Curious Vaporizer behavior....

[Centurion13]

Hi. I am 53 and don't use vapes (yet) but buy my cigars from the local shop - which is heavily into vapes and is quite a success.

I noticed one of the owners discussing something called A-1 Kanthal and it wasn't long before I, an electronics hobbyist from way back, realized there is a vape hotrodding subculture going on.

So I started doing research. I'm learning Arduino too, so hey.

The fellow in the shop was getting 5 ohms resistance on his hotrodded coil and yet, rather than just a wisp of vapor, he was getting great clouds - as though he were operating at a much higher resistance. Or so I gathered from about five minute's conversation.

They all seemed pleased with the 'efficiency', as they called it, but no one seemed to have the slightest idea what was going on. I just have to know - has anyone got an idea what's happening here? Is this something that can be duplicated? Not trying to go into business, but I would like to be able to hold ten minutes' conversation with them in a knowledgeable fashion. Thus the general research. And as an old-school solder junkie, I just gotta figure this one out.

Regards,

Cent13

 

[CentiZen]

Hi there friend, you've come to the right place! There's a bunch of us over here that are interested in making our own vapes, and some of us that have actually been successful in it! I'm in the process of making my first vaporizer myself. It's a Kanthal nichrome wire based heating element controlled by a Teensy 2.0 with a thermocouple.

Probably the first things your going to want to look at is Hippie Dickies Bud Toaster. It's a home made, all glass vaporizer that uses a PIC microcontroller with a thermocouple to provide digital temperature control. PIC is a little more hardcore than Arduino though. My design is based off of his design, with an aim to implement the control with an Arduino based system instead, and a subfocus on multiple independant coil operation. Once I've got that done I will be posting it up like HD did with the bud toaster.

The next good thing would be to check out the home made vapes thread, especially the last few pages. It's become the general discussion area for those of us making our own vapes who haven't quite gotten far enough to post a thread in Do it Yourself. That's another good spot, you can see some of the developments users have made in both vapes and vape accessories.

If you still have questions though, just post them here and I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[Outlaw Farmer]

^what he sed.

I will take that Cube link tho. Thanx.