OF
Well-Known Member
I'm sure this is my fault from not being gentle enough dabbing/scraping the concentrate in but I really didn't think I was being that rough
They are still working ok (with the 2 pieces of plate floating around in each) ... but is it still safe to use this way? Are there any dangers apart from the plates falling out which would get trapped by the MP anyways ... What about using without the plate? What issues will I have there except less ceramic for the concentrate to absorb into?
I'm not sure you should be in a huge rush to take all the credit, but those plates are pretty frail as you've figured out. They're thin and 'foam like' in addition to being brittle. I make it a habit to not touch mine unless I have to (you need to doing bubble hash in Revolution/DART for instance. In such cases I use a wooden toothpick and lots of care.
Most if not all top plates are loose when the core is clean and dry. They have to 'float' so they can expand and contract. Each is carefully fitted in assembly (they start a bit longer than the hole is wide).
I see no reason not to use them because the plates are cracked. Even missing it is OK but I'd get the plates replaced. Not only for production (most of the initial part of a session comes from here as I understand it) but for capacity and to keep junk out.
Bummer your getting charged more duty, that can't be covered by paperwork? I once worked at a place that had international customers. We had a different invoice form for service returns (it said so at the top). There were blanks for 'original PO number' and 'original ship date'. Often the numbers we'd put in there were accurate.....sometimes not so. Customs, of course, had no way to verify. I hand carried some through customs into China (no tourists at the time). My service spares really got taken to bits and signed in and out (along with listings of watches, radios, calculators, electric fans and sewing machines if you can believe it.....lucky I left my fans and sewing machine home). The returns in the envelopes with the special paperwork got a pass. I also left a few key spares (used) with the last stop. They gave me a letter in English and Chinese (did you know the two spoken languages there have the same written version? Guys that can't understand each other (literallly) can write to each other, you'd see folks drawing characters on their hands or in the dirt.....), very flowing stuff about how I'd kindly contributed to the People's Training Academy and so on. I got a pass then on those parts but still had 'the silver suitcase' with 30 or so more circuit boards in it. To save face, the customs man demanded to see one of the boards he slected at random, so I handed him one at random which he looked over and handed back. The next nearest guy who could have ID'd the board was a LONG way away. Sorry to ramble, but it's a fun memory and points to the idea that customs guys often run on routine and don't understand what is happening.
My major concern is the heat issue. That could get worse and stall the fun. How old is your unit? If it's old enough to be the original crimped and conductive epoxy version I think you'll want to get it upgraded before it checks out at some inopportune time? You can work around a switch failure for a while, but if the strap connection goes you're basically dead unless you want to resort to some of the temporary schemes I've shown. I think I'd try to figure if it's the switch or strap (by where the heat first shows and where it's hotter).
Good luck with it.
OF
Instead of being a disgusting inconvenience to all around me, they now say "goddamnit stop using that thing, it is making me hungry it smells so goooood" 
IE. Body then Core etc... or is a package deal? That way I might be able to get one a little sooner. I just want one of these so bad... 
