Phattpiggies Wood Shed

phattpiggie said:

@Summer the VC condenser is sat inside the body held in place by the x rings. Both of which are on the MP side of the carb creating a chamber between the tip and x ring.
When you draw on the stem air is drawn thru the load and thru the carb into the chamber between the outer body, condenser and x ring then into you.
The condensers on my segmented stems are screwed into the hot end so when you take a draw all the air enters thru the tip. They do not have the VC chamber.
I'll try and get some video or pictures of the stem I made when I first started which will show the problems with a fixed condenser with a carb in it.
A little bit of reclaim manages to get outside the condenser in normal use and it would be squished out the carb hole when you ran a q tip thru it.

@Mr. Me2 that piece of wood sits on the window sill of a friends house. He's brought me a few odd bits round and I cut it up for him as a thank you.
Is that the kind of thing you had in mind?

@Baron23 I'm glad you're enjoying the stem and that it enhances your VC experience.

Click to expand...

It is, though I think that one may be taller than I was picturing. But beautiful. And if a skeletor could be hidden inside, with a discreet port...wow!

phattpiggie said:

When you draw on the stem air is drawn thru the load and thru the carb into the chamber between the outer body, condenser and x ring then into you. They do not have the VC chamber.

Click to expand...

So are you saying that the air & vapor do not go through the ID of the condenser??? If so, then wouldn't there be a lot of reclaim build up on the inner walls of the stem that you wouldn't be able to clean making it unusable?



Obviously I don't get it. An airflow diagram would most likely be of help. Of course, at your leisure.

You see, there are 2 acrylic color blanks I really, really like, but I can't do the draw resistance w/o a carb. as my lungs are shot after years of smoking. If I ever toked the way you do in your vids, I'd literally fall over dead from cardiac arrest (& I'm not joking). 1 toke of that fabulous 3-tipped monster would also do it. I'm envious. So sorry I did heed the advice of one of our fellow FC members whose signature quote is along the lines of 'Save your lungs, they've got to last you a lifetime.'

Now for a little phattpiggie humor (even though it very well may have been posted on this thread already):


BTW, how come all your numerous vids are not visibly available on your youtube channel. They really should be. Good stuff.

ttyl

@Summer I've just left them 'unlisted', I'll change a few of them at some point.
Links to the blanks in question??

Top right picture is the VC set up. Condenser, X ring and outer body. I left the tips out.
The bottom drawing is how I do mine, as you can see the fresh air 'chamber' I spoke of is non existent on my stems.

There is a way round it and I will get one done and show you.

@Mr. Me2 I'm about to embark on a Skelly enclosure trip so we'll see what I can come up with.

Ooooo, I'm interested in what you explore as possibilities on your skelly enclosure trip. Sounds similar to a Grateful Dead show Las Vegas ('91?), I had one of those. Seriously though, as some freak on Pipe's Skelator list, I'm going to be on the same thought-journey-thing in January. So share everything in your brain Mr. piggie! Well, not everything... Somethings you can't unsee. But seriously, within the narrow scope of skelly enclosures, I will appreciate all thoughts of what might and what definitely won't work. Pictures, sketches, whatever. And if you think too much minutiae will bore your fans here, then PM me!

I mean look what you just did for @Summer ? I know I'm not as pretty, or as nice-smellin', or as nice in general but can't you please do me just this one favour?! Oh yeah, I mean just this second favour?!

EDIT: I just re-read this upon returning to my laptop, I use "seriously" way too much. Like comedian bombing on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Embarrassing.

Ooooooh skelly boxes
Coffins, sarcophaguses, tombs, shrouds .... what to call them?

How do you feel about attempting some Lichtenberg effect on the outside?

@pxl_jockey, I think you are more than a little on the nutty side.

@phattpiggie, I will get back to you after I have a chance to contemplate your drawings. All I want is simply airflow & I'm getting a .

Meanwhile, I will send you the links for the acrylic blanks I like; matter of fact, I think you may have one of the blanks I like in your possession.

On the Skelly front 'I'm up for anything'.
I'm going to be spending as much time as possible working thru some ideas and I've got plenty of good scrap wood to experiment on.
There are just a few things to clear up first such as a pen for my little one and a gift for a family member.
Feel free to post picture and links of anything anyone wants me to try out.

@Summer It'll click at some point, now I've seen a way round it you can relax. Once I do the practice piece you will see where my concerns with reclaim comes about, it's not going to cause any real problems to the user.

The stem I have that is made in a similar fashion is on loan and I'll be getting it back soon, the guy's lungs are really bad so he can't use it. Not that that will stop him being in Amsterdam for his 70th.

There's loads of how to's on the tube showing how to repurpose a microwave transformer to burn Lichtenberg figures in wood
So I've chosen a short one


Some of the epoxy filled ones are pretty cool, I reckon some crushed rock glued in there would look the biz too.

I'd like a cube for the skelly with some of that on the outside please

@Hippie I may have looked at Lichtenberg videos once or twice in the past, here's another for you. I have glow in the dark powder. Cube would be nice.
Here's where I took mine today.
I like the hit and miss in the turquoise on this bass.

@Summer I put together a stem to explain how I'd go about doing carb'd stems and it'll show where my concerns lie.
The wood/acrylic mid section left out, the hot end and the mouthpiece are screwed onto the 5mm condenser, the mid section is drilled at 5.1mm.
I couldn't drill thru the mid material and hit the SS dead centre with my drill. This means the drill would run down the side of the SS tube. Resulting in large amounts of cussing, I'm a good little swearer.
If I had a milling machine or more accurate drill press I would drill them with a slot drill.

However I did a couple of stems that have the stem and condesner carb'd.
Which is what made me re-think the design for the segmented.
This condenser has the carb filed in rather than drilled.
In use the carb gets circled with reclaim, once the mid is in place you can't get to the internal carb.
I would have to recommend frequent cleaning with a lightly Iso dampened q tip/paper wad as it will end up getting pushed out of the carb if neglected. I think a diligent user would be fine.

The stem went together nicely using a mid section that you will all recognise.

phattpiggie said:

@Hippie I may have looked at Lichtenberg videos once or twice in the past, here's another for you. I have glow in the dark powder. Cube would be nice.
Here's where I took mine today.

I like the hit and miss in the turquoise on this bass.

@Summer I put together a stem to explain how I'd go about doing carb'd stems and it'll show where my concerns lie.
The wood/acrylic mid section left out, the hot end and the mouthpiece are screwed onto the 5mm condenser, the mid section is drilled at 5.1mm.
I couldn't drill thru the mid material and hit the SS dead centre with my drill. This means the drill would run down the side of the SS tube. Resulting in large amounts of cussing, I'm a good little swearer.
If I had a milling machine or more accurate drill press I would drill them with a slot drill.

However I did a couple of stems that have the stem and condesner carb'd.
Which is what made me re-think the design for the segmented.
This condenser has the carb filed in rather than drilled.
In use the carb gets circled with reclaim, once the mid is in place you can't get to the internal carb.
I would have to recommend frequent cleaning with a lightly Iso dampened q tip/paper wad as it will end up getting pushed out of the carb if neglected. I think a diligent user would be fine.

The stem went together nicely using a mid section that you will all recognise.

Click to expand...

phattpiggie, even though I'm probably going to embarrass myself by not pm'ing you privately, I think it will be helpful to those as dense as I to follow through on the thread.

Now let's see if I comprehend this is in simplistic terms, like a 5th grader who doesn't have the terminology & is working their brain OT on getting the concept.

First, I do understand your inability to drill through both the stem & condenser sequentially as the drill bit will travel when it hits the smooth denser metal of the condenser &, thus, destroy the stem, therefore you need to file.

So:

1) the filing is in essence like gouging (for lack of a better term) out a non-circular opening.

2) so the result of #1 is that the stem has a circular hole while the condenser's hole is irregularly shaped & oversized.

3) so, because of this oversized & irregular shape, the reclaim easily escapes the condenser & mucks up the space between the condenser & stem, & eventually exudes from the stem's carb hole.

4) Am I correct that when drawing through a vc, air gets pulled & mixed with vapor on the mp end & a small amount gets drawn in through the channels on the tip end, which can't occur in your stems because both the mp & tip part are mounted flush against the condenser blocking off all air flow, thus the need for a condenser carb.

I'm assuming that the user cannot unscrew both ends to clean the space between condenser & stem because the top & bottom stem pieces don't have threads so once these pieces are married together that's it. The condenser threads are
solely what is anchoring the unthreaded stem pieces.

Do I have the general concept -- at least enough?

2 final questions:

Why, instead of filing the condenser, can't you drill the 2 pieces independently of each other. Is it that you just don't have the correct tool (drill press?) that will stamp through the metal? I would think that if the condenser hole was drilled rather than filed that there would be a lot less oozing of reclaim?

I understand needing to use a q-tip type cleaning device to get inside the stem's carb hole to keep that area open & to prevent accumulation of reclaim in the the space between the stem & condenser, and that it needs to be done diligently. What or how does one use to clean the length of ID of the condenser?

@Summer I understand the problems you are having getting your head around it, not dense or embarrassing at all. I can assure you there will be things that you comprehend far better than I do.

Yes you have the idea,
1. and 2. yes, I filed it as it was easier to do it in the lathe rather than set my drill up for one piece.

3. Any size and shape hole allows the build up, it's not much but over the course of time it would continue to gather. I'm talking months rather than days.

4. In an open carb'd VC stem air is drawn in thru the cap/tip and carb, in my stems it's the cap/tip alone.

The hot end and MP are female threaded to accept the male condenser thread. The ends sandwich and hold the mid section material.

Once the stem is built it will not come to pieces unless you really force it, pliers type force.
If you did manage to undo it there is a slim chance it will go back together in the same place.
Wood changes shape as it settles down.

I can make a jig and set my drill up to put a neater hole in the SS.

You cannot get anywhere near the condensers carb so the outside of it will always be a little dirty.
I use a wad of Iso wet paper and push it thru with a skewer, this would have to be done a bit more regularly.
With neglect some of the fat snail turd of reclaim would end up being pushed thru the internal carb.

I love the stem with the screw off top to protect the tip. What if there was a magnet on the top of the cap? That would make it perfectly functional in my mind.

Thank you for investing the time & having the patience in explaining this all to me. Very much appreciated.

OK, now that I understand the general concept, I have to say that I'm feeling like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady who can finally & properly say, "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."

Give me several days & I'll pm you to with the specifics of the custom stem I want & pics of the blanks. And, fear not, it's simple in design.

Have a good weekend.

Edited to add: ya know, pp, @Diggy Smalls, may be on to something. How about something that would magnetize the ends to the condenser without the need to thread so that it could be taken apart to clean. Good, no good???

So I went through most of the thread and went to look for an inventory or website and couldn't find one.

Is there an area to order? Gallery?

Looking fwd to grabbing my own beautiful stem.

@caseball2051, there is no website & this thread is, in essence, his gallery. Look through this thread & you will see a huge amount of stems that phattpiggie has crafted. 1/2 of the stems shown were custom-made to order. And the others are his own designs that he displays here & the members snatch them up.

Scroll through all pics on this thread to have a sense of what you'd like & then pm phattiepiggie & he will put you on his list &, if you need assistance in designing your stem, he will collaborate with you. When you pm him you can ask if he has an any on-hand inventory.


phattpiggie, found this custom Enano on their website. Look familiar?

Love the turquoise inlay on wood. Below is an ED's TNT stem fitted with a VapCap tip.

caseball2051 said:

So I went through most of the thread and went to look for an inventory or website and couldn't find one.

Is there an area to order? Gallery?

Looking fwd to grabbing my own beautiful stem.

Click to expand...

Check out his IG @phattpiggie and try not to drool! Then PM him and he'll get you on the list. I am currently patiently in the queue so you'll be waaay behind me, lol! When he gets to you, he gets in touch and you'll tell him what you're after and he makes it. It's really best this way, as you get to chat with the man himself which is always a pleasure and you will have a personal connection to your stem, rather than clicking on part #73 on a website. We all get to do that enough, but only a precious few can say I have a phattpiggie stem. It does seem that those who have one soon want another, so beware!

Had a load of stuff going on that's slowed up my week but got some stuff finished and an idea tried out.

A while ago I did a longer condenser and MP that sat really nicely in a BW double crowned DV piece, so I tried it out again.



And I got a bunch of vongs done

Oh wow, is the last beauty the vong in video available?
My thoughts are already in the direction of the short stems in the video, but I would have the whole even narrower filigree want

All the 100mm stems are destined for an online EU retailer,

The vongs will be available thru myself once they have settled.

The last one's are Lava Explosion #36 acrylics made by a guy called Eugene Sotos and yes it's available @Vap O matic.

Another run thru of the 14mm pieces.
Bog Oak and 2 Lava Explosion acrylic, Fiddleback Catalpa, Figured Walnut, Lacewood, Tiger Rengas, Sumac, Rippled Ash, Bocote, Zebrano and 2 Birdseye Zebrano, London Plane Burr and Koa 14mm.

Here is a shot of my precious @phattpiggie creation upon its inspiration.
Like a chameleon trying to hide.

@phattpiggie Hey man, sorry I've been out of touch. I saw your comment on the Zion forum and figured it be more on topic to reply here. Besides, I've been meaning to post a photo of your amazing work here for a while.

First of all, the stem is stunning. I love just holding and staring at much as I love using it. I'm also obsessed with fountain pens and I keep thinking about how great it would be to have a pen this nice.

The adaptor is also beautiful and really appreciate you making me one. Although I like how it looks best when paired with my Zion, I've found that it works better with the splinter since it needs a decent amount of heat to proceed vapor.

As always, keep up the good work, and I can't wait until you start your next list.

Nice setup! Love Mark Ryden
Is it a VC stem with an adapter to fit the Zion/Splinter?

That's correct @Hogni. The one I made to test the idea out was too short which made it difficult to remove from the glass joint. I had to make them longer which in turn made the VC fitment a little trickier.

@Diggy Smalls no need to apologise. I saw the IG picture and to be fair it's not the first time I've looked at a picture taken by someone else and thought 'who did I turn that for'.
Doesn't help my poor head when folk have accounts elsewhere and different names.

I'm glad you got it too work properly but not sure why it's not as good in the Zion.

The Dark Matters style has to be credited to the turner Lynn Lacey, if I hadn't seen his pen I wouldn't have turned any of them.
They have been my most requested stem.

My little one wants a blue acrylic pen turning so it'll be a good exercise in learning how they go together.

Maybe something for the future would be matching pens.