Lots of good things going on in the toasty shop. I have started using ss cartridge heaters to power the HI. They were just what I needed for the 12mm 3 slit glass heater cover.
A ss basket screen on the end of the heater keeps it centered in the glass tube. Works great with the 16mm/12mm on 14mm GonG tubes and even my wooden tubes w/ 12mm roasting bowls.
The ss wires coming out of the ss cartridge heaters don’t conduct as much heat as the regular heaters, so the wires connected to the power socket at the bottom remain at room temperature. The bottom of the glass tube also remains at room temperature since it is so far from the hot end and glass can’t conduct heat that far. There is no need to close the bottom of the glass heater cover HI’s w/ ss cartridge heaters.
I remove the insulated wire from the cartridge heaters so that they only have bare ss wires. I would never put wire insulation in the air flow path. I recommend to anyone using cartridge heaters to remove the insulation from the wire prior to installing it in the air flow path. The taste will be better and you won’t have to worry about what material (fiberglass or silicone) was used for the wire insulation. As long as the wires remain stiff and separated, there is no worry of them shorting out.
Since there is absolutely no heat at all going to the bottom of the glass heater cover HI’s w/ cartridge heaters, I tried a new way of putting them into wooden bodies that can be left open on the bottom. The air intake is from the bottom anyhow, so it is easiest to just leave it open. Allows you to see all the way through the unit and heater cover. Nothing is hidden from view.
The wood is sumac which is a lightweight / soft and would not have lasted long using the old way of installing metal heater cores. The glass heater cover is held into the wood using a cork ring. There is no heat at the cork since the glass doesn’t conduct it that far, nor do the wires. The shape feels good and secure to hold. May make a batch of these in cherry or walnut wood. I still have some more sumac wood too. Redwood or pine would also work well for this design.
Have been thinking about making a j-hook/wooden pipe for 14mm tapered tubes for a while and decided to try making one. Works great. Here is how it turned out.
The wood is a lilac tree branch. The mouthpiece tube is osage orange and removable for cleaning. Here is another made from a block of osage orange wood w/ a purple heart mouthpiece tube.
Not too difficult to make. Lots of wood combinations are possible.
Was recently gifted a butane torch lighter and got to thinking about ways to make an inexpensive butane herbal roaster. Thought about ways to use parts that I already make. Here is what I devised. I'm calling it the "Toasty Tube".
The 14mm GonG tube is removable for reloading. The screen position in adjustable inside of the GonG tube. The distance from the heat source can also be adjusted by how far the GonG tube is inserted into the cork. The plain end glass tube inserts half way into the other end of the cork. There is a 3 inch long 10mm glass tube w/ 3 slits in the closed end of the tube that is held into the center of the cork using a silicone sleeve. The 10mm glass tube is free to slide into the plain end and GonG tubes. The plain end of the 10mm glass tube extends into the GonG tube when inserted into the cork.
It works best as a session type roaster. 5 seconds of flame down the plain end tube heats up the 10mm glass tube. It only takes 4 to 5 seconds flame draws after that. It is best to move the flame in tiny circles inside the glass tube so the flame doesn’t melt the end of the 10mm glass tube. I’m not normally a butane kind of guy, but this thing is quite amazing. It hits so fast and so hard. Incredible how much vapor you can inhale in 5 seconds. I’m thinking of selling them for $29 if there is any interest. The silicone sleeve on the GonG tube can be slid toward the end until it allows just the GonG tube on the iHeat or any other 18mm connection roaster. The GonG tube can also be used on any 3/8” ss heater cover like the HI or UD.
Have decided against making any more of the halogen bulb HI's unless someone really wants one. I recently took the ceramic socket off from the conductors in my halogen HI and discovered that the contact where the bulb pins go is getting oxidized with non-conductive layer. It was still making contact, but I'm worried that it may not make good contact some day. The contacts inside the ceramic sockets just aren't meant to be subjected to those high temperatures all the time. The performance is quite good with the cartridge heaters and they don't need to be replaced when they burn out.
Still working on the website update. Hard to believe how many different options there will be. Still keep adding more each day.
Thanks for posting the photo and video
@GoldenBud.
@Vapefanatic, thanks for fielding questions about the HI. Sorry the postal service is so slow these days. Hope your items reach you soon.
but it cools the vapor amazingly well..
