The E-Pipe Juice Machine

[clyde2801]

Here are the pictures I took after I repaired the leak near the tubing. Long story short, I ended up having to use half the tubing to get it corrected, resulting in a whole lot less kinks between the bottle and the copper tube. I also filled that little bottle up REAL GOOD. Used super glue gel to reattach the tubing to the copper, no leaks now.

Now here's where it gets interesting....

When I press on the bottle very much, there is a small amount of seepage at the top around the atomizer, just as predicted.

BUT if I take a long, slow, deep inhale, I can vape and vape on the little sucker WITHOUT HAVING TO PRESS THE BOTTLE AT ALL and have hellacious vape after vape.

So, I'm thinking...I wonder if my dipwad, unintended alteration MADE IT TO WHERE THE THE ACT OF INHALING ITSELF IS JUST DRAWING THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF juice FROM THE FULL BOTTLE?!? Peter, how many vapes do you get on yours without a squeeze? A sharp primer puff and a sharper inhale seems to be working without anything else.

Or maybe it can vape for five minutes without squeezing, and I'm mad. Or my technique in first using it was flawed in not keeping enough gentle pressure against the bottle to adequately wet the atty. In that case, I'm lucky my field repair didn't damage the functionality of the machine.

Anyway, nice, rich wet vape. You can really taste the flavors in this puppy. That is all. Out.

 

[highping]

That sounds nice Clyde.

I was kind of wondering about that myself. It seems like with the proper tuning, it would draw juice automatically, since the two side holes are so much smaller than the bottom hole. I figured that you would get enough negative pressure on the atty to suck the juice in. That probably depends a lot on the viscosity of the juice though.

Here's a thought... What if the tube was filled with nickel foam?? then you may get the delivery strictly from capillary action, and no need to squeeze at all. You would need some silica filling at the very end of though, to keep everything electrically isolated.

 

[clyde2801]

And how does one, prey tell, obtain nickel foam?

 

[highping]

That's a good question Clyde. I managed to get some from an atty manufacturer, but it took a little sweet talkin' and BS. And I only got a few small pieces of foam and a few ceramic cups.

I would really like to find a real supplier to get some large pieces (and by 'large' I mean like 4" square or something). If anyone knows please post.

 

[clyde2801]

Of course, there's not a thing wrong with petercro's design. Pretty brilliant, actually. I didn't think you could get so much vape out of a rn4081 at 3.7 v. Guy's a genius.

Take a little bit to learn to refine vaping techniques, but so far, it's quite encouraging. I'm just about confident enough in it to walk out of my house with this mini wonder, and nothing else, and be able to look forward to a full day of hassle free vaping. Wow.

 

[WhatAClumsyGirl]

Wonderful machine Peter ! I've been following this thread and I'm truely amazed at your work.

We all thrive for that perfect vape..and it's a joy to see all of you master craftsmen become closer to that ultimate satisfaction.

 

[clyde2801]

Wow, the more I'm using this machine, the more I'm liking it. The way to master squeezing techniques is to take the back of, and watch the flow of juice in the tube to figure out how long and how hard to squeeze it. Once I used this to quickly get the hang of it, every puff has been stellar.

Peter's design is so damned precise that it doesn't need a back plate. I'm serious! I can take the back off, shake it with all of my might and nothing can dislodge! And try as I might, I can't flood the atty on this design. Any excess is either instantly sucked back into the bottle or oozes out the air intake of the atty harmlessly onto the outside of the top of the box. Genius!

His choice to use a 4081 atty is inspired. This puppy will take some serious abuse and put out some pretty decent thick, tasty vape! I've almost vaped myself sick with this thing!

Battery will get a quick charge, and then I'll take it, and nothing else, with me to the job tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

 

[WhatAClumsyGirl]

Clyde, you have sold me on it. I definately want one of these if Peter will sell me one It's a definate plus the atty won't flood. Thats my only complaint about Carlos's Juice box. I seem to flood the atty quite often. I didnt at first but now i do...so i may be doing something wrong there. Nothing at all against Carlos, he is a genius as far as I'm concerned ...but getting used to it is a bit of a learning curve as you will soon experience.

Ok Peter...when are these bad boy's going to be available to us groupies ? lol. No rush...just keep me in mind if they are.

Glad you are loving it Clyde. It looks fantastic.

 

[Guineahill]

I'm drooling just thinking about it! I would love to attempt to make one myself, but I would rather acquire one built by the creator!

I really do think that liquid delivery is a significant issue... worthy of much more than the standard cart mods that are out there even though some of them are very good.

 

[clyde2801]

I'm starting to call peter BMG for British Mod God. And again, with the bottle full, it doesn't need pumping for the first hour or so... it's like the suction from inhaling is at first pulling just the right amount of juice into the atty.

This thing is perfect for the car...no dripping carts, anything.

Gonna have to slow down the testing...starting to feel dizzy.

 

[MastiffMike]

First hour? Does that mean that after the liquid level falls below a certain threshold the vacuum draw is no longer sufficient? I ask b/c I wonder if there's a different design (bottle size/shape? Maybe feed tube down into bottom of bottle?) that would either prolong it or even make it pratically permenate?

 

[clyde2801]

That is correct. Once the 5 ml bottle gets down to 75% or so, you have to start pumping. The tubing is all the way down to the bottom of the bottle.

I was wondering the same thing. This thing would be so simple then it would be bulletproof. It's pretty darned good now.

 

[MastiffMike]

OK, sthanks Clyde!

So what is causing it to no longer work? If the liquid level is still higher than the tube end shouldn't it still work? Is it a function of air vs. liquid? A matter of liquid weight? Can someone more intelligent than me (and that opens it up to about everyone!) explain what could be causing it to stop working?

I'm picturing a bottle shaped more like an atty (i.e. thinner but longer) and wondering if that would work better/worse...

 

[Scottbee]

That is correct. Once the 5 ml bottle gets down to 75% or so, you have to start pumping. The tubing is all the way down to the bottom of the bottle.

I was wondering the same thing. This thing would be so simple then it would be bulletproof. It's pretty darned good now.

Clyde..... is your liquid bottle "vented" (either intentionally or unintentionally).

 

[MastiffMike]

Ah, there's someone smarter than me! Please, teach me! (and try to use terms/concepts a 2nd grader can understand or you'll just make my brain hurt!

 

[Scottbee]

Well.... if you want the juice machine to work via "pumping" the bottle.. then you need to have a completely sealed bottle with the exception of the tube coming out of it. Squeeze the bottle, pressure builds up.. juice is expelled via the tube. Release the bottle, some/most of the juice comes back.. along with a little air. The bottle is now "burped" and back at atmospheric pressure.

But.... if you want to be able to feed liquid by just "sucking on it", the setup will need to be just a bit different. As you "suck" on the feed tube.. liquid comes up the tube and feeds the atty. This creates partial pressure (vacuum) in the bottle. If, after your "draw" the liquid goes all the way back down the tube, and then allows air to enter.. then the bottle is "burped". But if the liquid remains in the tube.. then air can't enter.. and at some point the vacuum in the bottle will become "large" enough that you can't get any more liquid out via "sucking". This is exactly why gas tanks have a "vent".. to allow air to enter and replace the volume of the consumed liquid.

I would be curious to see what kind of results Clyde will get if he slightly "cracks" the cap on the bottle, allowing air to enter (venting).

 

[highping]

I'm kind of picturing putting a little vent valve on the bottle (or hose) that, when pressed could release the vacuum and return the system to atmo. This way, instead of ever pumping the bottle, you would just give it a quick vent.

Edit: Better yet a 'check valve' to allow air to enter and not allow juice out.

Edit2: never mind, an auto check valve is no good. If air can come in freely, you would probably suck the juice up like in a straw. Just a manual vent valve should work though.

Edit3: I really should think these things out before posting ... Scottbee, shouldn't the bottle return to atmo on its own? Seems like as the juice level drops the resistance to 'burp' should go down, right

 

[Scottbee]

I'll go ahead and go one step further.. since I kinda have some experience in this area.

Once you vent the bottle, you will find that the flow rate on the liquid increases dramatically, and you will probably flood the atty like there is no tomorrow.

Now.... you can play around with the venting and tubing size and a bunch of other things and ultimately get the perfect flow rate. But then you will discover that a liquid with a slightly different viscosity will feed at a different rate. And then you will find that a different atty has a different demand rate than the previous one. And then you will discover that a fully charged battery likes to have more liquid than one that has "flattened" a little bit.

And.. you will discover that there is a very fine line between feeding too little liquid... just the right amount of liquid.. and then too much liquid.

One way to make the unit more universal.. and ultimately easier to deal with, is to put an adjustable needle valve in the feed line. Then you can add a couple of "clicks" to increase the liquid flow.. or take out a couple of clicks if it is running too "rich". You'll need a little room in the box, and then you'll cut a hole so the adjuster knob can stick out somewhere. This type of needle valve works well in this application:

 

[Scottbee]

I'm kind of picturing putting a little vent valve on the bottle (or hose) that, when pressed could release the vacuum and return the system to atmo. This way, instead of ever pumping the bottle, you would just give it a quick vent.

Yep... that will work too....

 

[highping]

Sorry scottbee, my page didn't refresh and I was dropping in edits, before I saw your next posts coming in.