I've been using my Triton for about 10 days now. So far I've primarily been using the quartz 1701. I'm attracted to the quartz because it's probably more "clean" and the least likely material to leach anything into the goodies in the cup. I've observed a couple of issues with it.
First, when the small retaining ring is screwed into the top of the atty, you have to be really careful not to tighten it. It should have just a tiny bit of rattle when you shake it. Otherwise, when you apply heat and the quartz expands, little bits of the top lip of it can chip off. I also had a problem with the quartz fracturing the ceramic heating element, again from strong expansion of the cup when heated. So, Scientific, if you are listening, you might want to consider redesigning the retaining ring so it has a bit of a spring effect when it is tightened to allow for some thermal expansion.
Second, the quartz does not heat evenly. Heat is only applied from the bottom. From the burn pattern I have seen, the center of the bottom surface of the dish gets heated more. There is a lovely little circular patch of scorched oil right in the center, and there is still a fair bit of good oil in a ring around the outside. When you hit it, the spot in the middle heats up way more than the oil ring at the edge so you you get a pretty dry hit with only a minimal contribution from the good oil. And how can you the retrieve material that's still good? I can't figure out a way to do it, can any of you folks? So for me anyway, shrugging my shoulders and losing 25% or more of my load every time I clean out the cup is unacceptable.
From a thermal point of view, this heat pattern makes total sense. The outside edge of the bottom of the cup is where the walls of the cylinder are attached, so the heat from the ceramic coil is heating a whole column of mass, whatever the height of the cup is. Whereas everywhere else, the coil is only heating about a millimeter or so, whatever the thickness of the bottom is. So there is a radial heat gradient across the bottom surface of the cup and that explains the circular burn patch.
The magnitude of the heat gradient is magnified because the cylinder wall is the only surface that dissipates heat, so the cylinder walls are sucking heat energy from from the bottom around its circumference.
You might want to consider using pyrex instead of quartz which will probably solve the issue of the chipped rim. Also, the preferred method for heating glass vessels is either through convection heating or radiant heating. And NOT conduction heating. (A) With conduction heating, you have to heat up the vessel material first which takes time and consumes power, whereas with radiative heating, most of the heat energy passes right through the glass and heats the material directly. Very clean. (B) Glass and glass-like substances are easily strained from the sudden, localized heating characteristic of conduction heating (i.e. a hot stove element). I've learned this the hard way over the years, both in the lab and the kitchen. Putting a glass vessel on an electric stove element (conduction heating) is a recipe for disaster.
Conduction heating is what you're using now. The only quick work-around is to create a perfect heat couple between the ceramic heater and the quartz bottom surface. A very thin coating of mineral oil on the top surface of the ceramic heater? Or perhaps thermal coupling paste used in PCs? However, I suggest you consider switching to radiant heating. You simply remove the top layer of the ceramic coil so that the hot wires are directly beneath the bottom of the quartz dish, but separated by a small amount, maybe 2 mm. Most of the heat will be in very long wavelengths way below human visibility but they should get through the bottom surface of the vessel just fine.
Now about that pesky hot spot LOL. A good start would be to insulate the cylinder side wall. The device gets pretty hot, and is hemorrhaging heat energy. That should increase battery life for end users. Just as important, all that heat comes from the outer edge of the bottom surface. So insulation should decrease the magnitude of the heat gradient across the bottom surface.
It should be possible to design and wind a coil whose heat foot print is the inverse of the heat gradient.
Last, the whole issue will essentially go away if you could embed a coil around the side wall.
For now I have switched to the titanium cup which appears to be distributing the heat much more evenly.
I hope this is of some value to you in your efforts. You guys are doing a great job already and the Triton OS is head and shoulders above anything else on the market.
Cheers!
( It's hard to know who to trust.