Vamo Fall / Drop / Loose Button / where is my click & how do I fix it ?

[BrokenLung]

Hello everyone,

So after having my Vamo for 24 hours I of course nudged the top side of it and it toppled over on my desk. Such a minor fall I expected nothing of it.

Of course it dislodged the circuit board and now my minus button has no "click" to it. My buttons are still projecting out pretty much even so it must have been a minor shift.

Now I am in search of the safest/easiest fix for this as my Vamo is my only mod.

I have found 2 solutions

1. Vamo first impression and disassembly how to - YouTube

2. Going in through the bottom and grabbing the positive post with a pair of needle nose pliers and twisting the circuit board until it pops back into place.

My concerns are

1. Once you remove the press fitted top cap would it be held in place like it was when new? Also, you would need to be comfortable taking the Vamo apart and have the tools, including a hot glue gun & the know how to apply it.

2. Twisting on the positive post is scary because I am afraid I will break something.


I would appreciate advice from anyone who has experienced this issue & fixed it. Hopefully, this thread will be helpful to others who experience the same issue.

 

[jimbill]

You can do number 1 but the top cap is press fitted in and if you are not careful you will nick the finish up and it will look like it was tampered with and will not be able to rma.You can do number 2 and try and turn the post to pop button out.If you are not comfortable doing either one send it back to vendor for a replacement.

 

[BrokenLung]

Just to be clear am I turning the board towards the negative button or away from it? To me it looks like I should turn the board so it gets closer to the negative button (to the right if the buttons are facing up)?

 

[cyclotron]

The turn via the positive post is likely the simplest fix. I've had a Vamo apart and you will almost certainly mark it up taking it apart.
The board isn't glued in place as you might expect. The board is installed in a manner that would normally prevent it from moving but it would seem your drop did the trick. Gently twisting the board toward the problem button should solve the problem.
The board should move fairly easily with a bit of twist as that is the only downfall of the mounting method used.

I hope you get your Vamo squared away.

 

[BrokenLung]

Thanks! Bedtime now. Tomorrow I will try to take some pictures as I do it.

 

[BrokenLung]

I am sad to say I twister pretty hard and I am very scared to twist to . Any other ideas or should I just torque it more?

 

[meatsneakers]

No, take it apart and do it from the top. The section with the positive pin for the battery is probably the weakest spot on the board and you may have some hot glue preventing movement as my V2 SS did. Put a bunch of layers of painters tape on the cap and wiggle it off with pliers, it goes back on with a lot of force so it won't be loose or anything when you're done.

 

[DevastationWagon]

I dropped mine and had the "+" button fail. It lost it's clickiness and would randomly change voltage by itself. Inside the button is a snap dome that had been smashed flat. I found an old broken LED flashight and took the snap dome out and used it in the Vamo. It worked great, but I went through a few buttons before I found the right sized one.

Instead of pliers, I got the top off by wrapping the Vamo in thick rubber (actually rubber baseboard trim) and putting it in a vise. Once in the vice I was able to carefully "chisel" the top off with a small hammer and flat blade screwdriver. That thing is pressed on there good too.

 

[jimbill]

No, take it apart and do it from the top. The section with the positive pin for the battery is probably the weakest spot on the board and you may have some hot glue preventing movement as my V2 SS did. Put a bunch of layers of painters tape on the cap and wiggle it off with pliers, it goes back on with a lot of force so it won't be loose or anything when you're done.

The post is not the weakest spot and where are you finding glue at there is no glue used in the vamo not unless china recently started putting glue in.

 

[jimbill]

I am sad to say I twister pretty hard and I am very scared to twist to . Any other ideas or should I just torque it more?

If turning the post did not work then the only way to fix is to take off the top cap.The top cap on some of these vamos are very tight so be careful or you will nick it all up.

 

[meatsneakers]

There is hot glue in the SS Vamo, unless I imagined removing it with pliers to reseat a skewed screen. But you seem so sure... And the positive post for the battery is absolutely the least reinforced section of that PCB.

edit-
It's not delicate, but trying to get torsional force on the part of the PCB that you can access through the battery end is asking to crack the board and/or lift the traces on the positive post.

 

[jimbill]

There is hot glue in the SS Vamo, unless I imagined removing it with pliers to reseat a skewed screen. But you seem so sure... And the positive post for the battery is absolutely the least reinforced section of that PCB.

I just bought a ss vamo from smoketek and there is no glue maybe china started putting glue in i don't know but the positive post is solid i have the pcb in my hand now and i can say it is not the weakest part of the pcb my brother is a tv repair tech and says it would be fine to turn.

 

[meatsneakers]

I bought mine from Discount Vapers so who knows. And I wouldn't turn the PCB from that post, they aren't made to take stress in rotation. But it's your 50$.

 

[jimbill]

here is a pic of the post with lots of solder with no traces underneath it also no glue to be seen also the post fits inside a slot in the pcb so turning the post would be no problem.

 

[meatsneakers]

The post is only as strong as the copper to substrate strength. Under that solder is a trace, twisting it there stresses it, especially if it was like mine and was hot glued. But as I said, it's your money. Placing 50$ against the quality of a Chinese PCB's traces isn't a great bet.

 

[jimbill]

Like i said before there is no traces under the pcb it sets in a slot i never said to twist with force but to turn gently. Myself and others have done this and have fixed the buttons it's the only way to fix it with out nicking the top cap.

 

[cyclotron]

You can also take the Vamo apart by taking the lower part off of the electronics section. It is actually easier as you can simply put a the vamo on a fulcrum covered with something protective and just try to bend the Vamo over the fulcrum while turning it a bit each time. It will come apart there and you can adjust the board and reassemble.

 

[jimbill]

You can also take the Vamo apart by taking the lower part off of the electronics section. It is actually easier as you can simply put a the vamo on a fulcrum covered with something protective and just try to bend the Vamo over the fulcrum while turning it a bit each time. It will come apart there and you can adjust the board and reassemble.

Good idea the lower tube comes of on my ss vamo comes right off and is just press fitted in,but the chome version does not budge maybe op can give this a try.

 

[jimbill]

Was able to get off the chrome lower tube but it is not built like the ss version here is a pic