Hey everyone,
We use solder, it is 97% Tin and 3% Silver. Lead-Free solder, no rosin or flux or any other bad stuff is used.
So there could be a drop of errant solder left in the electronics cavity, stuck to the wood maybe and loosened with time and use. I can see how that happens in a case or two.
And that relates to the vibration or rattle in a sort of way...
When you turn the PD over the small bit or two of solder (tin and silver only) fell through one of the two insulating channels that run top to bottom.
We use bare 20ga - tinned copper wire (RoHS of course, by Belden last I looked). One channel positive, one to ground. These wires each lead down to the lower cavity where they wrap around a stainless steel screw with washer that is sunk into the center body section, (from there, a very short distance to the jack posts where it gets wrapped through a hole in the post and soldered). The bare wire inside those two channels is held solid at the heat exchanger and at those stainless screws and can 'vibrate' when the unit is struck. Sorta like a tuning fork effect.
If a unit gets dropped, top down, onto a hard surface the 100 gram mass of that heat exchanger can slightly move the spring clip that holds it in place against the stainless steel sleeve that sits underneath. A flat bladed screw driver can be used to press the spring clip down against the heat exchanger top disk. This top disk is sandwiched between the sleeve and clip and can slide sideways either way by a fraction to allow for the expansion of that top disc under heat. If it were a perfectly tight fit it would split the wood as it expanded.
Spiral, the solder-less reference you may be thinking of is on our Workshop page, "Our 100% Stainless Steel Heat Exchanger with 72 radiating fins is unique and better than ever. Spring loaded , solder-less, 21st Century design ." The A=zap and Eterra (I believe) had a soldered / brazed joint where the top disk and tube met.
Spiral asks,"Why do these have such a tendency to burn out?"
The wire/plug/transformer story.
Trans first. It's an AC to AC transformer. 120 volts to 12... 10 to one. 10 windings to 1 winding. Induction, Watson . . . There just isn't anything that is gonna go wrong inside that black UL listed wall wart. Nothing. . . unless like DD you drop it onto concrete (?) and crack the case.
Next is cord / plug : 420Downunder is absolutely right about flex... Every time you move it you flex the wires (they are multi strand), they weaken a bit, coper is copper. But more probable and the buggaboo that gets most is the wire to plug connection (and that shrink wrap idea is so seriously good that I'm going to look into it. Thanks mate.)
There is nothing wrong with the existing transformer. Pammy and many others use them daily and have no problems and others replace them often... other brands... and those fail too... (Tom scratches his bald head and wonders why...)
I can build the unit to be as tough as nails but there will never be a cord or connection that is truely sturdy. BTW a heavier cord will add to the flex stress at the plug, so it is a trade off. I'm sure the engineers and folks at UL etc. know this.
Speaking of trade offs, the screen pore diameter is a bit snug to keep fine particles out of your mouth. Bigger holes = more crap gets past the screen. Keeping your original screens clean will make the airflow right. Alcohol (booze works better than ISO, get a bottle of rotgut and keep it for cleaning...) and agitation and a double soak and more agitation if you have let them go too far.
Glad the VapeNow story is cleared up. I talked to Nate via e-mail and he said they will need more but are not out at the moment.
Figured Walnut coming soon.
By
purpledays at 2009-01-07
Figured Maple comingh soon.
By
purpledays at 2009-01-07
I grabbed three random blocks late yesterday afternoon, just couldn't resist. Spun two Figured Maple and one Figured Walnut and they are pretty. The maple is more subtle but has that holo figured look and is a nice color. The pictures show a fresh cherry to the left, but maple will stay light where cherry gets darker with age. The walnut is neat-o. Maybe that one will be the prettiest ever, but I really did just grab the one on top. Of course these are going to be available in limited supplies,
The Ash looks cool, just like my old Louisville Slugger ball bat. The P-D Slugger ? Nice grain... those will be available at the same price as the Cherry. And I think I can get those on a regular basis. A limited supply of plain maple that will be at that price too. Still holding to $150, till the new spring postal rates anyway.
) I posted a picture of my 'PD cleaning'.... a lot of bud was in it. 
! It is wonderful to see people in any industry that don't feel the need to hide trade secrets. IMO, in addition to it being an injustice to the consumers who are striving to make informed decisions and maintain their investments appropriately, hiding trade secrets inhibits progress (progress? 
) in the field that the designers expressed interest (at least implicitly) about expanding (screams hypocracy to me 
). On another note, the plug is UL listed (I am sure anyone can contact United Labs about failure rates, repairs, replacements, etc.), and I agree that most issues likely come from wire breakage (not transformer issues)--just my 
)
).
Folks who have spoken up here that are already in the Purple Days Family it seems 
Wow Tom, that figured Walnut is a beaut.