Unregulated simple all glass vape

highvaper

Well-Known Member

Cheebsy

Microbe minion
I spotted the deans! They're great high amp connectors. Man the flexibility is great! Do I sense that this project and the homebrew pid one are converging? The middle one of the control options looks like it could be your pid...

Btw, sorry for the lack of reply to our pm conversation man, real life still kicking me in the nuts right now...
 

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Yes your spot on the pid control is converging with this but at the moment not quite yet.

The 3 control plains are:

The RAW: Big button - just a momentary push button switch - rated for about 10 amps but am sure im pushing more through when i use the 3 battery box - the coil starts to glow after about 10 secs and thats all it takes to warm up pretty much. Btw the one battery pic with the empty case is for the larger 21700 lipos as an example of being able to use those as well.

The MOSFET - simple button connected to mosfet to actually switch on/off current - didnt built this one as the PWM is the same thing with duty cycle at 100%.

The PWM: The second one is actually a little pwm + mosfet - same as the external wood box in the power options - only difference its got a little switch as well - the external one is for use with the simple switch (it can not be used with the pwm control plain). The PWMs should be able to let you connect a wall power source or car batter to it - it should work up to about 24v.

The MOD: A 250C dna mod - need to actually finish this off to play with TCR but nichrome resistance change at different temp is so little i am doubtful this will work but wanted to play with a decent mod without the worst connector ever created - the 510 - what an awful design - in order to make the 510->deans connector i had to make a center pin from a solid rod of copper but with a mod makes a super acurate ohm meter for other use as well - i now know how to make a 510 extension cables at least.

The PID: Not built yet - basically will i think actually be the only control plain needed. The current pid already does the pwm and mosfet stuff - i do want to build in some kind of battery check to it so they dont get over drained or too different voltages between them. I may see what other stuff the mod does and perhaps incorporate that like the replay stuff the new dna ones do. Maybe add adjustable temp step over time like start at 180 for 2 mins then up to 200 for 4 mins then 220 for a final 1 min. Unfortunatley the current pid board is way to big so needs to have everything intergrated onto a new design.

My main issue at the moment is the actual attachment part to the tube from the control plain as its a bit wobbly. But making this in wood is not praticle for more than one or two - im looking at other ideas to make it simpler to make.
 
Last edited:

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Just been testing with the long tiny mighty dimpled straw - with 3 batteries and the raw swtich

Blows a tm2 out of the water performance wise as a convection vape - its not a fair comparison with the 3 batteries but i have never been overly happy with that stem and the tm2 but this gives it a new lease of life. I dont think would work with normal or long tm2 stems as the heater is so long it would burn just touching the stem let alone getting your lips on it but i do have those long about fat glass straws as well - ill try and get a few quarts ones to test with too but doubt there will be as much of a difference compared to the when using as a convection vape with the inner liner.

Need to mess about more without the inner liner as I have mostly been testing with the longer thinner straws - the small ones are more flavoursome but draw is more restricted but nicer when well packed for a 10 min session - i find it easier to breath in a deep draw with the fat stems and finish off a load in a few on demand hits.


The more i mess with it the more im think it will be better if i make a tiny version of the pid and combine that with the tube part to form one unit - it will be far easier to make and then have the power coming in from what ever source you want - the only issue then is it wont be able to monitor the individual battery levels unless i do a special battery power cable.

But i think would make a much simpler smaller device to use and make - i now need to make 3 for various people so the easier the better - i have looked at getting a laser cutter and moved on to perhaps a 3d printer like the ones which can print with carbon filiment in them and cope with about 300C but maybe im taking this a bit far.
 
Last edited:

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Wired up the MOD


Have had a play with it and tcr mode with a material file from Steam Engine for it:

"Temperature (degF)","Electrical Resistivity"
-40.0000,0.9934246575
68.0000,1.0000000000
122.0000,1.0032876712
212.0000,1.0087567568
302.0000,1.0141621622
392.0000,1.0195675676
482.0000,1.0253873874
572.0000,1.0312432432


As you can see no change in resistance over a large temp range

Proved by the mod refusing to fire for more than a split second and saying it was up to temp.

On Watts its a bit odd - i have set it to 60w - the power supply is a 12v supply and the power meter im using says about 80w.

I did have to mess with the power settings in EScribe to even get it to use the power supply but it seems to think there are 3 x 3.x volt batteries to give just over 9v input.

I havent wired up the battery taps so it wont work with set to battery mode but still it does seem to be ignoring the actual voltage i have set for the power supply in EScribe.

However it does work and is quite small - the buttons are a faff to use compared to the rotary dial.

I have been messing with a thermocouple lead as you can see in the pic and have managed to sandwich one nicely in between the heater and inner liner - i did the on the current pid setup but it doesnt go as far in and managed to cause a little crack in the inner quartz tube using too much force but its all good and still works (plus is a simple thing to replace and can use the normal test tube for it as well).

I am going to try and get my pid board mounted some how as it does perform really well.

Another breakage other than the one inner tube - i was using the raw switch with the 3 battery pack and the switch button got really hot so i released it but it just kept going - the switch must have just fused together - i ripped the battery pack off and could feel the heat coming from the tube - the nichrome has a nice colour to it now and must have got pretty hot as it was glowing in orange range so what 500C?

So the raw switch is a no no and needs a mosfet to control the amps.

Need to wire up the battery taps and try it out like that but so far its not going to be much more than a pwm with autofire timer and no temp control. Once i get the battery taps sorted it will at least be that with battery monitoring.
 

highvaper

Well-Known Member
The PID

Ok its not very elegant but is a portable all in one (currently pico powered by a usb battery but can use a dc->dc convertor so use same power source as the coil)


PID not tuned but no limit on the duty cycle so at the start its pushing over 100W with the two lipos - as you can see its not tuned so not enough Integral as it approaches the setpoint and backs off the power too much. Also i reset the pid stats when its about 8C away from setpoint as this seems to reduce overshoot quite well.


Quite fast warm up - maybe once tuned around 15 secs? Could go faster with a 3 battery pack but will need to beef up the mosfet and tbh 20 sec is more than fast enough as it takes me longer to do the grind or load the stem.

I had an idea how to make dealing with the thermocouple cable more simple - magnetic connectors - they work so well - the thermocouple leads are a real pain as you cant solder them and they are hard to bend and work with. I may do the same with the mosfet unit and pwm cable so its easy to dismantle.



After a few hours since wiring it up the PID is the way to go - you can just set it to a stupid temp and its basically a manual vape - does the pwm, mosfet stuff - protects the power supply - gives decent temp adjustment compared to tcr. Only problem is its all a bit big so need to make a new version with everything on a smaller pcb basically - i think once i have done that it should be quite easy to make.

I have messed with the positioning of the thermocouple and in the video it was pressed between the nichrome and quartz but think that is not the best place for it as the temp inside the inner tube just wasnt that hot so i have moved the probe to in between the coils and things seem to be working better and the temperature is more where i expect it to be for the amount of vapour produced.

Its more about a consistent temp reading so is repeatable than an exact one where the herb is as thats not possible as it changes dramatically at each breath as discovered with previous testing.

The heat up time with two batteries is more mundane now and more like a minute - i think that it needs somewhere around 60-70w of power for it to work nicely - maybe you could get away with 50w but would take that much longer to get to temp but with a thick walled straw and enough of a heat soak it may be ok.

I have set the pwm limit even on the batteries to about 70w as the mosfet gets a bit too hot without a heat sink - personally i think the temperature figures on: https://protosupplies.com/product/lr7843-mosfet-control-module/ are a bit on the low side for and need to reduce power by more than that table suggests.
 
Last edited:

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Dont we all like to max out a new toy and see what it can really do?

So made myself a double mosfet - was a bit of a pain to make but runs cool



And plugged in the 3 battery box and took off the pwm limit so somewhere north of 200W


A bit of overshoot as i havent tuned the pid settings


I think next big bit of code is adding the profile stuff and moving all the settings over to that now - so just have a folder or something and each file is a profile - will make it simple to edit as well and use profile_name.txt or something like that so maybe a global one with stuff like:

coil_resistance = 0.55 #Ohms
session_timeout = 300 #in seconds
battery_min_volt = 3.2

Then a profile config like desktop_mains.txt

match_voltage_upper = 12.2
match_voltage_lower = 11.8
power_type = mains
session_timeout = 900
pid_tunings = 0.28, 0.0008, 0
heater_max_duty_cycle_percent = 60


Or config like portable_2_battery.txt

match_voltage_upper = 8.4
match_voltage_lower = 7.4
power_type = battery
battery_count = 2
pid_tunings = 0.31, 0.0011, 0
heater_max_duty_cycle_percent = 100

With a few resistors i can add a test on the input voltage and try to match one of the profiles based on that when it first powers up and if not either use the last one or show list of profiles for a few secs for the user to select one.

Also need it to set some sensible defaults for power level and pid values based on input voltage so watts are about 60-70w as it should work fine and not blow up any power supply

I have been looking at the 65w USB C chargers which output about 20v and should be able to power it but really on the edge of what they put out and also need to talk to the supply over usb and get it to output the higher power but think i need to miniaturise it first which is a bit more work than the current one which uses standard parts like the pico and need to basically make my own pico
 
Last edited:

highvaper

Well-Known Member
My first cockup with it - i was using it with the tm2 water adaptor so no inner tube liner - the bong i have suffers bad blow back so when you stop pulling the water bounces back up the tube the stem sits on to - so causes a reverse air blow and weed pushed out the stem.

Not good against very hot nichrome - there was this sudden fill of thick smoke in the quartz tube and red flashes as it ignited.

So have learnt that it may be better to have some mesh/mesh bucket things on top of the weed as well as the bottom.

Also how to clean - just filled up with some ipa but with a jar under as the ipa pours through the bottom hole - if you hold it horizontally and kind of shake it about with the ipa inside you can get most of the loose bits out and then with a cotton bud type thing its easy enough to then get in and wipe down the walls and heater element - you can push the element about as its not that fragile.

Once done i heated it up to about 300C to burn off anything left and evaporate the ipa. As its quartz i suppose you can just do like the pyrolitic ovens and just burn and the dirt to ash.
 
Last edited:

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Been messing more without the inner liner and with 3 batteries its pretty amazing - so fast like you put the stem in hit the button while inhaling and before you have filled you lungs its vaping away.


You cant over power it like other convection vapes - really there is no chance - if you keep the power on too long the nichrome will start to glow so you need to be a bit careful if the pwm has no limit and set to 100% but .... wow its like so fast - i know the original design was supposed to be all glass but this really surpasses any convection vape i have used - the 3 lipos giving it over 200W power helps a fair bit puts it in the ball vape park even.
 

Flotsam

Well-Known Member
what a fabulous project and i enjoy hearing about the updates. I have been wondering about your final packaging as I am sure you are as well. My question was about the nichrome wire; when you apply voltage to them do they glow , but not during normal operation ? You are envisioning this purely self-contained or for at least initially you have that short tether. Love that mouthpiece BTW.

Playing around with my Terpcicle recently has made me think about one consideration and that is draw. (i overpacked it a bit) I'm looking at that last photo and just wondering where the supply air is coming from. Is the bottom mass all composed of screens and below that is open correct? Just thought that might be a constructive question.
 

highvaper

Well-Known Member
what a fabulous project and i enjoy hearing about the updates
thanks - nice to know people are reading my ramblings
do they glow , but not during normal operation ?
with 3 batteries and no limit after about 30 secs yes they start to glow but not like a toaster - but it gets up to temp so quickly with 3 batteries that its quite easy to prevent it - just fire for a few secs and give the heat a chance to conduct through the quartz then tap again and its up to about 140C then turn on the pid / session and it only needs to put in about 10-50w which is well below the +200w you need to make it glow so only with 3 batteries.

For use without the inner liner i think i will add a pwm mode you can jump to in order to dial it down as it works nicely with just the two batteries at 100% but the 12v is pretty sweet for power but the coil gets very hot if not controlled. I am loving the long dimpled stem + 3 batteries like this but you have to be very careful it really lets you shoot yourself in the foot - gets you very high very quickly.

Draw wise and the big stem is very open - the end gauze is there to stop weed blowing out as i dont want a repeat of it burning again - there is a small amount of air intake from the small hole at the bottom but most of the air spirals around the stem and nichrome getting hot and then into the bottom of the stem - maybe 6cm or so path for it to get nicely hot.

Both the 12 OD, 1mm and 1.5 walled quartz stem are less open draw wise but it just depends on how hard you tamp it - also how fine the grind - also how much it can take about 3cm before it get too tight again depending on tampage/grindage. I quite like to start off with the raw stem for a couple of 5 min sessions up to about 190C (that temps subjective depending on how vape is setup) - i then keep the avb for a few of these sessions and it gets a bit finer so more fits in the stem - i then use a j-hook with an o-ring to hold the stem in it and vape that at up to about 220.

I have a Terpcicle as well - i made a version of the plain coiled version using it - it worked ok but i have found the closer the inner stem is to the outer tube the better it works - the Terpcicle stem is about 1mm wider so just doesnt fit into the inner tube but think holds the same as the 1mm wall stem.


As for design i have various ideas but just having some fun testing the new heater - i have made a lot of updates to code and need to do a couple of big commits - one with a lot of fixes and another with some new functionality including a live input voltage reading to then calculate the actual watt useage realtime - its interesting seeing the battery sag - new graphs to go with too so temp/watt/checkpoint one and need to do the same with volts. From that and other testing im pretty sure my mains power meter can be up to about 20% wrong and looking at amzon reviews they confirm it - a bit annoying tbh as i have been using that as my source of reference for a lot of things.
 
Last edited:

Flotsam

Well-Known Member
Maybe you mentioned it, but what is the air gap between outer part of heater surface to the inner chamber outer surface?
 
Flotsam,

Radwin Bodnic

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
Maybe you mentioned it, but what is the air gap between outer part of heater surface to the inner chamber outer surface?
These double flow glass devices have an inner tube (the stem, with the chamber at the tip), and an outer tube (the heater).
There's an air gap between those two tubes : inner tube is smaller than outer tube.
On the terpcicle the air gap is larger than most other device, which requires to heat the outer tube to a higher temperature (but is also more forgiving).
 
Radwin Bodnic,
  • Like
Reactions: Cheebsy

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Maybe you mentioned it, but what is the air gap between outer part of heater surface to the inner chamber outer surface?

I am not clear which gap you are referring to

When using with the inner liner there is a gap between the stem and inner liner tube - this depends on the the inner liner wall tickness - at the moment i have been using 1mm quartz ones and also the 1.5mm glass test tubes - i plan to get 1.5mm quartz to compare to glass. With the 1mm i think the "gap" between the straw and inner liner is a bit under 2mm (in total so if holding straw in the center about 1mm all round) and the 1.5mm down to 1mm - i think the 1.5mm wall actually works better airflow wise but the quartz conducts the heat faster. There is basically no gap between the nichrome wire and the inner tube it touches.

When using without the inner tube there is also almost no gap between the stem as when with the inner liner and nichrome so the air has to spiral down - the stem does get hot for the length inserted into the tube so you have to be careful when handling after use - this is not a vape for a novice if using with out the inner liner.

On the terpcicle the air gap is larger than most other device, which requires to heat the outer tube to a higher temperature (but is also more forgiving).
Yes i found that too but for butane torch devices you kind of need that extra headroom.
 

Flotsam

Well-Known Member
by air gap i meant the spacing between inner and outer pieces of glass.
 
Flotsam,

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Ah the main thick outer heater tube and inner liner tube? - there is basically just enough room to fit the nichrome and thermocouple cable
 
highvaper,
  • Like
Reactions: Cheebsy

highvaper

Well-Known Member
i think the outer tube really helps concentrate the heat back in from the other side of the ribbon compared to the bare element around the simple tube were it just floats away
 
highvaper,

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Ah true - i forgot all about it tbh - the wall is so thin there is little lag too - thats something i find there is a difference between 1mm to 1.5mm wall inner tube and/or stems
 

highvaper

Well-Known Member
Dam it got a lot done added some code to automatically adjust the max duty cycle based on the live input volt/battery reading and so limit to a set maximum watt but update as the battery sags - or if using a car battery and someone starts the car causing a voltage rise.

Well it could until i put the tube down after some testing with the long tiny might straw - worked well but as i put it down a bit of the mosfet power input touched on one of the picos pins and another one dead - i have a little pile of them - i think i have killed somewhere between 5 to 10 now and many many mosfet modules, test tubes and other bits i have fried.

I think rather than a pwm mode it will have a watt mode along side the pid one so rather than setting the setpoint temp you can set the watts.

Good thing i have already put in an order for some rp2040s with extra bits as i dont have many left.
 
Top Bottom