The Bud Toaster - (currently: Model 14, version 3)

[Hippie Dickie]

You meant accessories but said "kit". Was that Freudian? Is there a kit in the future?

if someone is capable of putting together this vape from a kit of parts, they would have already done it based on this thread. everything someone needs to know is in the thread. code on SkyDrive. video on YouTube.

By the way, here's the job application for a position in the company: assemble a Bud Toaster ... if there ever is a company ... if there ever are employees.

 

[JCat]

if someone is capable of putting together this vape from a kit of parts, they would have already done it based on this thread. everything someone needs to know is in the thread. code on SkyDrive. video on YouTube.

By the way, here's the job application for a position in the company: assemble a Bud Toaster ... if there ever is a company ... if there ever are employees.

Parts are hard to come by when you live in the middle of nowhere! (We drive 100km to go see a movie as we haven't had a theatre for a few years now ... supposed to be reopening soon!)

 

[Hippie Dickie]

@JCat -- what can i say? i buy all my parts online and it shows up at my door.

ONWARD! i decided the case absolutely MUST have a drop down back panel (for total access to the battery pack to remove and swap batteries) and this requires a clasp to hold the panel closed, but that can be released. Further, it needs to totally fit within the 1/16" profile of the matte board used as the structure for the case. And it can't weaken the structural integrity of the matte board.

So i went round and round on this puzzle, drawing a dozen different designs until it hit me that, since the toothpick is such an integral part of the "kit" anyway, it could be used to release the catch. Here is a prototype test rig for what i came up with:

The piece of metal i am holding (with the folded end) is attached to the back panel that will be hinged. It slides into the other piece of metal (actually, it is two pieces that cover a slot in the matte board on both sides - that wire is a staple that holds the two pieces tight against the matte board -- it needs to be on the other side and out of the way of the release hole). The end of the folded end has some spring and catches the indent (the row of punches) on the inside.

Here is the clasp closed:

So, just insert the end of the toothpick into the release hole, depress the folded end, and the clasp releases.

Here is looking into the slot, to show the indents formed by a metal punch, and how they protrude inside a slot in the matte board:

Now i need to see how this actually works with the next case prototype. But based on my little test rig (shown here) i think it will be, dare i say it, perfect!

And, hey! i can actually make this sucker. in volume. (well, maybe 100 or so.)

Could this really be the LAST FUCKING PIECE of the design?

Oh, yeah -- i decided to not have a drop down panel in the front, so it won't accidently open and spill the 5/8" diameter draw tube onto the floor.

 

[Bob the kebab]

Your amazing dude. How much for one?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

Thank-you. i'm glad you enjoy. Here is post #1244 on previous page which has my current thinking about pricing (subject to change):

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/t...ly-model-14-version-3.826/page-50#post-438447

 

[Stu]

Damn, it's too bad that you didn't offer a pre-sale when your "thinking" was $500.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

i don't see any value in a pre-sale. when it is a product, and in stock, it will be available for sale.

(subject to change, eh?)

 

[darkrom]

I try to pretend this vape doesn't exist simply because otherwise I start craving it again. When this goes on sale I'll buy it right away just to support the longest running project I've ever seen lol.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

i appreciate your voice of support ... this is why my bosses (all of them!) hated me as an employee -- i took my own sweet time doing my assigned projects.

i am anxiously awaiting the outcome of this:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced that he will convene a hearing on September 10 to examine “conflicts between state and federal marijuana laws.”

a favorable outcome (i.e. i won't get locked up for making and selling a medical marijuana vaporizer) could greatly speed up the devlopment. although that would piss off my current boss (well, gf thinks she's my boss).

 

[deadheadbill]

thank-you for your interest.

here's my thinking about price point. parts cost for the cube and glass is about $25. feed it anywhere from 6vdc to 20vdc for power and you have a vaporizer.

the product i plan to sell is a complete kit. so add $100 for the cost of batteries, charger, accessories and two cases.

so then it gets down to my labor, and proportionate cost for additional tools and warranty service, and dealer discount, and shipping. i'm guessing 2 hours labor per unit once i have a production stream set up. so this "cost of business" adds $800 per unit.

there is nothing comparable on the market. if price is an issue, people should wait for the chinese knock-off. a chinese knock-off is validation, not competition.

so, that's what i think.

Not meaning to be rude in any way, but as I read that it means you would be charging 400$ per hour for labor making this a 900$ vape?

I hope it works out because I know you have put a lot of work and love into your baby, but that's a lot of money for a vape.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

not rude at all, and i appreciate your question.

yes, i'm thinking in the $900 to $1000 range. the price of 3 or 4 oz of herb (or 2 where i live). this vape is designed for someone who uses at least an oz per month / a gram per day.

as i tried to explain (unsuccessfully) there are sales costs in addition to the parts and 2 hours of labor. rough estimate is 40% for sales costs. so, that leaves $200 per hour for my labor.

i make $200 to $400 per hour at my day job (wholesale vs retail) - when i actually get work, which depends on consumer confidence and marketing effort. i can't justify working for less.

i wouldn't even consider making this a commercial venture except it works so well and is so close to being a finished product. i may just end up making a few more for friends as presents.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

a big DUH today ... so, like i wake up the other day and there under my pillow ... can it be? ... YES! i've been visited, gifted really, by the Bud Fairy ... and it's my favorite: dankity dank.

well, so i've been vaping at 440°F for some time (while awaiting this very moment) in order to get the theraputic effects of the undank ... time to reset the setpoint back down to 380°F for a while. but, don't you just know it, i've become accustomed to that higher temp -- must be the improved vapor density (ivd) -- or something.

it's easy enough midway through the session to hit the +5°F button a bunch of times. but, being dankity dank, i like to linger over this herb, and the session times out, and i reset the 3.5 minute snooze timer.

well now, up until about 20 minutes ago, the program reset to the saved setpoint, which is 60°F lower that what i was just enjoying.

and the big DUH: it should continue with the most recent temp setting, not reset to the saved value which is appropriate for the start of a new session, not continuing a session.

Done.

(and it only took me 5,000 sessions with this vape to finally realize this and fix it)

 

[lazylathe]

Moving forward is always better than backwards!!!

One day i wish i would wake up with a visit from the dankity dank fairy!

 

[darkrom]

Can you post a current video of a start to finish session with your latest revision? I love watching you continue this vape.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

well, the video wouldn't look much different from the first one i did. available on YouTube. a search on "bud toaster" will find it.

i am thinking about doing a video that really shows the +/- 1°F temperature stability. knowing the calculations going on, it just astounds me to see such stability. it's like balancing an upside-down pendulum.

 

[CentiZen]

i am thinking about doing a video that really shows the +/- 1°F temperature stability. knowing the calculations going on, it just astounds me to see such stability. it's like balancing an upside-down pendulum.

Yeah, when I realized that this was the algorithm you had to implement to get that kind of stability, I was pretty surprised things were as complex as this for just two dimensional control.

It's a thing of beauty to be able to boil down such a complex mathematical theory like this into a little black box on a tiny circle of silicone. It's whats taking me so long to get my clone done, because I want to make all of my own code.

 

[slowandsteady]

I finally got around to watching the video. Very cool project. How does one remove the glass capsule from the vape? Is it as simple as inverting the vape and taping?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

I finally got around to watching the video. Very cool project. How does one remove the glass capsule from the vape? Is it as simple as inverting the vape and taping?

no tapping required. the glass vial just drops into the oven tube. there is 1mm space between the two. i just tip the cube over and the glass vial falls onto the table. or use the tweezers: insert tweezers into vial, the pressure of the tweezers against the inside of the vial is sufficient to pull it out and set it in the holder.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

next iteration of the case ... this time in blue leather:

i had thought i wanted to line the interior of the case with ripstop nylon. but then i got to thinking about dropping a 400°F glass vial onto the liner and, well, it would melt. so i have made a switch to leather inside and out. So now i'm working out the details of the templates for cutting the matte board substructure and the leather covering.

my new desktop companion:

this iteration is by no means trimmed out - just another step on the path (hey, it's the journey, not the arrival, eh?) - so please forgive the crappy seams. i finally have a case that has the wrap over cover that i have been dreaming about (literally). here is the open cover:

the cover folds under the case for a minimal footprint:

just lift out the cable and plug into the cube. the cable has six 6" segments. it folds easily and drops into the front compartment of the case:

this iteration went into sevice yesterday, and it has already been useful ... i finally see how to finish the edge seams. i can see how i need to shave the back of the leather so the overlap will be sleek and trim ... it will be simply gorgeous. can hardly wait to make another version ... this time in pink.

 

[530rasta]

so can I get one?

 

[Hippie Dickie]

so can I get one?

to paraphrase Ernest & Julio ... "i will sell no vape before its time."

i.e., no, sorry, not done yet.

 

[530rasta]

well ive been following your toaster for a while, sign me up for one

 

[astralrift]

Wow, what an amazing thread you have here Hippie! I have been reading through your build log the last few weeks and it has inspired me to construct a desktop vape (have an mflb for a portable solution). I am not really familiar with assembly (more of a higher level language person), so I want to give this a shot using an arduino (as I see a few people have done).

I'm not going to ask you how to convert anything to that environment (mostly because its fun to figure it out on my own ), but I just can't understand how you control the current flow from the battery to the heating coil using the mosfet. Is it just being used as a simple transistor (that can handle a lot of current) which switches on and off at different frequencies? If you don't mind, I would really appreciate a short explanation of what is going on with that component.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

sure, happy to oblige ... you have the basic idea, i.e. the MOSFET is just a switch. the switch is normally open, so no current flows, and the program simply determines how long the switch is closed to energize the heater coil.

i use an N-type MOSFET, so it is opening/closing the ground connection. that is, the battery connects to the top of the heater coil, the mosfet source pin connects to the bottom of the coil and the mosfet drain pin connects to ground. the mosfet gate pin, which turns the switch on/off, connects directly to one of the i/o pins of the 12F683 processor.

the program clock runs at 10 ticks per second, i.e. 100 msec per tick - i like to be responsive to user input. the mosfet gate is controlled by the PWM function of the 12F683, which has its own clock running at 1000 ticks per second.

(and so, yes, my vaporizer has a tone when running, which is just barely audible (well, i have 65 year old ears) with ear pressed against the cube (unless you are a cat who can hear it more clearly, but just ignore it now), i kind of like the tune it plays as the dutycycle is adjusted to maintain the setpoint temperature.)

but really, the only time rate that is significant is the cycle rate at which the MAX6675 can process the thermocouple. this is about 250 millisec. so i allow 300 msec (3 clock ticks) between readings of the MAX6675 data and adjust the dutycycle every 3 ticks. this is sufficiently fast to hold the setpoint temperature +/- 1°F regardless of the volume of airflow through the oven tube.

Amazing ... two chips, a thermocouple, and a MOSFET to do computer temperature control - it still blows my mind.

Also, Wikipedia has a nice article on MOSFET.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

correction: (edit option timed out...)

i got the drain & source connections backwards in the prior post ... the source connects to ground and the drain connects to the bottom of the coil. sorry about that.

i should have at least glanced at the right-most photo in my sig ... the flange of the MOSFET (bottom of the device) is the drain pin.