'The Misty Log' - DIY wooden Log Vaporizer

[blokenoname]

When I realized, that there were no Log Vaporizers from the US available in the European shops (due to missing EU CE certification and the connected costs, I guess), and also not willing to take the risk of playing Russian roulette with customs, which might or might not confiscate an imported $ 300,- + electrical device, simply due to that missing certification, I decided to build my own Log.

Not being so great at building things from scratch (also missing most necessary tools and a workbench), I rather looked for ready made parts, that I could utilize easily for my own device.

So I came up with "Da Cork Bomber"

Ok. It's a bit of a cheat. It utilizes the 36W/12V (90°C - 230°C) XL Injector from the Herborizer XL, which is basically a ready made ss heating element, set into a double glass tube, with a small handle and a 24mm glass joint and a cable. Got it as a spare part and also forwent getting the fitting 12V adapter and temp controller, as Herborizer charged a stunning 40,-€ for the former and 60,-€ for the latter.
Got a fitting 12V/3A/36W adapter and LED dimmer from Amazon instead... for 6,95€ a pop. Works fine.

Missing a lathe, I sat the XL injector into two small maple wood beakers I also found on Amazon. 2,95€ a pop. Sawed off the bottom of the top one (bad idea. Should have just drilled a hole into it and used to stabilize the heating tube) and set one on top of the other. Made a small recess in the bottom beaker to accommodate the glas handle of the injector, which also now holds the heater in place. On the opposite side I just fitted a piece of cork between wall and heating tube for additional stability (works, but is only a temporary solution, as its naturally degrading with the heat. Guess a fitting star washer will solve this little problem fast. Just have to get one). Drilled holes into the bottom part beaker for the cable and one into the bottom for airflow.

Next problem was the 24mm glass joint. Next to useless for connecting to the usual 14/18mm standard glass joints of the herbal glass world. Only works with the fitting 24mm bowl (36,- EUR) from Herborizer etc. Or you need lab glass.
After experimenting first with a small 18/14mm glass adapter, which basically added a 18mm male joint to the heater but would only fit with tons of Kapton tape, holding it in place, I decided on using a 15/12mm copper coupling, which would fit into the inside of the 24mm heater glass joint on one side an take a 12mm ss tube in the other side, which would now become the heater cover, to which you connect stems and WPAs. Created some bumps on the edge of the 15mm part, so that there is a slight friction fit with the glass now and it won't fall out when using inverted. Sits a bit loose, though, when the log is cold. Once it's heated up, the metal expands a bit and it sits snug.

The 12mm ss heater cover has a ~10mm inner diameter and after filing it down from the inside a little bit, now accommodates 10mm (outer diameter OD) tips within the tip of the cover itself. Stainless steel tips and titan tips like from a Vapcap, or glass or... you name it.
Bigger stems (from 12/13mm ID upwards) with movable screens go over the heating cover and simply seal with the high temp silicone o-ring, that's stuck onto it.

Once this make shift log was functional, I gave it a new coat of 3mm cork (held in place by four small clips shot from a stapler). Protects well against the heat and looks more classy than I ever thought, choosing this budget solution. Also did a small 'Cork Stand' to hold the stems, WPAs, Vapcaps and cleaning stuff. Really pricy. 0,99 €

Also light as a feather, for inverted use on glass. Just don't let it sit in this position for too long, as the budget solution materials put some restriction on use. I have it running for 8 to 12 hours every day, usually idling at 150-180° (around 6 o'clock on the dial) and only crank it up to 10-11 o'clock (200-210°C) when really in use. No problems so far

To make long things short... had the little bugger in use for weeks now and it works friggin' well . Can't see, how to get more efficiently medicated by an Underdog or Woodscent or Nano. But ok. The 'Da Cork Bomber' is foremost just a glorified stand for the Herborizer XL injector. But that's what logs are anyway. Stands for heating elements. It's the variety of different stems, WPAs and other adapter solutions that you apply, that makes the fat lady sing! Some logs are works of art. Mine's not. But I love it anyway. Whole device cost me about 130,- EUR, with the XL Injector being by far the most pricy part.

As I had so much fun creating this little bugger, I decided to do another version with a custom made heating element, utilizing the halogen heater concept of the MUSA Wooden Vape, which just might be the first really classy (walnut) log vape on this side of the pond. And... it's really also a work of art! My thanks to it's creator for making this possible.

 

[Copacetic]

Great stuff!

Great achievement!
Keep it up

 

[blokenoname]

Great stuff!

Great achievement!
Keep it up

Thanks Eager to start working on the next version

 

[Kozzmozz]

I am liking the current cork trend!

Looks great!

 

[GreenHopper]

Nice job man, love cork as a material.

What you need now is a nice Cork VapCap to go with it

*Pic and VapCap stem by @ander

 

[MUSA Vaporizer]

Thanks Eager to start working on the next version

nice improvisation
im looking forward for your next version!

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Nice ! I love cork, there is cork factory nearby ,they import raw material from Portugal. Currently trying to have them do bases for the halo log project. If you are going the halogen route, make sure your power supply is at least 20% more wattage than the bulb, and PWM is a good option as a dimmer,but also that led dimmer that you got might work too.
Did you managed to isolate somehow the cables of the Herborizer heating element from the airpath ?. A friend has one and i am always able to smell them when it is set above 6 for some period of time.
Is the heater a cartridge heater like the one on the GS/WS or is a ceramic one with SS sleeve ?

 

[blokenoname]

@GreenHopper

Very Nice indeed
This would be the perfect cork Vapcap-stem for the Da Cork Bomber
Next project up and coming

@MUSA Vaporizer
Thank you
Hope to find some time for it from next week onwards. Will keep you up to date

@Abysmal Vapor
Thanks
I’m planning to use a 30 or 35W bulb at first. We’ll have to see, if the existing 36W/12V adapter and the dimmer can handle that. That small LED dimmer from Amazon IS actually a PWM dimmer.
From what I could discern from FC’s Vaporpedia, the heater is actually a ss one. The designer tested an all ceramic version, but that failed.
I kept the cables. I was concerned at first, but the cable itself ( at least so far, as that green insulation sleeve goes) gets only handwarm when idling on 5 or 6 and only heats up, when I crank up the heat. Even then and though it's quite hot, you can still touch it. So far, I fail to register any odour or taste coming from it.
As the Herborizer is meant to be used inverted (with the cable on top and the joint reaching down in the bowl), maybe the cables get hotter when used in that position? Heat rises up.

 

[blokenoname]

So.. finally got the materials to put the Cork-Bomber into a new Maplewood body, which was necessary as the old body looked more and more like Swiss cheese right under it’s cork pullover from my frequent experimenting and disassembling.

Also took the opportunity to remedy some of my worst mistakes in body design and also changed the tip of the heater cover back to an 18.8mm male joint:
To accommodate the length of the Herbporizer XL Injector + 18.8mm male joint adapter I need 1 1/2 of my little Maplewood beakers, which are about 8.5 x 5.5cm in size. For the top section of the log I use a complete beaker now, with just a hole drilled through it’s 1 cm thick bottom part for the heater cover. For the base section I use 1/2 beaker with its bottom part intact, save for a small hole and a ss screen for airflow.

As I was sick and tired figuring out a reliable method to fasten the heater cover, I thought ‘what the heck…!’ and just took the plunge in testing out, how much heat ‘high temp silicone’ could really stand
So I took a piece of 18mm silicone tubing, cut it open and wound it around the Herborizer XL’s midsection, and sticking that into the hole in the bottom part of the logs top section until it sat tight (also finally getting rid of the annoying glass handle on the XL Injector, which was in the way). Lo and behold… apart from a very faint silicone smell when I crank up the heat nearly to the max and put my nose right over the logs chimney, it's barley noticeably. After running the unit for about 8h at ~200-210°C, I opened it up again to check on the silicone sleeve and it didn’t even show a hint of fatigue or melting. So this method works, but is surely not recommended for purists (though the faint silicone odour isn’t noticeable in the actual taste of the vapor, as the silicone is not in the direct air path, which runs through the glass heater cover and not outside.

So for the time being, this works very well and the heater cover sits snug, but also allows for some flexibility due to the silicone.
For the final version I’ll settle for a method Alan uses for fastening the glass heater cover in the HI Log, which uses a perforated aluminium plate, that is cut open in the middle and bent back to form a friction fit flange for the bottom of the glass cover. The plate is then simply screwed onto the wooden bottom of the top section, while the cabling and stuff will be housed in the base section.

(Alan’s HI glas cover)

Also changed the tip of the heater cover back to an 18.8mm male joint, which holds a small adapter made from a piece of thin walled stainless steel tubing with 11mm outer diameter and 10mm inner diameter, an Arizer EQ screen and two high temp o-rings. This allows for better connectivity for 10mm stainless tips (like Vapcap), which fit inside the cover and is also a perfect fit for Arizer Air/Solo stems, which have an inner diameter of about 11mm and can go over the cover now. In addition to this, you can also use the 18.8mm male joint directly with any fitting glass. Used the same kind of thin walled ss tubing in 10/9.5mm size to create some fitting DIY stainless tips, which work very well and cost only a fraction of an actual Vapcap tip, be it ss or titanium.
While disassembling my old EQ for another DIY project, I found that it’s ss heatsink/shield was nearly a perfect fit for my wooden beakers and so I gave it a try in the new body. As it’s actually a few mm thinner than the beaker’s inner diameter, I simply friction fitted the heatsink with 3 sturdy fine mesh screens, that I rolled up and stuck between the steel and the wood and which now function as a kind of steel springs, holding it in place.

Adding the heatsink actually boosted performance considerably! While I usually had to crank up the heater to about 10-11h on the dial for a good vaping experience, I can now run it on about 8h with the same results. The log gets actually a bit warmer now on the outside with the added heatsink, than without, but its still on the level.

For now, the base part of the log is simply taped to the top section with Kapton Tape, covered up with a piece of textile tape, as I have still work to do on the unit. As the walls of the wooden beakers are actually very thin, I probably won’t be able to drill and get a screw through it’s full length to connect to the top section without splintering the wood. Guess I will simply use two long ss screws running right through the base section left and right, that reach from the bases’s bottom to the top section’s bottom, to fasten the two parts together in the end.

As the Maple wood looks really good on it’s own (even for so cheap a beaker), I’ll also dispense with the cork mantle for now. I’m actually very pleased with the result… also adding a DIY wooden stem, which I created from the wooden handle of a pastry brush, a piece of cork and one of my ss DIY tips and a fitting WPA, made from two 18mm whiskey bottle corks with a wooden handle. Simply taped the cork and the wood together here as those parts don’t get really hot
and will replace that ugly insulating tape with a cork ribbon finally, which should really look good, once I’ve also sanded down the wood a bit.

As I’ve figured out now how to best construct the body and fasten the heating cover, the only thing that remains is fitting the MUSA’s custom made halogen heater design instead of the Herborizer XL Injector into the next unit. Hopefully, I’le be able to give an update on that by end of the week.

 

[blokenoname]

So… finally I got around to doing a version with the MUSA style Halogen Heater. What should I say!?
With all the experience I gathered beforehand while experimenting with the Herborizer Injector, it took me about an hour to build the heater and body and to put it all together. Worked more or less out of the box

Just had to add the stainless heatsink/reflector, as this seems a sine qua none for halogen powered vapes. Otherwise you’ll go friggin’ blind, I guess

Bulb is a 35W Osram Halostar Starlite. Power adapter is a 7,95 EUR 12V/3A/36W device from Amazon. Dimmer is that 08/15 LED PMW dimmer, you also can get on Amazon for the same price.
The glass heater cover is more or less already held in place, simply by the two stainless contacts (1,5mm) and is otherwise again fastened within the botton hole of the top section with a ring of high temp 18mm silicone tubing. As this silicone ring is situated only 2-3 cm from the bottom end of the glass cover while the bulb itself is at the top end, there is not the slightest silicone odour, as you can still touch the glass on the bottom part without burning yourself (with the Herborizer injector this wasn’t possible, as its ss heater cartridge runs more or less through the whole length of the glass cover, so that the silicone ring would get much hotter).

Well.. there you have it. Functional Budget Log Vape for under 50,- bucks, that is build (besides that one single silicone ring) out of wood, stainless steel and glass only

 

[MUSA Vaporizer]

good work!

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

So… finally I got around to doing a version with the MUSA style Halogen Heater. What should I say!?
With all the experience I gathered beforehand while experimenting with the Herborizer Injector, it took me about an hour to build the heater and body and to put it all together. Worked more or less out of the box

Just had to add the stainless heatsink/reflector, as this seems a sine qua none for halogen powered vapes. Otherwise you’ll go friggin’ blind, I guess

Bulb is a 35W Osram Halostar Starlite. Power adapter is a 7,95 EUR 12V/3A/36W device from Amazon. Dimmer is that 08/15 LED PMW dimmer, you also can get on Amazon for the same price.
The glass heater cover is more or less already held in place, simply by the two stainless contacts (1,5mm) and is otherwise again fastened within the botton hole of the top section with a ring of high temp 18mm silicone tubing. As this silicone ring is situated only 2-3 cm from the bottom end of the glass cover while the bulb itself is at the top end, there is not the slightest silicone odour, as you can still touch the glass on the bottom part without burning yourself (with the Herborizer injector this wasn’t possible, as its ss heater cartridge runs more or less through the whole length of the glass cover, so that the silicone ring would get much hotter).

Well.. there you have it. Functional Budget Log Vape for under 50,- bucks, that is build (besides that one single silicone ring) out of wood, stainless steel and glass only

Tried pretty much the same thing yesterday,why dont get rid of those connection in the airpath ? They are brass or copper. I coiled the both ends of the wires to make slots for the pins of the halobulb. Still waiting on my mesh though,without it even at max power ,function is unsatisfactory.
Can you please share what is OD of the wires or gauge size.. I tried 1.2mm but they are getting a bit hot,i suspect it is because there are too many amps flowing trough it.

 

[blokenoname]

@Abysmal Vapor

I'll form sockets for the bulb directly from the ss wires eventually. For now, this one works. Nicest thing about building your own vapes is, that once you've all needed materials ready, you can build as many devices and variations as you like, without constantly having to tear down an already functioning unit for minor improvements.

I'm not sure, how essential the fine mesh actually is. There isn't much of that in this log, as I had only the debris screen of my old EQ heater cover lying around. That isn't much more mesh, than a slightly bigger formed screen. More or less nothing, in terms if mass.

I did however add my little adapter to the 14.4 female, so that there's now about 3 cm 11mm ss tubing extending from the bottom of the female joint (touching the fine mesh of the bulb sitting directly below. And there is another, smaller actual debris screen in the 11mm ss tube itself.

What I found essential, is a ss heatsink/reflector. This improves temps and heat retention significantly. While I had to crank up the dial to nearly 10-11h to get some vape (and nearly going blind in the process )... I now get very satusfying results at 8h. Dark, evenly browned AVB. A bit more, and I'm combusting.

The ss wire I use has a diameter of 1.5mm. it does get hot in the direct vicinity of the bulb and somewhat below, but you can actually still touch it, where it leaves the glass cover at the bottom of the unit.

ETA: Though after reading your last post in the Halo-Log thread and seeing that the adapters you use as heater covers are much shorter, than the 14.4mm female glass stem I used here, it seems that some heating of the wire might actually unavoidable because they're simply not long enough. But I'm guessing here, as I can't actually see from the pics, how it's wired further below.

 

[blokenoname]

Ah! I knew, I almost forgot something! It's supposed to be Da CORK Bomber, wasn't it!?

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

I am pretty sure the heating on the cables is not related to conduction from the bulb.From what i read it is cause either by weak connection or wires are not thick enough. 1.5 mm would be ok if it was copper but since it is SS i imagine it has higher resistance than copper therefore you need larger gauge cable. I measured 60 C at the point where it meets the wood,i think it can be brought futher down with thicker wire.
@MUSA Vaporizer Would care to share what gauge/id SS wires do you use in the MUSA,and do you get any heat from the wires ?

 

[blokenoname]

Ok. Remedied the Herborizer Log by exchanging the silicone sleeve for three star washers, which are fastening the heater cover now.
Dynamic Duo in action

@Abysmal Vapor

I'm pretty much sure, this is mainly conduction. The MUSA's wires aren't much thicker , if at all. From what I notice with the Herborizer, it's wires get pretty hot for about 5-7 cm from where they leave the ss heater cartridge. And that's exactly the part of the cable, that has that additional green high temp silicone sleeve.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Ok. Remedied the Herborizer Log by exchanging the silicone sleeve for three star washers, which are fastening the heater cover now.
Dynamic Duo in action

@Abysmal Vapor

I'm pretty much sure, this is mainly conduction. The MUSA's wires aren't much thicker , if at all. From what I notice with the Herborizer, it's wires get pretty hot for about 5-7 cm from where they leave the ss heater cartridge. And that's exactly the part of the cable, that has that additional green high temp silicone sleeve.

Well ,idk about that ,but my wires are getting hot first at the plugs end where the connection with the bolts is. If it was conduction from the bulb it would be otherwise, i even measured to get sure, i google and it is a common issue with halogen light. Why dont try twisting two or 3 wires together to form thicker wire. I am sure 3mm would get less hot . I tried 4 x 0.5 mm wires and it is still hot,managed to bring it to 50 C . Twisted wires will get hotter versus solid ones but still doubling the od would make it cooler in the end.

 

[blokenoname]

Ok... did some fine tuning and some more units since the weekend... and if I were a manufacturer, I'd say, this baby is pretty much ready to rock(zap) & roll

Sadly not my Rockzap, but great video anyway

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Ok... did some fine tuning and some more units since the weekend... and if I were a manufacturer, I'd say, this baby is pretty much ready to rock(zap) & roll

Sadly not my Rockzap, but great video anyway

Nice ! I actually own a Aromazap the old square design .Funny things is that it is still functional ).
Great video from Vitolo, you should also make one .

 

[blokenoname]

Nice ! I actually own a Aromazap the old square design .Funny things is that it is still functional ).
Great video from Vitolo, you should also make one .

Nah. Haven’t got some shades that’r big enough, to hide me ugly mug while doing a vid
You just have to take my word for it. This friggin’ little monster rocks!

So how is the Halo-Log going? Did you solve the problems with the missing fine mesh and the cable diameter?

I guess, I’ve streamlined my design down to a set of standard components and a workflow now, that allows me to assemble a functional unit within half an hour or less.

Using glass adapters instead of a long glass stem as a heater cover was an excellent idea, indeed
Thank you for that
I use a very short 18.8 mm female to 14 mm male adapter now, the female 18.8 joint of which gets clamped down by a 4 cm star-washer onto the bottom of the top-section, which in turn gets clamped down by the stainless heatsink (a piece of 40 mm, thin walled 0,3 mm ss tubing). The top unit forms a compact part now, which can be completely removed in one single piece (glass heater cover, heatsink and all), in case the bulb needs replacement or repairs need to be done on the 12V jack or the contacts… all of which are housed in the base section now, which is basically reduced ring of wood of 3 cm height, with a hole for the 12V jack. The actual bottom of the unit is build from a piece of leather now which is glued to the wood and which also holds a ss screen for the air path in its center.
The heater port is constructed from a 1 cm ring of 11/10 mm ss tubing and an ss debris screen, that is fastened to the 14.4 male joint by a narrow sleeve of 12/9 mm high temp silicone tubing (which is far enough removed from the bulb inside the heater cover, to not cause any problems or outgassing).

Though the Maple wood looks slick in and of itself, the beakers I use for bodies are a tad thin walled and heat up rapidly during longer vaping sessions, so that the cork covering remains essential for insulating purposes. The cork tape I used this time (Duck Real Cork), is very flexible and has an interesting adhesive backing, that seems so far completely unimpressed by the wooden bodie's temperature and even better, the strips of which can be removed (without residue) and reused multiple times, while keeping their adhesive properties. This works so good, that I actually stick to taping top- and bottom-section together with a single strip of Kapton tape and the cork tape itself, instead of bothering with screws.

I also created some Nylon stems and WPAs with ss 10 mm tips, from a piece of PA piping, that fit the heater port and also did a stainless stem (have to get thinner PA piping, though).

As for performance… this little monster rips! 35W is more than enough heating power for every friggin’ need! 50W is overkill, actually. Even for the MUSA, which I never use above 5:30 on the dial, for fear of burning down the house
This one produces very good results (direct draw and through water) at a setting of 8-9h on that dial of the little PWM LED dimmer.
As for the fine mesh… there still isn’t much! I used a single 20 mm ss fine mesh screen, that is wound around the bulb itself. I will probably add one or two more (if that fits, that is), but not so much for raising conduction and adding mass, but foremost for dimming down the glare
As I stated before, I found again, that adding the ss heatsink and even a couple of star-washers do more for raising mass and retaining temps, than the fine mesh alone.
As for the heating up of the contacts... I checked this multiple times on different models. The 1.5 mm ss wire I use will only get hot till about 2 cm away from the bulb. Beyond that, it is merely lukewarm.

So.. next thing I really would like to do, is setting this design into a proper, wooden log body.. though in want of a lathe, I've to keep hunting for some fitting, ready made parts, that I can rework with a saw and a power drill I’ll also give Bamboo a try.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Things are going fine but mesh is not arriving .. As far heating cables maybe try 50w bulb and see if they wont get hotter 35w is less amps so 1.5mm wire might be ok even at full blast . Anyway get them around 40 C now,not a concern. I also started getting clouds ,it seems that due to untightened connection caused less wattage flow. I actually combusted ... good thing it was on a gravity bong setup so i didnt inhaled the shit. I was suprised really .. didnt expected that. You might be on the right path with that 35w ,50w is an overkill,although will keep around till i try with concentrates . I will post an update my thread,i made a hilarous body out of wooden pegs.

 

[blokenoname]

Miniaturization complete

It's now only 5,8 cm x 11 cm. Really handy format

 

[lazylathe]

@blokenoname

Awesome work!!
How about a video? You do not need to be in the video, just show the unit being used and the exhale!
ABV pic of course at the end.
Love the small form factor!

 

[Megaton]

@blokenoname damn that looks cool!

I'v also got the beginnings of log vape VAS, not being able to get one in the UK / a UK made one is a bummer!

 

[blokenoname]

Experimenting with different heaters besides the halogen option. Heater cartridges for 3D printers look like a nice option. 12V/40W ceramic core within ss mantle . Looks pretty much like the Herborizer's heater cartridge, just about three times smaller. Cost about 3-4,- €/piece. Test run on full blast...
Body is made from left over & broken pieces from other logs, hidden under the cork. Good enough for testing purposes

Needs a 5A PS, though and as the LED dimmer is only up to 3A, I utilized this little DC motor controller here as a dimmer:


https://www.amazon.com/SODIAL-Contr...6838716&sr=8-18&keywords=motor+controller+12v

Works fine. Vaping point is around 4h on the new dimmer. Pretty much the same, as for the 36W halogen bulb. Also glows a bit in the dark, though