THATS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! I tried buying a culverin on this forum but guy had already traded it off.
Do u know where I can find one for sale in this day and age? Is it still legal to buy them or shod i expect vapin postal secret police to show up when I hit "BUY NOW"!
Thanks again
I'm not from nor in the US, but I suspect the Culverin RDA will be pretty hard to find now, AFAIK over here in Europe there's no webshops that still have it in stock. As for the legality side, I think GrimmGreen already summed that up in his most recent VLOG episode on YouTube, fairly accurately.
This is also right up my alley for what I'm wanting to buy - not that I don't love the vindicator (I do!), just that I want to buy a direct to battery kit. Can't belive I hadn't heard it called that!
Essentially, "Direct-to-Battery" is just "mech-speak".
As long as you keep the screw threads squeaky clean and you remove the arcing marks from the firing contact with regular maintenance, e.g., by using an eraser pencil multiple times per day to remove the high spots (just the high spots, i.e., you don't want to remove more metal than really is necessary to flatten the sharp tip of each high spot that results from arcing damage...), you're not going to notice that much difference between a true hybrid and a Direct-to-Battery, or "faux hybrid". Not when it comes to how hard it hits, that is.
What matters the most when it comes to the voltage drop of a mech setup is how well the metal surfaces come in contact with each other. Aside from the cleanliness, tolerances in the machining are key. Yes, it certainly is possible to increase the total surface area of screw threads by increasing their diameter and/or length. So, due to the fact that the screw threads in a true hybrid connection have a bigger diameter compared to a standard 510 connection, naturally you would expect a true hybrid setup to hit harder as a result from the voltage drop being smaller. At least in theory.
In practice, however, the area in a typical mech mod where the largest part of the voltage drop (or the largest part of the power loss that occurs as a result from the voltage drop) manifests itself is NOT the 510 connection. Rather, it happens inside the button. If someone tells you that the metal type that the actual tube itself is made of also plays a significant part, then I can show you rock solid evidence to support the contrary.
That being said, different metal types do engender differences as for the maintenance that is required to keep the performance up high. A naked copper surface oxidizes really fast, so you want to use cotton balls with a bit of Brasso or similar contact cleaner to rub between the screw threads, and maybe you also want to use some more cotton balls with a bit of rubbing alcohol to remove grit and to remove the thin layer of Brasso that still remains after. But you don't want to keep polishing the screw threads so excessively that, soon, you've polished away so much metal that you end up getting the equivalent of a mech that has poor tolerances in the machining.
For this reason alone, I recommend using only the type of contact cleaner spray that completely evaporates (mainly consisting of isopropyl alcohol and propene used for a propellant). Contact cleaners that create some kind of "protective" layer or residue (usually it will be anti-corrosive electric grease/lubricant) are to be avoided. That's just because these compounds tend to break down as a result from a phenomenon known as micro arcing (not to be confused with arcing) that occurs in the microscopically narrow gaps between the screw threads, and, once broken down, these compounds speed up corrosion as opposed to slowing it down.
In addition, electric grease is a poor electric conductor compared to bare copper surfaces coming adequately in contact with each other.
If you think that the microscopically thin layer of lubricant gets squeezed out enough when you tighten the screw threads, then I can show you rock solid evidence to rebuke that old myth too. What does get squeezed out properly is called air. Those specific areas where the two metal surfaces come in contact with each other don't come in contact with the air. A little bit of oxidation occurs there, each time when you unscrew the parts, as the oxygen in the air is what's responsible for this oxidation. But if you always screw the parts back together again before this oxidation in these same areas gradually grows worse, the air gets pushed out again, and the oxidation process is halted.
That plus the fact that screwing the parts back together also polishes the screw threads, enough to not need to do a lot of additional polishing work on the screw threads. (The tiny bit of metal dust and the oxidized grit that was polished away as a result from screwing the parts together should crawl into the narrow gaps that are adjacent to the areas where the two metal surfaces get squeezed together tight, where it remains until it gets cleaned out with regular maintenance.)
The bottom line is, avoid using stuff like DeoxIT Gold─just to name only one example. And also avoid doing thorough polishing, excepting only when necessary, which should not be necessary that frequently, if you store the parts screwed together tight.
Finally, those who complain about things like certain mechs having a milli-volt or so more voltage drop than a mech that's made from some kind of unobtanium metal alloy are just wannabe vape experts who really
should learn how to build better coils. IMO anyway.