TEK How to Make an Electric Convection Vaporiser

[Coconut]

Please feel free to provide feedback and ask questions on this TEK. I wish to make it as easy to follow and thorough as possible.

My tree was in Eindhoven a few months ago and came across a magnificent creation in the High Times coffeeshop. Following much frantic searching, he finally discovered the item: the Verdamper Vaporiser.



A beauty to behold! A true psychonaut's vaporising device! But with such celestial contraptions holding price tags as omnipotent as their designs, they are out of reach of most SWIMmers.

So, my tree thought about it for a while, and decided that he was tired of having to rely on a lightbulb and who knows how many lighters to vaporise his delicious, aromatic buds. Thus began his mission to create an inexpensive, highly customisable, DIY, electric convection vaporiser which is available to all... and he has succeeded.

This TEK is merely a guide and parts can be replaced here and there; I'm just reporting exactly what my tree did. It can cost as little as €20 or no more than €50.

What You Will Need To Replicate This Exactly

A bong
Almost everyone has one. If not, cheap acrylic ones are usually available from most headshops, including online ones. They are very cheap.

Smoking accessories
This particular setup used:

• One large bong bowl
• One small pipe bowl
• One pipe mouthpiece
• One 45-degree steel pipe body
• Pipe screens

A glass bottle
Litre booze bottles are best, particularly ones containing hard spirits. This vaporiser used a bottle of Captain Morgan dark rum, empty and washed, but anything similar will do. Keep the cap.

A soldering iron
Must be electric. My tree used an Antex ER30 30W iron, obtained from Maplin Electronics, which is located in (at least) Ireland and the United Kingdom. Cost about €15 and reaches 420 degrees celsius. Lower power irons may work, but probably aren't worth the risk as the air flowing over the herb must be about 200 degrees, and air cools very rapidly.

Some tubing
Irritatingly stiff plastic tubing (left over from a CPU water-cooling system) was used in this case, but anything will suffice. Malleable, springy medical tubing is probably best, as long as it is non-toxic and has high melting/smoke points.

Cable ties
Known as zip-ties in some parts of the world and used for tying cables together. There are probably some lying around if you are a nerd or handyman. If not, they're cheap in hardware and electronics shops.

A vertical stand
A metal stand for kitchen towel (paper) was used here.

A steel hanger
For clothes. Made of steel. Et cetera.


Construction

Part 1

Take the bit out of the soldering iron if there is one. Find a safe, well-ventilated place to put it down (ideally a soldering iron stand) where it is not contacting anything, and switch it on. Let it heat up and leave it for an hour or so. It will smell like burning dust and you may notice some smoke; this is essential to clean the surface and inside of the heating element. Do not leave it unattended during this time. Afterwards, unplug it and allow it to cool completely.

Now, remove the outside casing of the iron so the element. With the Antex iron this was simply a case of taking out the screw in the body with a pair of pliers, then yanking the heating element out. You can cut the body to remove it from around the power lead if you want, but don't damage any wires.

This can be very dangerous and will increase the risk of fire and electrocution - when the iron is on - if done improperly. To reduce this risk, cover any exposed wires with insulating tape or shrink wrap.




Part 2

Get your steel hanger and unwind it. Cut off a small section and wrap it like a coil around the heating element of the iron. This is to assist in convection. Save the rest for later.




Part 3

Rinse out the empty glass bottle. Here is where all the forces of chaos theory and the Butterfly Effect come into play: the bottle must be broken in approximately half. There are various methods to achieve this, most of which involve a hammer and some wishful thinking. The only half needed is the one with the neck attached.

Once the bottle is broken, clear any shards of glass from the inside and tape/pad the jagged edges to make sure they don't cause any harm.




Part 4

Attach the tubing to the metal pipe in the bong. For this vaporiser, a smoking pipe mouthpiece screwed onto it and the tubing was placed and cable-tied over this. It should be possible to just directly stick the tubing into the water. Now, securely plug the other end of the tubing into the smoking pipe bowl which has been screwed into the angled section of its 45-degree stand.





Part 5

Cut a hole in the bottle cap and put the bong bowl in so that the screw end is sticking through the outside of the cap. Place a screen inside the bowl and screw it (with the cap still attached) into the other socket of the pipe stand.




Part 6

Take your big stand and weave the rest of the hanger so that it creates a sturdy hold for the glass bottle, which is placed upside-down. Secure this with cable ties.


Part 7

Place the soldering iron into the bottle through the broken end and down into the neck. Cable-tie the power lead to the stand, ensuring it does not come into contact with the neck of the bottle; the coil around the element should help it fit snugly in the neck. Switch the iron on and leave it for another hour or two, then unplug it. You should notice no smoke, and nothing should have gone awry.






Part 8

Ensure that the bottle is cool and the iron unplugged. Place your herbal blend into the bowl with the screen in it and screw the cap onto the upside-down bottle. Ensure that the iron is about an inch from the bowl.

Fill the bong, as normal, with water and plug the iron in. After a few minutes, inhale through the bong. Vary whatever is needed to ensure consistent vaporisation.




Notes

Variable temperature soldering irons are usually fairly expensive, and messing around with mains voltage could easily kill you. Instead, we have a variable-height mechanism: if the herb starts smoking, either pull the iron up slightly or unscrew the bottle cap so the bowl decreases in height. My tree prefers the latter. Be careful though, as the cap and bottle will become quite hot.

This vaporiser should allow near constant use without having to plug/unplug the heating element.

It should be possible to test the position of the bowl/element with a digital thermometer.

It is important that nothing flammable/affected by heat ever touches the element, including plastic which was not inside the soldering iron, flesh, any form of liquid or the material to be vaporised.

Ideally, the flexible tubing should not be connected directly to the large bowl, as this will become quite hot, hence the use of a secondary bowl and 45-degree pipe stand as a heat buffer and connector.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Very interesting TEK for the cash strapped stoner

[Coconut]

I must add that I included information about the bong as an extra. It is not necessary. The tubing can be connected directly to the bowl sitting inside the lid if one wishes, and the other end can be used to inhale from. This may produce better results as fewer cannabinoids will condense before reaching the lungs.

My tree has field tested this with many volunteers and reports very positive feedback. Well worth the effort if you are not bothered working overtime to afford a Volcano or other commercial product.

It may take some time and tinkering to find the correct position of the iron and bowl for the perfect vaporisation temperature.

Certainly this device can be adjusted to vaporise other substances including DMT and salvinorin A.