Overview
In recent years, with the rise of "disposable" vapes, I have found myself running across littered and discarded vapes on the ground at parks and public places more and more. I was surprised when I learned that these vapes actually contain rechargeable lithium ion battery cells, which are used once and have no way of being recharged in the vape systems. When I saw a design online for a battery pack which could be constructed out of these vape cells from a British YouTuber I knew I had to try and build one myself as it seemed interesting and fun, in addition to being a great way to recycle and prolong the life of these batteries that would otherwise pollute my town or end up in a landfill. I asked all my friends to give me their old vapes and started collecting those I found littered instead of simply recycling them. Eventually, I amassed a collection of around 75 vapes and found that a certain common vape model had 1000mAh "18350" cells which would work best. After testing the cells, I ended up with just over my required number of 35 working cells.
The design I had found did not work however, as the vapes used in Britain are different from those in Canada, and I had to modify the PCB and 3D model of the case to fit my specific cells. Eventually, I had landed on a design that worked, and after printing the cell holder and case and ensuring it would fit, I custom ordered the PCB from a PCB manufacturing company. I opted not to get a pre-fab PCB and instead source the components myself as I wanted to get better at SMD soldering and wanted to try using soldering paste for multiple micro components at once. After building the PCB, I put the bank together with a power bank control board from China that allowed up to 100W output from its USB-C port and tested it. The first iteration worked well, and I started using it as my primary power bank as it had a large capacity(around 30,000mAh) and supported high wattage output for my laptop. I eventually decided to re-print the case in Carbon Fiber infused PETG as the initial print was PLA which was not very durable and was getting damaged rather easily from common use. I also modified the case design to include spacers over some of the screw heads on one side as they poked beyond the flat end of the case and were scratching my desk when the bank was slid around.
Overall, I am very proud of the finished product as I use it regularly as my primary power bank to charge my laptop and phone, and it has held up well to the wear and tear of daily use. I also love that I was able to recycle the batteries from vapes that would have otherwise been thrown away and that I was able to learn so much about PCB design and SMD soldering in the process.
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