DIY G43

[BestBuds]

I'm thinking a portable Evo would be like that right? That would actually be pretty simple to build.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

I'm thinking a portable Evo would be like that right? That would actually be pretty simple to build.

Would it work, though? Those tubes are kind of short and the ELB would be however far away from the heaters. The coils would have to be running pretty hot, I'd imagine, unless some voodoo was worked out. Maybe that dimple in the glass tube changes things, but how much?

 

[Bumping Spheda]

ELB works great with DIY G43. 25V, 40-50W, pretty good extraction. I got extra lifted and didn't finish the last bowl, but a previous bowl was thoroughly extracted by my standards. First hit doesn't really produce vapor, ime, or maybe I'm just impatient and it's still not at temp. Once it gets going it's going.

Remember what I said about battery lasting heavy usage for a few days? Lies. Not paying close enough attention to input voltage, I guess. I've been using the built in voltmeter on the battery, you hit the button and there are 4 lights that light up at full charge, 3 lights at 3/4 charge, and so on. I cached one bowl starting at full charge. 3/4 bars. I cache a second bowl and let the high temp adhesive cure on the last coil entry holes. 2/4 bars. Idk, it seems like maybe 4 decent sessions and you'd need a recharge.

I'm diggin' this ELB, though.

 

[Hippie]

Nooooooo don't make me buy the ELBs

I get the same re. heatup, by the way. You need a brisk draw to even out the heat and get it started. Once that heat's evened out tho, it's got plenty of momentum for monster clouds and getting to the bottom of a big bowl like an ELB or a gauze in the base of a stem.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Nooooooo don't make me buy the ELBs

Sorry, bro, but I think you have to. Really a treat, imo. Fits so perfectly in the DDave ultimate cooling stem, there's like 2mm's of space left in the tube, the ELB sits perrrrfectly in the fitting; like they were made for each other.

I get the same re. heatup, by the way. You need a brisk draw to even out the heat and get it started. Once that heat's evened out tho, it's got plenty of momentum for monster clouds and getting to the bottom of a big bowl like an ELB or a gauze in the base of a stem.

Interesting, I'll keep these things in mind. I thought I was impatient. I had a sesh on it this morning, hit it at like 1.8 amps (I find amps easier to track than Watts, personally), I thought it was ready, but then the amps got down to like 1.75 and it started really hitting. Next sesh I'll wait for 1.75A output and see how she hits, see if I can get any vapor on the first draw.

One thing I noticed with the DIY G43 versus Flowerpot. Flowerpot produces vapor quicker it seems, I don't take as long of draws. With the G43 I take almost as long of a draw as I possibly can which means warmer, harsher air is getting deeper into my lungs. I cough more on DIY G43, ime, is basically what I'm getting at. Flowerpot is more luxurious to use so far. Need moar.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Got the terminals in the mail, wired up the last coil and sealed all the coil entry holes better with high temp adhesive. Installed aerogel layer. I vape a bowl through it, hope you enjoy. I forget to time the heat up, but I mention the amps at a specific time, and then I say when it reaches ~1.75A, so I just added the times up to get the final number, it was 4:51 of heat up when I took my first hit and got mild vapor (@6:23 in vid). You could wait longer and achieve even better first hit results.

I mention it doesn't get unbearably hot. If you leave the unit on for a long time it gets pretty darn hot in places (mainly the terminals near the top), I think I'm going to get even larger heat shrink tubing (do they make any? I know they make heat shrink tape...) and do a second layer of aerogel blanket (this thing is going to be massive, thinking about calling it "The Tube," feels like one in your hand, a big tube).

You saw that last cloud, though, I honestly saw so much milky vapor pouring through the stem I thought I combusted...

Ultimate Cooling Stem getting lots of honey everywhere, I wonder if this will need to be cleaned more often than an XL8R due to added cooling performance?

 

[Hippie]

OMG or should I say I sense a disturbance in the force?
You've built Darth Vader's life saber

Looks a lot safer and easier to handle all wrapped up.
Are they the 3 or 6mm Aerogel pads? and do you think it heats up any faster or retains the heat any better now it's all quilted in?

I put a 1.35ohm 24AWG SS coil in a T53 which seems to work about the same as the other coils at around 6v and about 19W at temp, this time. Not had a play with temp control on a box mod yet but it did let me lock in the resistance when I tested the coil, which is a good sign

 

[Bumping Spheda]

OMG or should I say I sense a disturbance in the force?
You've built Darth Vader's life saber

Can it get crazier, though?

Looks a lot safer and easier to handle all wrapped up.

Oh, it is, no more melted wire. I made the wire going from the vape to the LCD step down converter really long, too, so you can pretty much go anywhere with it, set it down if you need... I bought a hydratube stand, but once it's all wrapped it won't be needed. I bought some wider, thicker heat shrink tubing, I'll need to find my old heat gun if we still have it. It will be two layers of Aerogel blanket. The aerogel isn't hard at all to wrap how I anticipated it would be.

Are they the 3 or 6mm Aerogel pads? and do you think it heats up any faster or retains the heat any better now it's all quilted in?

10mm aerogel. I thought it heated up in about 5:00, maybe a little bit longer, without the aerogel, but I never officially timed it. With aerogel it's a little under 5:00. So, it helps, I think. I'll count how many cold start sessions I can get on a single charge.

I put a 1.35ohm 24AWG SS coil in a T53 which seems to work about the same as the other coils at around 6v and about 19W at temp, this time. Not had a play with temp control on a box mod yet but it did let me lock in the resistance when I tested the coil, which is a good sign

You know they make plug-in box mods? This could be fun. Mine runs at 45-50W, btw.. I wonder if I just start hitting it when it's chill, but it would actually heat up to combustion possibly if I left it on for a long time. I wonder what temp it actually levels out at with a full heat soak. Drawing air obviously keeps temps from rising for a period of time.

 

[Hippie]

Those plug ins soon add up when you go through the options.
You can run the box mod chips with high current power supplies like these https://ebay.us/XGgCu6 so making your own shouldn't be too hard. You could fit a toggle switch to the fire button of a DNA chip or use a JoyeTech chip with cruise control.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Those plug ins soon add up when you go through the options.
You can run the box mod chips with high current power supplies like these https://ebay.us/XGgCu6 so making your own shouldn't be too hard. You could fit a toggle switch to the fire button of a DNA chip or use a JoyeTech chip with cruise control.

Hrm. I see there's a setting in the DNA boards to tell it you're running off PSU. You'd still only get 20 second puff timer with a toggle, no? Need cruise control, for sure, but then you lose the ability to have higher impedance coils probably. LCD step down converter is really a chill option.

 

[Hippie]

Silly me - I forgot about the 25s cut off
Could do it with an OKR or a Joyetech chip tho

Had a go a temp control with the 1.35ohm SS coil which worked in principle altho it needs some tuning as I had to take it up to 260C using the SS TFR, it drains the battery a lot quicker than cruising in wattage mode, and complains about low battery when you draw.
It gets up to heat OK then throttles the power down below the wattage I usually run the step down but struggles to apply more power to compensate for the temp drop when you draw as the mod tries to fire at a higher wattage again.
The Claisen adapter I used for this build is about 1cm longer in the mid section and has thicker glass which probably explains why this build needs 19W, which works well with a PSU but I think we need to go a lot smaller for box mod use really.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Had a go a temp control with the 1.35ohm SS coil [...]
- it drains the battery a lot quicker than cruising in wattage mode, and complains about low battery when you draw.
- It gets up to heat OK then throttles the power down below the wattage I usually run the step down but struggles to apply more power to compensate for the temp drop when you draw as the mod tries to fire at a higher wattage again.
The Claisen adapter I used for this build is about 1cm longer in the mid section and has thicker glass which probably explains why this build needs 19W, which works well with a PSU but I think we need to go a lot smaller for box mod use really.

Oh, shooot. You think the mod gets the coil and immediate glass next to the coil up to temp, but fails to heat soak the entire unit? If it drops wattage that low, I wonder if the entire unit ever truly reaches temp. You might have to draw air through it for extended periods of time to really get the heat to spread? Idk, I'm just speaking theoretically from what you told me, I don't know what's actually happening. Hrmmm. Not looking that promising. Tbh, how many people even have box mods anymore? Let's be real, everyone is vaping on pods or Juuls, you know? Are we really helping that big of a crowd by making it box mod compatible...? Arctic Fox firmware compatible, that is, it's rather specific. I know box mod compatibility is a selling point for me, kind of, but not for everyone.

Just got the new heat shrink tubing in the mail. Doubled up on aerogel, re-Tube'ed it up, it's actually a lot nicer now in the hand, it feels cleaner. Just had my fifth cold start session on a single charge with the battery, I'm pretty sure it recently got to 1/4 bars, like late in the last sesh, and battery only reads 36V on LCD step down converter, I'm gonna have another sesh on it before charging, so around 6 cold start sessions on a single charge starting from room temp, it seems. Those are all single bowl sessions, btw, ELB pretty much filled, zero pack down, just enough space left to shake the ELB and mix the herb up (not sure if this is necessary, I think The Tube extracts everything without turning the stem or stirring the bowl, it's just a habit to shake it now between hits, I guess, or maybe the herb disturbance vapes it quicker). One bowl is a decent session for most people, but you could easily get 5 sessions where you pack two bowls per heat up, I'm guessing.

-Edit-
Had a 6th cold start sesh, might be able to get a 7th. Voltage still above 36V, 1 out of 4 bars on battery.
-Edit 2-
Had a 7th sesh, battery didn't light up a bar meaning voltage dropped below what the battery likes. It read ~35V on LCD step down converter. I put it on the charger, as soon as it started charging I checked the voltage level and it read one bar. Idk if the battery recovered from the session and gained a little voltage, or if it was the charger pumping volts into, but it was really close to 7 full sessions on a full charge.

Tube barely got warm in places with new aerogel layer. After I have my last sesh on this battery charge I'm gonna recharge it and run The Tube for like 30 minutes or something and see what happens. Tbh, I don't like that it even got warm in two spots during a normal sesh, that's not cool, imo, might need tweaking. If it got warm on a normal sesh then it might get too hot to touch in spots, or maybe even melt through the heat shrink tubing again somewhere if you have a prolonged sesh. Why you'd have it running for 30 minutes, Idk, like 8 people could get high in that time, I feel, but it's gotta be safe.

I'm thinking JB Weld will be fine to seal the aerogel on top and bottom so dust doesn't get everywhere. JB Weld is good to like 500F, I don't think the glass gets remotely that hot, like I can touch it, just not comfortably at all if it's been on for a long time. JB Weld was designed for lawn mower repair, I'm pretty sure, it should be fine in this setting.

If I extended the aerogel all the way to the bottom of the glass female to female this unit would probably be nearly drop proof (don't drop directly on head or butt.. Idk, I wouldn't wanna try it, period, but in the event..). Idk, I like the glass air intake being exposed, personally, but drop proof is enticing. If I have to re-do the shrink tubing anyway because it gets too hot from a 30+ minute heat soak I might change up the aerogel on the bottom.

Getting close to finished, though... Not much else I can do once these last few niggles are sorted. Sort of reminds me of a battery powered VapeXhale Cloud EVO: all the glass, the thick black tube, Idk. Even uses the ELB and heats up just as fast, I believe.

-Edit-
Had another sesh on it, I started drawing very slowly through the unit at like 1.8 Amps, I usualy hit it at 1.75A or lower. Drawing air through the unit heated the glass more thoroughly/faster, I think it increased power draw slightly, too. I was able to start my first real draw (achieving slight vapor) at 4:00! This simple technique decreases heat up by like 40 seconds. If I was able to install the coils closer to the center of the carbon filter so glass beads surrounded the coils/glass rods on all sides it would probably heat up faster and wouldn't need the inhale assistance. If I make a second unit I'll mess around with coil installation techniques. It's just tricky because there's more than one coil and the coils need to stay tight around the glass rods, meaning the resistance wire needs to remain taught. We'll see, @Hippie has given me some ideas through PM.

 

[Hippie]

It's not all doom n gloom. I got a proper session out of it in temp mode
There just wasn't any real advantage over wattage cruising in my opinion
I mean, you can do the same thing with the dial on the step down or adjusting the wattage on a box mod anyway

I see the box mods as a cheap convenient portable power source that we can utilize for smaller devices.

7 sessions with the Tube on the B&D battery isn't bad considering you were only expecting 4 from preliminary testing. I bet that probably equates to over 2 hours or so of session time, which isn't bad considering it's size and oomph the Tube delivers.

Like the new shape with the extra Aerogel, hope it doesn't need any more quilting in for longer sessions tho as I think that'd be in danger of being a bit chunky for one hand.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

It's not all doom n gloom. I got a proper session out of it in temp mode
There just wasn't any real advantage over wattage cruising in my opinion
I mean, you can do the same thing with the dial on the step down or adjusting the wattage on a box mod anyway

For sure.

I see the box mods as a cheap convenient portable power source that we can utilize for smaller devices.

Idk, glass heat exchanger and box mod don't seem to go together in my brain. Lamart has got that idea's number. If we can exbound on it, could be chill, imo.

7 sessions with the Tube on the B&D battery isn't bad considering you were only expecting 4 from preliminary testing. I bet that probably equates to over 2 hours or so of session time, which isn't bad considering it's size and oomph the Tube delivers.

Like the new shape with the extra Aerogel, hope it doesn't need any more quilting in for longer sessions tho as I think that'd be in danger of being a bit chunky for one hand.

Yeah, not sure on total run time, 2 hours sounds generous. It's not horrendous, though.

I had a couple sessions on it tonight... after modifying the aerogel layers and re-doing the heat shrink tubing, that is! Heat was escaping through the cracks in aerogel (at the seams) so I made an aerogel layer that had holes in it measured out for the terminal blocks to poke through, then I rewired everything outside the first aerogel layer. Then I completely removed the insulation from the conductor wire that I used to wire up the coils in series with each other, just bare Copper braid now. Then I wrapped a second aerogel layer around everything making sure wires don't short, heat shrink tubing around all that, and ta da...

Aerogel extends to the bottom of the glass female to female now (all glass is fairly well protected, just need the JB Weld to seal the dust in). Idk, it might be a couple mm's thinner, too, I only used one heat shrink layer this time instead of two, and aerogel seems a little tighter this time.

So, I had a normal sesh, hit at 1.75A, needed to get the heat mixed before it got going so inhale assistance required, many hits to cache bowl. Then I packed another bowl... Hit at 1.67A... Visible vapor in the stem, feel the hit on the back of my throat, holy moly this thing is chuckin'... *BAM* Combustion right at the end. I'm guessing it was pretty thoroughly vaped already, dunno. I packed another bowl and it was hard to vape, the thing got even warmer even though I tried turning the settings down between bowls. I was pulling the stem out while inhaling every 0.1 seconds because I was trying so hard not to combust, just instant milky vapor that turns to combustion very very quickly. I tried turning it down, scraping the combusted layer off the non-vaped bud, trying again, but instantly combusting over and over. Idk, I like letting it FULLY heat soak, I get a much better experience that way, instant milky vapor I can SEE in the cooling stem, just need to find that sweet spot with the voltage and current draw without sacrificing heat up times if possible.

I left The Tube on for 28 full minutes. It got HOT near the top, but no melted heat shrink tubing. It smells near the top of the vape now from combusting so many times. Grrr. Should I really dump the beads and clean everything with iso??? I'm so lazy, it was a bear getting the SS mesh tight in there to where beads don't fall out the bottom... Unit was usable even at the 28min mark (assuming settings are dialed in correctly). Unit only gets hot at the top, bottom half of unit remains cool and can be held, so once settings are dialed in to where you don't combust after 28min of heat soaking the unit will be operable indefinitely, I'm pretty sure. I'm also fairly sure I'm running way too hot, so who knows, maybe it'll be really chill once it's dialed in now.

Recharging battery now, was at 1 of 4 bars after 3 bowls and 28 min stress test, I didn't charge it fully last time. Will try to dial in settings for chucking massive clouds soon. With proper settings and full heat soak this thing hits like a flowerpot...

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Short and sweet (hits start at 0:30):

Come sesh out:

 

[Hippie]

I built another short Claisen T53 with Super Clapton wire (26 32 1.4x1) which came out at about 1.3ohms and built it without the glass rod this time.
Performance is about the same as the other short Claisen build and needs about 16.5W at temp so no big changes there.
Battery life is a little better cruising in wattage mode and I got TC working but it still drains the power way faster than wattage mode.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Interesting. Your claisen's radiate enough heat you can keep them cruising in wattage. If I do this I will either instantly combust in no time because aerogel seals heat in and temps rise waaay past chill, or wattage is so low heat up will take forever. Basically it's a thermal battery, I get it up to temp using Amps as a gauge, and when it arrives at temp (perhaps with a little inhale assistance) I just shut it off and finish the bowl. If I wanna vape again I turn the unit back on for 20-30 seconds as I get the second bowl started, then shut it off again. You just get a feel for Amps, the level of heat soaking the beads have gotten, draw speed, feathering the cooling stem, etc. I've been messing with higher voltages to get quicker heat up and actually I seem to need to give it more inhale assistance to get going, and it's easier to combust. I wanna go back down on the voltage like I was for these videos. Lower voltage takes longer to heat up, but you get a more thorough heat soak and much better results I'm finding. Heat up time is worth if you want cloudy first hit's, ime. The results you see in those last two vids are the best I've seen from this unit, I'm fairly certain. Truly flowerpot performance through a DDave ultimate cooling stem.

 

[Hippie]

You gotta find the Tube's cruising wattage
My 2 hour guestimate is reliant on you finding it

That's basically how I use my G43 and T53s with the PSU by my desk, set and forget

With a battery I get them up to heat at higher wattages with a few puffs to draw the heat through, then turn them down to cruising wattage for the session without thinking about any of that or any fancy draw techniques. I dunno if that's good or bad for battery efficiency to be honest but it's a little quicker getting them up to heat.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Sounds like the most efficient way to get your claisen's up to temp, honestly.

I got the unit up to temp, turned it down to cruise, had a sesh, turned it up a little, had a sesh, turned it up a little, had a sesh. My throat was beat by this point, I couldn't hit it anymore, the vapor on my throat was aggravating. In the previous videos I was running even warmer than I was tonight (different voltage and amp settings, I don't remember what they were for the video), vapor seemed more instant and thicker in videos, combustion on my mind at times. I need to find those settings again and tweak them. I was cruising at about 19W, it seemed, but I think after my throat recovers I'll wanna cruise a little bit higher for those flowerpot clouds. Thing was sort of hitting like a Splinter Z+... or something, tonight, and it wasn't great in the harshness department.

Don't use water in your ultimate cooling stems, guys, imho it muddles the experience entirely. Was designed for dry use and works wonderfully in that regard.

-Few sessions later-
Haha. I might need a PSU for The Tube. EV-bike battery might be overkill for me. I mean, it'd be dope for somebody out there who needs hella battery life, but I sorta need a desktop solution as this seems to be replacing my flowerpot. Heat up time is too long for a portable, tbph, you live and you learn, doesn't really shine for what I intended it for, although will work in a pinch. Maybe I'm just infatuated with The Tube right now and I'll go back to the flowerpot, I can hit that through a bong so it is quite a bit smoother even dry (doesn't need to be cleaned as often, either), but The Tube is mean, I kinda just like the idea of it, haha. I'm getting close on the settings (preheat and cruise wattages, that is). I combusted last sesh, but I can't be afraid of that because I wanna get right up close to combustion to really get instant chunky clouds and max extraction, that's just how I aim to vape. Taste from combustion goes away after a bowl or so, no maintenance required from me, just vape more and it gets sorted by itself.

Oh. Right. I sealed up the aerogel with JB Weld as discussed. Top didn't come out as well for reasons I won't discuss, but it works. Had a three bowl, 15-20 minute sesh, JB Weld at top chuggin' along happily, no odors or anything. Aerogel dust... DEFEATED! Now it's a complete unit. Darth Vape Chubz, indeed.
Top:
(See those beads riiiight up to the brim? Heat source is like mm's away from herb, good design from vaping standpoint, but this is also why JB Weld gets so hot...)

Bottom:
(Long glass intake tube, heavily insulated by all the glass, bit of distance between bottom intake and coils, so it stays very cool)

 

[Hippie]

Looks sweet now you've tidied it up
19W is a lot less than I thought it would need at temp

Edited: after further testing
For anyone else following, the no rod build is actually more efficient than I originally thought and only needs about 14W to maintain temp so I'm gonna try a few more builds without the glass rod and better coil spacing to see if I can get that down a bit further for better battery life.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

Purchased a 48V, 3A PSU to replace the Black&Decker battery, I already got it in the mail, I might have to fidget with the wiring some to make everything more usable, but it all works flawlessly so far. I also purchased a ModPod Labs Coolest Hook to see if the DDave Mods Ultimate Cooling Stem is bottle necking The Tube's performance (not yet arrived). I think airflow might be too restricted through Ultimate Cooling Stem for this particular device, the Coolest Hook might allow for different preheat requirements, like lower temps with the higher airflow/thermal transfer... Dunno, we'll see. Still trying to dial this thing in so it performs how I expect it to.

 

[Hippie]

How you like the Coolest Hook?
I keep looking at them (and J-hooks) but always end up using a whip instead

My big bag o balls and the MA2/3 claisens finally arrived
https://www.fishersci.co.uk/shop/products/quickfit-multiple-glass-joint-adapter-two-necks/12061603

1st impressions are good much easier to build and install everything.
I've put an 8mm 1.35ohm 24AWG SS coil in it for now, which needs about 7V for just under 24W at temp.
As expected really, it's a little slower to get there than the G43 and T53s but it's a little more stable and packs a bit more ooomph

 

[Hippie]

I rebuilt the new MA2/3 with a 10mm dia 1.85ohm coil today and put the previous coil in a smaller Claisen to compare
The 8mm coil works well in the 18mm Claisen at about 15W so I'd say that's OK as box mod portable (very similar to the super clapton build but with better heat distribution and easier to build with the 24AWG SS).
The larger 10mm coil in the MA2/3 it's taking just over 21W with a deep bowl to make the thickest tastiest cloudzbro I've ever made. Really pleased with the evenness of the heat distribution and penetration of this build.

 

[Bumping Spheda]

That's dope. Can you take a video of this thing?

Got modpod hook in mail. No herb to try it on... ELB is loose, not ideal, airflow doesnt seem that much better than what I had, unsure if that's really the issue now. Will report my findings as they come, not super stoked yet. The quality of the modpod hook seems nice, though.

 

[Hippie]

Inspired by recent events in the Misty Log thread, from the bottom of the page here
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/the-misty-log-diy-wooden-log-vaporizer.26757/page-30

I drilled some holes in a male 18mm elbow whip adapter like these https://ebay.us/lCKaHK , put a 6mm 1.3ohm 24AWG SS coil in, filled it up with 3mm beads and capped off the end with a couple of Arizer dome screens, which I've been running at 4.9V (just under 13W) via the PSU or at 13W via a boxmod ... using a female adapter for a bowl (like an Arizer or DDave mod bowl)

And made a Halogen version with a 20W Halostar Oven bulb, 50 x 150mm of 400 grade SS mesh and backfilled the cavity in the adapter with glass beads - which I'm running at a little under 10.5W via the PSU

They're a pair of teeny tiny beasts! Really like the way the Bud Eater (halogen) gets up to heat quicker, it lights up the bowl and delivers instantly when you start drawing but I think the Whipi3 just wins for flavour at the moment altho I'm expecting the SS mesh in the Bud Eater to season and the flavour to improve with more use.