Designing my Vape - next steps?

[ac1dg]

Hi all,

because some friends and me were not that satisfied with the market of portable vaporizers, I decided to build my own.

The main goals were as follows:

• Convection based - fast and high efficiency
• Made out of trustworthy materials (wood, glass, metal - no plastic in the heat path
• Chargeable via Micro-USB
• Integrated battery should last several sessions
• Cheap (less than 20$ worth of materials)

It uses a push-button to activate the heatup. When the light changes from red to green, the chamber has reached the programmed temperature and you can draw while holding the button (somewhat similar to grasshopper). It lasts 3-5 sessions.

This is the current prototype:

Currently I'm building some more prototypes for my friends for testing, but I am a little bit lost on how to continue with the project. I am not quite confident that I can sell it as a product. There has to be more time spent for fixing bugs and simplifying the build process. Because of that, I also am thinking about going open source...

What do you think?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

do you want to sell it as a product?

is this like a MFLB device - a heated screen?

i tried and abandoned a push-button for powering one of my very early vape designs because the current flow, >3A, would burn out the push button after a while - so, i offer that bit of experience for your consideration.

i have gone open source for my design because i'm pretty sure i won't live long enough (i think i've got 20 years left) for the USA laws to change and make it legal to make, market and sell a vaporizer for cannabis.

 

[Prolusio]

I think that looks pretty slick man! Definitely intriguing.

Does it have a way to turn the unit off for carrying out and about so we don't accidentally hit the trigger button?

Can you elaborate more on the bowl/heater design?

What's that MP made of?

How fast does it recharge? 5 sessions would be do able for carrying out and about; but if it's possible to only get 3 out of it I'd hope it can recover for another session in a reasonable time.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Welcome to the forum dude ! ) Will be following this thread with interest . Please do post pictures of the internals and airpath and stuff !
Cheers !
--------------------------------
@Hippie Dickie The guy said his unit is convection, so i guess it is similar to ESV 2 and firefly in technology ?But i am also getting confused with that programed chamber temp.. which might mean that the maker is confused of what convection really is .

 

[ac1dg]

Hi all, thank you for your replies

is this like a MFLB device - a heated screen?

It's not a heated screen, but a coil of resistance wire underneath the screen which heats up the air when you draw. So it actually is convection.
I am using a custom made PCB for controlling the heat using a mosfet, which is capable of delivering up to 120 amps. The pushbutton is only used for sending the signal, so no high power there

Does it have a way to turn the unit off for carrying out and about so we don't accidentally hit the trigger button?

Currently no. But it would be no problem to rewrite the software to stop heating, if there is no one drawing after some time. It actually never happened to me, but it's definitely a safety feature I should implement...

What's that MP made of?

Currently, this is aluminum with paper wrapping to insulate from the heat
I will probably change it to stainless steel with a wooden cover.

How fast does it recharge? 5 sessions would be do able for carrying out and about; but if it's possible to only get 3 out of it I'd hope it can recover for another session in a reasonable time.

It fully charged after about 1h20m. Since it's using USB, you can also use your Powerbank to charge it on the go. You can even use it during charing.

I will post some more pictures later on...

 

[ac1dg]

Some more pictures of one of the older prototypes:

Bottom cover removed. Here you can see the coils and temperature sensor, as well as the old messy PCB

All parts separated

CNC milled models of the latest version. The upper one is birch wood, the rest is teak

View from the top during heatup. Here you can se the coils in action as well as the temperature sensor just beneath the screen​

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Hey there !
Have you thought of isolating the airpath from the wood ?(maybe a metal sleeve or quartz/glass ? )
Also what material is that sensor made of ,i think there are some versions which involve a glass bead as an insulation for the temp sensor .
Do coils need to glow red to achieve needed temp for vaporization ?
Looking at the photos ,it reminds me even more of ESV 2.0 ,you might wanna look the thread if you are not familiar with the model.

 

[KeroZen]

Great but that glowing has me worried to.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

nice job! i'm jealous of your CNC milling machine ... that's what i want to get someday.

 

[ac1dg]

Have you thought of isolating the airpath from the wood ?

I did, however I don't think it's necessary. The wood gets barely hot, even after a long session and there are no signs of burnings.

Also what material is that sensor made of

It's a PT100 temperature sensor (platinum) which is rated for +600°C. I think the holder is made of ceramic.

Do coils need to glow red to achieve needed temp for vaporization ?

While drawing on the unit, they won't glow. However, during the heat up phase they currently do. This can be prevented by a wire with higher resistance or longer windings. Also, the current through the coil could be limited during heat up, but it will take longer to reach the desired temperature then.

Looking at the photos ,it reminds me even more of ESV 2.0 ,you might wanna look the thread if you are not familiar with the model.

You are right, they use quite the same technique. Never heard of this one... It's ugly plastic, thought

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

@ac1dg Wooden vapes > the rest IMO . I think the ESV 2.0 is made of aluminium but i might be wrong,never looked into the details cause of the 350 $ pricetag.. LOL..
IMO you should get rid of glowing red wire issue, even though it is not damaging the wood,cause with use ,i am sure there will be a lil bit of herb and residue that might fall onto the heater and result in combustion,which might make that wood around to suck some of the smell,which i imagine wont be easy to get rid of,which have been the case with some other wooden vapes i've used in the past .

 

[Rat0]

@ac1dg what do you use temperature sensor for and also wondering about PCB. Why don't you use 18650 batteries, I suppose because of their price?

 

[KeroZen]

What price, you mean $5 a piece? No excuse not to use Li-Ion these days...

 

[Fat Freddy]

@ac1dg .... check your personal messages

 

[ac1dg]

@ac1dg what do you use temperature sensor for and also wondering about PCB. Why don't you use 18650 batteries, I suppose because of their price?

The temperature sensor is used to measure the temperature, obviously
It is placed directly in the airflow, so the air which hits the herbs is exactly the right temperature.

The PCB is used to read the sensor's value and give power to the coil accordingly.

I don't use 18650 because they are way too big for the vape
The batteries I use are Li-Polys and provide much more power than Li-Ion. Their price is about the same (5$)

 

[Rat0]

Have you designed PCB yourself? Your prototype turns to be very complex design, mate, and it's awesome)))

 

[ac1dg]

Yes I did design it myself. It is the second version already, still had some minor mistakes in it, though.

 

[ChaiLifeOR]

I’d love to test one out as a medical user with conditions in just about every category that one can get a card in.

 

[kuzko]

This thing looks cool, obviously reminiscent of the MFLB. Are you set on the rectangle shape of it? I know small is always good but something I’ve always desired and never seen is a classic pipe shaped vaporizer, something that looks like what it’s used for. Otherwise, we are all vaping out of Walkie-talkies. It looks like maybe you could fit all of the internals in a small wooden pipe, could even have a Churchwarden stem to help cool down the vapor.

You are so far along so I doubt your lookin to reshape the device, just throwin it out there.

Looking forward to seeing how you progress.

From The looks of it, it looks like a finished enough product, except the mouthpiece. Would MFLB mouthpieces work on this? But the internals still need work? If you are looking for more beta testers, you’ve come to the right place!

 

[ac1dg]

I open-sourced it:
https://github.com/acidg/vape_firmware_arduino

Will add more information on how to build it the next days

 

[RastaBuddhaTao]

Great project! Rumor has it that there is some open source heater tech in the DIY that might interest you @ac1dg

 

[CrispGreenLeaves]

Hi all,

because some friends and me were not that satisfied with the market of portable vaporizers, I decided to build my own.

The main goals were as follows:

• Convection based - fast and high efficiency
• Made out of trustworthy materials (wood, glass, metal - no plastic in the heat path
• Chargeable via Micro-USB
• Integrated battery should last several sessions
• Cheap (less than 20$ worth of materials)

It uses a push-button to activate the heatup. When the light changes from red to green, the chamber has reached the programmed temperature and you can draw while holding the button (somewhat similar to grasshopper). It lasts 3-5 sessions.

This is the current prototype:

Currently I'm building some more prototypes for my friends for testing, but I am a little bit lost on how to continue with the project. I am not quite confident that I can sell it as a product. There has to be more time spent for fixing bugs and simplifying the build process. Because of that, I also am thinking about going open source...

What do you think?

I don't really have any time to give you some ideas for next steps but ill just say, looking good man!

 

[HindelangGG]

Wow looks really nice and interesting
I would really like to hear if you improved it in the meantime a little more. And if so is it working properly?

 

[kuzko]

Any updates? Would very much like to hear how this is coming along.

 

[Fat Freddy]

^^ Me too!