Re tasking unused bits

[Diablo]

When I progressed from vivi Novas to other more interesting stuff. I wasn't sure what actually suited me best. Despite having Vv and Vw stuff, I tried a sigelei telescope mech early on but couldn't get on with the bottom button.

I can't get the pics in the right places in this post. So the first pic is the bits, the second is the end result, the two at the end are just stock pics of the hero and sig. Ignore the 510 extender in the plastic bag, the bag is only there as it had the 510 centre pin,battery top unit and insulator in there, the extender had no part to play in this little project.

as a result of not knowing exactly what I wanted, I carried on the search, getting a Hero hybrid at some point along the way.

Time moved on. The hero developed a problem that saw it retired, turned out to be a fractured stem, so not repairable easily. Bought a replacement hero as I liked the unit (though the chrome is seriously crap quality). I just wasn't sure about hybrid approach, and at the time, not knowing how much liquid was in there was a negative. Funny that it doesn't bother me as much these days, probably as I now have an idea of how much I use in a day.

liking the small form factor I also went for a micro stick later as the size felt similar in use.

fast forward nearly a year and I saw the double barrel battery at the side of an atty option appear (albeit using small ego style batteries and thin atties) I had thought of doing similar using the hero collar so many times, but never got around to it.

The other day, sat at the computer looking at all the shiny stuff I have either retired or just not used for a bit, I realised the kanger mega with steel tank shared a lot in common with the sigelei I had not gotten on with. I grabbed the pair and married them up on the hero collar/plinth and liked how they looked. The sig as a thumb fired mech seemed infinitely better to me than as it was made to be.

so, one vivi nova base cannibalised to act as a connector for the battery (picked a vivi as it had a spring loaded centre pin), hero collar, battery connector from an ego/510, a bit of wire, some araldite (to secure things from moving inside the base as a belt and braces approach)and a bit of solder, and I have a side by side unit using a sigelei telescope mech as a battery tube, (capable of 18350 to 18650) along with a kanger mega. The ego/510 under the atty is clamped in place by the beauty ring/cone. While the vivi bit is held tight by the sig. Both were glued inside the hero bit to give some extra strength and hold the base unit together if the sig is ever remove or replaced with something else. Would it be sacrilege to ase a 4nine or an astro on there. :-)

with larger batteries it's better with a bent or angled drip tip obviously. But in use the sig is a million times better for me in this configuration. I know there are others using side by side stuff now, but I don't know if they are as big as this. One good thing about building this myself was being able to do it in a way that the air hole on the kanger points directly to the battery so cannot be blocked with my fingers when in use.

anyway, I just figured the reclamation and retasking of unused gear was worth a mention.

the hero collar/base is detachable, so no harm came to the sig or kanger in the making of this setup. :-)

 

[Dr. Zaius]

MacGyver mod! Awesome recycling skills.

 

[Polo65]

Nice one just shows what a bit of tinkering can produce and of course the skill to put it together good on you

 

[Diablo]

Slight design change. It turned out that the button was less than perfect. Shortly after the build it developed a habit of misfiring as the button was really crap. So I sourced a later model of the sig with a magnet button. A hell of a lot better in terms of feel and the fact it never misses now. Plus as it turned out, the parts were fully interchangeable, so I used the better looking inner tube (for when batteries bigger than 18350 are in use) along with the better button but kept the original outer sleeve as it compliments the kanger mega so well. The newer design outer tube looked ok, but didn't look as good to me as the first choice. Ironically, in pics they both look good, but in real life with it in your hand, the first option I went with looks a lot better.

its just about usable with this short drip tip in 18350, but more often than not I use it with an angled or long drip tip. Second pic shows the alternate battery sleeve and an angled drip tip in use with an 18500 battery in use instead of the usual 18350. It looks a lot better in 18350 guise, but I figured I should add a pic of it using a larger battery just for reference.

 

[Diablo]

MacGyver mod! Awesome recycling skills.


View attachment 29590

I forgot you posted this. As of now, it is no longer called the Bitsa, it's now the Macgyver mod. Well done for coming up with a better name for it.

 

[Diablo]

One more pic in 18350. Just for the hell of it. The small gadget on the right is the fasttech 'stand'. Using a kanger mini and a small battery. For anyone toying with the idea of the FT unit, the battery can end up seating in the wrong place to use the button when tightened up. I was lucky, mine fell more or less right, but I have another battery (that realistically was too long to consider), that when tightened up put the button directly in line with the atty. the FT unit is good enough for what it is though and works fine, though why they called it a stand I have no idea. Stand implies it does nothing much when in fact it's a connector more than a stand. Go figure huh?

mcgyver doesn't suffer the button issue of the FT stand as the button is up top obviously