DIY Bulli Vaporizer

Egzoset said:

Salutations Pipes,

I hope at least you found this distraction entertaining somewhat!

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I found it more then entertaining. And thanks for the enthusiasm.
Had been looking for such a solution for a concentrate mod. Actually was thinking about the stuff you find on larger type (couple watts or more) square ceramic coated resistors. You find it on the under side between the leads. Looks like it is just pored in and hardened. When you say light fixtures and such, I assume it's the older style which use a ceramic type insulator behind the metal bulb screw? Can not find it but then again I do not know what it is actually called.?

Your drawing makes a lot of sense but really don't want to go that far with this device. Like you said, the future will most likely come out with such type connections. However, I like it for other reasons. It could be used for concentrates as you need to have the coil partially exposed to the goo and not have it leak on by.
Any ideas on where to get this type of stuff? And if it's safe for vapour path?
Would a glaze finial coating be possible? Like in pottery.
I know, you answer one question and get 3 more.

Adobewan said:

Go Pipes, Go!

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Update,
Well, will try to keep this intelligible...took 2 bowls to confirm....
Packed the T up, which holds just a tap more then the T1 but much less then the tube.
Wimpy hits similar to last night. Didn't even go far as felt too familiar, opened the heater chamber and removed the second piece of ceramic. Then I raised the element to be close to the screen. Checked for shorts and fired it up. Wow, can use as a flashlight.
.
.



And it was instant. It sure burnt off the initial coating of the new SS screen fast. And after turning it off, the screen is touchable within a few seconds.
So I re-attached the earlier packed T top and holly crap going slow had combustion right away. Was going to give it a fail. Thought well at least the other extreme is reachable easily. So I tried again, this time no heat up and no slow draw. More like just going for the hit as hoping there will be no combustion. Well, bingo....got another 6 or so hits and did not want to push it. Reson been I know combustion was easily done.
This ABV is the one on the left. So this was the one I did taste combustion.



So I refilled it again with the same amount (250mg?) and this time just hit medium been the slowest. Going faster to cool it down. Kind of backward thinking. Maybe that's why it worked for me. And again, again........12 hits ....i think..
The AVB on right. Darker I know but did not taste any combustion.....I don't think.....

Seriously, means it is possible, just have to cool it down a bit at a time till the right temp is achieved. Can vape like an ecig. Can set it down come back and not worry about pre-heat so much. And the battery power....will only get better with the direction we need to go. Starting to think it can drive the big tube too. If so would make a good social device.
Although some more tweeking needed I feel excited that I might not have been wasting my time and could have some others get adventurous.

Cheers,
Pipes

Hi,

Pipes said:

...was thinking about the stuff you find on larger type (couple watts or more) square ceramic coated resistors.

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Oh, the Ohmite line of vaporizers...

Pipes said:

When you say light fixtures and such, I assume it's the older style which use a ceramic type insulator behind the metal bulb screw?

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One doesn't have to search for long when growing weed, i believe all mogul sockets for horticultural lamps are made of "porcelain" because of the intense heat - which looks like ceramic to me, although too porous to my taste for our type of favourite application!... It turns out i have a similar device sitting right next to my keyboard as i type, so i would say this old technology has hasn't died just yet: 2 of the local stores nearby keep them in stock and that's no big community around here!

But this sure wasn't the best example i could have imagined.

Here's what i'd type under Google Search to find proper ceramic providers:


But no matter how selective i am Google keeps refering to asian businesses. In fact i had to browse all night long until one nice Australian web site made it to the surface!...

Pipes said:

Any ideas on where to get this type of stuff? And if it's safe for vapour path? Would a glaze finial coating be possible? Like in pottery.

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While looking around i found a few links worth mention. I was about to skip that to avoid flooding the thread with that particular topic since there won't be custom ceramics here anyway, but i found some of the following reading to be stimulating as it's quite informative, so here's what i got for my struggle with the internet:


That's all i could do in a matter of hours but i think there may be some answers there to the attention of those curious about ceramic in the industry today.

Pipes said:

Wow, can use as a flashlight.

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Ah! Ah! I gather you're making some progress!!!



As far as i'm concerned if a coiled filament has to be selected as a heat source then i can't hide my preference for halogen lamps considering that's what those are and there's a sealed glass envelope around the filament. Next i've always been curious about monochromatic light from quasi-LASER sources, as i'd expect the evaporation reaction to stop once the vegetal substrate has changed colour, euh... But this is too dangerous and hence a big "no-no" in our context! In addition, a plant is green because it reflects green, not as a result of absorbing green, so i guess i need to vape too in order to think straight this morning!...

The fact remains, i value pro-active efforts so i wouldn't want to undermine yours by steering the topic for too long. The basic design parameters are set, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to suggest that you should put a halogen lamp in the heater cavity, for example! In a portable application like this it probably wouldn't make sense unless you use huge/expensive batteries anyway.

Well, moving things around seemed OKay so that's why i thought i'd comment on that specific aspect of the Bulli Smoker as one might get the impression it was designed with readily available hardware sitting on the drawing board instead of defining the required specifications on paper in order to meet its operating parameters. In any case the important part of YOUR own project seems to be about heater evaluatio and that's what counts most at the moment.

Great post Egzoset, VERY informative. Thanks for the time you spent doing some searching too. I will definitely be looking around for the ceramic stuff down the road a bit.

Tried the unit again today and decided this dog needs a choke collar for sure.
Going to try single coil at around 3.75 ohms. This would be great as would increase battery life that much more. Also, single coils are a breeze. Maybe a horse shoe? However, this would be pushing the limits of the resistive wire to the cusp. Nichrome would likely burn open whereas hoping the Kanthal will hold up.

Will edit a bit later,

I tried a single coil but just got wisps again. 3.5 ohm FAIL

Went back to dual coil 6.5 ohm each for 3.25 ohm total. Still too hot. FAIL

Tried increasing to give total of 3.6 ohm. Heavy charring. Further testing needed for technique?? I can still adjust temp by lowering the coil slightly. This one looks promising.



What's good about this is that if this resistance is good enough, we're talking about the variable mod power handles might start coming into play.
This is the resistance I run my ecig at. But single coil.

Later,
Pipes
.

Salutations Pipes,

Still in dreamer zone on my side...



Lets suppose the switch is located near the middle section of the vaporizer's body, between its heating chamber and the corresponding power pack. In the begining i thought to myself it would be nice to have a LED indicator next to that switch, then i wondered... Since there would have to be some sort of assembly for a switch anyway why not make it a "SOFT" one, perhaps with PWM control and, why not, a temperature sensor? Well, i know: it's not going to happen for real but this would ensure protection against over-heating while contributing to the extension of autonomy.

But this is not helping, most definitely.

I'm still curious though what you have in mind for the switch as i suppose it must be able to take punishment from the relatively intense current involved. Sorry if i missed a passage explaining this matter.

Egzoset said:

Since there would have to be some sort of assembly for a switch anyway why not make it a "SOFT" one, perhaps with PWM control and, why not, a temperature sensor? Well, i know: it's not going to happen for real but this would ensure protection against over-heating while contributing to the extension of autonomy.

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I am currently using the ThermoVape power handle and has a simple clever slide mechanism to complete the circuit. Very robust unit. As for your temperature feedback, not happening with this mod.

As for a PWM design, I believe this is how the current variable power handles work. The KnightRider variable handle I have also has a build in voltmeter as well. Some even have a built in ohm meter.

Problem with this (at least with mine) is they cut out (or cut down to 3 Volt) when too much current is detected. Mine cuts down just over a 3 ohm load. And even 3.5 ohm really doesn't feel like a full 6 volts. The dang thing also cuts out after 10 seconds continuous on time. Just need to pulse off and back on.

Your earlier comment about using a halogen bulb for the heater got me wondering. With this device it would be an easy mod as the bulbs come with two leads that look like they could bends right under the screws easily. Stick the bulb up through the mid piece. They also come in many wattage 10,15,20,25 and so on as well as lots in-between wattages. Something to keep in mind while in Canadian Tire or where-ever. A concern here would be the quartz as cracks if comes into contact with any liquid.?

I have to put this project on the back burner for a bit. Running in preservation mode for a week or so as the tank is running low. This testing takes a toll quickly.

As it stands I'm still testing the last configured heater. Hitting a snag which unfortunately requires multiple loads in different configurations. What seems to be happening is pull too slow it combusts but hardly any flow and it gets too cool too easy. Might end up needing those ceramic bits back in. Maybe a mixture.

Will touch base back once have new information,

Pipes

Hi there!

Understood.

I do see a nearly ideal solution in halogen lamps under certain conditions and i'm pleased to find that you sort of seem interrested in it as well.

Have a nice week, i look forward to read about the progress made - in a dedicated thread possibly, as i think this project should have one of its own!!

DIY, Bulli Vaporizer. Finializing:

I have been testing and evaluating for the last few weeks and IMO have hit the winning combination. I tried quite a few coil gauges and lengths variations and found a combination which hits my objectives quite nicely.

Here is the history of how I got to this point. The reason this project was initiated was because of what I discovered after modifying in my Thermovape T1 coil.

I was having a real hard time with my batteries and found performance would drop off too fast after only a week or so. I contributed this to the load of the T1 been so low causing the batteries to heat up past any designed application causing performance to deteriorate quickly. Now others do not seem to have this problem and state their batteries last for months. I thought about the DIY in the ecig world and studied up a bit about the resistive wire types, thicknesses and heat response. This led me to be fool hearty enough to get myself some resistive wire in a few various gauges to experiment with my T1.

The gamble I was taking was based on my reasoning of longevity verses performance been skewed by manufacturers to lean towards longevity. Finding disassembly of the T1 was actually not that hard at all. What I found were two coils of appropriately 2 ohms each thus making the overall load of 1 ohm. IIRC, they were 12 loops each and guessing 31 AWG. Wire type is a special type I was told by TV. (secret sauce) I replaced these coils with two 4 ohm 32 AWG 9 loops, Kanthal Type A resistive wire. This was after some bench testing of various gauges and winding lengths. After doing this I found it was actually faster and hotter than my original T1 and at half the resistive load. My batteries immediately thanked me. My new batteries which have never seen a 1 ohm load are going much better as one would expect. Heat no longer a big issue but still switch them out if get hot just to protect those gems. This modified T1 has performed very well for me for over 3 months now.

Through this experimentation and my searching around about DIY atomizers in the ecig world I came across this Bulli-Smoker rebuildable atomizer. As soon as I saw it I knew it was made for me. Not just for this project but for the actual ecig purpose for what it was designed for. Love it for e-cig, got myself a A2TM for that purpose.

This unit would enable the user to modify it for their own preferences. Heat, draw, ease or practiced technique. I found many trade offs available.
For instanced it is possible to get more heat than needed and have to control it or risk combustion. The benefits for this type of configuration are very fast heat up, large clouds, and conserves battery life. The trade off is that if draw is too slow or wait too long it will combust easy. This makes it very risky if using incognito and if completely can’t tolerate possible smoke.

OTOH, you can make it impossible to combust but the heat up takes longer and cloud size gets smaller but get bigger after heat up.

Or anything in between…..

I am finally at the point where some longer term testing in developing technique and determine if any further changes are needed or not. I comparing to EVO or T1 because it seems to have characteristics of both. And they are my only comparisons I own.

I settled on using the large A2 tube as the "T" ended up not holding enough with the screen mounted on the upper side. The winning winding is the Kanthal Type A (not A1) 32 AWG at 6 ohm per winding for overall 3 ohms. And the addition of the ceramic cylinders inside the coils is important. I lost one of my ceramic pieces but replaced it with carbonized stainless steel 400 mesh. Works just as well if not better as can make it any size I want.
The placement of the element is about 1.5 mm below the screen very hard to combust.
Filling about 75% works really well, huge clouds limited only by your lungs.

Turn on and wait about 10 seconds, start your slow steady draw and a few seconds into it you can start to taste that nice vapor. Once hits get too long to get the clouds, I give it a shake and tap it against stuff. In this regard it's similar but not as demanding as the T1. Also, unlike the T1 the load size can be much smaller as it seems to stay down on the screen as long as vertical. The tube is large enough not to have herb stick easily to the top. If it does get pulled to the top, removing the mouthpiece and using the tip, push it back down. Pending the herb, dumping it into your palm and crushing somewhat will give further mileage same as the T1. It unloads quite easy, again due to the tube size.

So if anyone is feeling ambitious it would end up around the $100 mark to put this together. All in all not too bad. Cost me quite a bit in experimentation stuff. Hell of a blast though.

Here are pictures of what I consider the working (to my preference) configuration.



Here is the typical ABV from this configuation




Now if anyone has an interest in duplicating this mod, here is a list of what is needed. Not the cheapest Vaporizer out there but IMHO, the most fun and satisfying.
It sure ended up costing me an arm and a leg but so does a tank of gas these days.


DIY 510 Rebuildable Vaporizer (Bulli Based)



Bulli-Smoker A1T (Main Chamber + Center)- EUR $64.99 Bulli A2T
Bulli-Smoker A1 (Holeless Chamber Tube)- EUR $ 9.99 Bulli A2DownGrade
Bulli Shipping- EUR $ 9.99

701-510 Adapter - US $ 9.50 701-510 Adapter
VaporAge Shipping- US $10.00?

Kanthal Type A 32 AWG Resistive Wire US $10.00

Other Possible Needs:
510 Drip Tip ThermoVape Long- US $ 8.97 TV Mouthpiece

ThermoVape DART mid section- US $10.00?
TV Shipping- US $10.00?

5/8 inch SS Screen- US $ 3.95 5.8” SS Screen
Amazon Shipping- US $10.00?

Optional:
Medical Tubing.

Cheers,
Pipes

Awesome post dude ! Glad to see your project finished !

I agree, well done Pipes. It's a real shame that this project was mod-relegated to such a quiet "obscure" thread where it was lost and won't get the attention it deserves. We should have a section for DIY projects so that this could get a thread of its own

Abysmal Vapor said:

Awesome post dude ! Glad to see your project finished !

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WatTyler said:

I agree, well done Pipes. It's a real shame that this project was mod-relegated to such a quiet "obscure" thread where it was lost and won't get the attention it deserves. We should have a section for DIY projects so that this could get a thread of its own

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Thanks guys, I actually tried to cut and paste the prudent posts to make a new thread but by the time it was compiled it was too large. Then, where to put it? A DIY section would certainly be the spot. OTOH, this mod is also pretty much the result of the Bulli device as well. So "DIY 510 Rebuildable Vaporizer based on the Bulli-Smoker"
If a Moderator could separate the relevant posts to combine to a different thread, that would be much appreciated. Even if in the general discussion section.
Thanks,
Pipes

Awesome work!

Next step is creating a vape from the ground up for the FC community to buy

Great work, dude!

Drxx said:

Awesome work!

Next step is creating a vape from the ground up for the FC community to buy

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Cinnamonster said:

Great work, dude!

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Thanks for the support and kudos to vtac for adding a DIY section and moving some posts around. Some interesting ideas floating around out there.

Pipes

So anyone want to see the thing in action?

Made a video of a typical session. Note there was no charred ABV at all even at the end. I didn't realize it was so hard to see in the video.
Love this thing. Finding I now use it in place of both my T1 and EVO as it's just that good.
You can judge for yourself. As with the T1 keeping the herb agitated is key, hence all the banging it around. Ignore some of the un-audible mumblings. It was a take 2 and I was getting pretty medicated. Take 1 didn't record. duhhh.
Also, forgot to turn off that stupid Manycam logo. another duhhhh.
Have a friend comparing my 2 ohm T1 to his right now but suspect I'll be putting it up for sale before long. And re-coiling his as he seems to like it.
Anyway, it's a 16 minute video so get out the and enjoy.


Cheers,
Pipes

Nice work dude. I have a couple bulli and was working on something similar. Thanks so much for posting your wire tests, this is gonna save lots of hassle for people wanting to do similar.

Look forward to seeing more of your projects.

Thanks Slinky, glad my efforts can help you out. A couple things to note are the stock kit pieces come with pre drilled holes which for this application you would want to make your own or none at all. So for some parts best order the upgrade or downgrade kits which are not pre-drilled. Or email Celtin ahead of your order and request no holes. Not as much a big deal with the centre piece that comes with the T or TM unit but I liked having the holes a little lower to get the airflow come up from under the elements.

Moving forward I have now ended up with three versions as I had the parts anyway. The original made from the basic A2 kit, the A2 basic with an added centre portion and the A2T version which I orininally thought would be too small of bowl size. So we have a small medium and large capacity unit.






I never actually weighed the herb but you can see the typical capacities from the picture. The small one holds roughly the same as the Thermovape EVO and found you don't need to stir. The other two do need agitation to vape evenly. Found filling 2/3 full provides enough open space that good shaking, hitting and quick puffs in and out seems to do the job. Also, the small one loads from the bottom because of the way it's been modified. The mouth piece is hard to pull out as it's a tight bugger. Which is good as can use it to un-screw the bowl portion and not burn yourself. About the heat, since it is smaller then the other two it cools down faster and therefore I do not use the medical tubing. (this might change once I get burned...lol)





The last picture above shows the original drip tip and the cut down version to make the chamber slightly bigger. I added the screen to the inside of chamber after the tip was installed. Used the same 5/8" SS screen as for the heating chamber.

Since my last posting I have also eliminated the DART screen from the equation for the medium and large units as well. Cutting the cost for the new experimenter. Again just used the 5/8" SS screens massaged to a bump and fit into the 701 - 510 adapter. Which is a mandatory piece for this project. Too bad the Bulli site did not sell them.

Another thing I found was that piece of ceramic I lost ended up been a critical part. The SS mesh I used to replace it worked for a few days but noticed performance started to get inconsistent. Upon investigating I found the carbonized mash was starting to have momentary shorts. I'm guessing because in this application there is no juice been continuously added so the carbon must ware off. So back to figuring out a cheap alternative. I found that the course ceramic cylinders you get for aquarium filters had the right density. So I filed a couple small pieces and tested them out. Fired up continuously for a couple minutes and obsearved any smoke or smells. Seems to work well and no visible or smellable problems.




Just took my time and filed the shape I wanted. Did two at a time as gives something to hang onto while filing, leaving the finial snap to the end. Then touched up the finial ceramic cylinder piece to fit.
The end result was a good heat retainer. In fact the initial heat up took a few more seconds but can draw faster longer before the heat goes too low for vaping.
I also moved the element a little further away from the chamber to eliminate any charing. This ended up been a hand off as I had to crank up the heat a bit. Now running at 2.6 ohms on the medium and large mods and 2.8 ohm on the small T mod.

I have found I prefer the small mod now because of the no stirring needed and like the medium mod second best. If I had to pick just one it would likely be the medium but would miss the T mod. I have already put my large mod on the storage shelf for now. Found that since I only fill those two 2/3 full that the actually herb quantity difference is really not that much. Here is a pic of the ABV since I re-did the element.



Not sure if I am going to keep it this way or not because it does decrease the cloud part of it. But hey, that's the whole idea behind a DIY rebuildable vaporizer isn't it?



Happy modding,
Pipes

I appreciate the pointers Pipes and I think i'm good for thos items. I have a non drilled tube from the first bulli version and that drip tip adapter also from that same place you grabbed one as i use one of the bullis for direct dripping for concentrates and it does pretty damn well.

I did however bite the bullet on the LR evolution, Revolution and Dart as the design and feedback impressed me so much, the nailed everything I could ever want including the moisture conditioner, if it works for me and doesn't bun out in a couple months.

I looked on a chart and 34awg comes to 0.16mm about but the wire looks thicker than stock bulli wire in your pics. Am I making this up or is your modded element standard bulli wire?

You seem very resourceful, any way to make nasty iso oil taste better when vaped, I can hardly bear it after delightful bud?

Slinkytreekreeper said:

I appreciate the pointers Pipes and I think i'm good for thos items. I have a non drilled tube from the first bulli version and that drip tip adapter also from that same place you grabbed one as i use one of the bullis for direct dripping for concentrates and it does pretty damn well.

I did however bite the bullet on the LR evolution, Revolution and Dart as the design and feedback impressed me so much, the nailed everything I could ever want including the moisture conditioner, if it works for me and doesn't bun out in a couple months.

I looked on a chart and 34awg comes to 0.16mm about but the wire looks thicker than stock bulli wire in your pics. Am I making this up or is your modded element standard bulli wire?

You seem very resourceful, any way to make nasty iso oil taste better when vaped, I can hardly bear it after delightful bud?

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Yeah, the bulli comes with .15 mm wire which is 34 AGW in north america terms. They also have .2 mm which is equivent to 32 AGW. Not sure as to what it actual ia made of. I would assume Kanthal but not confirmed. I used 32 AGW Kanthal type A which I got from ebay. I tried 33 AGW which works and is actually more power efficient but found it doesn't stand up well over time as the wire gets weak as it has to support the weight of the ceramic piece as well. And with the shaking and hitting it for agitation it breaks at the weakest spot where it gets squished under the mounting screw. That brings up a point I forgot to mention. I added a couple very small washers under the mounting screws to avoid the stress on the wire while tightening it down. Also helps it from twisting while tightening too.

As for getting your lube to taste better. There is a thread about making concentrates here somewhere. Started reading one night and was very interesting. There are other extracting agents out there and IIRC can be added after the ISO process to improve certain characteristics. As for the taste well for the most part it likely depends on the initial quality of the herb used. The thread in question was started by jambandphan03 but can't seem to find it right now.

Pipes

What does IIRC mean please? I'm aware of most if not all the concentrate options, just have some pretty lame dark iso I was hoping to make vapeable even if it made it somewhat weaker. I will have a search as soon as I can tear myself away from the thermal vape threads.

Cheers

I found the thread about concentrates here.
Now, If I Recall Correctly, there is some good information in there.

Pipes

Thanks pipes, your a real asset to the vape scene.

Cheers

The concentrate thread your referencing pipes is d-limonene and extracting I don't think it's in the concentrate section though, it's in general vapor discussion. I would do a search for d-lim. Good luck guys. Thanks for all the info pipes this thread is awesome and I am thinking about building one o f these eventually.

Salute!!!!

Well it's been over 3 months now using these guys. Thought I'd give an update.
One of the units had a coil open up 3 weeks back and fixed it that evening.
Besides that, I find this a great device. Only need to clean once every week or two. Just clean with cotton swabs and ISO. I have never had to remove the screens at all. Bottom screen never seems to need cleaning, mainly just the mouthpiece screen. I just pour a little ISO on my palm and dip the mouthpiece screen in it for a few seconds, wipe and blow through it to dry. Very low maintenance. Found that the herb type varies the cloud size big time. Most strains I've tried never combust but the strain I have right now, I need to be cautious with. Never keep the air flow slow for any length of time with this stuff. But the clouds, my god, by looking at it, you'd swear it's combustion.
At the end of the day, I am very very happy with this unit and glad it has proven to keep going without fail. With all the banging they been taking, as to agitate the herb, I can't fault the one coil that did open. The beauty of it been that I did not get upset because of the re-buildable nature of the unit.

Pipes

Well, you know Murphy's law. I came on last week to report the coil longevity and wouldn't you know it. The new coil I made opened up as well. The first original is still going. So in light of this I thought I'd experiment some more. Making the dual coil is a bit of a pain so I though I'd re-visit a single coil.

Before I go there however, I tried something else last week and have had excellent success. I had never tried the Bulli-TM for the herb chamber, as I only had one and use it for ecig use. Well what the hell, I give it a go because I realized I already had everything I needed. Man, just when I thought it couldn't get any better. With the wider chamber the air flow is even less restricted and can get the thing going right from the get go. Found as long as not completely filled that there is lots of room to shake er up between hits keeping for an even vape. Can very the load size quite a bit so really no need for different size chambers. It overall holds very close if not a tade more then the strait Bulli one piece. The top 510 adapter is plug in rather then screw in which makes things easier. I did change out the O ring for a thinner one to make it easier to pull off. It tends to be harder to get out while unit is hot.
Well I have since ordered a couple more TM upgrades so I can have my TM ecig back...and will have 2 TM herb mods. Never hurts to have more then one loaded and ready to rock.

So to recap the advantages of the TM:
Functions faster.
Can load from either end and the top end is simple O ring plug.
Wider thus making better air flow and more room to agitate (stir) the herb.
Easier to empty as just pours out.
Top chamber gets hot but generally seems not heat enough to immediately burn. (Can briefly touch)



Anyone interested here are the links for the stuff you would need:

Bulli-A2TM "REQUEST UN-DRILLED"- around $70 (register to get 10% discount)
510 Adapter $0.99
Thinner O ring $0.30
Resistive Wire Guy - Fair prices (have to monitor as his gauges and types are always changing)

Now for the fun stuff.
I have gone to a single coil unit which should be dam near indestructible. I bumped up the wire gauge to 30 AWG but still Kanthal type A. Made at 2.5 ohm and that changed after a couple heat ups to 2.75 ohm.
The ceramic I wanted to make a bit longer but no room. I chiselled a curved piece from that same ceramic cylinder pieces used for aquarium filters I used before. Never tried but suspecting proper glass would work here too. This raises the center of the coil slightly while bringing the contact points closer to where the coil starts it's curl. Also making the ceramic length a little longer. I also made the coil diameter wider to give more width, making up for the missing coil.
Well, this thing get red hot in 2 seconds flat. It seems to maintain the heat better under air flow as well. Guess because of the mass difference in actual coil? Since I can see the glow through the holes I can tell when the coil losses it's heat. This configuration tends to maintain the heat better.



Well in this case it goes to show you less can sometimes be better....
Happy vaping,

Pipes