DIY general purpose temperature stabilized vaporizer

[Leodp]

Hi all,
first thread for me, hope It' s ok
I have assembled a 100$ vaporizer, please check the video I made on youtube and give me some feedback.

It has a pretty wide temperature range, good temp stability and LED digital display, forced air flow to use it with balloons (but it's not powerful enough for blowing through a waterpipe).
The temp span allows it to be used for vaporizing the most different herbs, the digital display lets you work precisely at the temp gyow wish.
Putting a steel 'sponge' in the bowl it can be used with extracted oils i.e. for aromatherapy.
...and it does not need craftsmen abilities to be assembled.

More than anything:it works. I find the vapours quite smooth and aromatic.

Ciao,
Leo

 

[Bouldorado]

Impressive. Seems like the only complaint people would have is that it doesn't have a glass airpath.

 

[tepictoton]

yeah, it seems like a nice find, yet the setup leaves a lot of questions to be answered, most important what exactly is in the air path...

 

[Leodp]

tepictoton,
I have collected some more info. It's maybe not exhaustive, but I'm no material expert.

The air is sucked in by a centrifugal fan and heated by a 700W coil resistance, winded up around mica sheets. The setup is similar to that to be found in many hairdryers.
The heating element I have is like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rework-Heat...eat-Gun-AT-858A-AT-858D-AT-8586-/180909506578

and the fan is visible here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-ATTEN-A...l-Station-Air-Solder-Blower-Gun-/260972633171

I do not know the exact composition of the metal in the air gun (probably steel) and in the nozzles (seems a cheaper metal). There should not be lead soldering, as the hot elements can get up to 450°C, much higher than tin/lead mixtures melting point.
I let my unit run for a couple of minutes at max T the first time, to burn all the possible production residues. There was some "burnt oil" smell for a short time, not much, it's to be expected in most products which reach high temperatures.
After that, working around 200°C gives no smell at all.

There are some more detailed views here, where a faulty unit had been dismantled and analyzed back in June 2011:
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/d...58d-hot-air-rework-station/msg52447/#msg52447


After the gun and the nozzle in the air path we have then some silicone tubing (which I kept to a minimum length in my video), the vapo bowl (which has been designed for vaporizing with a butane torch)and the glass mouthpiece+balloon.

 

[Fully Melted]

The good news: It's ingenious!
The bad news: It may be unhealthy to use!

The reason there is no lead is because it uses crimped beryllium copper, which is toxic. Bare ni-chrome coils also shed toxic metal ions, which is why certain heat guns are safe and some are not. The materials you chose are not considered safe by most authorities on the subject. Maybe there is another low cost rework gun that uses a safe element?

 

[Leodp]

Fully Melted,

the nozzle is not crimped, it looks soldered or welded: at the base of the cylinder there are some fixing dots, more visible in the bottom left part in the image.

The cylinder itself is a bent and soldered/welded metal sheet.
They may be Cu-Be, I do not know. The metal is not elastic: bend it 2-3 times and it cracks.
The nozzle will stay in the flux of hot air but will never get hotter than the temp set for vaporizing.
I think we can safely relativize the health risks here.

I agree that the heating resistance can pose a higher risk: in order to heat the air it will reach quite high temperatures, it may even glow red for a short time.
Nickel and chrome may get into the air flow, especially when the resistance is old and small chips can detach from its surface.
I do not know if there is a 100% safe resistance: even stainless steel may contain Nickel and Chrome (for increasing the melting temperature).
If one wants to be sure probably the only solution is using a ceramic or quartz heating element.


I do not have experience in this, but is it really that big health risk?
Heating resistances of the most diverse alloys are quite widespread, from heat guns, to hairdriers, to (room) air heaters: all these guys output a massive amount of hot air into our homes.
I know I'm opening a can of worms here. I'm also concerned about adverse health effects. But I try to consider also the relative importance of the effects.

I have added a health effects warning at the video

 

[Fully Melted]

Unfortunately my views on vapes and lung health is safety over function when it comes to forums. Safety never hurt
I'm a wee bit concerned about how the heating coils are attached to the metal (crimped) that finally connects to the colored heater power wires. Anyway, it's always a thrill for me to see someone showing their invention! I can tell you also want to be sure it's safe for use.

 

[Leodp]

Sure, you're right.Now I have understood what you mean by crimp: it's how the coil is fixed to the cables, not how the nozzles is welded.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

http://verdampftnochmal.de/products/de/vaporizer/g-spot-vaporizer.html