These are the questions I asked Ryan & his replies. I will cross-post on the Z thread.
I haven't watched many IG streams of late, but if I do hear anything of interest, I'll be sure to post. You all be sure to do the same.
Q: What grade is the mesh -- 304, 316, 316L, 319, other(?) used? Presumably, they both are the same grade. Everyone surmises, but no one knows & it would be beneficial to know especially as they are playing around with ss mod. values. Case in point, the following 2 posts. There are others but I can't look for them.
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/the-splinter-by-rbt.23476/page-102#post-1311445
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/splinter-z-by-rbt.34076/page-13#post-1313068
A: The heater material is SS. I have multiple examples of folks in the industry trying to find out what the exact material is and they will never know
Q: Under mfr. warranty, we know the for the low airflow (2-hole) Splinter's upper limit is 50W with a 30-sec. max draw/engagement. Is it the same for the high airflow Splinter? And what are the max values for the low & high airflow Zs?
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/splinter-z-by-rbt.34076/page-9#post-1308750
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Q: Assumably the deck is attached to the wood with adhesive. What type of adhesive is it & why does it become detached -- heat? Is this an ongoing possibility or did it only occur in earlier batches?
A: RBT supports only use in wattage mode. from 20 - 50 watts. TCR mode is not supported but I acknowledge that it is being used.
The high flow units can handle more wattage if higher air flow is there to handle the heat. However, anything over 50 watts is in the combustion range with any of the units. The limits are set by combustion of material more than excessive heat damaging the unit... more concerned with damaging your cannabis lol. I have tested the Splinter at 4X wattage for multiple firings at 100+ watts until smoke was rolling out of it. The test was to ensure that it did not catch fire and to see that the PEEK insulator didn't melt prematurely. The units will take pretty severe abuse with the failure modes being the wood burning and the 2-part medical grade epoxy (Loctite M-121HP) degrading and detaching from the wood. The instructions for the Splinter call for allowing to cool when hot and to not unscrew while hot. Early units had a higher number of failures as the wood was made with less precision than that of today.
Q: In your stream you mentioned that ceramic is going to be added to the deck along with the current peek plastic & that both provide strength. What exactly do they strengthen? -- heat resistancy? Is the peek & ceramic located around the neck of the brass screw or is it inside the deck?
A: The Ceramic details will emerge once they are at retailers ready for sale.
Q: When are you going to get the 19/19 VF gongs in. I assume they'll be 18 - 18mm , but will there be an 14 - 18mm version also offered?
A: Once Steph is up and running in a few weeks we should have the 19/19 adapter by then.
Q: Lastly, you said that VF was only getting the low airflow Zs in bubinga & apart from the wood choice, I assume just the low airflow Splinter, also? Now, for the US, will you continue to sell high airflow Zs if there is demand or from time to time or Limited Edition runs? And will you offer different woods on the US site?
A: VF has a small batch of Splinter Z (15) and Splinter US (20) in mostly Bubinga along with some Mi2's that just landed. Stephanie will be receiving a few Mi2s and a good number of Splinter US in various wood types. VGoodiez is stocked with a small supply now and will get more Splinter US soon. This is all the stock that is available other than a few that will go to canadian retail for the next 4-7 weeks. Next batch is 400 units to VF and a small number to US and Canada in Canary, Bubinga, Wenge and PH and will all be 2 hole. This will be the last US run and then China will cut-in.
In a recent stream, I'm pretty certain that Ryan said that of the 400 units Vapefiend contracted for, 200 are Splinters & 200 are Splinter Zs, all low/standard airflow (2-hole). He also said that he has the last of the high airflow (4-hole) Splinters & Zs.
I'm assuming that these will be sold on the US website when the store reopens. So my suggestion is that anyone who wants a high airflow, grab one. I do see on the Vapefiend website that they currently do have remaining high airflow Splinters available.