Discontinued A Hot Pod

[OhTheAgony]

Naah, no more trips to Germany for a while unfortunately. My last visit was goodbye for now, my friends there moved to the US of A shortly after

I just haven't been posting a lot lately, but I'm still around

Yeah, a unrestricted air path seems to be preferred by most users. But anyway, as someone who mainly vapes through water I guess I can only welcome that change then. But with the Solo thread in mind you might get some complains about loose stems from the direct draw folks

 

[hazy]

Haven't really looked into the Solo so I read some pages from the thread. Seems like a different style of heat port design which relies on the stem tightly fitting into it. The new pod is designed so that the stems drop into the top, rather than clip onto it. The stem drops deeply enough into the hole to be quite stable, and doesn't need to fit into anything to get a proper seal. The stem won't detach or fall out of the top unless you turn the pod upside down or knock it over etc. This design is also a bit more forgiving in terms of stem diameter.

 

[Zangano Cruel]

OTA is right, you might have a lot of Solo users that will complain about it, but IMO I wouldn't worry...
First of all, your model is a log style, plugged to a cord. So, since the beggining you need to be paying attention to what you do. IMO I'll just wrote a warning in the usage manual or directions telling users about the loose stem.
IMO, log style almost unrestricted airflow is too precious to ruin it because of complains of loose stems.
IMO, I'm seeing a lot of user requisites beforehand a product is launched
IMO, if your log don't sacrifice vapor safety and purity by unrestricted airflow, SO LET IT BE...
We need to learn to be more careful, with the vape we use.
IMO trying to please all vaporizer users is a nightmare and at the moment impossible.
If you try to please that 0,1% of complainers, "the stem spins too much",
"the stem falls down if I turn it upside down", lol, yep, we don't live in the f....g moon, there's gravity in the earth,
IMO you'll never launch your soon to be awesome log vape.
You can't be a godfather to everyone.
You need to pick a side here.
Please the 99,9% users or try to please the 0,1% that already find a flaw in your vape design and they wouldn't stop till they find more flaws.

I can see my head being cutted off after this post.
Medical users and people with severe conditions like spascisity and uncontroled muscular movement related conditions are going to hate me and think I'm a bad person and evil...
But as I said before, you can't please everybody, many people can't afford the
Cloud for example, do you think StoneMonkey and crew are going to drop down quality and all glass airpath because of that?? Or change the design because it's too clumsy with the glass on the top for medical conditions ( spascisity & muscular disorders) ???
Nope, I don't think so.
So, please , keep your good work and don't get discouraged

 

[Adobewan]

OTA is right, you might have a lot of Solo users that will complain about it, but IMO I wouldn't worry...
First of all, your model is a log style, plugged to a cord. So, since the beggining you need to be paying attention to what you do. IMO I'll just wrote a warning in the usage manual or directions telling users about the loose stem.
IMO, log style almost unrestricted airflow is too precious to ruin it because of complains of loose stems.
IMO, I'm seeing a lot of user requisites beforehand a product is launched
IMO, if your log don't sacrifice vapor safety and purity by unrestricted airflow, SO LET IT BE...
We need to learn to be more careful, with the vape we use.
IMO trying to please all vaporizer users is a nightmare and at the moment impossible.
If you try to please that 0,1% of complainers, "the stem spins too much",
"the stem falls down if I turn it upside down", lol, yep, we don't live in the f....g moon, there's gravity in the earth,
IMO you'll never launch your soon to be awesome log vape.
You can't be a godfather to everyone.
You need to pick a side here.
Please the 99,9% users or try to please the 0,1% that already find a flaw in your vape design and they wouldn't stop till they find more flaws.

I can see my head being cutted off after this post.
Medical users and people with severe conditions like spascisity and uncontroled muscular movement related conditions are going to hate me and think I'm a bad person and evil...
But as I said before, you can't please everybody, many people can't afford the
Cloud for example, do you think StoneMonkey and crew are going to drop down quality and all glass airpath because of that?? Or change the design because it's too clumsy with the glass on the top for medical conditions ( spascisity & muscular disorders) ???
Nope, I don't think so.
So, please , keep your good work and don't get discouraged

Agreed Zangano.
What the Pod offers that other logs don't is what gives it a credible place in the Log market whose customers are already well serviced.
Regarding the stem tightness, would an o-ring be a consideration or does that defeat the purity aspect?

 

[hazy]

Thanks ZC and Adobewan, I appreciate your comments. I won't be changing the design further, as I don't really see this as an issue. Unlike the Solo, the pod does not require a tight fit for the stem, so it has no effect on performance whatsoever. It's more like the original Zap and PD stems which drop into the heat port, so there's nothing new in that respect. We are literally talking about a fraction of a millimetre of play, which is necessary so that the stem can be easily inserted.

 

[OhTheAgony]

Just for the record, but I wasn't trying to criticize Hazy's design or anything like that. In fact, I never had any complains about the looseness of the Solo stems personally. I just noticed a similarity which reminded me of the complains about the Solo and I more or less mentioned it without thinking it through.

So how long will it take before we'll be able to try out your creation ourselves?

 

[hazy]

I suppose the point I was trying to make is that people may be complaining about the looseness of the Solo stem for reasons unrelated to the design of the pod. Admittedly I'm making a guess based on what I can figure out about the Solo. I didn't feel like reading a hundred pages about a vape I will probably never buy

OTA, to answer your question, all the parts have been ordered apart from the turned pods themselves. I will be placing the order for those this week, so I will hopefully get them by the end of next week. I'm still waiting for a few packages to arrive in the mail, so hopefully I will have them all by then so I can get to work assembling everything. I don't want to give an exact date just in case any issues come up (shouldn't be, but you never know).

 

[OhTheAgony]

Lmao, I think I've read all vaporizer related threads on FC except the MFLB thread

But I have to much time to kill & don't enjoy watching tv so it's a nice alternative for those quiet evenings. It's hard to keep up with all the new vapes that are coming out though.


Ballpark will do just fine, thanks

By the sounds of it it won't be too long now then, good luck with/enjoy those final stages!

 

[NewVape]

It sounds like you're on the right track Hazy. If I read right you're not trying to reinvent the wheel. A stem that slides into a heat port and has a tiny bit of wiggle room is the nature of this kind of vape. I'm looking forward to having one in hand, but not pressure And my comment about a GonG stem is me just thinking out loud, I'll do that. Although it did seem to spark a discussion on finding glass blowers in AU. Hmmm maybe I'll learn here and then move there...

 

[hazy]

The GG stem has been on the agenda since the beginning, so you're right to bring it up. I still haven't had much luck with finding a glassblower, even though I've tried to contact a few in the US. Seems like nobody's interested...

JRR from Wychwood makes his own glass, and he seems to think that his stems might fit the pod, so that is a possible source. I'm sure he's busy enough with his own stuff though.

So NewVape, if you want to try your hand at making some, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[OhTheAgony]

I think Alan's GonG stems for the HI will also work?

The one I have has a OD of 13mm, but he also makes a slightly thinner one I believe (I opted for the thicker one for durability).

 

[hazy]

They might work, but I couldn't expect him to make them for me on an ongoing basis. He's got a long waiting list of eager vaporists so I'm hesitant to divert his efforts elsewhere. If any of them found out that their HIs were delayed for more than a second I think they'd kill me...

 

[stickstones]

Hazy...have you considered making you own like Alan does? He's not a blower, but he does his own ground joints, I believe.

 

[hazy]

It would be great if I could make my own, but there's just no way I could do anything like that in this tiny place.

 

[Alan]

You would be surprised how much you can do is such a little space. I am basically working in a cedar closet with very little room. I knew almost nothing about working glass when I started.

I have purchased some 14mm gong fittings that have 12mm OD glass tubing. The ID is about 8.5mm. It may work just right for you. Just need to do some glass cutting and flame polishing.

I haven't done any glass blowing yet, just cutting, grinding, boring and flame polishing. All my work is on a small metal turning lathe.

Good luck with your quest.

 

[hazy]

Thanks for chiming in Alan. Those fittings do sound like they would work well. Believe me, if I had any spare room at all I would be making use of it. Put it this way, this place is so small that we need to keep most of our belongings in a storage unit in another suburb. I've been snapping the glass tubing over the kitchen sink and flame polishing while sitting on the kitchen floor. Not exactly ideal. Even calling it a kitchen is a bit of an exaggeration...

Haha I probably sound like I'm complaining but it's not all that bad. I do like living here and we've got a great view, so there are advantages. Also, the design of the pod is in many ways a direct result of the tight living conditions. It has forced me to make the design as simple as possible to assemble, although the wood turning and boring does require skills and equipment. Fortunately I was able to contract out that step.

The good news is that I just had a chat with Cookie from Wychwood and he may be able to supply the short GG stems. He was already making something similar so this could work out well for both of us. Actually I'm quite happy for anyone to make and sell parts that can be used with the pod. I'd like people to have options. Anyway, I shouldn't to get too far ahead of myself. I've still got a batch of beta units to make

 

[Adobewan]

How goes the progress Hazy? Any current word on release?

 

[OhTheAgony]

I noticed some posts were deleted, I do hope no one got in trouble..

Seems like the stem problems are solved anyways, good to here Cookie came to the rescue

I think I'll be able to try one of those stems later this week or early next week already


Adobewan, this was the status last week:

OTA, to answer your question, all the parts have been ordered apart from the turned pods themselves. I will be placing the order for those this week, so I will hopefully get them by the end of next week. I'm still waiting for a few packages to arrive in the mail, so hopefully I will have them all by then so I can get to work assembling everything. I don't want to give an exact date just in case any issues come up (shouldn't be, but you never know).

 

[Adobewan]

Thanks Oh!

 

[hazy]

Thanks OTA. I should add that I spoke to my woodturner last night and he said the pods would be ready some time next week. I've already got the power sockets and some of the glass. I'm waiting for the rest of the glass and the resistors to arrive in the mail. In addition to some minor delays on my part, the mail service seems to have been slow lately but hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer.

 

[Adobewan]

Great Hazy, thanks!

 

[psyshaman]

Very keen to get my hands on a the hot pod and this talk of glass on glass fittings is quite exciting too. Hope it's all going well for you Hazy!

 

[Ed's TnT]

Good morning Hazy, hope all is well and things are coming together with the Pod. Am anxious to see more pics and how these are working out for you. I wish you well and look forward to your updates!

 

[hazy]

Thanks for your good wishes. Things are moving along, although a little slowly. I've got all the electrical parts now, but still waiting for some glass. I haven't heard from the woodturner for a while. I don't want to rush him so I'll just sit tight until he calls me. I think he should be close to finishing the batch though. In the meantime I'll continue testing

 

[hazy]

Well the bad news is that I'm still waiting for the glass for the heater tubes. Admittedly this was ordered relatively late in the proceedings, but it was a few weeks ago so I thought it would have arrived by now. I ended up ordering slightly thicker glass than I was using previously because I noticed that I could break the inner glass tube when disassembling the pod if I wasn't careful . I've tried the thicker glass which seems a lot stronger and can handle rough treatment without breaking, so I will be using it in the pods from now on. Unfortunately I've only got a few pieces of the thicker stuff so I can't do anything until the new glass tubing eventually gets here.

The good news is that I've received the first batch of pods from the woodturner and they're looking great.
I'll use this as an excuse for some pod porn

It's interesting seeing so many pods all at once. It makes me realise just how much variation there is in colour and texture. One thing I've noticed is that nearly all of them have slight flaws such as small cracks etc, so I hope nobody is disappointed if their pod isn't "perfect". Being natural objects, there isn't much I can do about it.

In other news, I'm no longer using the Kunos oil for the finish. Instead I've now switched to 100% hemp seed oil. There are no solvents or thinners used, so it's not just food grade, it's edible . As can be seen in the photo above, the result is a pleasant low gloss and plenty of grain detail. From what I've read elsewhere it's a very durable finish, so I'm delighted to have stumbled across this idea.