Update on the CAM M:
I got two upgraded CAM-Ms from Chowder; an old one that I sent to him, and a new one that he sent to me along with my old CAM. For those of you not familiar with the CAM M, it was originally a Chinese made triple 18650 mech with a magnetic switch button that Chowder modified by doing away with one of the batteries and using a replacing a battery with a bottle, changing the 510, and making a squonk hole on the side. The CAM M was thus a very good good dual 18650 mechanical squonk mod. However, while it was a hard hitter and had an insanely long battery life, it had its share of problems. One fundamental problem was the liquid seeping from the 510 along the positive copper plate and accumulating between the magnets of the firing switch thereby preventing the two magnets from making contact and firing. What this entailed is continuous maintenance every two or three days. One had to take the whole thing apart, which is a pain in the ass, clean and dry the whole goddamn thing and adjusting the hose on the mod's 510 pin (where the liquid seeped from. Granted, all mechs require regular maintenance and cleaning, but it was annoying in the case of the CAM-M because it had to be done much more frequently, and because it was a relatively lengthy process involving unscrewing three screws on the bottom plate and 4 nylon screws on teh positive plate just to get started.
Another minor issue is that the 510 will only be manually adjusted. So whenever you have an atty with a different 510 length, you'd have to pull out the tool and adjust the height of the mod's 510; in which case you'd also have to check the hose on the 510 pin to make sure it's still in place and not causing any leaks.
With the upgrade, Chowder replaced the 510 with a self-adjusting one and welded a thick braid connecting the and the positive plate. And because the end of the braid welded to the positive plate prevented teh battery from making full contact with the positive plate he welded a couple of SS screws to the positive plate at the point where the battery made contact with the plate, thus providing sufficient clearance between battery and the braid. This was a very clever solution IMO and it did the job perfectly well. So far I've been using my two CAM-Ms for about a month, and I've done the cleaning/maintenance routine for my old CAM-M only twice, and haven't seen a need to do any to the new CAM-M yet. Yes there is some seepage along the positive plate, and it does impede the connection, but far less than it used to be and definitely much much much less annoying than it used to be. My old CAM-M had some arcing on the two magnets mainly because I wasn't that experienced with squonk mechs when I first got it and as such is prone to misfiring more than my new one once juice starts seeping along the positive plate. Nothing that a good cleaning and a bit of deoxit can't solve however. And a biweekly cleaning/maintenance routine is not different from what I've grown accustomed to with the rest of my squonk mechs, definitely even less frequent and cumbersome than the case with the REOs, especially that I haven't done anything yet to my new CAM-M.
Now for some having SS contacts could be less efficient than retaining the copper contact points, and may lead to a slight voltage drop. But in my case, and with my builds, I haven't noticed any decrease in the mod's performance. It still hits harder than most of my mechs and on par with my TMod dually (except that the latter is easier to clean and maintain).
At the end of the day, for a $50 upgrade, and a $150 new dual mech I am a very happy camper! Granted not as cheap as the Copper Vape, but much cheaper than many other less performing or equally performing mods, and very good value for money.
IMG_7436The Seven copy by Thomas Studios, on Flickr
well that's just hurtful...
I love 'em. But maybe I should get a couple more now that you mentioned it I love 'em. But maybe I should get a couple more now that you mentioned it
