DIY Induction Heater Builds and References

PKOK

Well-Known Member
TD this ones looking good, I found my box of parts and disassembled a ZVS. Things are settling down for me personally so I should be able to get a project finished.
I noticed the BMS is 10Amp. I've got a couple of 20Amp can they be used? Drawbacks?
I'm surprised nobody's done a PCB yet
 
PKOK,

TommyDee

Vaporitor
@CaleidosCope - Remoting the coil is possible, yes. For 12V or 3S, you have 33" (approx) to work with. 12 gauge throughout.
The only take-away is knowing that these leads are active 'antenna'. Run the two legs in close proximity to each other to minimize the magnetic field. Avoid metal things near these legs that will heat up from induction.

@PKOK - glad you have some time for yourself. 20 amp BMS is a 20 amp fuse rather than a 10A fuse. Just put a fuse on the input line and you're golden.
 

Pepeluis33

Well-Known Member
Anyone has started to develop a working IH for the Anvil by Vestratto with the powerful ZVS boards available out there like this?
 
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Vlad the Inhaler

Accessory Maker
Accessory Maker
@Pepeluis33 - The Anvil may not require more induction. I suspect the induction is actually pretty low since there is no specific high-iron metal in the tip. The cap on a VapCap takes most of the energy from the IH and shares it with the stainless parts. When the cap cools, the heat from the tip goes back to the cap.

So, this is waaay out of my area of expertise, but I thought I hazily remembered a professor telling me some other metals (copper, copper alloys including brass) can be heated by induction? Just idle curiosity... For Science!
 
Vlad the Inhaler,

Vlad the Inhaler

Accessory Maker
Accessory Maker
@TommyDee that makes sense, so why would the Anvil not require more induction? been reading over this all and really piqued my curiosity, so thanks for indulging me!
 
Vlad the Inhaler,
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TommyDee

Vaporitor
I haven't looked at the Anvil in any detail. However, your question is fortuitous as I think I learned something useful yesterday. I wrapped tin platted copper wire around the cap. This is that heat-battery noise going on. What I learned is that the wire seems to limit the induction to the cap significantly. I got loads of hits but never reached dark plant matter.

This means that copper and/or the thin tin plate on the wire is not "RF transparent". It shielded the induction to the cap and probably had a weak reaction to copper. I did not know I could shield the cap from induction heating like like that. Now I need to find out if silver heats but I don't hold a lot of hope for that. Silver is much like copper, highly conductive. My bet is on music wire. That I might test in my setup.

The other aspect is that induction is a skin-effect. It doesn't go deep. The heat radiates but is very intense where the outside skin is. Anything inside the cap is shielded from induced currents by the cap itself, even the inside surface of the cap. So the geometry of the Anvil must have enough exposed magnetic series stainless steel to provide heat. How much stainless steel surface is inducing current from the IH is not difficult to ascertain with a small lab power supply and an Anvil in hand.
 

Abysmal Vapor

Supersniffer 2000 - robot fart detection device
Interesting. That sounds like copper is acting like sort of Faraday shield . In my SDS IH some of electronics are shielded with a perforated copper plate,maybe it is done to protect them from the induction of the coil :).
 
Abysmal Vapor,

TommyDee

Vaporitor
Those cages in electronics are to keep 'noise' (radiation) in or out. Typically they are shielding a 'noisy' component that requires shielding to pass regulatory agencies, or self interference even. Sensitive circuits use metal shielding to maintain accuracy. You can shield Earth's magnetic field if you needed to.

In the case of my experiment, it shows copper is not 'RF-transparent". The intensity of the field doesn't reach the cap through the .025" copper. Only the end of the cap got hot and provided hits, which clicked just fine - way early though.
 

Vlad the Inhaler

Accessory Maker
Accessory Maker
Those cages in electronics are to keep 'noise' (radiation) in or out. Typically they are shielding a 'noisy' component that requires shielding to pass regulatory agencies, or self interference even. Sensitive circuits use metal shielding to maintain accuracy. You can shield Earth's magnetic field if you needed to.

In the case of my experiment, it shows copper is not 'RF-transparent". The intensity of the field doesn't reach the cap through the .025" copper. Only the end of the cap got hot and provided hits, which clicked just fine - way early though.

Interesting result! I wonder if the shape of the copper wire has anything to do with it? I know coils (at least in neon and luminous tube applications) have special properties because of how current flows through them, I wonder if this is similar?
 
Vlad the Inhaler,

Vlad the Inhaler

Accessory Maker
Accessory Maker
@TommyDee not sure if this is possible but do you think that the copper coil wrap instead of shielding the tip redirected the field towards the end? Again this is way out of my area, just super fascinating to visualize what's going on in my IH.
 
Vlad the Inhaler,

TommyDee

Vaporitor
The clicker end of the cap is exposed to the induction field so it heats up. It doesn't require redirection.

51818696173_c69fd27072_b.jpg
 
TommyDee,

TommyDee

Vaporitor
Indeed you can @krs.k3i ... since it is acting like a shield, you can selectively heat the cap. A narrow strip along the crimp should slow thing down.
 
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Indeed you can @krs.k3i ... since it acting like a shield, you can selectively heat the cap. A narrow strip along the crimp should slow thing down.
How interesting, to read this after finding my IH build is heating improperly with a premature click.
Great way to keep that in check until I can re-wind the coil. Still looking out for a proper 16mm mandrel, as I've seen you suggest on here before.
Thanks @TommyDee
 
Jack_Fancy M.D.,
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Gizmo1k

New Member
Hey guys kind of a noob here And my first post. I have 2021 dynavap and also simrell xl coming soon. I've put together the standard build with MOSFET. Am looking to go further with my experience. From the looks of it seems like I would be wise to invest in some magnet wire (what guage?). Also probably would be smart to integrate a cheap volt / amp meter in line. Any other recommendations for this setup? I primarily am interested in getting an optimal desk setup them maybe look at a portable build. Thanks for the help and all the useful information on the board.

also looks like my guitar slide isn't really feasible cause its super wide. Not sure if folks have a better glass product that would work better to insulate the dynavap from the coil.. Any other parts and pieces recommendations i should be looking at? I've been trying to digest all that is in this thread but its a lot of information for me.



 
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Pepeluis33

Well-Known Member
also looks like my guitar slide isn't really feasible cause its super wide. Not sure if folks have a better glass product that would work better to insulate the dynavap from the coil..
Some suggestions:
- If you want to keep the default 19 mm coil diameter:
14-18 mm glass adapter

- I you plan to reduce coil diameter to 16 mm for better performance (but I'm afraid that 12V6A power supply is not enough powerful for such small diameter):
Ø16 x 25 mm
Ø16 x 35 mm <-- Im using this, the extra length is nice to hold a cork.
 
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Gizmo1k

New Member
Some suggestions:
- If you want to keep the default 19 mm coil diameter:
14-18 mm glass adapter

- I you plan to reduce coil diameter to 16 mm for better performance (but I'm afraid that 12V6A power supply is not enough powerful for such small diameter):
Ø16 x 25 mm
Ø16 x 35 mm <-- Im using this, the extra length is nice to hold a cork.
thank you so much i've ordered the 16x 35mm and the 14-18mm glass, the link isn't working for me on the 16x25mm glass i'll keep looking. thanks for the clarification, i forgot to mention that i have an 8 amp supply coming also. My goal is to have a couple of setups, right now i'll keep the one with the stock coil diameter and possibly use that 14-18mm glass adapter with that one. and the other one i'll use the 16x25 or 35 with. right now I'm really interested in dialing in / optimizing my setup. I get good rips on the stock setup if i bake it for ~3 seconds after the click, but obviously i have some tweaking to do on that one. do you have any recommendations on a bigger supply other than the 12v 8amp one? Also saw some reference earlier about a DC-DC converter which i find interesting because it seems like i can use that to dial in my setup some just by manipulating the voltage.... I'm drinking through a fire hose some on all this information so appreciate you folks helping to distill some of this for me.
 

TommyDee

Vaporitor
Wire for the coil is 12 awg. Solder the coil to the board. The 3 pin connectors kills most modules. Variable voltage is a nice way to dial in an IH.
 

Gizmo1k

New Member
Wire for the coil is 12 awg. Solder the coil to the board. The 3 pin connectors kills most modules. Variable voltage is a nice way to dial in an IH.
thanks a ton, i'm having a blast learning about this and improving my experience. I just ordered this...

seems to be killing 2 birds with one stone. I get Voltage control and amp / volt meter.
 
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