At best I could see it as a replacement for the torch, not the station? That is you'd have to decide exactly how many seconds to heat at that time, or combustion would surely follow.
Well you were pretty spot on with that
My notes from the TCR test. Note that this test is designed to replicate the functionality of the station, not provide raw direct heat to the vapman.
--Test Rig--
1. Smoant Battlestar Dual 18650 mod
2. 26g / 36g clapton style SS wire, running right around .4sh ohms.
3. Some buster RDA I lost the cap for many years ago.
I wired this into a basket-like shape similar to how
@Improvaper made his and set the temp on the mod to 385. My wire was pretty close together and I saw even heating throughout the length of the coil during testing. I got good coverage on the bottom of the copper pan and it supported the vapman well. The way I constructed the coil ensured the vapman really only had one way of fitting against it, similar to how the station supports the vapman.
I was able to get accurate (as accurate at this mod gets) readings with just the coil but with a cold vapman on top of the coil but this throws the resistance values all over the place (sometimes unable to read it, sometimes nothing).
--Test Cases--
1. Fire test, no vapman.
2. Fire test, with vapman.
3. Reheat test, no vapman.
4. Reheat test, with vapman.
--Results--
1. Fired as expected. Took about 4-5 seconds to reach the ideal temperature.
2. After watching the resistance value jump all over the place, I stopped the test after 15 seconds. The vapman did warm up but not to a temperature of being able to produce vapor. I could reach ideal temperature if I had it on there long enough but I would have to guess at it. Since it grounds against the wood via metal screws (everything is a different resistance) the mod was basically just applying power randomly. I found this kind of dangerous and did not repeat the test.
3. Fired as expected. Took the same amount of time as test 1. IF test 2 had completed as desired, the temperature would have changed when I put the vapman back on the coil and reheat would not have taken very long.
4. Same as test 2.
--Notes--
1. I really want a station
2. This is a fun test exercise but honestly I would just use a torch instead of this.
3. I had some reservations about practical use since mod's are designed to be used in the hand, not on a table.
4. I knocked it over while waiting for it to heat up in test 2 and that was kinda sketchy.
5. I made a makeshift base to ensure it didn't fall over again but I didn't enjoy the prospect of having that on my desk.
--Conclusion-
While disappointing, this was expected. Mods like the battlestar are designed to get accurate coil temperature at the time of vaporization in an expected resistance range and vaporize e-juice, not heat up a copper pan to a desired temperature. I do expect better performance similar to what Improvaper achieved using wattage mode. I will repeat the test later on this week with a large mass clapton coil similar to what I made for the TCR test. I will have to play around with the wattage values and the time so I can dial it in where I want it to be. I will also use a digital thermometer to measure the temperature of the pan when I pull it off so I know where I land. Of course I will have to test any vapor results to ensure accurate function
All in all, worth the effort to rule out TCR as a viable solution in comparison to how a station operates. I had some ideas about pre-heating the coil to a much higher temperature and letting it heat soak the pan as sort of a passive heating process but again, I would just use a torch as that is easy and direct and empirically "better" at reaching vaporization temperatures.
en.wikipedia.org
