TS80 Portable Soldering Iron

17dabloons

Member
Youtube Video

Saw this while watching electronics videos and thought to myself- "Hmm... pen-shaped temperature-controlled heating element.... with an oled screen.... sounds like a vaporizer to me!"
The heating element uses a 3.5mm audio jack as a connection, so making your own atomizer wouldn't require a proprietary connector.

Recently I've been interested in creating a vaporizer version of a one-hitter. On-demand, tiny bowl size, super small form factor. This could be a good starting point.
 

Photonic

Lesser-Known Lurker
Sort of related maybe? But the Yocan Kodo Pro battery I picked up on AliExpress was listed as a soldering iron and came with a 510 threaded tip. I haven't tried it for that though... :shrug:
 
Photonic,

highvaper

Well-Known Member
I have a pinecil soldering iron which is similar to the ts80 - i also have a few 510 soldering iron bits - the pinecil is great and could work but needs some kind of external power (perhaps just a battery with usb3 could work).

The pinecil is not cheap and I wouldnt be too keen on vaping directly off the metal element - some kind of barrier between the metal of the iron and herb would be sensible.

I would recommend looking at the divine crossing dry herb vape is a pretty good, cheap (<£35), one hit wonder which is 510 compatible and really hits well above what its price suggests
 
highvaper,

17dabloons

Member
I have a pinecil soldering iron which is similar to the ts80 - i also have a few 510 soldering iron bits - the pinecil is great and could work but needs some kind of external power (perhaps just a battery with usb3 could work).

The pinecil is not cheap and I wouldnt be too keen on vaping directly off the metal element - some kind of barrier between the metal of the iron and herb would be sensible.

I would recommend looking at the divine crossing dry herb vape is a pretty good, cheap (<£35), one hit wonder which is 510 compatible and really hits well above what its price suggests
I was actually looking into that and others such as the Herbie V2. I don't actually think I'll do anything with this soldering iron but it certainly gave me design inspiration.

I might start a new forum post once I make progress, but I'm tinkering with the idea of building a dry herb vape with the following criteria:
-Small form factor
-On demand
-Small bowl size
-Battery powered
-convection / hybrid heating

The only vaporizer that exists like it is the grasshopper, which is discontinued, and was really expensive if I remember correctly.

The idea is to make a vaporizer version of a one-hitter.
 
17dabloons,

Grass Yes

Yes
Staff member
The only vaporizer that exists like it is the grasshopper, which is discontinued, and was really expensive if I remember correctly.
There are a few that come to mine for me, but the v3 nano:

It has a less powerful heater than top tier vapes but I'd take it over the grasshopper/hopper.
 
Grass Yes,
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maremaresing

Well-Known Member
There is also the vleaf GO which is a great idea but needs some sort of cooling and better/safer air/vapor path materials (aluminum oven wtfwtfwtf).

I'm all for ultraportable electronic vaporizers and encourage the development of more. Right now the V3PRo gives me the best combo of size, cooling, potency, dosing cap usage, and fast heatup (which is why I have 3). It's great to toss in a purse or backpack, and it's not altogether bigger than the V3 Nano (when you include the nano stem).

Seeing the TS80, I see it as a decent platform given how thin it is.
 

Flotsam

Active Member
what material are you using in the soldering iron itself?
i am urging extreme caution with this selection. Here i have input from a soldering iron manufacturer regarding the tip:

What materials are soldering iron tips made of?

Soldering bits comprise these elements generally:

  • Solid copper core
  • Coating of plated iron
  • Layered plate of nickel (behind the working surface)
  • Plated chrome layer

there may be others, but 3 of the 4 are highly discouraged and the plated iron seems less than optimal. Also avoid any tips that are pre-tinned. Solder itself is not what you want to breathe and is probably lethal in sufficient amount.

The only things i can think of are stainless steel (certain grades) and brass that you could use for a tip. I mean really all you need is a small cylinder of metal and that can be easily threaded with a tap and die set.

ADDITION~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This might be an option for you?

 
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17dabloons

Member
There are a few that come to mine for me, but the v3 nano:

It has a less powerful heater than top tier vapes but I'd take it over the grasshopper/hopper.
The regular V3 pro is my daily driver right now. From my understanding the V3 nano isnt on-demand, which is one of the most important features imo

There is also the vleaf GO which is a great idea but needs some sort of cooling and better/safer air/vapor path materials (aluminum oven wtfwtfwtf).

I'm all for ultraportable electronic vaporizers and encourage the development of more. Right now the V3PRo gives me the best combo of size, cooling, potency, dosing cap usage, and fast heatup (which is why I have 3). It's great to toss in a purse or backpack, and it's not altogether bigger than the V3 Nano (when you include the nano stem).

Seeing the TS80, I see it as a decent platform given how thin it is.
V3 Pro is my go-to!

what material are you using in the soldering iron itself?
i am urging extreme caution with this selection. Here i have input from a soldering iron manufacturer regarding the tip:

What materials are soldering iron tips made of?

Soldering bits comprise these elements generally:

  • Solid copper core
  • Coating of plated iron
  • Layered plate of nickel (behind the working surface)
  • Plated chrome layer

there may be others, but 3 of the 4 are highly discouraged and the plated iron seems less than optimal. Also avoid any tips that are pre-tinned. Solder itself is not what you want to breathe and is probably lethal in sufficient amount.

The only things i can think of are stainless steel (certain grades) and brass that you could use for a tip. I mean really all you need is a small cylinder of metal and that can be easily threaded with a tap and die set.

ADDITION~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This might be an option for you?

FYI, I was not planning on using the soldering iron tip of this. I just saw the form factor of the device and saw it as inspiration for the electronics / body part. Not the atomizer itself
 
17dabloons,

Flotsam

Active Member
You know that SS is mostly Chromium + Nickel + Iron, for the most common alloys right? ;)
now we're getting in the weeds in terms of composition of SS alloys. I think there are a ton of different alloys. My understanding in particular it was Hexavalent Chromium was a primary concern. SS 304 has none of these and is widely used.

I am not certain of the exact details but that's why i raised this as a concern in the first place. More homework needs to be done, but glass and most ceramics seems the most safe.

Chromium in particular is very nasty and i have seen Kluge construction using old sockets on Stoner engineering where the chrome finish is flaking off. By its very nature SS is rust resistant because of that bit of chromium. in my mind a coating for a metal is a bit different than an alloy where something cannot easily flake off.

Here are just two example of SS in some vapes featured on here

 
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Flotsam,

KeroZen

Chronic vapaholic
SS304 does contain about 19% Chromium and 10% Nickel.


And the average person eating out of stainless cookware does consume some amount of both elements daily. Studies on e-cigarettes also found both metals leaching out (but many of these studies apparently ran the coils very hot without temperature control)

You are right that Hexavalent Chromium is nasty. But so far I've not seen any evidence that it's produced by our SS heating elements (again, under normal operating conditions, if it runs red hot or beyond it's likely riding closer to the danger zone)

That being said, I wouldn't suck hot air from an unknown soldering iron tip and I would much prefer using any other heating element where I know exactly what it is made of.
 
KeroZen,

Flotsam

Active Member
Totally true. The testing methodology is very suspect. Yet in the little bit of browsing there were some evidence there may be some stainless cookware that is fully safe. So I share the skepticism . But not something like vaccines causes whatever unrelated and unsubstantiated.
 
Flotsam,
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