Holy head (finished)

A little while back I bought 2 similar vapers for modding. I’m just getting around to working on the second one. Initially I had different plans for this build using titanium… I got a new idea that seemed perfect for this host. The old idea can easily be utilized in another build. I don’t remember who it was but another member said something that triggered this idea.

Some parts…

…and some brass bar…

It seems I cannot practice what i preach. I didn’t have a clear enough plan on the dimensions of the head so I’m going to end up with a rather thin walled part between the led pcb and the tube. I even considered starting over at this point but decided to keep going as I reckon i can make it work.

Continue with the build …

So the big idea that i had and the reason for the title name…

We’ll see how good i am at small drilling :student:

Cool :+1:

You have to love thin walled. :slight_smile:

Thin walls = lighter weight :innocent: though I can’t see this being a light weight.

I did a bit of set up last night

I don’t have the right size collet for a 1.5mm drill bit so I wrapped it in alfoil. Hopefully it’ll work.

Also made a jig for measuring 11° at a glance. It’s technically 11.25° between each hole. 32 holes in each circumference, 96 holes all up. That’ll keep me off the streets for a while.

A critical part of the plan - don’t drill too deep. I did a quick scale drawing.

Aside from modifying 1-2 hosts before, this is the first time I’ve worked brass. Seems really easy to work with but I’m hoping when I lathe over all these holes I don’t get any chipping / spalling.

subbed, curious of the outcome.

Impressive design.

If I tried drilling all those holes it would look like a 5-year-old did it. :blush:

I started on the drilling this arvo. It didn’t go as well as I hoped. The drill bit slipped in the collet so I had to re-wrap it in more alfoil. :person_facepalming: After doing that I was still on the first couple of holes when it was apparent something was wrong (loose). I finally discovered I hadn’t tightened the nuts on the compound angle yesterday so it was slowly twisting around with pressure on it :person_facepalming: This caused the drill bit to rub against the part.

Going by the look of the first round of holes I figured I had lots of space so I decided to use a 2mm drill bit for the next round. The 3D model I drew up only had 2mm on the outer circumference of holes. I was tentative at first trying to make sure I had the right positioning. Then on the 3rd full depth hole I made a mistake on the dividing wheel and drilled it out of alignment. I don’t know how many holes I drill before I realised it was it was out :person_facepalming:

Picture of the side where I got it right

It was pretty tedious work. One more round of drilling to go…

I feel your pain pp.

The correct part looks real good. Just dont have a heart attack doing this, your to young. :beer:

No heart attacks. Just take it as a learning experience :student:

One rather perforated head :innocent:

I found one misaligned hole that breached the wall of another. I don’t know how many are like this. Hopefully it won’t affect it too much when I cut the taper on the head.

Pocket for driver and threaded for retaining ring

I’ve taken it out of the chuck now. Will work on some other parts before coming back to the head.

Made the driver retaining ring

Cut new threads at one end of the battery tube. You can see the old thread deeper in the tube.

Cut thread on the head for the bezel. You can see in this pic some kind of dent / mark on the inside. I have no idea how that happened :question:

Made a bezel but didn’t cut off so I could use it as a mount for working the head

Next was the all important cut that exposed all the holes. I started tentative and the more it revealed the more I liked it. It produced some burrs which I kind of expected but didn’t know how much I would get with brass.

To clean up the burrs I tried a file but it wasn’t as effective as a drill bit and a knife. Yes. it was tedious…… very , very , ….tedious. By the hundredth hole I was starting to get good at it :confounded:

Cut thread on the back end of the head and a test fit to the tube

I’m liken the look of it but I can tell it’s going to be a heavy sucker :disguised_face:

Wow, that’s a lot of holes.

The final hole effect looks really cool, though :beer:

Amazing work!

Some nice ideas & work there :+1:

Wow, very very nice ! :sunglasses:

Well, well, well. Very clever and well executed. :beer:

well done drilling all those holes, :+1:
what angle tip did you use on your bits
I use 135deg they seem to drill better without center punching

I really like the looks :+1: :+1:

Amazing look! :+1:
Nice job!

Thanks guys :beer:

I did some work on the bezel. I know I shouldn’t cross a threaded with grooves but oh well. The user will just have to make sure it lines up properly :innocent:

I’ve got to work out the tail section now. I’m having a good hard think about that because I have a part I want to use but it’s not so simple.

I’m really feeling this light. I too have modded my old mechanical vapes into flashlights, and have never came up with a good solution for the tail switch. Eager to see how you handle this. Keep up the good work!