IF YOUR SR-71 HAS EVER HIT OR HEATED UP IN THE PAST, THE PROBLEM IS YOU NOT THE HERC!
honestly if your herc isn't working like it should (the ceramic rod doesn't heat up and turn red near instantly) you have problems. if it does you're just not using it right.
i don't even know what atomsk's problem is but i wouldn't doubt its the same thing.
i'm also willing to bet both you don't own multimeters. the bottom insulator is very picky about being put together right. you NEED to measure the resistance when the herc is fully assembled or else you'll zap tops if it's shorting and you won't get it to do anything if the resistance is too high.
i'm also willing to bet that both of you got pissed off from not getting any hits and heated the fuck out of it, didn't cool it down by inhaling a few times after you're done using it.
seriously, if it's ever worked at all in the past, it's your fault if it doesn't work well.
i just hate to see people complain at THC SCI and blame the unit. in my opinion the bottom insulator has ALWAYS been the only part of the whole contraption to give me any grief. like THC SCI said, take the outer shell and bottom insulator off and screw it right onto your top. if it doesn't start to turn red instantly then yes it's either put together wrong or actually broken somehow. if it does, buy a multimeter and learn from what you were doing wrong.
@
Atomsk i forgot to tag you, this is for you too buddy.
I wouldn't go to Vegas any time soon, exit. You make a lot of brash assumptions here and I'm sorry that you lost all these bets of yours. Bets against me, at least.
After very gentle draws with the Hercules, I cool it down just like you would an omicron cart and after, set it on it's side, as has been general practice since its release. (Although THC Scientific has said it doesn't matter how you draw from it, any way you hit it should produce vapor. Lol, not in my experience.)
I own a Fluke 77 III MM. Measures resistance in the carts and ceramic rod perfectly. Fuck if I didn't think to use this to measure my Herc. I
bet I'm just a pissy customer.
Despite how frustrated I allow myself to be while posting, I actually spent a lot of patient time on my Hercules. Kind of a deranged calm. I put mine together in front of THC Scientific at the San Diego sesh. He said that my assembly was sound. Tried to fire it, and he saw that it wouldn't work. After seeing that, he took it apart, didn't even measure the bottom insulator, though you have painstakingly described a process I'm sure works for you. He just measured the Ceramic Rod, which was broken. "Oh, this shouldn't have passed quality control. Weird. Here, have a new one." After that it STILL didn't work. Only after cutting our coils did our Hercs did start to work. But we never measured resistance. We never compared Hercs. We just saw that finally,
FINALLY, our Hercs were producing some vapor and we left happy enough.
Now, my contention is that we did not have a baseline performance. We didn't spend any significant time making sure that both units were up to snuff, identical. We simply made them spit out vapor and went on our merry way. Could it be that in that hotel room, in so few steps and time, we covered all possible variables? Would you make that bet?
I, however, am willing to bet that you didn't know that THC Scientific brought 3 BRAND NEW units he had taken off the line the day before he visited San Diego. Said when he tested them, they were fine. But when he got to San Diego, for some darned reason, he couldn't get any of them to work. The
Manufacturer couldn't tell us why. Now I'm not saying these Hercs never work, exit. I believe I always stated that when it works it's amazing. The problem is that, given consistent conditions, my Herc remains an inconsistent device.
And despite all that, you are confident it's user error? You are aware that your exact conditions are not universally shared? That only those who experience the same problems as you will be able to solve it in a similar way? You are aware of the possibility of other variables that may not affect you but affect others? The
Manufacturer has trouble with some of his own units. Couldn't get 5 working at the same time. Couldn't explain why. I suppose you can?
I'm not devaluing
your experience with
your Hercules,
that would just be bad manners, nor am I questioning the process by which you assure proper contact is had. I'm sure, if I don't sell my Persei, I'll go through the same motions. But to suggest that other people are just being idiots because your device works, that's just not okay.
You describe how removing your Herc from your Persei changed the center pin a little. I've known this from the start and avoid doing such. I still have had to constantly work at the center pin despite rarely moving it. I'm pretty sure the center pin is affected by the heat, and, expands slightly, changing the contact position. This is likely the biggest problem with the bottom insulator.
Trust me, buddy, I've thought of every reason why I'm wasting hundreds of dollars. I'm not so frivolous with money that I go around making bad bets.
