'The Misty Log' - DIY wooden Log Vaporizer

blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
@Abysmal Vapor

Got me this little quasi VVPS, which I use now in combination with a 19V/6A DC PS, so that I can step down or step up the voltage, as need be. Though it has no actual boost function (delivery of the model with boost converter would take friggin' ages, so I got me the standard step down only one instead), I got this part covered by simply using the bigger PS. P

35jfmo7.jpg


Cost about 30,- EUR, which I think is affordable for what this little bugger is capable of.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KKmoon-Dig...TF8&qid=1529516022&sr=8-4&keywords=Kkmoon+lcd

What do you think?
 

Abysmal Vapor

Supersniffer 2000 - robot fart detection device
Yep i know these,they look fancy but are nothing special,there are analog display equivalents for far less :),was eyeing on them for a while but a found a dirt cheap barely use real lab PSU locally :). Solves all my testing needs.
LW-3010D-30V-10A-Mini-Adjustable-Digital-DC-Power-Supply-Laboratory-Switching-Power-Supply-110V.jpg_640x640.jpg
 

blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
Ah well, this is a bit on the overkill side for my needs. And looks friggin' biiiiiig too :o
 
blokenoname,

Abysmal Vapor

Supersniffer 2000 - robot fart detection device
Ah well, this is a bit on the overkill side for my needs. And looks friggin' biiiiiig too :o
Yep it is two kilos,but it is also cool for making your own coil heaters,also you can use it to solder/fuse things,also it has built in defenses and a fan for 20 euro i cannot regret it.I made a coil out of 0.5m x 1.5mm SS316L and managed to transform my oversized Cheaponic,into a ghetolution.
 
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blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
Some design changes...

Though I initially thought, that I couldn’t make my maple goblets work as bodies for the resistor heaters, as early test runs seemed to indicate, that their 4 cm center opening was much too wide and causing rapid heat loss to the resistor (while bodies with a center hole < 3 cm worked fine), I eventually resolved this problem too and made it work :)

First I decided to follow Alan's HI concept a bit more to the T. While I saw no big difference in performance when cutting slits/holes into the ss heater cover for air intake when there was already ample airflow entering the ss cover from the bottom section, sealing up the ss heater cover from below and leaving the slits in the cover as the only air intake seemed to have been the game changer, that made the heater work even in a 4 cm center hole.

While I was still pondering how to best accomplish that, I accidentally happened to come across an old 12V PS with a right angle jack, which made me go back to one of the earlier pages of the HI thread, where some pics show the original design with the DC input jack located at the bottom of the unit, so that the heater (soldered/crimped straight onto the jack itself) could be directly threaded into the heater cover from below, thereby also sealing the bottom end of the ss cover.

Intriguing idea! Does away with the problem of having the heater standing on the jack in a right angle, which always bears the risk of accidentally moving the whole heater assembly horizontally and causing a short, while (for instance) removing a super tight sitting plug.

Other changes include permanent reduction of the ss heater cover from 11 mm to 10 mm diameter (OD) -though I added a centimeter of 11 mm ss sleeve to the tip of the 10 mm ss cover, to increase its outer diameter and so provide more stability for the Air/Solo glass stems; reduction of ss tip size from 10 mm to 9 mm (more even roasting & conserves some herb); right angle plug; heater soldered straight up onto the DC input jack (sorry... no silver solder yet, but ROHS compliant, lead free SnCu solder with a melting point between 230°-310°C, which has to do for the moment), which also makes the heating element user serviceable, as it can now be easily removed and threaded back in again.

Some impressions... light as a feather, hot as hell from the inside and cool to the touch outside :D

2psglg2.jpg


Did I mention, that I've become really fond of these little resistor heaters!? Plug in, wait 5 minutes... vape away :)
My dimmers and VVPS haven't seen much use in the last couple of days.
 

Abysmal Vapor

Supersniffer 2000 - robot fart detection device
This reminds me of Toasty top with the cable jack in the bottom. It is really cool how logvapes manage to retain heat with so little power. What kind of soldier do you use,did you manage to find leadfree and high temp ?
 
Abysmal Vapor,

blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
This reminds me of Toasty top with the cable jack in the bottom. It is really cool how logvapes manage to retain heat with so little power. What kind of soldier do you use,did you manage to find leadfree and high temp ?

Doubt, if I can still buy any leaded solder in the EU, without extensively looking for it. Lead free is more or less what's on the table, when I search for solder.

I used this one, as it was already at hand and which is declared as lead free and high temp.

https://www.qualitek.com/bar_sn97cu3_tds.pdf

Melting point at 227-310°C, which should do, as the temps at the bottom of a (long) ss heater cover rarely exceed ~110°C, as Alan pointed out.

For silver solder, I lack the right equipment right now.

Yep. The newer HIs seem to have the jack on the side, like other logs. The original HI model seemed to follow the Toasty Top more closely though, in having it located at the bottom and the heater threaded in:


hibottom.jpg
 

Alan

Master JedHI
Manufacturer
@blokenoname - Sorry to hear about the cracked bamboo. I can’t find anywhere to purchase it that will guarantee that it won’t crack. It seems that it may depend upon how the bamboo grew and how it was dried. Hard to say for sure. Some just want to crack no matter what. I cut the blanks and then let them set for a while before making any holes in them to see if they are going to crack. If there appears to be no sign of cracking, I finish the top / bottom and put a power socket hole in the side. Drill bits are not the way to go with bamboo. It is very likely to crack using a drill bit. I use a rotozip bit on the end of a flex shaft tool to rough out the hole and then a round file to get it to the final size. I use the nut on the inside to hold the power socket in place. Tighten just enough so you don’t put stress on the bamboo to crack it. If the hole is not smooth, it can intensify the stress and cause a crack.

The slits in the side of the heater cover are the key to why it works so well. Here is a thread I started a few years ago to explain heat island technology.

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/heat-island-technology.9171/

I was drilling 6 holes in the heater cover with the original heat island, but found that the slits are easier to make and provide more of a thermal break than the 6 holes. I have also extended the distance between the slits and the bottom mounting plate to reduce the temperature where it contacts the cork. I have eliminated the outer sleeve as it can cause the wood to crack if the wood tries to shrink. The cork ring will never cause the wood to crack.

The inside diameter of the wood body does still make a difference on the amount of heat available as there can be some convection currents to remove some of the heat. Having the body only warm to the touch is an advantage to the larger inside diameter of the body.

I do still use the resistors for the HI and TT. So nice to be able to use them with just the 12v wall adapter. Simplifies things and keeps the cost lower. I have been using a buck / boost converter board to make voltage controllers. I believe they are also available on amazon.

The way you are connecting the resistors to the power sockets is still how I do it with the Toasty Top. The wood is threaded for the power socket which makes it really easy to change out the heater if something goes wrong. The issue with the bottom entry power socket for the original HI was it required a special tool to remove it. The longer the wire distance between the resistor and the power socket, the less heat that can be conducted down to it. The silicone sleeves work well for insulating the exposed power socket.

Looks like you are having fun and making some great vaporizers. Keep up the fine work and wish you continued success.
 

blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
Hi @Alan

Thanks again for the encouragement and liberal sharing of your know how :)
I'm indeed having great fun with this little project. Being able to build your own vaporizers is a fantastic experience :D So much more satisfactory, than simply buying one from the assembly line.

Yup. The bamboo proved to be tricky indeed. I've been reading about the difficulty of drilling into bamboo beforehand, but mostly due to lack of the proper tools, I eventually took a 10 mm drill bit to it nevertheless, and then reworked it with a file, which actually worked out reasonable well so far (cracked about two bodies out of ten, while drilling, I would say, and that mostly occurred when I lost control over the heavy Black&Decker once the bit got through the bamboo and then accidentally rammed into the opposite wall, thereby cracking it). Most of the cracking appeared to happen around tightening the DC input jack indeed and mostly with bodies made from the older canes, with bigger diameter (OD > 5 cm) and thick walls (> 1 cm), where the jack needs to be threaded in, as it's to short for using the nut then. Half a turn to much, and the tiniest cracks would appear around the rims of the hole and eventually widen into a single, body splitting crack over the course of some heating/cooling periods. And as you said, even with the thinner walled ones, you've to be careful not to over tighten the nut from the inside :p

Already found your Heat Island Technology thread a few days ago, which was another reason, I tried the maple wood goblets as bodies again. In my earlier experiments with the slits in the heater cover, I missed out on sealing the bottom part of the ss cover, so that air was sucked in simultaneously through the bottom opening of the cover AND the slits. This seemed (apart from the conduction break) more or less to nullify any intensified heat output. With the ss cover bottom sealed by the DC jack though, it seems to work as advertised now and even the new maple wood unit with the wide ID produces ample vapor now, though it might actually run a few degrees cooler, than my units with a more narrow ID (might try a RE18 resistor here to improve that, though). I'd guess, that when having the slits in the cover as the one and only air intake, you're sucking in already preheated air from within the center channel into the heating tube, thereby reducing the final amount of energy needed to heat up the air to vaping temps, as opposed to sucking in air at room temperature from the bottom of the tube. But me physics is rudimentary at best here ;)

As lack of a lathe (or access to one) is my main handicap in producing proper log bodies (that is, if I don't want to use bamboo exclusively), I've to find some ready made wood stuff with the right form factor and dimensions first, that is suitable to get reworked into a log body. The plain little maple wood goblets I found (OD 4,8 x 8,5 cm/ ID 4 cm), were so far, the best I could find. Their wide central channel was better suited to the halogen and ceramic heaters though, as the amount of available heat is no real problem with a heater, that puts out two or three times more heat, than you'll ever need for vaping. If it doesn't produce clouds... simply crank up the dial :p
Very forgiving to flaws in body and heater design, those designated heaters - but on the other hand totally useless without a dimmer, as at 12V straight from the wall plug, they're more or less capable of burning down log & house. From the three heater types I've used so far, the resistors seem to me the most pragmatic and comfortable ones and I've already ordered a second batch :D

My second favorite are the halogen heaters, as they seem a nice and clean heat source and are easy to place into a log body. I worked with a 50W bulb first and then a 35W one so far, but both still need dimmers. Will try a 20W one in the future to see, if I can make it also work straight from the wall plug. And then there is the (maybe) conceptual flaw of using light as a heat source in a log style direct draw unit, as there seems no way around having to stare directly into the bulb, when using it for direct draw with a stem (my preferred way of usage, as it's faster than taking out the glass and preparing the bubbler first) , which is rather uncomfortable. Some fine mesh around the bulb and a reflector show some improvement, but I can see, why most halogen vapes are designed in a way, that the bulb points down and is covered by some kind of ss sleeve, so that you don't have to directly stare into it, while in use. For a log, I'd guess you've to settle for an opaque heater cover or a closed core design, to accomplish that. We'll see :)

The ceramic heater cartridges are just brutal. Haven't accidentally combusted this much, with any other heat source so far :( Their tolerance seems way over the usual 5% too, as I found myself having to continuously readjust the dial from unit to unit to produce good vapor and prevent combustion, even when the bodies were nearly identical. Well, cheap Chinese products and QC, I guess :/

So... thanks again for taking the time and patience to comment on me little log project here :) And one day, when I've figured out a reasonable way to import a log from the US to Germany, without running the risk of customs simply confiscating it, I want a proper, nice wooden HI from the Master JedHi himself ;pd; :D:love:

PS: I can see the need for a special tool for removing the threaded in heater in the early HI now. After fastening the extended rim to the bottom, I need pliers to unscrew the jack, and it's a real PITA to properly grab and turn with the pliers :p
 
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blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
Jesus friggin' Christ... wonder, why I even bother to mark the center of the blank :bang:

Guess, clamping the wood-blank between your boots while drilling, isn't exactly the professional way of doing it. Will have to get some kind of drill press at least :lol:

i74y76.jpg


"Warped & Askew Logs" doesn't sound so bad as a name for a vape :rofl:
 
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Abysmal Vapor

Supersniffer 2000 - robot fart detection device
@Alan Hey,Bro!Could please tell us which kind of silver solder is safe to use ? I looked them up and there are different grades.. ,i know i need solid core,but from there i am lost. Do you use any extra chemistry in the soldering i see people use some kind of paste,is it possible to do it without it ?
@blokenoname How do you made the Metal tube narrow/dome-like at the end ?
Here is a list of various types. https://www.lucasmilhaupt.com/en-US/products/fillermetals/silverbasedcadmiumfreefillermetals/8/
LM 721 Gr1 No Zinc and 1435F melting

What do we want ? No Zinc,High Melting point, More silver to copper ratio ?
Or can we use pure silver ?
SILVALOY® 999 (BRAZE™ 999)

A VTG alloy for brazing ceramics to be used as semiconductors.
 
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blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
The rounding off of the tube edges is automatically done by my tube cutter while cutting, provided the tubing is thin walled enough <1mm.
While this is great for making ss tips, it can be an annoyance when making ss heater covers, as I have to manually widen the tube edges again after cutting, otherwise my 9mm OD ss tips won't fit into the 9mm ID heater cover, which is then blocked by the rounded off edge.

I think, most tube cutters have this function. Mine is a very basic and inexpensive one.
 
blokenoname,

blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
Just a little mock up... as running one business (not vaping related) at a time, is more than enough for me :D

But I guess, a new name for this DIY log is in order, as the only cork left in the whole vape is the base, which holds the heater cover ;)

So... 'Misty Pine' Log sounds good to me and I can put the Misty as a prefix to any wood I'll use in the future :nod:;pd;

20uwork.jpg
 

Megaton

Well-Known Member
How much if a change in design would it be for one of these to use dynavaps as their stem ala woodscents logs?
 

blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
How much if a change in design would it be for one of these to use dynavaps as their stem ala woodscents logs?
Nothing much. Until the last two updates, it actually was compatible with Dynavaps as stems already. Would just have to change the ss heater cover back from 10mm OD/9mm ID to 11mm OD/10mm ID, so that the ~10mm OD ss and Ti Dynavap tips fit again. Work of 5 minutes max on an already finnished unit.

Made the ss cover and tips smaller, as a more narrow heating tube results in a few degrees more (you can actually combust with the little bugger now) and smaller tips (as diameter and volume relate in a ratio of 1:4, meaning doubling the diameter while keeping the same hight of a tip, would result in 4 times the volume, even reducing or expanding the tip diameter just a single mm results in noticeable volume differences) allow me to make them a bit longer while holding approximately the same load.
Longer, smaller tips allow me to set the resistor a centimeter lower in the ss cover, which in turn allows for more up&down movement (about 2 cm now) of a tip within the heater cover and so gives you better temp control.

Here's a older prototype, that still has the 11mm heater cover with my Vapcap:

kf4kzk.jpg
 
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blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
@Megaton @virtualpurple

I'll post a parts list and a rough breakdown of how to build this log vape later in the day, so that others who want to build one can build along these guidelines.

Edit:

Here we go :D

Tools:

You'll need a power drill (a drill press would be better, if you wanne bore the bodies yourself), a set of Forstner bits 2,5 to 3,5 cm, a 10 mm drill bit for wood, two small saws for wood and steel, needle nose pliers, a wire cutter, a tube cutter, a soldering iron and probably some other stuff, like a hammer, screwdriver, sanding paper etc., which most will have at home anyway. A vice may come in handy.

Materials:
Wood, or some suitable ready made, raw wooden stuff, like a wooden cup, vase or whatever has a hole in it, that would accommodate the cork base for the heater cover. If you use ready turned wood instead -and bore the center hole yourself-, like a wooden pine hand rail for instance, the meter will cost you around 20,- EUR and you can easily make about 8-10 bodies from it (the size of my logs is roughly 10 cm hight x 5 cm wide). When boring bodies yourself, go for softer woods, as otherwise the Forstner bits might capitulate. Heat dregadation is not such an issue here as with closed core logs, as the tiny heater cover is nowhere in direct contact with the wood anyway.

Steel. You'll need a meter of thin walled (or capillary) ss tubing, with a wall thickness of about 0,3-0,5 mm. That's the stuff, hypodermic needles are made from. You'll get it at most hobby shops for building model kits or at some steel outlet via the web. I'll post a link or two later. For the heater cover I use a 10 mm outer diameter (OD)/ 9 mm inner diameter (ID) ss tube of about 5-7 cm length. For fitting ss tips, you'll then need another meter of 9 mm OD/8 mm ID tubing. The meter thin walled ss tubing costs about 10-15,- EUR. Enough for a lot of heater covers and tips.
If you wanne use Dynavap Vapcaps as stems, like the Woodscent, you'll simply have to get a meter of 11 mm OD/10 mm ID ss tubing for the heater cover instead, as the Dynavap tips have a 10 mm OD.

Heater: The 'Misty Pine' log is specifically designed for use with the classic log vape resistor: (An Ohmite 25J20RE), wire wound, enamel coating, 20 Ohm, 5 Watts. They cost around 2,- EUR a piece.
https://www.amazon.com/OHMITE-25J20RE-RESISTOR-WIREWOUND-piece/dp/B005S46Y4Y
The advantage of the log vape resistor is its limited heat output. It'll heat up the air to roughly 230°C when directly plugged into the 12V/1A wall-wart, which is ideal for producing big, dense clouds but usually still a few degrees away from combusting (if your screen isn't clogged or the chamber overfilled, that is). You can also use a 40W ceramic/ss heater cartridge indtead, but then you'll always need a dimmer or a VVPS to keep your log from overheating and burning down the house ;)
Frankly speaking, the limited heat output of the resistor is probably all the heat you'll ever need.
You'll also need some butt splices (mine are simply tinned copper ones, fitting for 0,5-1,0 mm, but you're of course free to look, if you can find some made from ss) for extending the resistor's leads with few centimeters of 0,8 - 1 mm ss or tinned copper wiring and some lead free, high temp solder (I use Felder Fitting Solder S-Sn97Cu3). Silver solder would be ideal, but it's expensive and can't be handled with a soldering iron, but needs some kind of torch instead. There are also tin/copper solders that have an additional bit of silver, but I haven't tried them yet.

Cork. You'll need some barrel corks made from natural cork for producing the cork base that holds the heater cover, which is basically a 1 cm thick cork disk of whatever size fits the centre hole of your log vape body. You can get them via Amazon and they cost only a few cents a piece. They come in many sizes, but I usually buy them a bit larger, as they are sanded down to the fitting size easily.

Electronics. A 12V wall wart with at least 1A. Voltage must fit. Amperage can be higher than 1A, but must not be lower. It's plug should be a 5,5 mm barrel plug with a 2,1 mm pin (very common and wide spread). Then you'll also need need the female ss 12V DC jack, fit for soldering:
https://www.amazon.de/Stück-DC-Einbaubuchse-Stift-metallausf-Lötfahnen/dp/B00CI6IOCA
Usually around 1,50 EUR a pop.
Optional: an inline 12V PMW dimmer for LEDs or some PMW motor controller, or a VVPS (mandatory though, if you wanne use a high powered heater cartridge instead of the resistor). Amazon has vast resources here. Just search for the above mentioned terms.

Misc.: some ss screens, 10 mm and 15 mm (for debris screen in the heater cover, tip screens and so on); having some meters of high temp med grade silicone tubing of various sizes ready, comes in handy all the time; some stiff felt, leather or cork for doing the bottoms... some 12 mm OD polypropylene test tubes make for great, inexpensive stems. Just drill a hole through the rounded bottom for the mouthpiece and fit a ss tip into the other end with a piece of med grade silicone. They can take up to 135°C, which is fine for a stem.

That's about it. Will be back later today or tomorrow morning, and write some instructions on how to put it all together.

Thanks :)
 
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blokenoname

DIY Log Dabbler 😁🪵💪💨💨💨
Ok. Let's do a breakdown of how to build your log. I'll add to this post via the edit function over the course of the day and will start a new post, when editing is no longer possible :)

Making the body.

In principle, you can set the heater into any suitable ready made wooden cup, goblet, vase etc, but doing so might actually make things more complicated for you, instead of making life easier, because actually finding some ready made wooden stuff, that is 'suitable' for a log body, may proof more difficult than you think. What you want is actually a hollow wooden tube of about 8 to 12 cm hight with an outer diameter of about 4 to 5 cm and an inner diameter of about 2,5 to 3,5 cm max. Anything diverting much in form from that ideal, will probably necessitate a bit of rethinking and redesigning on your side, to make the log perform properly. You might have to rethink, where to best put the DC jack, how to do the wiring and the air-path, how to avoid too much heat conduction to the wood and how to best fasten the cork base in that idiosyncratic body.

Building a body from scratch on the other hand, is far easier and less time consuming, than I ever thought and gives you full control over the results. Without a lathe, you'll first need a readily turned piece of relatively soft wood with the required outer diameter, like Pine for instance (it's more easy to work with the tools at hand and you can try your skills and tools on hard wood later on, when you've finished your first soft wood prototype successfully). Round wooden blanks for hand rails make great resources here, as you can get them in the required diameter and in a variety of different woods (harder or more exotic woods may be more expensive and harder to work, though). For a body of 10 cm hight, cut a 11 cm piece from your blank with the wood saw. You'll loose a cm anyway by filing and sanding down the edges after boring out the core. Mark the centre top and bottom of your blank. Easiest way is to draw a circle of the same diameter as the blank onto paper, cut it out and fold it twice over to find its centre. Put it onto the wood blank and mark the centre with the scratch if a nail or something.

If you've got a drill press, fixate the blank and use the 2,5 cm Forstner bit to bore out the core from the top. Go for the full length of the bit (6 cm). You can gain another centimeter by pulling the bit about a cm out of the drill chuck if need be, but be careful that it still sits snug. Then turn the blank around and bore out from the bottom with the 3 or 3,5 cm Forstner bit. About 3 cm depth max should be enough here, as the bottom section just needs to accommodate the DC jack and the ends of the extended leads of the heater and provide you some space, to work in, when soldering both together later on. Between the narrower top and the wider bottom boring, there should be about a centimeter of intermediate floor left, that's not yet bored through. Drill through that from the top with the 10 mm wood drill bit. The centre will be marked by the centering pin of the before used Forstner bit abyway, so that should be easy. Go for lower rpms, as drilling such big holes results in a very hot drill bit and wood. So don't be too alarmed, when there's smoke rising from your boring and your flat fills with 'woodscents' :D. That's normal.
Best way is to drill for 2-3 minutes and then making a pause to let bit and wood cool down. Repeat as needed. It usually takes me 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to bore a body.
When finished, turn the body on its side an drill a 10 mm hole into the side of the wider bottom section for the DC jack, about a cm from the bottom. Go slow here. Then file, sand and polish your new body as need be or you see fit.

Without a drill press, the procedure is the same and takes about the same time, only that you will be fixating the blank in a vice and using a handheld power drill instead. Be aware though, that getting anything centered when working handheld, is pure luck. Without support, the weight and power of the machine WILL inevitably drive the bit off centre the very moment, you first press the button. But hell.. it's a homemade log not a factory product. Being a bit askew, just adds to its personality ;)
Mine are all made handheld style so far, in lieu of a drill press :D

m9awxx.jpg


To recapitulate: your final result now should be a body of about 10 cm hight, with a 2,5 cm wide and 6 cm deep core boring at the top and a 3 cm to 3,5 cm wide and 3 cm deep core boring at the bottom, with an intermediate wooden floor of about 1 cm hight left between the two borings, through the centre of which, runs a 10 mm big hole for the wiring abd another 10 mm hole near the bottom at the side of the log for the DC jack.

Here's an old vid from Tom, boring a Purple Days body with a drillpress:
Boring a Purple Days

(Though why anyone owning a lathe would actually use a drill press to bore through the wood, still escapes me :D)

So... time for a steak now. Will be back later with instructions on the heater cover, cork base and the heater itself.
 
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