Thanks Tac. It's a pleasure to share info and a privilege to have a place to do it. Thanks again.
Vtac says,"When I first heard about the plywood bottoms a few months back I thought "wow, that's the first cost cutting measure for the PD". Nice to hear the whole story, so many incremental improvements."
I really hadn't even thought about it as a cost cutter (cause it's not
). I am trying to think if I have made any cost cutting moves, made only for the cost savings and can't think of any... I have made a few changes, on the way, but have always done them to improve, cost just doesn't matter. And if it's not an improvement I won't do it.
The bottom plug is a good example. Plywood costs money, I need a special tool to cut the disks. Scrap cherry was free, but the plywood is stronger and better. If it's better, there is no further question in PD Land, we do it, cause it's better.
Using high quality, cold pressed, organic plant oils and bee's wax from a chemical free apiary, is an example of doing it the
right way from the
start, but I have improved the formula a bit (now with organic Hemp Oil too). I just couldn't think of using cheap petroleum distillates, because they were cheaper.
I'm constantly looking for time savers, which reduce cost, but never at the sacrifice of quality.
Screen cutting is the most recent improvement. I used to use a sharpened piece of tubing and spun that on the drill press cutting them against scrap cherry. It has worked for over two years. Works... but it's slow (have to remove the cutter every 8-10 screens, empty and re-chuck) and washing the occasional stray cherry fibers out... plus the screens weren't always perfect.
Today the new screen cutter system arrived. $600 worth of tool and no motor. I really like quality tools. Perfect little screen disks. I do this because it is better, not cheaper. It's the way we do things.
Actually, I thought about shorty tubes, with Vapezilla style flexible tubing* a long while back, but never made any of them. It was a FC member who asked me to build him a few, and I credit him with the other half of the idea and the motivation to go ahead with the project. He was going to use them in a gong joint and use water filtration, both of which I hadn't considered. So seeing more than one use for them, we now offer them.
If you have a saw, and the confidence to use it safely, the #5 PP cuts like wood. Even a hacksaw would work to cut the length and you can shape the tube end with sandpapers, round it over and smooth it out.
* BTW Wicked Roots sells short lengths of tygon tubing.
http://www.wickedroots.com/Vaporizer-Accessories/Medical-Vaporizer-Tubing.html
Either to designate a sick person's tube or keep your own tube seperate. These are easy to make if you have access to a 1/2" chuck and a file. Spin the tube and use the right angle edge of the file to cut a groove or two. 
It's 100% American made with all the parts from American suppliers. 
