How to make a dripper into a bottom fed attie [The ugly easy way]

Wear safety gear!

This may not meet approval of the princesses who like pretty everything, but it is very functional.

First, standard 3 post atties are easy. I'll touch on others at the end, but I can't go into everything. Most you can use a variation of this technique with varying degrees of ugliness.

What you will need:

• A dremel with cut off disk [good quality disks really help]
• A block of wood with a 1/2" hole drilled in it
• A thin punch, or a nail that fits in the positive pin hole
• Vice grips or similar

The hole is to hold your attie, allowing the pin to be pressed out.



Gently tap the centre pin out with a hammer [screw removed of course] Make sure your punch or nail won't flange the top being too wide




Put the pin in vice grips and notch a channel, aiming for half way between the holes. So centred when the attie is in place



Put it back in the attie



And you are done in less than 5 minutes. Saving lots of money on atties.

If the centre pin is two part, slot the bottom screw all the way up, and drill or slot the top part accordingly. The hardest I have found was the marquis, which needs two screws slotted as well as a hole drilled [i just slotted that too out of laziness, but it works to feed juice]

 

Nice work, and here ive been thinking how the hell do people drill out the centre post and screw without stuffing it!

 

I couldn't figure it out either. Thanks DM, mystery solved.

 

Thanks DM.

 

Cheers!

 

Nice one DM !

 

why have I never thought of this?
Will buy a rematty clone and test it out
Thanks DM

 

The more I look at this the more I'm thinking DM is some kind of wizard..... Wicca fire magic.....

 

Nice one puppy *cough*BUTCHER*cough*

Take desired drill bit, put it gently but firmly UPSIDE DOWN in the drill press. Lower the bit with the quill until it's about 3-5cm into the vice jaws. Tighten the vice jaws - tight. Release the bit from the chuck. DON'T MOVE THE VICE. Put he pin to be drilled thread end first into the chuck. Fire the drill press up and plunge/peck the pin into the drill bit CAREFULLY. Remember: small drill fast speed.

To "hole" your centre post, mark where you want the hole with the atty assembled (flush with the bottom of juice well). Remove it. File a little flat/groove on the center post where you made your mark with the edge of a file. Put post into vice horizontally and drill at flat/groove. Half way is enough but feel free to go all the way through.

De-burr and reassemble

 

I don't have a drill press. :worried:

 

Pictures?

 

This method is good in a pinch and props to DM for posting the how to, but let's not overlook the inherant disadvantages with this method of bottom feed conversion.
With this method you are relying on having a perfect seal created by your 510 threads much more so than with a non slotted centralally bored feed hole. You may find you lose significant squonk volume due to blowby of preasure at the 510 threads and you may find juice leaking from the threads.
In addition to this some atty's center posts are verging on being too lose to avoid spinning while tightening the pos screw to trap you wire, creating a channel with a dremel can push this to far creating a loose fitting pin.
There are other ways of avoiding leakage and preasure loss with orings etc, but difficult to fix a loose pin without a custom made insulator.
The central bore juice feed up the pin is not perfect of course, but assuming both the face of the atty pin and the 510 connector pin are nice and flush you have a far superior juice feed connection.
As I said not taking away from the usefulness of this post, but let's not ignore the benefits of a centrally bored with side port desing.
I have modded 15 or more different attys to run with a bottom
feeder and the only one that I used a combination of slotted pin and slotted insulator on (Veritas) was due to no other option.
I have a lathe now, but for years I had a $50 drill press that did the job also.

 

I noticed a request to one of the Australian vendors to sell bottom feeding atties or the drilled centre posts. There is certainly a need for it.

 

Well ya better get one! like Embee's it's sooo cute

 

Only nudes.... and NO ONE wants to see that :giggedy:

When my latest order gets in I'll take some

 

i have a drill press, but kill far less with a dremel. snapped and stuck bits suck

but ymmv, try both

 

true. If you're snapping bits you're prob not spinning it fast enough [wild guess]

 

Cool, nice one DM