The Nomad From Morwood

[vapen00b]

This applies to this specific one. Dan's special design to me is #1

Aesthetics
Performance
Durability
Usability
Price
Portability

 

[nosmoking]

Aesthetics
Performance
Flavor
Usability
Durability
Portability
Price

Price is just a number to me. If you can make something worthy of its sale value then I will surely pay for it.

Portability is not very important to me if the vape is not going to tie me down for a long time. I don't like to be required to have a 30 minute vape session just to get effect and enjoy the vape.

Durability is important however I am careful so I only need something to be as durable as it needs to be for safe handling. I don't need a tank that can be blown up and still drive on.

Usability goes back to portability and to performance for me. I need good performance and in a manner that is user-friendly.

Performance directly relates to effect for me. I will not use a vape if it does not have effect. If it was any other vape manufacturer I would put this as the highest priority.

Flavor has not been mentioned but this is pretty damn important to me. While I won't use a vaporizer that tastes great but has no effect, I would certainly use a vaporizer the has effect and taste is less than great, hence the FW3 that I have been using lately. I am a flavor chaser now apparently and I would love a vape that looks awesome but also provides that perfect scenario for flavor chasing of your favorite strains.

Aesthetics matter only because its you Dan. You kinda took that one in on your own!

 

[Dan Morrison]

Well it certainly seems like portability is the least weighted category so far! And Aesthetics, performance out front.. followed closely by usability.

This makes dual battery much more appealing.

I have been following the Apollo thread, and loving the comments over there.

It's really got me considering a halogen heat source.

The quartz glass heater..the fact that every bulb is exactly the same from the factory...and the ease of replacement or upgradeability is very appealing!

I fear that resistive wire, while giving better heat up times, will be difficult to manufacture consistently for a small scale product.

I am thinking that a more on-demand style vape could be made with a 30-50w bulb, with a bulb housing made from thinner more thermally conductive material, perhaps gold plated copper. The copper heater housing could be cast or 3D printed into complex geometries and plated or sandblasted in a way to give maximum surface area to the materials surface. Around the copper tube could be a thin sleeve of 5mm thick aerogel blanket .

The idea would be to maximize heat up time and thermal transfer to and from the copper/gold heatsink, while containing that heat inside of the chamber via the insulation material.

I was thinking about a fully adjustable air inlet, from no draw resistance to high resistance.

And the entire heater to chamber to mouthpiece airway would be sealed from the outside, zero air leaks anywhere in the system.

Also thinking the same adjustable glass mouthpiece, where the chamber and glass stem/mouthpiece is all one piece. So it can be inserted down into the device with the ability to adjust the distance from chamber to heater on the fly.

It would be simple to incorporate an analog dial or slider to adjust voltage, placed somewhere easy to reach and adjust with a thumb or finger... so you can ramp up or down temp while inhaling.

Hhhhhmmm.

@nosmoking ,

Thanks! I lump flavor in with performance, but I can see how it should be it's own thing as well. From the Supreme V3 thread, it seems to be a flavor beast... I get the sense that heater size, thermal mass, etc.. have a big part to play in flavor. You want 100% of your air being soaked to a very even temp... and with that gigantic heat sink of the supreme it's easy to see why it produces great flavor.

The Apollo also seems to have a large heat sink-like bulb housing. I suspect this is why it, too, is producing great flavor.

And of course the thick gauge wire used for "the project" .

Conversely... you take something with a teeny tiny coil that gets very hot, and you're going to very unevenly heat that incoming air... bad taste..

So I guess the perfect scenario is a bulb housing that holds just enough heat to evenly soak 100% of the airstream to a consistent temp throughout the duration of an average inhalation time. And then be able to come back up to temp for the next draw. And ideally the least amount of heat lost to the environment.

The design challenges of vaporizers are just SO interesting!

It seems to me that a short heatup time wouldn't be such a bad trade-off, so long as it was under 1 minute. And especially if you spent that 1 minute loading up your chamber!

 

[nosmoking]

Thanks! I lump flavor in with performance, but I can see how it should be it's own thing as well. From the Supreme V3 thread, it seems to be a flavor beast... I get the sense that heater size, thermal mass, etc.. have a big part to play in flavor. You want 100% of your air being soaked to a very even temp... and with that gigantic heat sink of the supreme it's easy to see why it produces great flavor.

The Apollo also seems to have a large heat sink-like bulb housing. I suspect this is why it, too, is producing great flavor.

And of course the thick gauge wire used for "the project" .

Conversely... you take something with a teeny tiny coil that gets very hot, and you're going to very unevenly heat that incoming air... bad taste..

So I guess the perfect scenario is a bulb housing that holds just enough heat to evenly soak 100% of the airstream to a consistent temp throughout the duration of an average inhalation time. And then be able to come back up to temp for the next draw. And ideally the least amount of heat lost to the environment.

The design challenges of vaporizers are just SO interesting!

It seems to me that a short heatup time wouldn't be such a bad trade-off, so long as it was under 1 minute. And especially if you spent that 1 minute loading up your chamber!

Heat-up time becomes insignificant I think if it is less than 120 seconds and does not have to be reconsidered between loads. Anyone can have a little patience up front, but being asked to have it between loads is just harsh on the flavor train action. What a good way to kill my buzz.

It seems you understand exactly where I am coming from and going. I think having contained heat is the most effective way to preserve flavor and you addressed that in the comment below. Finding a way to store heat and maximize that transfer should be one of your bigger challenges but with the materials and design you speak of I can see it working quite nicely.

The idea would be to maximize heat up time and thermal transfer to and from the copper/gold heatsink, while containing that heat inside of the chamber via the insulation material.

I am loving where this is going and I already started a savings just for this project! I hope to be one of the first to send you money so I can start demanding my product. Just kidding but I can't wait to be able to send you financial support for the fruit that all these ideas doth bare.

 

[delloy]

In my weighting process (posted on the last page) I sacrificed aesthetics which is EXTREMELY important to me for performance. I feel first and foremost that performance is key because after all this is a functional object designed for a specific duty and that outweighs the aesthetic. It can look beautiful but that is not its primary function and if it doesn't produce good vapour and do it well then regardless of it looking beautiful it would just sit in a drawer unused and unloved.
Although I have had second thoughts on my original weighting and thinking on it would probably swap my 2nd choice and replace it for aesthetics with usability in 3rd.

 

[Dan Morrison]

I think having contained heat is the most effective way to preserve flavor and you addressed that in the comment below. Finding a way to store heat and maximize that transfer should be one of your bigger challenges but with the materials and design you speak of I can see it working quite nicely..

First off, thank you for your kind words of support!

And yes you're totally right in that it will be the biggest design challenge. I can't wait to start posting prototypes!

@delloy , the weighting is so hard to nail down...because each category bleeds into eachother..

 

[VapourHaze]

I would have thought the aesthetic design would come after designing the heating element. Surely this is the most important part of the vape and dictates all the other design decisions. For what its worth im in the butane camp for sure.

 

[Farid]

He'res another idea for a vaporizer that I came up with at some point. It would use a liquid fuel or a candle, and it is designed to look like a hookah, although the base would not have water in it, and would really just be cosmetic. The top would actually be open, and would act as a chimney for the burning fuel source. The hose would attach to an underdog style stem. Where the purge valve is on a real hookah would be the adjustable air intake. The heat exchanger would just be two metal cones inside each other. Again, the picture was made on MS paint.
https://i.imgur.com/WmqSqYH.jpg

 

[stickstones]

Let's put a small speaker on board that 10% of the time will play that whirring, broken lightspeed sound from the millennium falcon when it fails.

 

[Dan Morrison]

I would have thought the aesthetic design would come after designing the heating element. Surely this is the most important part of the vape and dictates all the other design decisions. For what its worth im in the butane camp for sure.

I sort of work backwards then forwards. Feel out the over-all vibe of the piece, the user experience..keeping the heater in mind of course...but not at the forefront... then I get into the realities of making the da,n thing functional...and make the tweaks needed to get there..while trying to maintain the original feel of the concept. Yes it's odd, but thats how my brain works through it.

@Farid , A neat idea for a desktop, make it!

@stickstones , Hahaha! That'd be great. Thats the low batt. warning sound! We could also work in lightsaber sound effects as well! And that R2D2 scream... can't forget that...

 

[phattpiggie]

Performance
Usability
Durability
Price
Portability

Aesthetics don't even come in to it. It's another Dan Morrison design. It's going to be unique no matter where it goes.

 

[Dan Morrison]

Been doing some heavy research on halogen. The flashlight modding community has been an excellent resource.

I came across this sweet video. This is a 12v 100w bulb. But fed with around 14v to over-drive it and give more wattage. Check out how fast this thing incinerates that paper!

Of course this is way over-kill.

I'm looking at over-driving a 6v 20w bulb to give almost 40w (at full 8.4v) with a dual Li-ion unregulated setup.

The bulb life will be low, but they are $2, so replacement shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Two 18650's should give a solid ON runtime over an hour. Though you would definitely not want to leave this on...

My thinking is to surround the bulb with a heat sink with a geometry that forces the air through the material so that as much as the air is evenly heated as possible, dump the heat from the bulb into the heat sink, then transfer it to the incoming air.

 

[Stevenski]

A vape is no good unless it performs suitably but in this case it must also be pleasing to hold & feel natural in the hand. Ergonomic & tactile with killer performance please

Performance
Aesthetics
Durability
Usability
Price
Portability

It's really got me considering a halogen heat source.

The quartz glass heater..the fact that every bulb is exactly the same from the factory...and the ease of replacement or upgradeability is very appealing!

Besides being consistent with manufacturing tolerances halogen will add to the Blade Runner allure of a futuristic vaporizer & be a point of difference.

Let's put a small speaker on board that 10% of the time will play that whirring, broken lightspeed sound from the millennium falcon when it fails.

There needs to be the standard lightspeed sound when firing up the vape but once you hit 3.2v or whatever that is when the lightspeed fail comes into play letting you know you need to insert a new hyperdrive core if you want to get to Cloud City . Imagine hitting that button for a fat rip & getting the failed hyperdrive sound .

Edit: as soon as I hit post I see DM has already thought of thatbattery indicator.

 

[StormyPinkness]

Totally unrelated so sorry if it bugs anyone but that video reminded me of this 1000W LED Flashlight where a guy lights up hill at night like it's daytime 3:40 in.

 

[°k]

Totally unrelated so sorry if it bugs anyone but that video reminded me of this 1000W LED Flashlight where a guy lights up hill at night like it's daytime 3:40 in.

1000W LED! That's for mass vaping in a cannabis field!

 

[Dan Morrison]

@StormyPinkness

I've seen that before! It's just insane! Can't believe how bright that thing is. It'd be so neat for cave photography...

I've got some more design mock-ups in the works, will post later.

Also, possible issue with halogen that I've run into is bulb availability. Seems like the flashlight community runs into this problem as well... with the rise of LED, manufacturers are moving away from halogen bulbs. In the 6v range, there are only a few options available that can be overdriven with an unregulated 2x18650 setup.

When a bulb becomes discontinued, the price goes way up. What was once a 2$ bulb may be $20-$40!

To produce the amount of heat I want for near on-demand vaping, I want to be in the 40-50w range. With that kind of wattage, these 6v bulbs will have very short life spans.

I can't help but feel like designing an entire vaporizer around a disposable part that may or may not become discontinued seems risky.

Also, on the topic of consistency. Through my research I've discovered that bulbs from major manufacturers can and do have inconsistencies between batches, both in performance, life span, and physical size. I see a lot of references to this in the flashlight community.

So... perhaps halogen doesn't hold all the advantages that I originally thought. Still going to investigate further however.

 

[phattpiggie]

It wouldn't be impossible to do something like this

Needs a lot of calculations doing to work out the length and gauge of wire to use to end with a reasonable final resistance, or how about the coil going into a slot as in this picture, with a flat lid the air would have to follow the lines of the 'maze', again resistance needs to be figured out, perhaps having a couple of them stacked and wired to give a lower resistance.

 

[Copacetic]

@StormyPinkness

I've seen that before! It's just insane! Can't believe how bright that thing is. It'd be so neat for cave photography...

I've got some more design mock-ups in the works, will post later.

Also, possible issue with halogen that I've run into is bulb availability. Seems like the flashlight community runs into this problem as well... with the rise of LED, manufacturers are moving away from halogen bulbs. In the 6v range, there are only a few options available that can be overdriven with an unregulated 2x18650 setup.

When a bulb becomes discontinued, the price goes way up. What was once a 2$ bulb may be $20-$40!

To produce the amount of heat I want for near on-demand vaping, I want to be in the 40-50w range. With that kind of wattage, these 6v bulbs will have very short life spans.

I can't help but feel like designing an entire vaporizer around a disposable part that may or may not become discontinued seems risky.

Also, on the topic of consistency. Through my research I've discovered that bulbs from major manufacturers can and do have inconsistencies between batches, both in performance, life span, and physical size. I see a lot of references to this in the flashlight community.

So... perhaps halogen doesn't hold all the advantages that I originally thought. Still going to investigate further however.

Does the bulb have to be overdriven to produce enough heat?
I'm just thinking that if the heat exchanger that turns light into heat is efficient enough then the bulb doesn't have to get excessively hot.

Ville's Apollo seems to function reasonably well without much of an exchanger beyond the bulb simply heating up a chamber which air is drawn through (and air is drawn over the bulb itself which I assume contributes directly too).
That seems like a fairly crude heat exchange mechanism to me.
One which could be improved upon quite easily (sorry, no offence Ville!), yet the Apollo is getting fairly rave reviews (aside from a long-ish heat-up time).

Perhaps you'd have more bulbs available to choose from if overdriving wasn't a requirement?

 

[YungLeaner]

Does the bulb have to be overdriven to produce enough heat?
I'm just thinking that if the heat exchanger that turns light into heat is efficient enough then the bulb doesn't have to get excessively hot.

Ville's Apollo seems to function reasonably well without much of an exchanger beyond the bulb simply heating up a chamber which air is drawn through (and air is drawn over the bulb itself which I assume contributes directly too).
That seems like a fairly crude heat exchange mechanism to me.
One which could be improved upon quite easily (sorry, no offence Ville!), yet the Apollo is getting fairly rave reviews (aside from a long-ish heat-up time).

Perhaps you'd have more bulbs available to choose from if overdriving wasn't a requirement?

To piggyback off of this slightly, the Herbalizer Halogen bulb is very powerful, probably unnecessary for this application. But the Herbalizer as well doesn't have much of an exchanger. There is a metal grate, about half an inch under the bowl system, that acts a minor heat sink after a bowl or two in a row, but halogen bulbs are doing something right when it comes to vaporizing, as happily acknowledged by people who own the Apollo. @Dan Morrison would it be possible to utilize a couple of smaller halogen bulbs lined up next to each other? If there are widely available low-powered bulbs. I'm imagining three in a row in direct proximity to a small metallic heat exchanger, with some clever air channel design to make inhales warm the heat exchanger itself, and a bowl with mesh screen for the bottom a little above the heat exchanger. If configured properly, it could still function closer to a butane vaporizer in terms of the feel and operation--hold down a button, light the bulbs/heat the exchanger. and inhale until you start feeling vapor--take your finger off, and allow the bulbs to cool, as you ride the vapor wave. Not sure if that would work at all, but the manual style of operation might appeal to a lot of people who are already on FC discussing a connoisseur vape lol. The thing is I don't really give a shit what temp I'm extracting at as long as I can consistently hit low, medium and high temps for every type of weed. I definitely agree that the huge blast of heated air is what you need for high-level convection in a vaporizer. I'm not much of a scientist, so please excuse the naivete of my ideas. It just seems like the somewhat niche vapes that people LOVE here (Milaana, Zion, Daisy, Supreme) all have shockingly simple designs. Heat air to a very high level, and then rip it right across the weed. Having fun reading this thread every day! It keeps the wheels spinning.

 

[Dan Morrison]

@phattpiggie , The calculations are pretty simple because the e-cig community has done all the leg work. I do like the mica supported coil, as used in hairdryers and the like, but with only 3.7v, that doesn't really leave you much coil length to play with, so that older design may not work so well.

The flat disc snake is a better approach, but IMO it would be better to set the coil up on a spiral tube. With a tube design you can use double wall tube to pass the airflow over the heater on the way down, and then over the heater again on it's way back up. With a compact setup like this it's crucial to pass the incoming air over the heater at least twice. I also believe that the spiral airway should exit the heater in a circular motion along the outside walls of the inner chamber area. There should be no mesh or screen between the heater and herb load. The idea is to keep the hot air circling around the outside walls to avoid the typical central hot spot created by convection heaters.

@Copacetic , I'm really not sure, that would need to be experimented with in the shop. Another point against halogen is the fact that I would have to use a dual 18650 setup. This adds slightly more complexity.

@YungLeaner , The Herbalizer bulb is 300w. Out of reach for a portable. But I do think that you're right, there does seem to be something about halogen. What I think it is..though.. is even heating. It throws heat all over the heating chamber.. heating up a fairly large surface area, as well as the bulbs surface. I think that this all helps to more evenly heat the airflow. With a bit of design, I think it's possible to do the exact same thing with a resistive element... perhaps even with greater speed and efficiency.

The manual style you're referencing is what I'm after, that's for sure! I like that style vs. electrical regulation. hahah, and yep, that's what we all like.. big heat, huge rips, intuitive control!

And multiple bulbs just won't do for what I have in mind, too much juice to power, not enough room for two bulbs/sockets.

Okay, so onto my latest! Been trying to narrow down that retro-future vibe, while moving closer to something easier to manufacture and modify. Here's what I've come up with. For any photography geeks in here, you might notice the infuence of a certain oldschool Russian camera..

The body would be stamped steel/aluminum and either oxidized or anodized. The wood veneer material could be changed to fabric, paint, leather, whatever. And there are plenty of amazing burl veneers that could be used. The LED lights are purely aesthetic, don't think i'd have room for much else on the inside.

Top right dial is the battery compartment lid and fire button. Another possible design would be to use the green/blue abalone inlay as the fire button. Also, if there was room, it'd be really neat to put a toggle switch somewhere so that the battery compartment lid could be swapped out for a 510 thread adapter plate. You could then toggle the main dry herb heater off, and engage the circuit flowing through the 510 adapter instead. You could pop on any 510 atomizer and away you go. Two in one!

I would also like to make a matching leather sleeve that slips on over the top of the unit, like a backgammon dice cup. This would cover the entire top half of the vape, protecting the glass stem and fire button while the vape is in transport.

Anyhow, been putting a ton of thought into this lately.. feeling so good about it!

 

[radiant34]

@phattpiggie , The calculations are pretty simple because the e-cig community has done all the leg work. I do like the mica supported coil, as used in hairdryers and the like, but with only 3.7v, that doesn't really leave you much coil length to play with, so that older design may not work so well.

The flat disc snake is a better approach, but IMO it would be better to set the coil up on a spiral tube. With a tube design you can use double wall tube to pass the airflow over the heater on the way down, and then over the heater again on it's way back up. With a compact setup like this it's crucial to pass the incoming air over the heater at least twice. I also believe that the spiral airway should exit the heater in a circular motion along the outside walls of the inner chamber area. There should be no mesh or screen between the heater and herb load. The idea is to keep the hot air circling around the outside walls to avoid the typical central hot spot created by convection heaters.

@Copacetic , I'm really not sure, that would need to be experimented with in the shop. Another point against halogen is the fact that I would have to use a dual 18650 setup. This adds slightly more complexity.

@YungLeaner , The Herbalizer bulb is 300w. Out of reach for a portable. But I do think that you're right, there does seem to be something about halogen. What I think it is..though.. is even heating. It throws heat all over the heating chamber.. heating up a fairly large surface area, as well as the bulbs surface. I think that this all helps to more evenly heat the airflow. With a bit of design, I think it's possible to do the exact same thing with a resistive element... perhaps even with greater speed and efficiency.

The manual style you're referencing is what I'm after, that's for sure! I like that style vs. electrical regulation. hahah, and yep, that's what we all like.. big heat, huge rips, intuitive control!

And multiple bulbs just won't do for what I have in mind, too much juice to power, not enough room for two bulbs/sockets.

Okay, so onto my latest! Been trying to narrow down that retro-future vibe, while moving closer to something easier to manufacture and modify. Here's what I've come up with. For any photography geeks in here, you might notice the infuence of a certain oldschool Russian camera..

The body would be stamped steel/aluminum and either oxidized or anodized. The wood veneer material could be changed to fabric, paint, leather, whatever. And there are plenty of amazing burl veneers that could be used. The LED lights are purely aesthetic, don't think i'd have room for much else on the inside.

Top right dial is the battery compartment lid and fire button. Another possible design would be to use the green/blue abalone inlay as the fire button. Also, if there was room, it'd be really neat to put a toggle switch somewhere so that the battery compartment lid could be swapped out for a 510 thread adapter plate. You could then toggle the main dry herb heater off, and engage the circuit flowing through the 510 adapter instead. You could pop on any 510 atomizer and away you go. Two in one!

I would also like to make a matching leather sleeve that slips on over the top of the unit, like a backgammon dice cup. This would cover the entire top half of the vape, protecting the glass stem and fire button while the vape is in transport.

Anyhow, been putting a ton of thought into this lately.. feeling so good about it!

do you think incorporating a reflective surface will amplify light energy within the heater? maybe a magnification lense?

 

[GTAVaper]

To produce the amount of heat I want for near on-demand vaping, I want to be in the 40-50w range. With that kind of wattage, these 6v bulbs will have very short life spans.

Just stumbled across this thread and was reading about the potential for another halogen vape.

As an owner of the Apollo I am very impressed with it ......but it does have a warmup - heat soak time period that does take some time .....and it does get very hot as well.

Suitable more for at home portable use through water. But if you don't mind going with more batteries (perhaps 18500's - if size is a big issue) then you could power a 12v halogen bulb that would also last longer and achieve 50w with a lower current drain (over a greater amount of batteries - say 4 batteries regulated to 12v and 4-5A current draw? A 50W bulb would in the right configuration and shielding allow for a very quick heat-up time.

Not quite instant-on convection vaping..... but perhaps 30 second warmup followed by a lower powered standby heat-soak with instant boost heat to vape on demand for the duration of the session?

 

[YungLeaner]

@phattpiggie , The calculations are pretty simple because the e-cig community has done all the leg work. I do like the mica supported coil, as used in hairdryers and the like, but with only 3.7v, that doesn't really leave you much coil length to play with, so that older design may not work so well.

The flat disc snake is a better approach, but IMO it would be better to set the coil up on a spiral tube. With a tube design you can use double wall tube to pass the airflow over the heater on the way down, and then over the heater again on it's way back up. With a compact setup like this it's crucial to pass the incoming air over the heater at least twice. I also believe that the spiral airway should exit the heater in a circular motion along the outside walls of the inner chamber area. There should be no mesh or screen between the heater and herb load. The idea is to keep the hot air circling around the outside walls to avoid the typical central hot spot created by convection heaters.

@Copacetic , I'm really not sure, that would need to be experimented with in the shop. Another point against halogen is the fact that I would have to use a dual 18650 setup. This adds slightly more complexity.

@YungLeaner , The Herbalizer bulb is 300w. Out of reach for a portable. But I do think that you're right, there does seem to be something about halogen. What I think it is..though.. is even heating. It throws heat all over the heating chamber.. heating up a fairly large surface area, as well as the bulbs surface. I think that this all helps to more evenly heat the airflow. With a bit of design, I think it's possible to do the exact same thing with a resistive element... perhaps even with greater speed and efficiency.

The manual style you're referencing is what I'm after, that's for sure! I like that style vs. electrical regulation. hahah, and yep, that's what we all like.. big heat, huge rips, intuitive control!

And multiple bulbs just won't do for what I have in mind, too much juice to power, not enough room for two bulbs/sockets.

Okay, so onto my latest! Been trying to narrow down that retro-future vibe, while moving closer to something easier to manufacture and modify. Here's what I've come up with. For any photography geeks in here, you might notice the infuence of a certain oldschool Russian camera..

The body would be stamped steel/aluminum and either oxidized or anodized. The wood veneer material could be changed to fabric, paint, leather, whatever. And there are plenty of amazing burl veneers that could be used. The LED lights are purely aesthetic, don't think i'd have room for much else on the inside.

Top right dial is the battery compartment lid and fire button. Another possible design would be to use the green/blue abalone inlay as the fire button. Also, if there was room, it'd be really neat to put a toggle switch somewhere so that the battery compartment lid could be swapped out for a 510 thread adapter plate. You could then toggle the main dry herb heater off, and engage the circuit flowing through the 510 adapter instead. You could pop on any 510 atomizer and away you go. Two in one!

I would also like to make a matching leather sleeve that slips on over the top of the unit, like a backgammon dice cup. This would cover the entire top half of the vape, protecting the glass stem and fire button while the vape is in transport.

Anyhow, been putting a ton of thought into this lately.. feeling so good about it!

Fuuuuuck yeah! That's awesome. So are you thinking halogen heat source, and then a design similar in concept if not build to the DIY herb coils people have been doing on FC? Their projects all seem to require a few hours at least of hand-building complicated coil designs, but I'm sure there's at least some way to make it more of a quick repetitive exchanger build. Or are you looking at other options entirely for the heat source? I totally see the desire to go with Halogen, but I also think you should look into the heating elements used in some recent, 18650 powered mass market vapes. Boundless CFX is one that has a massively powerful heating element with solid battery life, and there's a Chinese rebrand called the Puri5 that supposedly works through convection for the most part. Obviously not suggesting to copy the designs, exactly, but grasping what they get right (quick heat up, convective properties) vs what they get wrong (ceramic & conductive bowl for CFX, etx.) could be a great help to designing yours. Ceramic rods are the choice for a lot of DIY builds, and they're in the 7th floor lineup of course. Could a short, portable size ceramic rod be easily sourced? They heat up very fast, very hot, and if the airflow could be lessened at the tip of the rod or at air intake maybe it could work? From my experience with 7th floor they are brutal but effective solutions for heating air over bud. People have been asking for a portable LSV for years now...

 

[Dan Morrison]

do you think incorporating a reflective surface will amplify light energy within the heater? maybe a magnification lense?

It wouldn't serve to amplify, only reflect light energy. The heat exchanger would probably perform best if it was black, so as to increase radiant energy absorption. A reflective surface could be incorporated into the outer most layer as part of the insulation barrier.

As an owner of the Apollo I am very impressed with it ......but it does have a warmup - heat soak time period that does take some time .....and it does get very hot as well.

Suitable more for at home portable use through water. But if you don't mind going with more batteries (perhaps 18500's - if size is a big issue) then you could power a 12v halogen bulb that would also last longer and achieve 50w with a lower current drain (over a greater amount of batteries - say 4 batteries regulated to 12v and 4-5A current draw? A 50W bulb would in the right configuration and shielding allow for a very quick heat-up time.

Not quite instant-on convection vaping..... but perhaps 30 second warmup followed by a lower powered standby heat-soak with instant boost heat to vape on demand for the duration of the session?

Welcome to the thread!

I did consider 12v bulbs, the problem is mostly that of size and safety. A 12v could be overdriven with 4 18650's unregulated, but that's a lot of power to pack into a unit! You could definitely even jump up past 100w with that sort of setup...

Another issue with 12v bulbs is the size of the bulb itself, and the connectors. All told you've got a vape that's going to be pretty damn big! It could definitely work in an at-home portable desktop... but that's not what I'm interested in.

What this really needs is a custom bulb.. heh.

@YungLeaner ,

I was thinking halogen, OR resistive wire. Either or. Not sure yet. Leaning away from halogen at the moment.

The goal is on-demand convection. Preferably with a single 18650.

As far as heater materials go...

For insulation, aerogel batting with mica shielding. Heat exchangers in a resistive element heater design will probably have to be electrically non-conductive, but thermally conductive. That's a tall order. But I like metal conductors with super thin layers of electrically insulative coatings, like anodized aluminum, oxidized copper, or diamond coated metals (being the best, but also most expensive).

As for the ceramic cartridge heaters I believe you're referring to... great for desktops, 12v and mains power, not so much for 3.7v. Too slow, too much mass, wasted heat.

I will be shifting my concept art from aesthetic design to heater design soon.. so more details on that in the coming weeks.

 

[namasteIII]

Will you have some sort of power control like the zion with the knob or will it be completely manual as in hit you have to regulate the power yourself. I would prefer the first option if your looking for input.