FC E-Nail by JCat

[JCat]

So this is for enails only, or could I control my Vapbong/Herborizer with this?

The vapbong and herborizer heater coils are a completely different type of coil. This supports all standard AC heater coils, up to about 350W, with standard k-type thermocouples.

 

[losojos]

I would very much like to get a spot on the waiting list. Thank you in advance!

 

[Beyonder420]

The vapbong and herborizer heater coils are a completely different type of coil. This supports all standard AC heater coils, up to about 350W, with standard k-type thermocouples.

Controlling a L298N is cheap and easy with the Pi? Must be a similar cheap and Pi-friendly option that would work up to 6 amps continuous?
Heck you could just slap DC input/output terminals on the back panel to focus on the regulator effort instead of looking for a spot to cram in a DC PSU.
I figure the real hassle would be adding a panel/tab to the software to give some user controls over the output levels and get a status display?

 

[JCat]

Assuming the thermocouple inside the coil is a standard k or j type, then it would "just work" with the appropriate supply. I'm really not interested in modifying the case and re-designing something completely separate for the few that would want it though (I have a hard time justifying building them at all ... ... let alone building one off or custom builds based on the extremely low profit margin ... if I was to outsource the build of these I would already be selling them at a loss of at least a couple hundred dollars per unit based on build time and components)

By all means though if you want to put one together, the software is open source for personal use; if someone wanted to build them for commercial/resale, a licensing agreement could be worked out for the software.

Edit: to put it into perspective ... if I was to say take a contract to build a unit with the extra output, for a single person, with the original base price of $450, then I was to add the customization to be able to switch the coil supply from built-in/AC and an external supply, I would have to:
a) Add the switching. Likely no software requirements here, could likely be a hardware solution.
b) Figure out the new layout for the back plate to accommodate the external input
c) Figure out new layout of internal components, likely having to increase the size of the case so thus changing all dimensions
d) New CNC program for base plate holes for mounting components
e) Run sample rear plate and base on the CNC with the new designs to test
f) Dry fit everything to make sure it will work.
g) Assemble etc.

I would estimate this would add a good 10-20 hours of custom work, and even at a discounted rate of $100/hour would be, $1,000-$2,000 ... and I don't think anyone wants to pay $1,500-$2,500 for a unit!

 

[Beyonder420]

Aye but that point forward the 'DC voltage reg' option would be $100 extra at the most, for a nice way to explore your VAS from a central point?

Updating the software to allow control over more AC outputs would spike the value a lot more with very little hardware changes, so I'm still rooting for that idea the most.

But I still want to put a mg sensitive scale on the top too.

 

[ProfessionalHandJob]

Aye but that point forward the 'DC voltage reg' option would be $100 extra at the most, for a nice way to explore your VAS from a central point?

Updating the software to allow control over more AC outputs would spike the value a lot more with very little hardware changes, so I'm still rooting for that idea the most.

But I still want to put a mg sensitive scale on the top too.

REFC has the ATM avaliable and is working on a quad version https://refc-labs.com/collections/highlighter/products/advanced-telemetry-module

Although I'd cream over an FC enail with 2x DC controllers in it as well. desk space is a premium

To everyone that has requested to get on the "list", I will reach out to you at some point, as I work through requests in order.

This is just a little side project for me, and the little I make per unit only makes it worth my while because I want to get these into the hands of other individuals simply because I love this project so much (however, they are not really profitable per say as I make much more--ie. 2-6x as much per hour--doing pretty much anything else ... ... )

I haven't decided when I will start the next batch, nor how many will be in it, but as soon as I do I will reach out.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and patience

I 100% want to be on this list when the list is made please.

 

[Beyonder420]

REFC has the ATM avaliable

I have the same VVPS in a small plastic box. It's a great deal for what it does but it only swaps between 2 devices easily, getting it to recall M3 and higher is more keypresses than just picking a new output voltage.

Enabling a DC out that you can store as a preset in a drop-down menu with custom device names would be dreamy for people with VAS, especially if you can navigate into the list from the front panel OLED.

 

[danielblakes]

Wanted to report after a few months of daily use on my fcenail I'm absolutely loving it! The scripts/ramp modes I've got dialed in are amazing and really improve the dab seshes: I can get very close to a cold start dab with my big ramp, and my normal ~20 degree boost just makes every dab better! I also settled into using a temp-lowering script to bring it down to cleaning mode for 1 click cleaning and resetting back to temp - just in love. I've started playing with different p.i.d. value profiles and mixing them in to do some even more advanced heating modification. i would love to be able to use "switch profile" in the scripts...that could allow some cool stuff like forcing quicker-heating p.i.d. setups temporarily for boost modes, for example.


i do have 1 small bug report if it can even be called such, which is if you set a decently sized offset (mine is ~-80 on my liger + sapphire dish, for example) to where - at least in the cold CO weather - the pid is reading a negative value when not heating, upon turning the heater on the fcenail software has some kinda over/underflow and momentarily displays a temp reading of ~65536 (max 16 bit int) . it rights itself as soon as temps move positive on the pid so really no big deal but i nearly had a heart attack the first time it happened ha! figured i'd pass it on.

couldn't be happier with my box! thanks for this project.

 

[JCat]

Hey @danielblakes ,

Thanks for all the positive feedback! Really nice to hear that you are enjoying it!

And thanks for the bug report (I kind of forgot about that one but I believe one other person has seen this )

As far as adding a "switch profile" action to the scripts, that's a pretty good idea, and I imagine quite feasible, so I'll likely see about adding that in a revision soon. I imagine you would want it like the temp to auto-reset to default settings/profile on end-of-script?

 

[danielblakes]

Hey @danielblakes ,

As far as adding a "switch profile" action to the scripts, that's a pretty good idea, and I imagine quite feasible, so I'll likely see about adding that in a revision soon. I imagine you would want it like the temp to auto-reset to default settings/profile on end-of-script?

that would probably make the most sense. and if someone wanted it to stay on an alt. profile for a while that could be done using a 'wait' step anyway.

 

[JCat]

FYI--testing the feature @danielblakes mentioned (or a variation thereof).

I'll push this update out soon I believe, and it will include:
- fix to negative temperatures (that incorrectly showed 65535 + [temp] as opposed to the correct negative value)
- new supported "Step" in scripts, called "Update PID Settings", which allows you to "offset" your PID settings in a step (ie. +100 to your P value, etc.)
- more robust remote access (better restarting of localtunnel service in case of losing connection as well as support in the client to read and re-send the "continue" action to get rid of the banner page that comes up every week or so)
- applied all security patches for any vulnerabilities

Edit: and @danielblakes, the root cause of the issue (which was first noted by @stickstones FYI, you were the 2nd to encounter it ), is in the way the Omron stores it's temperature in the registers. It is indeed a 2-bit integer, thus the range of 0-65535. When the temperature goes negative, the actual temperature is equal to "temp - 65536" (ie. 65535 is -1, 65534 is -2, etc.). Just to keep the logic simple, I assume that anything >32,767 (the half way mark), is negative

Just thought you might be interested (since you did notice the 2-bit integer storage )

 

[Beyonder420]

This scripting seems like it's just short of a fan relay option from making a dish of inserts heated by the FC E-Nail even more versatile than a US$699.00 Hybrid Volcano?

 

[Mr. White]

Just popping in again wondering if/when you think you'll build more FC Enails I have money in hand set aside just for one.

 

[Beyonder420]

> dish of inserts
Dish of balls? I was probably thinking of the Pinky vape when I wrote that.

 

[Beyonder420]

@JCat Would the new Auber N1050 have any potential to slot in here and be compatible with your hard work?

 

[JCat]

Just thought I'd let everyone know I'll be posting an updated version in the coming days or next week, so the next time you boot up your e-nail after it is released, if it is connected to the Internet it will automatically update (or if your e-nail is always on it will update in the middle of the night)

So if all of a sudden, 5-10 minutes after booting up your e-nail, the controls become unresponsive, just be patient while it finishes installing the update and rebooting (DON'T JUST SHUT IT OFF HALF WAY THROUGH THE UPDATE). The update should only result in your e-nail actually being down for a few minutes at most.

This update will include:

• new Script action that allows you to adjust the PID values (thanks @danielblakes for this suggestion)
• fix to incorrect (655??) value on display when in negative temperatures (it will now handle negative temps correctly)
• more stable remote access through LocalTunnel (now auto-restarts more readily, as well as the client detects the "continue" page and automatically "clicks" for you and takes you into the client, as opposed to failing when the "continue" page is up.
• misc bug/stability fixes.

@JCat Would the new Auber N1050 have any potential to slot in here and be compatible with your hard work?

Yes, it could theoretically work (just the communication layer for the RS-485 to the PID would have to be split out into a standard interface and then you could have 2 separate implementations, 1 for the Omron and one for the Auber). That being said, I can't see a reason to do this, as both PIDs offer similar features, and I can get the Omron for about 1/2 the price of the Auber units (from Singapore) ... at least I could, haven't priced them out in a while. The cost to implement something like this (at least what I would charge a customer as a "one-off" implementation) would be in the ballpark of about $5-$6k estimate; so to justify this development effort I would need to increase the cost of the units by $200 per unit and sell 30 units just to justify the work (unless someone was interested in paying for a single $6k unit--ie. all of the development effort). That being said, the code is all open source (for non-commercial use), so anyone that is interested could write this module either for themselves or to contribute back to the project.

 

[Beyonder420]

This is very confusing for someone in Canada where the Omron RS-485 models are starting in the $250 range from places like Digi-Key and even direct from China they are over $200 USD, while the Auber has an MSRP of $105?

I was expecting this to be around $150 less expensive per unit, but clearly there's a specific vendor/SKU you've dug up that is crazy cheap?

 

[JCat]

This is very confusing for someone in Canada where the Omron RS-485 models are starting in the $250 range from places like Digi-Key and even direct from China they are over $200 USD, while the Auber has an MSRP of $105?

I was expecting this to be around $150 less expensive per unit, but clearly there's a specific vendor/SKU you've dug up that is crazy cheap?

That is what the Omron's cost from Digikey, and if I had to buy from NA, then the Auber would be the obvious choice assuming it performs reasonably well. That being said, Omron's are readily available from China, Singapore, etc., for reasonable costs (ranging in cost from $75-$120 + shipping ... my average cost is somewhere around $75-$85 USD or so after shipping I believe but it's been a while). The SKU is the same one that is from DigiKey, just 1/3 the cost. This is pretty typical in my experience.

Edit: The specific Omron being used is an E5CC-QX2ASM-802. From CA/US, these are $200-$300 anyways, from Asia, you can get them <$100.

Edit Edit: Just verified, and can currently get the Omron E5CC-QX2ASM-802's for <$60 USD shipped. (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000410811890.html)

 

[JCat]

So everyone that has an e-nail, the update will be posted this evening; once posted and live I will post here. You can also trigger an update manually either by rebooting the unit (as it checks on startup I believe), or from the Settings menu use the "Check for Updates" option.

Once the check is initialized, it will likely take a good 10-20 minutes for the update to download, and install, and to restart the FC E-Nail service on the device.

Your device of course has to be connected to the Internet to initiate an update. You can check what version of the client/server software you are running from the device and the client. From the client, the version is displayed near the bottom of the page, and from the device, when you initiate a "Check for Updates" (which prompts you, yes/no, to proceed), it displays the version.

The version being released will be 1.0.20

 

[JCat]

Here's a little video of an up-temp using my FC E-Nail and a Sneaky Pete Great Lakes Predator recycler

 

[Beyonder420]

My big hurdle is emulating a torch drop in where I soak the banger well above ideal temps (hot as the PID will let me - knowing this hurts the hardware), after a bit of soaking I change the target temp to something sane, load a dab into an insert, and then toss it into the banger as it comes across a safe looking temp on the display (5-25 seconds delay?).

All the fiddling to get a basic PID to the max temp sucks, then you have to turn off the heat, fiddle with the silly controls to get it back down to an ideal target, and then you can start prepping the dish.

So a PID that will jump to and hold a high temp, with one button to tap to flip it back to the idea target, would be a big click-saver for folks, especially if it was something we could kick off 5 minutes prior using a phone.

 

[JCat]

My big hurdle is emulating a torch drop in where I soak the banger well above ideal temps (hot as the PID will let me - knowing this hurts the hardware), after a bit of soaking I change the target temp to something sane, load a dab into an insert, and then toss it into the banger as it comes across a safe looking temp on the display (5-25 seconds delay?).

All the fiddling to get a basic PID to the max temp sucks, then you have to turn off the heat, fiddle with the silly controls to get it back down to an ideal target, and then you can start prepping the dish.

So a PID that will jump to and hold a high temp, with one button to tap to flip it back to the idea target, would be a big click-saver for folks, especially if it was something we could kick off 5 minutes prior using a phone.

The FC E-Nail does all of that

1. You can turn it on remotely with your phone.
2. You can create a custom up-temp script that ups the temp to where you want, then add a delay of however long you want, then decrease. (or add a really long delay, and when you hit your button it cancels the script and returns everything to baseline).

Really, there is a ton of flexibility in what you can do with creating custom scripts using the various actions/steps (ie. increase temp, delay, feedback, waif for temp, update PID settings, ...)

 

[JCat]

Here's a demo of a 40F up-temp, also showing the mobile app/script screen some.

 

[Chojin702]

Whens the next batch?

 

[BoB Nesmtih]

I just discovered your project, I also would like to get on the list this is exactly what I have been looking for!