Fluxer Heaters, induction heaters for Dynavap

pxl_jockey said:

I know that I am not alone here when I say: it’s cool, please take your time & get it right. Then test the hell out of it! You’ve made very fast progress and by accepting SDS’ helpfulness, it’s going to be much better than it was even a month ago. It’s rather amazing how quickly your project’s development has gone, even though there was a “map”. I’m in no way making light of your accomplishments and the work you must have put into these before introducing yourself here.

I’m excited for the Deluxe’s arrival but I will happily wait for a solid product, rather than paying $170-200 for a beta-testing opportunity. For me personally, a portable IH that goes for <$200 is a serious investment and so needs to perform as good, preferably better, than others and do so reliably. For a good time.

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Thanks for the post, @pxl_jockey .

Warning! Warning! Warning! Much wordiness below!

> "please take your time & get it right."

No disagreement. I have every intention of getting this right - that's always been my goal. And although I am eager to bring this device to market, I'm not going to release it before I believe it's ready.

pxl_jockey said:

You seem very close on nailing your circuit board so if the next iteration works, do you have a plan to ensure that you feel confident in standing behind them? Do you have test protocol or benchmarks for units before they go out into the wild? I’m pretty certain that these are questions others will have as well. Thank you for updating us nerds that are following these products closely, your communication is great!

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Just to reiterate: I am a one-man band for the devices I'm making - developer, tester, support engineer, etc. I say that so that one may set appropriate expectations.

> do you have a plan to ensure that you feel confident in standing behind them?

I expect these heaters to be functional and reliable, as I expect anyone buying one to demand the same. And I expect this board to hand me my head if they aren't! I will not sell these unless and until I am confident that they will work and last.

Also, I have personal standards for quality and for workmanship. I've held off releasing a portable device until I can make one that meets my own high standards. Frankly, if someone were already making the devices I want, I wouldn't be trying to make my own. Unfortunately, no one is making these devices as I think they could be made, so I'm endeavoring to do that. Which is a long way of saying that I care about the quality of my heaters to an almost unhealthy degree, lol. If I just wanted to make a buck, I would have rushed one of my earlier, more derivative designs to market. My goals are a bit loftier, in that I want to build devices I actually want to own myself.

When I eventually put my heaters up for sale, they will come with a clearly stated limited warranty that will spell out what I am offering in terms of post-sale support. I will be very clear about it before I sell any units. I'm still working out the specifics of what that warranty will be, and to evaluate my devices correctly I need prototypes that are close to the final versions. There will be more to come on this topic before these go on sale.

> Do you have test protocol or benchmarks for units before they go out into the wild?

Yes. I will be testing each unit for complete functionality before it goes out, and I have benchmarks for performance - I know how long it should take to heat a DV, and approximately how hot the heater's components should/should not get during use. The charging circuit could use some basic testing, too, though it's an off-the-shelf circuit and not one I plan on modifying.

There are a number of things I don't know yet for both upcoming portable devices, including how safe these heaters will be to use and carry around, how these units will handle and shed heat when used in the real world, if they need additional venting, if they are fragile, etc. In many regards they are still making the jump from designs to real world devices.

Now, having said all of that, I want to pause for a moment of clarity: This is not a dialysis pump or the next iPhone. The purpose of the device is to heat a metal tube so you can get high, and to do this my heaters need to work reliably and not catch fire. Those are achievable goals and I intend to deliver on them.

I am a very firm believer in Voltaire's famous statement, "The perfect is the enemy of the good". I want these devices to be very, very good, but I will tell you all straight up that I do not have enough time in my life to make them perfect. They are going to be as good and as safe as I can make them - certainly on par with (and likely much better than) the other Dynavap-specific IH devices being sold now, but I am not Consumer Reports or Underwriter's Laboratories, and I am not subjecting these to that level of testing. I will be making these in my workshop, which occupies about half of our garage - no clean room, no bunny suits, and every day is casual Friday.

I am currently waiting on final candidate circuit boards for the Mother Fluxer, and a newly rearranged PCB design for the Deluxe for which I have a lot of hope. Once I have the PCBs I can build out prototype devices that I think will be very close to their final form, and do some formal testing (such as it is), and some ad hoc testing, which will probably be more revealing. The testing phase will last as long as it takes me to feel confident that the devices I've made work as I expect them to. I am eager to get these into the hands of other people and get some real world feedback on their use.

Anyway, those are my plans.

Stay tuned, and thanks in advance for your feedback and comments.

Flux Deluxe updates:

Got the latest batch of boards yesterday, a few days earlier than expected. The Deluxe is definitely coming along! Check it out:





The 90°C thermal fuse, wrapped in kapton tape, is visible as a small gold rectangle in the above picture, just "above" the work coil.







The LED in the last picture was added after the previous pictures were taken. It's a bi-color LED - it's green when the device is on and available to use, and it turns red when the heater is actively being used.

A few notes:

This thing is getting pretty close. There are still a few issues to resolve - the current build takes about twice as long to heat a bowl as it should, so I need to figure out why it's doing that.

On the whole, though, this thing is coming together pretty well and is actually pretty close to being complete (not sure about "done," but they are different milestones). This is a very, very tight build, with almost no extra room at all, but that density also makes it feel very solid. I think people are really going to like it.

The batteries currently sit about 1mm taller than I'd like them to, and I may not be able to lower them. I may need to use a gasket or short spacer to fill the gap between the rim and the lid. We'll see. I will know more as I get the last few items fitted.

The current build includes the Karcy thermal fuse that @stardustsailor suggested. Current value is 90°C. I've tested it and it works as expected.

I still need to add @stardustsailor 's "switch debouncer" circuit and a power fuse, as well as an on/off switch. I'll be working on adding those remaining items tomorrow and this week.

That's all for now. Mother Fluxer boards came too, so I may have a Mother Fluxer update tomorrow or Monday.

Great news! Sadly, your images didn’t make it.

Looking good. You've got everything jammed into about the smallest space possible.
Maybe a small thing, but the glass cylinder inside the coil looks thicker than most in a couple of those pics. I appreciate that as well.

So weird on the images. Will try again

ClearBlueLou said:

Great news! Sadly, your images didn’t make it.

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Changed to a different image host - they should be visible now.

Ramahs said:

Looking good. You've got everything jammed into about the smallest space possible.
Maybe a small thing, but the glass cylinder inside the coil looks thicker than most in a couple of those pics. I appreciate that as well.

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Thanks! Yeah, this is going to be about as compact a 3x 18650 heater as is possible, I believe. There won't be much free space when it is done, but I've tried to keep enough space and air passages so that hot air can circulate and escape. I have given this an awful lot of thought, so I'm very eager to see how it performs now that I have one I can actually test.

As for the shorter Pyrex tubes - yeah, these are special. They were originally Pyrex drip tips for an e-juice atty, but the atty was discontinued so I was able to get a good deal on about 100 of them. If I'm very lucky I guess I'll need to find a source for more someday, lol.

Looks fantastic watching this evolve with great interest. Holding off on othe IH options for this one... I hope to god you're going to ship internationally.

Another (very) small observation... if you plan to include the LED in the final build, I'd consider having the colours switched around so it shows red when on, but not in use, and green when in use and heating. Kind of feels more intuitive; red = standby, green = working

Looking forward to hearing how it's working

Gray Area said:

Looks fantastic watching this evolve with great interest. Holding off on othe IH options for this one... I hope to god you're going to ship internationally.

Another (very) small observation... if you plan to include the LED in the final build, I'd consider having the colours switched around so it shows red when on, but not in use, and green when in use and heating. Kind of feels more intuitive; red = standby, green = working

Looking forward to hearing how it's working

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Thanks! I’ll try to reward your patience with a stable and fully functional device.

I do plan on shipping internationally, though I’m concerned these could be classified as general vaping equipment and I could get fined for violating some obscure regulations related to vaping nicotine. Would be eager to hear more about any potential issues along those lines if anyone knows, as it’s going to be new to me.

As for the LED colors, there’s another dimension to this, which is that due to limitations in the switching circuit, the green portion of the LED remains lit the whole time the unit is on, while red portion of the LED is only illuminated when the vapcap is depressed. The red light is brighter and dominates the green light, so this setup only works this way. Sorry.

Looking forward to finishing this and making it work to the best of its ability. More to come.

No prob, as I said it was a minor observation, but doesn't matter at all really...
I'm sure I'll get use to whatever colours the LED's display.
And please, take all the time you need... I'll be happier buying something that you're satisfied is actually ready to sell

I'd consider being vague about its description for international shipping/customs. It's an IH. Can be used to heat all sorts. The Chinese ones are apparently for heating dental tools and tools for wax carving etc.

I'm in the UK, and things seem to get here no prob, but there are other EU countries that are much stricter... Germany for example.

mr_cfromcali said:

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I do plan on shipping internationally, though I’m concerned these could be classified as general vaping equipment and I could get fined for violating some obscure regulations related to vaping nicotine. Would be eager to hear more about any potential issues along those lines if anyone knows, as it’s going to be new to me.
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Gray Area said:

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I'd consider being vague about its description for international shipping/customs. It's an IH. Can be used to heat all sorts. The Chinese ones are apparently for heating dental tools and tools for wax carving etc.

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^THIS^ exactly!
You can legitimately sell this as a wax carving accessory, and if some low-life degenerate pot-heads subvert your original intended use of the device then what ya gonna do? 

I’d call them, “artist’s carving tool heater” on customs/postal contents description. It’s just another battery powered gizmo in a world full of them, but I would definitely include the word “artist’s” because it spells out its intended purpose for an overly zealous customs official.

For orders in EU, for now I would simply use a personal name for senders info w/no “fluxerheaters.com” on the box because customs officials are known to check the company website to confirm an item’s intended use & actual price.

But honestly guys, unless/until mr_c is selling lots of fluxers internationally, I see no reason to send it officially as “a product”. It’s easier for all involved to send it as a gift to a friend with insurance & tracking. There’s still a description & value, but it’s for insurance purposes & not for fees & taxes. He’s just a dude in his garage, it doesn’t need to be considered a home business or any kind of business tbh, he’s not moving enough units to justify registering and filing as a LLC or whatever.

Just my opinion but this isn’t his real job or vocation as I understand it. That is, until there’s (at least) one fluxer heater in every home and mr_c is on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine, lying on a pile of cash!

If you send it as a commercial product customs could ask for certifications like CE and other necessary ones. If your devices don't have them customs will it send back to you.

Looks great @mr_cfromcali

That’s another great point @Hogni and I don’t think any vapcap IH available has a UL/CE certificate due to our collective hobby’s status and the fact they’re all made by people, not companies. Now that you bring this up, I bet this has something to do with DV’s long and winding road in releasing their mug. George would need to have that certificate and whatever else in place to protect his company. I’m sure glad you’ve got that big brain full of legal knowledge that you kindly share around this joint. You’re a cool dood!

Speaking of cool doods, I gotta agree with @elykpeace and @Fat Freddy that both of the fluxers are looking great and your progress is very exciting! It’s going to be the cleanest good-looking* IH available imho, the Zoolander of induction heaters. For me, the only decision left is the enclosure colour, red (sexy&flashy) or black (sexy&discreet). What about everybody, what colour will y’all pick for your fluxer?

* minus the custom phattpiggie enclosures for Pipe’s internals, each uniquely crafted in exotic hardwoods chosen by the customer. I don’t think anything comes close to these beauties but I don’t consider it buying an IH so much as buying the enclosure. It’s more like buying art than a device, imo; one would replace the guts rather than just get a new one. All this babbling is my own, other opinions are equally correct.

Just search for relevant electric/electronic certifications for cross-border trade to and within the EU (CE, RoHS, EC-low voltage directive, EMC class A, EMC class B)

Flux Deluxe:

A question about the on/off switch for the folks considering a Deluxe:

I have very few good options for the on/off switch. My best option seems to be inside the box, under the cover, where I have a good spot for it. The advantages of putting it inside are a much smoother case without any protrusions - better for pockets and purses, and it makes it all but impossible to switch on accidentally. The disadvantage is that you'd need to slide open or remove the cover to turn it on, and then again to turn it off. This will absolutely annoy some people, although all things considered I think it's the best solution overall. I also think the LED power indicator makes it safe to move the on/off switch inside, but I may be biased because, again, I like the smooth look for this device, and also think it's the best location. It would make for a device with very few external features: LED, charge port*, and work coil/Dynavap port.

What do you folks think? (I'd post this as a poll but I don't see that as a mid-thread option...)

*I should also mention: The 12VDC @ 1A battery chargers I found are LiPo-specific, and include an LED charging status indicator - red for charging, green for charged.

Too much hassle in use IMO.

If the on/off button is inside the case, perhaps a small hole in the case directly over the button, about the same size as a VapCap that allows the user to insert the VC (or any other device that size) to push the on/off button.

Now, you have your smooth case. And, it's probably not going to get turned on accidentally.

Just tossing it out.

The hassle involved would depend on how often it has to be done. Since the Flux Deluxe has many more cycles with the larger capacity batteries, how often would the user need to open and switch on/off? Is it something that should be done with every use/session or at the beginning of one’s day and off at night?

I’m with mr_c on protruding bits on the case, sleeker is better! And a little switch on the side will most likely be an issue with pockets and pouches in bags. However, if it’s difficult to open & access the switch or if it’s fiddly in any way, that will get old in use very quickly.

Imo if the switch is outside, then ideally the charge port, LED, and switch would be together on one side.

So if I understand @Hackerman there would then be two VC sized holes, one for on/off switch and one with tube/coil? Sorry man, I don’t have the experience with these things so I’m struggling to visualise.

Yep. that's right. If the on/off button is a 'push' button, any hole that allows access to that button should work. If the hole were a little larger, you could actually use your finger. However, the button itself would actually be recessed from the surface to preclude accidental activation.

Also, a slightly recessed slide switch might also work.

Thanks for the suggestions, @Hackerman and others. FWIW I've been considering the Deluxe's on/off switch "situation" for at least a week, and I can tell you that it is tight, and there is considerably less room than you are able to judge from the pictures.

Long story short, this is what I'm going to do:





I will try to find a toggle with an even shorter bat, if possible, but (IMHO) this subminiature toggle works and fits better than I expected, so I am going to declare victory on the switch and move on to some other details.

Thanks for your feedback, all!

Looks like it might switch on by accident in a purse or buttpack.

Albeit, nothing happens until you insert a VapCap so no harm done (unless something metal falls in the hole after the switch gets accidentally turned on in your purse).

If that happens, buy a lottery ticket. LOL

Certainly looks nicely put together.

mr_cfromcali said:

I will try to find a toggle with an even shorter bat, if possible...

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I agree, I think that would be a REAL GOOD idea!

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I STRONGLY would prefer an internal switch. It doesn't seem to me like it would be much extra trouble at all.

The cover is held on magnetically, right?
It seems it would take all of one to two seconds to pop it open, flip the switch, then close it and have your session, and a whole 1-2 seconds to do the same thing when you are done with your session. How is this too much hassle to use @Hogni? It's literally just using a finger to flip the door open.

I'd hate having it on the outside, if I knew it could've fit on the inside.
Anything like that on the outside makes it uglier and less "pocketable".
(IMHO, of course )