costs that everyone falls foul of at some point. Support, for example, will cost you far more than any other part, far more than your parts, far more than the cost of assembly.
You may disagree, and say that you will build these to such high standards of quality, that you won't have these costs... you'll be wrong. Perhaps not with your first batch, but probably with your second. If margins are tight, the very first problem that you don't foresee, that requires you to spend a little longer with someone to get things going, that's when it really begins to cost, even if they go away satisfied, and no other action needed.
The thing is, you see, not only does support cost you the time you need to invest in resolving an issue, that time, when you are your workforce has also meant that you haven't been able to build one or two or more mods for your next batch, and so on...
Take it from one who knows. I worked for a long time in Customer Services as it was the only work I could get when I came back from Spain, when I was a self employed developer, supporting my own products, with the desire to provide the best product, the best service, these costs were something that I did not factor into my budgets in any way... and it was these that ate into my profits, that made the margins so thin that it simply wasn't worth it.
You should take this into account now, and factor it into your pricing. The magic £9.95 is a good price point to start, but think to yourself, how long would it take you to explain how to use your product to someone who has little or no experience with these things?
This is why I'm a great believer in documentation. I am truly appalled that mods like the GGTS and the UFS do not come with any form of written instruction - yes a manual. The Provari used to, now you can download it from their website, which is acceptable. If you take the time to document your product from the outset - which will cost you one block of time - you won't have to subsequently keep spending that same block of time answering every enquiry...
Anyway, this has become a stupidly long post, and I didn't intend it to... just food for thought.
Tim
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