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Where to get heating elements

Frickr

Well-Known Member
Well this is my first post, ive been searching for almost 2 weeks on this, with little to no help. im trying to find a heating element that will work for vaping. i have an idea of a vape that i would like to build but dont want to getto far without finding a heater.

the main type of element i have been looking at is a ceramic honeycomb ptc heater. but trying to find information is next to impossible on these. i can find how many ohms and voltage, but nothing on the heat output, or anything close to that.

the soldering iron type elements are find, i have found a bunch of those, just not sure how well they actually heat the air.

i cant find anything on a glass heater such like in the vapolution.

im trying to stay away from the aluminum and other metel heaters due to the fact that i would be unable to know for sure if there is any harmful substances.

as im writing this, i just got an email from a company that makes the honeycomb ceramics but i would have to buy 1000 of these little units before they will even talk to me.
 
Frickr,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
well the honeycomb ceramic only gets to about 270 * F so thats out... im thinking of a soldering iron element in a large heat exchanger. i want to have it maintain a constant temp through a long bong rip of vapor, anyone got ideas on how to do this? get a prototype made up, i think you guys will enjoy it. i just cant reveil all my secrets on how its gonna look and work just yet.

but trust me its like nothin else ont he market as of right now.
 
Frickr,

Acolyte of Zinglon

Wizard-Ninja
hmm i would use a stainless steel heat exchanger with radial fins much like the pd uses, gives the greatest surface area, is inert, and has plenty of mass to retain heat
 
Acolyte of Zinglon,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
thats what i was looking at doing, i was thinking of doing a combination of a few thck with a few thinner fins maybe experiment with what works better. would one of the ceramic rods out of a sodering gun heat it up enough or should i look at wiring 2 or maybe even 3 on there. for right now its going to just be on a good reostat to keep the temp constant, but i think with a few heating elements it would heat up alot faster.

then would i just have a tube with the element in it and the fins on the outside right? i looked at the pd, and i do have to say its a nice design i just dont see how the element fits into the whole picture.
 
Frickr,

hazy

combustion fucker
Manufacturer
I would just use a big fat ceramic power resistor. They cost about a dollar each. I think that's what the Volcano uses as its heat source. Use a dimmer switch or regulator circuit to adjust the power.
 
hazy,

Acolyte of Zinglon

Wizard-Ninja
hmm multiple elements would certainly speed up the heatup time, more mass to heat up is a double edged swrod, on one hand you have excellent temperature consistency and on the other you have the heatup time

have you taken into account that the longer heatup time could be a hindrance, especially if youre using heaters that will take a bit of power

and what were you planning for temperature control? a simple rheostat may work for a vape with just a heating element, but when you add the conductive mass of stainless steel you potentially throw a wrench in the works, as it would heat up, and retain the heat, so it could be in vapor range, but then leave it on for a couple mre minutes without drawing, and it would overheat
tom avoids this by using a very low powered heater, so his unit radiates the heat off at nearly the same rate that it replaces it once its in vapor range
 
Acolyte of Zinglon,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
hazy said:
I would just use a big fat ceramic power resistor. They cost about a dollar each. I think that's what the Volcano uses as its heat source. Use a dimmer switch or regulator circuit to adjust the power.
could you show what one of these looks like? i have a pretty good clue i just want to be sure im thinking the same thing you are.

its going to take a little thinking, i just found out the element i was planning on using wont work.. dissapointing because the honeycomb would be perfect for this application. it would completely heat the air as it passes through the heater due to all the small holes in the element.

a little spoiler my idea on this is it will be a self contained bong that also does whip and bags.
 
Frickr,

Acolyte of Zinglon

Wizard-Ninja
you should get in contact with tom (purple days) hes the person on these boards that can help you the most, and im sure he would help, hes the only person here that makes vapes
 
Acolyte of Zinglon,

max

Out to lunch
im trying to stay away from the aluminum and other metel heaters due to the fact that i would be unable to know for sure if there is any harmful substances.
Quality aluminum and stainless steel are safe with vaping temps. The aluminum heaters you used to see in box vapes didn't hold up, so everyone went with ceramic. All ceramic elements aren't created equal though. The quality varies.
i cant find anything on a glass heater such like in the vapolution.
The Vapo uses a nichrome wire wrapped around a glass tube/heating chamber. The wire is not in the vapor path.

i looked at the pd, and i do have to say its a nice design i just dont see how the element fits into the whole picture.
The PD uses a ceramic resistor like hazy mentioned. It supplies the heat to the steel heat exchanger.
 
max,

hazy

combustion fucker
Manufacturer
Yes the resistor in that link is what I'm talking about. Ohms is the measure of resistance, however I think that you get more heat with less ohms. The formula is:

watts = voltage squared / ohms

or

ohms = voltage squared / watts

You need to work out how much heat you want, and that is expressed in watts. Then you can work out the other values. My herbalAire uses about 50W I think, and the PD would use much less. As AoZ was saying, it depends on your design and how quickly it needs to heat the air.

If you wanted 50W of heat then you would need at least 5 resistors because they can only handle a maximum of 10W each. For example using the formula above, if you were running the resistors off 12V you wouldn't want to go lower than about 15 ohms each.
 
hazy,

KeepCalm

Reindeer, reindeer, reindeer
PD is 8W if I remember correctly.

Didn't the 1st generation of the Super Vapezilla use a crazy big pass-through ceramic heating element? Anyone know anything about this?
 
KeepCalm,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
i just want something thats going to heat the air completely and be able to heat it enough to handle a fairly good inhale.

once again thank you guys for all your support. i think im gonna enjoy being a member of this forum. so far have met some real nice helpful people, also some really talented people. and have already learned alot just by reading through your guy's posts. lots of information here thats for sure! already got me convinced to get rid of my vapir one. i modified it to get rid of the leaks, but it got my feet wet, and as soon as i get enough money saved up, a purple days is gonna be my first investment. then maybe a ssv.
 
Frickr,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
ok, how would this work do you think. a ceramic tube with a cross shape in the middle. fallowed by 4 nichrome coils to heat the cermaic, have that wrapped in glass and sealed off. the whole unit will be in the middle of the chamber and air will only touch the glass tube that houses the element.

the cermaic will do a good job at heating the glass and holding the temp while you draw through it, and by using the nichrome wires it should heat up quickly.
 
Frickr,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
i just found those myself, and am workin my design around those right now. i dont think i have obsessed over something for this long in my life. i litterally think about it all day long on what would work, how to make it better, and how to make it more user friendly.
 
Frickr,

Frickr

Well-Known Member
a little update. i found everything i need for the heater, and also figured out a small handheld one that can run off of AA batteries ;)

now all i need is to find someone to blow the glass for me and i can show you guys what im working with. from what ive been reading, i think my idea for my vape will go over very well. atleast im hoping so. it will make vaping more "traditional" again
 
Frickr,
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