In recent times I've become interested in modding : putting together the components of a device to pop an atomiser on. Especially when the DNA40 chipset from Evolv came out. I had once built a DNA30 in a Hana clone box, that went pretty badly and showed up my deficiencies in cutting, soldering, assembling, and gluing (hence Adventures with Epoxy, nothing to do with sniffing it, dig out the brain bleach if you thought so!).
This time I was inspired by this (part 1) and this (part 2), a youtube by VarosVapor who put a DNA40 into a Hammond 1590B aluminium box. He went through all the stages involved and made it look, if not easy, a good sight easier than the DNA30 had been. He used a 1590G, which is narrower than the B I chose. I found that the bezel wouldn't fit in a G.
The clincher was seeing on Shapeways that DavesMods had designed a bezel for the DNA40. It holds the board and charger board in place, and uses the on-board buttons, so reducing the number of soldering operations - which is one particular bugbear of mine.
So with that it was time to bend the plastic and buy the bits...
DNA40 board from Evolv - this was the small screen version with OLED attached.
Bezel - when I purchased it, the model was still in beta. More on that aspect later...
Hammond 1590B box.
Fatdaddyvapes v4 510 connector.
Wiring : 18awg for power.
Heatshrink tubing for the wire.
Screws for the bezel : 1.6mm x 5mm self tapping screws for thin plastic.
The list would have been longer, but for having the failed DNA30 to cannibalise. From it came the USB charge port with 24 awg wires attached, and 510 battery box; if you pick a battery box with contacts that are close to the base, I'd advise cutting a piece of plastic out of a CD case and gluing it to the bottom, to avoid shorts to the aluminium case.
As far as tools go, I did end up with rather more than needed. For this build the following are required :
Screwdrivers for the bezel screws & Hammond box screws.
Soldering iron, 40W works nicely.
Solder, and a flux pen.
Wirecutters.
Double sided tape.
Helping Hands soldering station, which probably reduced my cockup-quotient by 75%.
Junior hacksaw.
Box cutter (US) aka Stanley Knife (UK).
Step drill bit - capable of cutting holes 10mm diameter. Mine was 4mm to 22mm. A very useful addition, if costly.
Power drill for the step bit.
Steel ruler.
Felt tip pen.
Some fine flat and round ended files, they are pretty cheap to buy as a set.
Masking tape.
Wood chisel.
Araldite Epoxy resin - 15 minute version, or equivalent.
A Hammer. (He will show his worth, I promise.)
One masonry nail.
The Hammond box is bare aluminium, so I also bought a can of black car spray paint and one of primer, for the finishing touch. I've still now not got round to spraying it with clear lacquer to protect the paint job, which is recommended as it otherwise scratches too easily.
*** IT BEGINS ***
Here are a couple of pics of the bezel, front and back. Holes for the power, up and down buttons, a slot for the OLED, and hole & slot for the charger board can be seen in the first shot. The rear shot shows the button moulding, plus behind it, a cover plate that holds the OLED in place. Notice how the bezel is recessed around the sides, which allows you to cut a hole that will be obscured by bezel from the outside of the box. Nice for those raggedy cuts.
The DNA board pops button-side down onto a set of lugs, and is held in place with some of those tiny tiny screws.
First job though is to mark up the Hammond box. The bezel is to sit in a cutout in the long side. Place masking tape along the long edge, and using the steel ruler, carefully (remember, measure twice - at least - cut once) determine the inside dimensions of the bezel, then mark out with your felt pen on the case where the cutout needs to be. Also decide where your 510 will sit and mark out the starting hole position, over a piece of masking tape. The tape prevents scratches on the case where your tools decide to make a bid for freedom.
Should look a bit like this when that's done. I actually masked up the long edge after marking out the cutout, but best would be to put the tape on first.
The 510 pilot hole can be made, courtesy of your hammer & masonry nail. Then file it out to 4mm, which will give you the room to insert the step-drill bit for drilling out to 10mm. You could use files to go to 10mm, but filing aluminium is a long haul. So with the 4mm hole ready, I popped the step bit into the drill, and 1 minute later... the 4mm hole was 10 mm. Super things these step drills, just have to be cautious not to do it too fast and end up with a mahoosive hole in your case.
I next dismantled the bezel to separate the buttons and OLED cover from the body, using wire cutters and a small flat knife to prize the OLED cover away. It was at this stage that "BETA!" became an issue. The moulded buttons were too fat to fit in the holes (DavesMods bezel is now v.2 and I'm assured this isn't an issue. I was at the bleeding edge, it seems.) Not to worry, with a bit of patience and a small file, they can be filed down to size. Faff, but in this case, necessary.
The next job is to wire up the DNA40. The Helping Hands solder station is great, both for holding wires while you pre-tin them, and keeping the board still while you attach the wires through the holes. Notice also how the board is button-side down, and that the OLED is kept out of harms way with double-sided tape while soldering is going on. The circular doohickey is the 510 negative connection. Other than that the only wires that need to go in are for the battery and charger. 5 wires in total. At this stage I didn't wire in the 510 positive lead, for reasons to be seen later.
A quick test with the battery showed the DNA was working. Hooray!
Soldering the posi end of the Fatdaddyvapes 510 is really straightforward. Dismantle the unit till you have the metal plunger. Then cut a few pieces of solder and poke them into the hole where the wire will go. Get your wire tinned, then heat up the plunger, and when the solder melts shove the wire right in. Works a treat.
Make sure to cut out and put some small pieces of heatshrink tube on the wire when one end is in place, then slide it over the joint and with a lighter run over it till it shrinks right in place.
Now for the bit I was dreading, cutting out the slot on the case. The plan was to drill out holes near the bottom - and on the inside of the cutout; make guide cuts with the Stanley knife along the markings, as deep as possible; hacksaw down the sides till the holes were reached; then file, file, file along the long edge. In the event it was... rather simpler.
I did make the guide cuts, as deeply as possible with the knife, then hacksawed down the sides. At this point it was an idea to try to prize the cutout away, but even with the guide cut on the long edge, it wasn't budging. So on a whim. I put it on its back, and thumped the slot with a hammer. To my delight the slot came clean away!
Next was the lid. With the cutout sized just a few mm from the base, popping the bezel in place revealed that the lid wouldn't sit snugly on top, so would need a slot cutting out of it. Flushed with the success of the hammer-it-out agricultural method, I measured and cut guide slots, and whacked the unwanted metal away with hammer & chisel. Bit by bit it came off.
Already it was assembly and test time. Screwing the 510 in first; insert it into the hole, then put on the negative connector ring and retaining nut. At this stage you'd see why not to connect the positive to the DNA, as it turns round and round and round as you tighten up the retainer nut. Better to leave that lead to last, or risk a connection popping on you.
Assembling the bezel : fiddly bit, those little screws are really tiny, but with patience and a small posi screwdriver you'll soon have the charger board in place, then the DNA40, finally the cover that holds the OLED in place. Patience is a virtue at this stage, damaging the bezel means at worse resorting to glue, at worse still a knackered board. So take your time.
With that done, I put the battery box, buttons & bezel in place (unglued). This is how it all looked when done.
Check the bezel fits snugly in the cutout, best case you may need to file out the gap a bit for it to go in, worse case the cutout's a bit oversized. No matter in the latter; the bezel needs epoxying in place, and with judicious placement you can minimise the appearance of a gap. Or, smear some wood glue or similar to cover the gap, remove and clean the bezel, and let the glue dry.
At this stage, you can dismantle the 510 and get spray painting the box. A thin coat of primer, let it dry, then one of paint, let it dry, and then one of clear lacquer. By this stage you'll be itching to get the thing working, but trust me, waiting for paint to dry is less boring this way.
Put the 510 back in, then solder the posi connection to the DNA40. Test the mod works! Yes, you can pop an atty on now and take a toot from your nearly-done mod.
Epoxy the bezel and battery box in place, best to let the battery box glue dry off, as popping a battery in and out will move it around and spreading epoxy around like it's going home.
Finally put the back on, and your mod is complete! This final image shows mine up and running, the elastic band is holding the bezel in place whilst the epoxy cures. Freddy (the name given to this new baby) is all held together with screws, retainer nut for the 510, and... epoxy.
Toot toot!
Postscript : with repeated use, the 510 connector can wiggle its way out of place, making for pain. Solution? Dab some epoxy on the thread and screw it back in.
