A few months back I got the Desire Designs Cut squonker (the Project Sub-Ohm edition) from VaporDNA. It's a great light-weight all-day device that works like a boss.
A month or so back though a very excitable youngster knocked it flying off the table at a restaurant. The device itself was 100% okay, but the powder-coated finish had taken a few knocks. Needless to say I was not pleased. Especially since this is a limited mod that you can't really replace. It's not an expensive mod by any means, but still.
All in all the chips weren't that bad, but I knew they were there, and that was enough to start the great Cut project...
For reference, this was the Cut on the day it arrived in SA
The initial plan was to strip it and have the powder-coating redone. The start was to strip it apart (thankfully really easy, just 4 screws and some glue held the whole thing together) and strip the paint (not easy, this particular powder-coating was a dog to remove).
Once I finished stripping, the next phase began. I was originally only going to prep the surface for re-coating. After giving the parts a good sanding and rub-down with steel wool, my dad happened to walk by and suggested polishing it just to see what it would look like. Prepped but not polished on the left, polished on the right.
At this point the plan changed. I now "needed" to polish the whole thing.
Once I had made the decision to mod the mod, I decided to go even further and enlisted the help of the Mrs and her skills.
The PSO text had a sort of hammered finish in it which looks nice with the metallic blue paint (the tin in the pic was just a stand, but I did use Humbrol blue metallic). I also sent off the back panel for some laser etching, and asked if they could mimic this hammered finish. After a few more coats of metallic blue in the text and the back panel being completed I finally started the re-assembly last night.
I am not the world's best DIY guy, but I reckon it turned out alright. Personally I love it. The name needs some work though...
I present the Desire Designs Cut Squonk Project Sub-Ohm (PSO 625): Anvil Edition, with Odis O-Atty-X #135.
It is a fingerprint magnet of note, and being raw metal it will tarnish and require regular polishing like any copper or brass tube, but in the end I think it's worth it.
A month or so back though a very excitable youngster knocked it flying off the table at a restaurant. The device itself was 100% okay, but the powder-coated finish had taken a few knocks. Needless to say I was not pleased. Especially since this is a limited mod that you can't really replace. It's not an expensive mod by any means, but still.
All in all the chips weren't that bad, but I knew they were there, and that was enough to start the great Cut project...
For reference, this was the Cut on the day it arrived in SA
The initial plan was to strip it and have the powder-coating redone. The start was to strip it apart (thankfully really easy, just 4 screws and some glue held the whole thing together) and strip the paint (not easy, this particular powder-coating was a dog to remove).
Once I finished stripping, the next phase began. I was originally only going to prep the surface for re-coating. After giving the parts a good sanding and rub-down with steel wool, my dad happened to walk by and suggested polishing it just to see what it would look like. Prepped but not polished on the left, polished on the right.
At this point the plan changed. I now "needed" to polish the whole thing.
Once I had made the decision to mod the mod, I decided to go even further and enlisted the help of the Mrs and her skills.
The PSO text had a sort of hammered finish in it which looks nice with the metallic blue paint (the tin in the pic was just a stand, but I did use Humbrol blue metallic). I also sent off the back panel for some laser etching, and asked if they could mimic this hammered finish. After a few more coats of metallic blue in the text and the back panel being completed I finally started the re-assembly last night.
I am not the world's best DIY guy, but I reckon it turned out alright. Personally I love it. The name needs some work though...
I present the Desire Designs Cut Squonk Project Sub-Ohm (PSO 625): Anvil Edition, with Odis O-Atty-X #135.
It is a fingerprint magnet of note, and being raw metal it will tarnish and require regular polishing like any copper or brass tube, but in the end I think it's worth it.
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