Well done
I reckon thinner plates has got to be the way to go. Surely those big ones are robbing tons of heat (at least to start with)... though saying that, they're probably helping the temperature stability more later on, being thicker and all that
Nice work
Thanks! Just tried it again for a bowl of super lemon haze (full nugs) followed by some really awesome ghost train haze rosin. The flavor is amazing! So much better for concentrates too as it holds the temp ... it took ~10 min for it to get to 180C (356F). I have it set at 600F on the PID. It seems stable there though (if it sits unused it may go up to high 180's after a very long time, and might drop a couple degrees during use. It's the SV3, only better! (apart from it being a little top heavy ...
)
Good point
@Gray Area ... I think I can go with thinner plates, I'm not sure exactly how big the tradeoff there will be for heat-up time vs heat retention.
I may try some 1/4" thick plates each side as opposed to the current ~1cm (ie. ~.4") ... so that would reduce the mass by ~38% right there. I figure I could also trim an extra 1/2" to 5/8" off the length of the plates by using smaller gauge bolts and a smaller tap ... that would in turn reduce it by another 20-25%. So I should realistically be able to reduce the mass by 58-63%, not including the reduced mass of the SS bolts, so probably more like 70-75% reduction. We'll see. Something to play with
It might result in poor heat retention and not be a good balance. Maybe then just a slight reduction in thickness and the same reduction in width with the smaller bolts and could probably still reduce the mass by 25-35% easy (maybe more) with no impact on heat retention.
Damn ... I guess I have some experimentation to do!
Machining 1/4" thick plate would also be way easier and much easier to source.
It's been running for over 1/2 an hour now and it's at about 186C
Might have one more session before I shut her off
Yep ... just had one last rosin session ... 2 huge hits, removed stem and cotton and swabbed out from opposite end, put cotton back in, re-inserted stem, got one more nice hit. Temp is @ 180C
Edit:
Wow! Turned it on from inside 10-15 minutes before I came out (thanks WeMo!) and when I came out, and turned on the thermometer to see where she was at ... it was @ 180C! Just right! (although thinking about dropping that to 175 for a goal temp)
So just had 2 rosin stems + 1 flower stem, and wow! It pretty much maintained it's 180 throughout. Amazing heat retention, and does it ever make a difference! Unlike
@biohacker, I wasn't overly keen on this for concentrates, I found it's temp dropped too fast, and found too much trouble having to reheat or felt I was wasting ... not with this ... get 2-3 HUGE hits before it's done, then take the stem out, take the cotton out and use it to swab out the stem, re-insert, and get another decent hit
Super efficient, super huge and tasty hits
(tried the ones earlier dry, these were through water
)
Lovin' the electric SV3 hack! I'm sure the better weight/balance on Ed's actual electric Supreme is worth it ... really, if you had to buy the enail + coil + get plates made + get an SV3, it would be way more than just buying an SV4
Had tons of fun building them though! And super glad it works
Maybe delay buying an actual SV4 this way, or maybe I won't need to once I refine my plates to be lighter and build a sturdier stand?
at some point I plan to take a DIY route as well.. 
@jcat ! Now i'm even MORE excited for my SV4!! 
