The Wizard - Why not?

[Charged]

The spec says cold resistance is between 4 and 10 ohms.
I measured 3.8 ohms. Voltage doesn't much matter (well mostly). The heater exhibits a positive temperature coefficient. As it heats the resistance goes up pretty quickly. I've run this at any voltage between 5 and 14 volts and the heater heats the same. It will start out at between 1 and 1.2 amps depending on the voltage and slowly drop and settle to around 500-700ma.

You don't have to worry about it getting to hot because it won't.

 

[nicotime]

OK great...but next time just gimme v and amps...positive temperature coeficient sounds like something that's happening when the ole lady is bichin at me.

 

[SurfVortex]

Yee-Haw! Hangin tight. Would be truely sublime to be able to remove the heater to clean it!
That's a very nice feature of this gizmo, that the glass tube is heated so no juice gets on the actual nichrome. Sure glad you fellers know what you're doing! Thanks!

 

[nicotime]

What cha tearin up today Charged?

 

[Charged]

What cha tearin up today Charged?

Well, I have 2 things on my plate as far as this goes.
1st thing is I want to see if I can do a self cleaning mod on this Wizard to help out SV with his clog issue. I plan to wire a DC connector down in the base quick and dirty so you can plug a "wall wart" one of the AC to DC square 5 volt jobbers running at like 300ma right across the heater. The idea is to just gently warm the atomizer. Then I plan to soak this b*tch upside down in distilled vinegar with the fill hole unblocked and the vinegar level higher than the fill hole. This should allow the heater to gently heat the vinegar in the tube and get it flowing up through the clog and out through the fill hole. Don't know if it will work but should be pretty quick to try. This should act like a mini pump to circulate the fluid through the tube.

2nd is, I need to set up a test stand for working with this mini "generator" I plan to solder the wire coming out of the bottom of the metal tube directly to the tube down low. Then set up an O'ring on a plastic e-juice bottle so I can slide the tube right down into the bottle. Then proceed to wire up my connections for the heater up top and see if I can make some FOG.

Oh.... and You should be getting some presents in the mail today.

 

[nicotime]

You might have to go to something stronger like Seafoam or WD-40 on that thing. Oldtimers swear to Seafoam for decarboning engine intakes and pistons but I have never used it.

Sea Foam | Home

Cool...I about bytch-slapped the mailman yesterday for bringing me nothing but bills.

 

[nicotime]

Hey Charged...off task here but do you know what the "inhibit" lead to this regulator does? The way I see it, you can put a switch in between that and the ground to turn the output on and off, basically like grounding a sparkplug, right?

Also what does Rset 1% ,0.05 W mean? According to table #2 in the PDF file, if I want to shoot for an output of 4.5v, I need .302 Rset (k ohms)...what does that mean in dumbshyt terms?

PTR08060W

Plug-in Power Modules - Non-Isolated POL - PTR08060W - TI.com

 

[Charged]

Hey Charged...off task here but do you know what the "inhibit" lead to this regulator does? The way I see it, you can put a switch in between that and the ground to turn the output on and off, basically like grounding a sparkplug, right?

Also what does Rset 1% ,0.05 W mean? According to table #2 in the PDF file, if I want to shoot for an output of 4.5v, I need .302 Rset (k ohms)...what does that mean in dumbshyt terms?

Yes nico. Connecting the inhibit pin to ground will turn off the output of the regulator. Doing this does not turn off the regaulator completely but the current required from the battery will be reduced to 1ma. So you would want a normally closed switch connected to ground and when you open/press the switch the output would turn on.

That resistor = 302 OHMS for 4.5V that is calculated value and they are never exact. .05W is how much heat can be dissipated by the resistor. Don't worry you probably can't get a resistor with wattage that low and still be able to solder it. Anything you can get your hands on will have enough wattage.

You could place 200 ohm resistor in series with 500 ohm potentiometer and be able to adjust between 3V and 5.5V just by turning the pot.

I have a couple of these modules in my desk drawer.

 

[nicotime]

I see, so its back to finding a 2+ amp switch then and switch it as usual because I don't want a current drain. Appreciate it Charged.

And your right about the resistor...the way my hands shake anymore I just wire everything up and by the time my hand gets done bouncing around soldering one connection all the others get done as well.

Ok...back to the regularly scheduled program.......

 

[nicotime]

No toys in the mail today...more bills maybe tomorrow...

But I flipped her off as she drove away so I feel better now...of course I always do that when she brings me bills.

 

[Charged]

Ahh, that's to bad nico, it should be there tomorrow for sure.

The more I look at this I'm wondering why we couldn't wrap the nichrome wire around the outside of the glass tube. This way we would have easy access to the connection points of the coiled wire and allow the tube to be cleaned easily because it would be a clear path. The only problem would be getting good consistent heat transfer through the glass tube walls.

I know the tube would have to be very small and the path would be fairly narrow but it would make life a bit easier.

I'm going to see if I can order some 1mm ID glass tubing. I have plenty of nichrome wire. Nico do you have a place of choice for small quantities of pyrex glass tubing?

 

[Scubabatdan]

I have been following this thread with interest, I was looking at pyrex tubing and high temp silicon. So one could make somthing like this:

This would allow for the pyrex tube to be removed for cleaning. The top and bottom of the tube could be filled with high temp silicon, much like the washers that seperate the battery connection points but would plug the ends of the tubing. An O-Ring could keep the ejuice from making contact to the electrical connections. So when power is supplied and the jucie bottle is presurized the heating element would vaporized the passing ejuice. Very much like the wizard. I have found 4mm od pyrex tubing
http://www.amazon.com/Pyrex-Glass-T...0?ie=UTF8&s=industrial&qid=1267648078&sr=1-10
and have been considering trying a prototype for awhile.
Just thought I would shoot it past yall and see if you think it is doable.
Dan

 

[Charged]

Nice drawing Scuba and thanks for joining in. Help and others thoughts are very welcome and greatly appreciated. Whew I thought nico and I were on our own.

I hope there are no females watching this thread we don't want them getting any weird ideas.

I like the plugin idea. Like you say though that O'ring would have to do a pretty good job and be fairly tolerant of some heat, especially if one were to run it with no fluid in there to help keep it cool.
Edit: Yes Scuba it does look doable. I will add it to my list of things to mess up... or a.... I mean mess with.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to make a couple calls to some folks I've worked with in the past at corning glass and see if they can help us out here.

 

[traderdan]

Charged
I have been watching this thread and also have a wizard . i am thankful of all the info you and Nic Have exstracted from you research of the wizard .
You guys are great ! I was testing the glass tube design before this thread and was very happy when this one came along. I like the glass ,but it worries me About hot and quik cooling of it . Any thing I can do I will. Please feel free to ask me questions on anything about the glass tubing designs. I used glass tubing in some of my atty designs. Ive also been using pyrex of a local labratory supply company. Im currently recovering from surgery today, but will have lots of time, to help with testing and research. Would love to be involved, if you'll allow. I have alot of resources at my disposal, lathe, mill, cnc, laser scanner, and access to another large cnc. Metal casting capabilities, 3d design capabilites. The road goes on forever, and the party never ends.

 

[Scubabatdan]

Nice drawing Scuba and thanks for joining in. Help and others thoughts are very welcome and greatly appreciated. Whew I thought nico and I were on our own.

I hope there are no females watching this thread we don't want them getting any weird ideas.

I like the plugin idea. Like you say though that O'ring would have to do a pretty good job and be fairly tolerant of some heat, especially if one were to run it with no fluid in there to help keep it cool.
Edit: Yes Scuba it does look doable. I will add it to my list of things to mess up... or a.... I mean mess with.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to make a couple calls to some folks I've worked with in the past at corning glass and see if they can help us out here.

Cool, 4mm OD is the smallest I could find in pyrex, I choose pyrex because it has a 900+c threshold when it comes to heat. Also if we could get 3mm with .08mm wall sealed on one end then a unit could be made to slide in the base and be siliconed in. i.e. a screw on connector like the cartomizers. That way it could be unscewed to be removed.

i.e. :

What do ya think?
We could call it the heated penetrator mod with a twist
Dan

 

[nicotime]

Hey guys...good to see we have company finally. Looks doable Scuba...I would go with a Teflon bushing instead of o-ring. I have some sheets of it here we could make any size needed if the hardware stores dont have it. I emailed Corning begging for samples...I got a reply from their lab department;

From the description of your R&D project, it sounds like you need our Specialty Materials Division.
This e-mail arrived in the labware division’s general e-mail box.
The specialty division deals with the Vycor raw form products.
Here is their contact information
Corning Incorporated
Specialty Materials
One Riverfront Plaza
Corning, NY 14831 USA

So I forwarded it to them;

Larry,
Corning exited the Vycor product line in 2009 with the closure of the Danville Va. Plant. We sold off our entire inventory to customers that placed last time buys or distributors that built up multiple year supplies.
We sold Vycor tubing to companies that put a heating element inside them and used them in frost free refrigerators. This was an application that had been in place for ~15 years. Not sure what your invention is, but you might want to contact one of our glass distributors and see if you can procure some tubing from them. I would recommend Swift Glass Company in Elmira NY. Phone number is 607-733-7166. Contact is Tony Speciale.

So thats where I am at with that..waiting for a reply.

I dont think regular Pyrex tubing will withstand the thermal shock that we will be subjecting it to, thats why I went for the Vycor. MAYBE the heavy wall Pyrex but I dont know. It is a nightmare to get online.

traderdan I envy you...all those years of machines any time I want are now gone...I miss the machine shop. If I had the money there would be a Haas VF-10 sitting in my garage. lol

I wonder what they use on the wiz for glass tube?

 

[Charged]

Wow this is awesome. I have a house full of people here right now so I have to act like a responsible caring family member for the next couple of hours but I'll be back as soon as I can kick them all out.

 

[nicotime]

Awww hell...just tell them your just gettin over an outbreak of herpes and start coughing around...they will be outta there.

 

[Charged]

Hey finally back.
1st off thanks guys so much for stepping in and offering some ideas and help with this goal.

SurfVortex, thanks for that PM to keep me going on this thread. If it wasn't for your interest I would have dropped the thread and continued on in anonymity.

nicotime, thanks for jumping in and asking questions and helping out with some good work and sound logical thinking. It's people like you that makes being in this forum a really good experience.

Scubabatdan, you are a very respected member and I think that spreadsheat your created is a huge help to us DIY'rs, I use it all the time and respect you and your ideas. Based on what you've been thinking I like it and want to go further with those thoughts.

traderdan I'm sorry to hear of your surgery and hope everything is ok with you. It seems you have a great deal of experience in most all areas of machining and mechanical design, that is a wonderful asset and blows me away that we have this kind of talent here.

I've had a few alcoholic beverages with friends and family tonight and not thinking real clear. The significant other has also partaken, so with that I'm going to take advantage of the situation and with any luck I'll wake up with a couple clear heads and a big smile and see if I can map out a plan to move forward.

Thanks again for all your help guys.

 

[Charged]

Geezuz I must have had a few, typing like we're at the got damn oscars.

OK at any rate I want to keep studying this "Generator" for now. Once I get a decent understanding of how to defeat it's flaws we can move on and start another thread for different atomizer designs using what we learn from this one. After all this is the Wizard thread so would like to continue that path.

Would really like to come up with a mod to overcome or at least be able to repair/modify and continue to use the Wizard stick. I know there is push back here from the traditional ecig users (due to apperance) but I like this device and want to make it work better as a personal vaporizer.

I have 2 things to try as I said earlier. 1st one is the self clean mild heating vinegar bath for clearing a clogged tube. If that dosen't work then going to attempt surgery removal of the "generator" and adding connections to make it easily servicable. At the same time I'll be setting up a testing rig for this mini generator and see what we can get out of it.

I have 5 more of these Wizards on thier way for continuos mod improvements. Once I get where I think they are up to very good PV standards I'll mod and sell a few to try and recoupe some of my $.

Time to head off to work. I have tomorrow off so will be spending some quality time with my Wizard and his little buddies.

nico let me know if you receive my super-top-secret mystery package.

For anyone out west interested in the Wizard they have them here for $14.95