Vamo lasercut walnut box mod.

[seniorphil]

Hello all,

I have only just joined the forum, but I have dipped in and used it for advice. I think it has become the number one place on the net for mod building advice and inspiration. I have built a few mods, but they were purely practical vaping devices. Certainly nothing I would show off, but they allowed me to get myself up and running in the work shop. I hadn't soldered since school(33 years) and have a club hammer approach to wood and metal work. Back in November I joined London Hackspace- a cooperative shared workspace. They have large wood and metal workshops in the ,basement and computers, electronics benches, a laser cutter, 3D printer upstairs.In addition their is a lounge area, classrooms, kitchen, and a carpark. It is the sharing of knowledge that
 makes it a special place. With people there creating such a diverse array of things inspiration is never far away. From robot builders to jewelry makers, artists, prop makers, graffiti artists, coders, and 3 ecig mod makers. All sorts of groups run inside there i.e arduino, raspberry pi, robotics, sports lockpicking???, beer brewing(beer pumps in the lounge area for a small donation)and who knows maybe a modding group. Enough of me prattling on about my hyper man shed, and on with my new project.

After a while of playing with Inkscape- free CAD drawing software, I finally felt able to use the lasercutter. A few people at Hackspace offered to do the CAD stuff for me, but I wanted to do the whole thing from start to finish. The case will be made from from 5mm American walnut. Inside will be a 18650 boosted by a Vamo v5 board with a 1 amp USB charging board. I was going to flush fit a 510 connector to the top, but I haven't left enough space inside. So I'll have to surface mount a 510/ego connector. The box very nearly ended up in the dustbin yesterday as I felt I could of made the joints tighter, but a friend wants it so I shall finish it. I am designing the next one now as I have all the parts except the Vamo board.

This the wood straight out of the lasercutter.

This is it assembled without glue.
The black marks are a combination of burnt wood and burnt sap that bleeds from the wood as it is zapped. I've decided to leave most of the charred wood but take off the sap. I like the black and natural wood contrast. The lasercutter zaps out about 0.2mm of wood and I hadn't compensated enough for that on the joints, but now I know it will be easy to tighten them up on the next one. The buttons will be made out of walnut too, but the ones that came out of the holes were 0.4mm too small. So they will have to be recut larger. I cut a perspex window for the display, but again that was 0.4mm too small.
I have cleaned it up a bit more now, it still smells a bit like a bonfire though. I will post some more pictures this week as I progress.
Many thanks to anyone who perseveres reading my longest ever forum post. Any advice/thoughts would be gratefully received.

[CraigHB]

Really unique and interesting design.  I know you want to preserve the laser cut effect, but from my own experience with boxes, hard edges can be a source of discomfort.  You might want to figure out a way to round them out without losing the visual effect, maybe throw a rounding cut on the laser.

Man, I'm going to have to look into that shared workshop thing.  See if there's anything like that in my town.

Welcome to the forum, BTW.

[thetruckinggeek]

Really unique and interesting design.  I know you want to preserve the laser cut effect, but from my own experience with boxes, hard edges can be a source of discomfort.  You might want to figure out a way to round them out without losing the visual effect, maybe throw a rounding cut on the laser.

Man, I'm going to have to look into that shared workshop thing.  See if there's anything like that in my town.

Welcome to the forum, BTW.

Road trip http://makerfaire.com/makers/reno-makerspace/
http://bridgewire.org/

[seniorphil]

Really unique and interesting design.  I know you want to preserve the laser cut effect, but from my own experience with boxes, hard edges can be a source of discomfort.  You might want to figure out a way to round them out without losing the visual effect, maybe throw a rounding cut on the laser.

Man, I'm going to have to look into that shared workshop thing.  See if there's anything like that in my town.

Welcome to the forum, BTW.

Many thanks for the welcome and your thoughts.
The box is a perfect fit in my hand, but it does need the sharp corners softening. I am in two minds at the moment about how to round them off. I was thinking either a belt sander or a router table. If I mess it up, cutting a new box is as easy as sending a document to a printer.

I just spotted this place:
http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Reno_Bridgewire

Cheers,

Phil.

[CraigHB]

Thanks for looking that up.  I know the location exactly for that address, though it's a bit far to run over there all the time, about 15 miles from where I am in West Reno.  I may be moving soon so I'll keep my eye out for a similar organization close by after I get settled.

I thought maybe you could simply throw another cut on there to bevel the edges, but yeah, it sounds like it's the same as using a 3D printer which makes a re-do pretty easy.  3D printing is amazing, I make all my boxes that way.  Doesn't really matter the material, being able to go from a 3D design drawing to an actual part so easily is just brilliant.

[Breaktru]

Welcome to the forum Phil. I'm happy to hear that this forum was of help to you.

Excellent jigsaw concept. Nice job mate.  The burnt cuts give it a nice touch.

What a fantastic sounding workshop that your belong to. All that in one workshop. 

[seniorphil]

Welcome to the forum Phil. I'm happy to hear that this forum was of help to you.

Excellent jigsaw concept. Nice job mate.  The burnt cuts give it a nice touch.

What a fantastic sounding workshop that your belong to. All that in one workshop. 

Many thanks for the welcome.
Yeah Hackspace has been a real game changer for me. Most people in London don't have room for tools, so to be able to access pillar drills, router table, lathes, etc 24 hours a day is a god send.

[Jasen]

Once glued up I'd go with a 3-6 mm round over bit in the router table. Block sand your finger joints flush and then use a scrap starter and finish block to prevent blow out.

[seniorphil]

Once glued up I'd go with a 3-6 mm round over bit in the router table. Block sand your finger joints flush and then use a scrap starter and finish block to prevent blow out.

Cheers for that. I am not too experienced on the router table. The scrap starter and finish block is that just a case of clamping a block either side of the box before each pass over the bit? They have a selection of about 40 bits I am sure they'll have something suitable.

[Jasen]

 When the router bit starts the cut and at the end of the cut it can tear out, splinter, chip the wood. Putting a scrap block of wood on either end and firmly clamping them in place, effectively making  a sandwich, and routing through the whole works will really help reduce the chance of tear out. If your don't get a smooth start or finish, the bit chatters as you start the cut, etc. it's the scrap wood that takes the hit not your project.

[Jasen]

Another thing, seeing your a bit new to the router table, work right to left, use push blocks, and feather boards if it's set up for them. Not only hold it firmly down but also firmly back against the fence. Your top block should have a heel, I use a set up similar to this



I use the front block kind of like a fence, I jut hold it down and apply a bit of pressure against the fence, the back block with the heel to hold it down and push it through. Keep solid footing, don't stand behind the work and let the tool do the work. You might run a few pieces of scarps firsts to get a feel for how the machine feels, sounds, works.

I'm not trying to sound like an ass, I've just been a woodworker for 35 years and a carpenter for 25 years and I still have all of all my fingers 

[seniorphil]

Many thanks Jasen, that's great advice.
They have blocks just like them and a wood pile of off cuts and scraps for me to play around with. I'll get someone to help me set it up and show me. I fancy keeping my fingers too.

[Boonos]

very cool design. regarding the 510 connection, if I'm tight on space i cut off about 5mm from the underside of it (bit that protrudes inside the box) so the pos pin is pretty much flush with the outside of the connection. got this tip from one of Mamus mods, and it could be all the extra room you need.

[seniorphil]

very cool design. regarding the 510 connection, if I'm tight on space i cut off about 5mm from the underside of it (bit that protrudes inside the box) so the pos pin is pretty much flush with the outside of the connection. got this tip from one of Mamus mods, and it could be all the extra room you need.

Cheers for that, I'll have a measure up tomorrow and see if that gives me enough room. I might have to go with a 18500.