[Jbee6000]

Awesome, PETG seems like the way to go. I stopped using this ceramic spacer when I started using the 1.5“ bar vs 1“ bar. I still sandwich the bar with 1” Nylon+ Stainless fender washers which seem to help dissipate the heat more in my testing. The ceramic was expensive and took way more extra time with the build. I‘m trying to get my build process down to under 15 minutes while keeping cost as low as possible btw, I get next to no heat transfer that makes its way to the housing. I‘m assuming that is due to the 1.5” bigger bar and nylon sandwich.

 

[Rogue26]

Awesome, PETG seems like the way to go. I stopped using this ceramic spacer when I started using the 1.5“ bar vs 1“ bar. I still sandwich the bar with 1” Nylon+ Stainless fender washers which seem to help dissipate the heat more in my testing. The ceramic was expensive and took way more extra time with the build. I‘m trying to get my build process down to under 15 minutes while keeping cost as low as possible btw, I get next to no heat transfer that makes its way to the housing. I‘m assuming that is due to the 1.5” bigger bar and nylon sandwich.

Are you using nylon on each side of the flat bar, spacing the bar off the box by a washer or are you using one on the inside of the box between the bolt head and one between the nut and flat bar on the outside?

 

[Jbee6000]

Are you using nylon on each side of the flat bar, spacing the bar off the box by a washer or are you using one on the inside of the box between the bolt head and one between the nut and flat bar on the outside?

I inlay my bar to directly to the box and use one stainless washer for strength on the inside of the box. Where I use the sandwich approach is on the bowl mount to the flat bar. order from bottom of bowl: fender washer, nut, fender washer, 1” nylon washer, bar, 1” nylon washer, fender washer, nylon Insert stop nut. Heat does not seem to transfer more than one inch from that point on the bar.

 

[Spadeapiaries]

I may have found some Stainless Steel tubing that is the perfect balance between strength and size. 1/4" OD with thick .049 walls. That brings the ID to just a little bigger than the 3/16 tubing.

It's all I can do to bend this with my tubing bender. I need to put a knee into it. I plan to trying to bend it with heat if I need tighter bends. I will be making my pots from 1 1/2" OD Stainless Steel dairy pipe as I have stacks of it. I will also be making solid aluminum heat sinks at least 1" thick.

Once I see if the SS tubing stays clear I'll decide if I need the tighter bends and need to keep the tubing under the band heater. That will determine which band heaters end up in my final version.

 

[Rogue26]

Anyone in the group end up with some extra blue caps for the 1.25” coupling build they they might want to sell? Not ready to made a full order from the supplier yet but need some. PM me if you want to get rid of a few.

thanks

 

[Rogue26]

Anyone in the group end up with some extra blue caps for the 1.25” coupling build they they might want to sell? Not ready to made a full order from the supplier yet but need some. PM me if you want to get rid of a few.

thanks

I am no longer looking for them. I went ahead and ordered a batch from CA Plugs

 

[Leesbeessuperiorco]

Anyone have plans for 3D printing the enclosure that they are willing to share?

 

[fredn]

Basically for the copper vessel you do not get much better than a 11/4" copper coupling to which a metal disc can be welded with silfos, The outlet tube should be no further than 2" long from where it joins to the hottest part of the bowl, 1/4" or 3/16" up to you although I found that with the 1/4" outlet I had more unsublimated crystals with the vapor. I now use a 1/4" bolt to hold the bowl off of the aluminum strip so there is only one nut between the bowl and the strip. An Uxcel thermocouple is bolted directly to the bottom of the bowl and I doubt that there could be any faster reaction to the temperature fluctuations than this system. The unit is heated by a 275 watt MX15006 11/2"x 11/2" band heater available from Plastic Process Equipment for around $15 plus shipping and it is insulated with 5/16" Grapho glass wound around the outside of the bowl. I do not think there is a vaporizer out there that will beat the heat up and recovery times of this setup remember efficiency at a reasonable price is what we are looking for. The temperature controller used is a relay operated unit which has served well and for this application a solid state relay is not required as it will only push up the price and size of the unit. As to having a large volume under the bowl for a heat sink, i cannot see any advantage to this, perhaps a disadvantage will be a slower movement in temperature due to the mass retaining the temperature whereas with a copper bottom I can see when the OA hits the bottom as the temperature immediately drops to around 300 degrees. I have also looked at providing a steel outlet on the Easy Vap which is easy as you can purchase rolls of copper coated brake tubing and I have made up one that I have used but feel if not used with the respect it needs that instead of bending the outlet tube the copper bowl could be damaged.

Johno is the outside of the heating bowl gray duct tape? Was just curious... it looks like it.

 

[Spadeapiaries]

Johno is the outside of the heating bowl gray duct tape? Was just curious... it looks like it.

Gray duct tape around muffler wrap I think. I've wondered how that tape holds up? My muffler wrap melts at some point.

 

[johno]

Gray duct tape around muffler wrap I think. I've wondered how that tape holds up? My muffler wrap melts at some point.

Fredn, the copper bowl is wrapped with 5/16" grapho glass rope and then that is covered by heavy duty duck tape. The purpose of the duck tape is to prevent the glass rope from unravelling and it does just that.

 

[johno]

Fredn, the copper bowl is wrapped with 5/16" grapho glass rope and then that is covered by heavy duty duck tape. The purpose of the duck tape is to prevent the glass rope from unravelling and it does just that.

I would just add that once the duct tape is wrapped around the insulation the bottom edge and the top can be shrunk with a heat gun and smoothed down with a stailess steel blade.

 

[fredn]

Thank you!

 

[Spadeapiaries]

Great looking design Rogue! I have a 3d printed design where I can build the Vap in about 30 min each, though I have to wait for the 7 hour printed parts lol. The cook bowl is the only thing that takes me time but I can make one in about 15 min. I punch the disc for the copper bottom and brazing takes no time at all. I have the outlet tube exiting the bottom on my design.

As for the heat transfer from the bowl to the housing, I use the 1.5 AL bar as well and find it dissipates faster than the one inch bars due to the additional mass. I also was successful in eliminating the heat transfer by using a small ceramic spacer sandwiched inside of two nylon & stainless washers. That was more effort than it was worth in my opinion and I also had to ground the bowl since it was then suspended by the nylon & ceramic. Lots of extra work!

Also, I use PETG vs PLA. It is stronger and more heat resistant than PLA. I worried about the PLA warping in the sun. I saw some research that showed that the darker colors would absorb the heat and warp in one hour.

Rogue, how long does your design take to print? I‘m guessing 9-10 hours?

-j

Any pictures?

 

[Leesbeessuperiorco]

By the way - saw a pretty cool 3d print for a “cheap vap” handle:

Pistol Grip for aluminum bar by hancockks

AR 15 grip modified to slide into an aluminum bar, used for an oxalic acid vaporizer utilizing a band heater. Printed in two parts and then epoxied to minimize supports and imbed the nut in the handle using a 1/4-20 machine screw & nut Print Settings Printer brand: Creality Printer: Ender 3...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[Spadeapiaries]

My 3d printer will be here in time for the new year. I'll test that out.

 

[Spadeapiaries]

I have been too busy with my engraving business during the Christmas season to work on these but I found a little time today (inspired to get moving by my new 3d printer) to build a couple Stainless Steel pots with thick walled Stainless Steel tubing.
The 56% Silver solder is easy to work with and I think these are going to be as close to indestructible as one can get. I'm going to build these with an aluminum heat sink which I'm going to the lathe to make now.

 

[Biermann]

Hello SA,

That looks nice and I understand your approach and desired target, but would like to mention several facts, just for discussion purpose, not to make your day miserable.

SS is not even in the first top ten materials for thermal conductivity, one reason I have not tried it, but (one of) the reason why I use 1/4" SS screws & washers to fasten the bowls to my alu frames.

The top mounted, bottom sweep vaporizing tube has about double the length then the straight tube = double the heat-loss and more difficulty moving the heat from your 275 watt heat band to the long tube.

Tube material, size and length are in relation and any or all will make for faster re-crystalizing of the vapor.

One reason why I stick with the k-type copper, TIG welded.

My 2 cents worth.

JoergK.

 

[Spadeapiaries]

Hello SA,

That looks nice and I understand your approach and desired target, but would like to mention several facts, just for discussion purpose, not to make your day miserable.

SS is not even in the first top ten materials for thermal conductivity, one reason I have not tried it, but (one of) the reason why I use 1/4" SS screws & washers to fasten the bowls to my alu frames.

The top mounted, bottom sweep vaporizing tube has about double the length then the straight tube = double the heat-loss and more difficulty moving the heat from your 275 watt heat band to the long tube.

Tube material, size and length are in relation and any or all will make for faster re-crystalizing of the vapor.

One reason why I stick with the k-type copper, TIG welded.

My 2 cents worth.

JoergK.

I treated 25 hives yesterday with my first Stainless Steel pot with the bottom sweep vaporizing tube and an Aluminum heat sink and it was the best I've ever used. I have the pot and tube wrapped in muffler wrap and plugging was minimal. What recrystallization I had was easily cleared with a small troch I keep on hand. I check every 3 or 4 hives and if there is ANY crystals building up I blast them with the torch and give it a minute to cool while I fill caps.

As far as thermal conductivity of one material over another I can tell you it makes so little difference with the band heaters and muffler wrap that I will choose strength over the milliseconds you think you may save.

I am anxious to try the straight tubing to see if recrystallization can be eliminated, but I love the bottom sweep vaporizing tube and with the torch it is no real problem. That said I may move it to the inside of the pot, but I need to get up to speed with my 3d printer and get busy making electronic boxes and handles.

.

 

[Biermann]

Hello All Vaporizing friends and DIY fellows.

Johno had started this thread on Nov. 27th 2016 and I feel the community has come a long way with a thorough inside on how-to and parts needed to do a functional OA vaporizer after more then 1300 posts. It will take some long reading to go through them all, but it is possible.

Thanks John for your openness and willingness to discuss particular parts of our Vaporizer journey. We don't always have the same view on everything, but we can agree that only no mites can be the target and how we get there does not matter, here the finish is the important part of the journey.

A Happy & Healthy New Year to you all and bee the honey be plentiful and the mites be gone.

Joerg K.

 

[johno]

Hello All Vaporizing friends and DIY fellows.

Johno had started this thread on Nov. 27th 2016 and I feel the community has come a long way with a thorough inside on how-to and parts needed to do a functional OA vaporizer after more then 1300 posts. It will take some long reading to go through them all, but it is possible.

Thanks John for your openness and willingness to discuss particular parts of our Vaporizer journey. We don't always have the same view on everything, but we can agree that only no mites can be the target and how we get there does not matter, here the finish is the important part of the journey.

A Happy & Healthy New Year to you all and bee the honey be plentiful and the mites be gone.

Joerg K.

Over the last 2 1/2 years I have produced close to 3000 vaporizers and had hoped to meet the demand, however the the demand has been increasing to the point where it has become impossible for me to get even close to meeting it. I am also rapidly approaching my 77th Birthday and am getting tired of producing these vaporizers and wish to spend more of my time on the interests which I have neglected and so at this time I have decided to discontinue manufacturing vaporizers. Thank you for your support over the years but there comes a time when enough is enough and I just got there.
As soon as I can find some time I will produce some videos as to how I manufacture the parts for my vaporizer and how I put them together, this will also include a parts list and I will also put the STL files for the handle and cover onto Thingiverse so that these parts can be printed by interested beekeepers. Hopefully together we can try to make a dent in the mite population.
Johno