dlusion
Member
dlusion’s DIY halogen vaporizer
Parts List:
Clear plastic tubing (I used 3/8ths in x 1/4thin x 10ft ) – Home Depot – $3.00
25W 120V (AC) Halogen Bulb – Home Depot – $5.50
5” x 2-1/4” Bun Foot – Home Depot - $8.00
2qt ‘Cracker Jar’ – Walmart – $5.00
Stainless steel LED flashlight - ?????? - $?.?? [The model I used is one of these. Try to get the silver/unpainted one.]
Power cable - ????? - $?.?? [I just re-used the powercord from a blown transformer.. I’m sure you could do something similar!]
Stainless Steel Metal Pipe Screen – Local Headshop - $0.15
Tools Necessary:
Power drill (phillips screw head, Woodboring bits)
Dremel (cutting wheel + sanding cylinder)
Hammer/nails
I am writing this guide as I build my very own halogen vape. I’ve had recent (great!) success with the concept, but clumsily used a 12v DC bulb and a transformer that couldn’t feed enough power to the bulb. While it worked temporarily, the transformer blew out as I was testing the bulb’s heat capacity. I subsequently blew the bulb by assuming that it could be powered by straight 120v AC from a wall socket (all incadescents do it, why not halogen? ). With a new design in mind, I decided to make a detailed write-up for anyone who wants a ‘REAL’ functioning vaporizer for less than 50$.
[Part One – The Herb Stand]
First, we must tear apart that flashlight and cut it down to size using a cutting-wheel on a dremel tool. The metal isn’t difficult to cut at all, but wear eye protection or you will get metal shards in your eyes.
This is how I cut the flashlight:
I used the two end pieces, discarding the middle. I took all of the pushbutton assembly crap out of the end cap and inserted a metal screen carefully. This is the result for that:
You should be able to simply rest the screw cap in one side of the flashlight’s tip piece (the uncut side). I prefer this over having to screw the cap itself in, as when the vape has been used and you want to take the used herbal supply out the metal is damned hot and I don’t wanna have to deal with unscrewing it at that point. If you want that, suit yourself. Just make sure the screen sits about one inch away from the halogen bulb or you may burn the herb. Either way, congratulations! You’ve made your herb stand.
[Part Two – The Base]
If you’ve used the same materials that I have, you will have a wooden base. In my case, there’s a screw in the center of my circular ‘Bun Foot’ (who knows wtf this is really intended for) that must be removed. With a simple twist, a pair of pliers can unscrew the unwanted screw. The unwanted screw did leave behind a very admirable prize, however. It marked the center point of my circular base. At this point you will want to measure your ‘herb stand’ for diameter. My ‘herb stand’ has a diameter of an inch. Using a 1” wood boring bit, bore a hole about ¼” deep. This will give you enough room to make sure the ‘herb stand’ slides in and fits snuggly. You may have to sand down the edge of the circle a bit for the herb stand to fit properly… or maybe just hammer it in? I chose the first route out of fear that I’d break something.
Optional: Bore another hole of a smaller diameter to hold the base of the halogen bulb snuggly. I made a shallow ½” diameter hole for my bulb. *I forgot to do that.. hehe*
[Note! Air should be able to pass by the bulb for passive air intake.]
Locate the center point of the hole you’ve just bored, and drill all the way through with a regular drill bit large enough for your power cord to fit through.
When you’ve done all of this, you should be able to make this little assembly:
The first thing you should note is that the base will not sit flat as it is. I decided to use the cylinder sand bit to cut a path for the cord. This just makes the project that much more ‘professional’, eh?
The last piece of drilling you’ll have to do is for your tubing! I used 3/8ths” outer diameter clear tubing from Home Depot. I will need to drill a 3/8ths” hole. There are a few ways to do this, but I’ve decided on trying to make the tubing come out the side. To do this, I have to make one vertical hole and one horizontal hole. The vertical hole should be at least ½” away from the herb stand and the same distance from the edge. Also, if you made a cutaway for your cord make sure that you’re drilling the tube holes on the other side of the piece of wood. You wouldn’t want to ruin the block of wood with stress cracks, would you? The horizontal hole with probably be a pain in the ass (I’m typing this before I go do it) but make damn well CERTAIN that you will intersect the two drill holes. If you miss, you pretty much ruin the piece of wood you’ve been using. If you do this, don’t worry! Home Depot has another 8$ block of wood waitin’ for ya!
I found that using a 3/8ths” wood bore to start the hole on the side of the block was a good way to go. After getting that hole started, I just used a slightly smaller drill bit to finish the holes vertically and horizontally(a bigger hole would be better, but I couldn’t find my 3/8thin drill bit.). This method produced this result:
Make sure your tubing fits snuggly while also getting good airflow!
Fantastic! Onwards to the final part!
[Part Three – The Jar and Final Assembly]
The jar you’ve acquired (if it’s like mine) will need to have some of the cap removed. I decided to make things easy on myself and just make a square cutout of the lid. The square should be large enough for the herb stand and tube hole to be seen and not blocked. You should leave enough of the lid intact so that you can use small (read: very small) nails to pin the lid down. Instead of using nails, I dumbly decided to use screws. I burnt through two Phillips head bits and managed to drill one screw in slanted.. oh well. My first attempt at making a hole in the lid was a failure.. I made the hole too small. Thankfully, that can be corrected.
Here is the first attempt (and failure):
Here is the completed jar lid:
For the final bits of assembly, get together your power cord and halogen bulb. Take extra caution to not touch the halogen bulb. Even a tiny bit of oil from your skin will cause the bulb to burst. Feed the power cable through the wooden base and give yourself enough slack for the cord to sit level on some surface. You’re going to solder the power cord directly to the halogen bulb. Don’t worry about positive or negative, it’s 120v AC so you don’t have to bother with it. When you’ve made a decent solder connection between the power cord and the bulb, make sure you wipe the bulb down with a piece of toilet paper or something. You may have slipped and touched the bulb. Don’t use electrical tape to cover the connections. They are far enough apart so that they won’t arc and the heat produced by the bulb will melt the tape. Pull the power cord till the bulb creates some resistance. Tape the power cord to the wooden base on the bottom so that the electrical cord won’t tug and rip the solder connections.
Congrats! You should be done! Put some herb in your ‘herb stand cap’, place it on the herb stand, screw the jar on and plug ‘er in! You’ve got a vape!
If you have any questions or comments, speak up! I didn't include a soldering pic as I haven't actually soldered my bulb/wires together yet. I suppose I'll run out and grab some solder tonight and have a video hosted of the vape in action by tomorrow. This is a working design, It's just a nicer model than the one I made over the weekend. (Was using 12v DC and it burned out the transformer in 15mins.. still got me high, though!
)
<3
dlusion
Parts List:
Clear plastic tubing (I used 3/8ths in x 1/4thin x 10ft ) – Home Depot – $3.00
25W 120V (AC) Halogen Bulb – Home Depot – $5.50
5” x 2-1/4” Bun Foot – Home Depot - $8.00
2qt ‘Cracker Jar’ – Walmart – $5.00
Stainless steel LED flashlight - ?????? - $?.?? [The model I used is one of these. Try to get the silver/unpainted one.]
Power cable - ????? - $?.?? [I just re-used the powercord from a blown transformer.. I’m sure you could do something similar!]
Stainless Steel Metal Pipe Screen – Local Headshop - $0.15
Tools Necessary:
Power drill (phillips screw head, Woodboring bits)
Dremel (cutting wheel + sanding cylinder)
Hammer/nails
I am writing this guide as I build my very own halogen vape. I’ve had recent (great!) success with the concept, but clumsily used a 12v DC bulb and a transformer that couldn’t feed enough power to the bulb. While it worked temporarily, the transformer blew out as I was testing the bulb’s heat capacity. I subsequently blew the bulb by assuming that it could be powered by straight 120v AC from a wall socket (all incadescents do it, why not halogen? ). With a new design in mind, I decided to make a detailed write-up for anyone who wants a ‘REAL’ functioning vaporizer for less than 50$.
[Part One – The Herb Stand]
First, we must tear apart that flashlight and cut it down to size using a cutting-wheel on a dremel tool. The metal isn’t difficult to cut at all, but wear eye protection or you will get metal shards in your eyes.
This is how I cut the flashlight:
I used the two end pieces, discarding the middle. I took all of the pushbutton assembly crap out of the end cap and inserted a metal screen carefully. This is the result for that:
You should be able to simply rest the screw cap in one side of the flashlight’s tip piece (the uncut side). I prefer this over having to screw the cap itself in, as when the vape has been used and you want to take the used herbal supply out the metal is damned hot and I don’t wanna have to deal with unscrewing it at that point. If you want that, suit yourself. Just make sure the screen sits about one inch away from the halogen bulb or you may burn the herb. Either way, congratulations! You’ve made your herb stand.
[Part Two – The Base]
If you’ve used the same materials that I have, you will have a wooden base. In my case, there’s a screw in the center of my circular ‘Bun Foot’ (who knows wtf this is really intended for) that must be removed. With a simple twist, a pair of pliers can unscrew the unwanted screw. The unwanted screw did leave behind a very admirable prize, however. It marked the center point of my circular base. At this point you will want to measure your ‘herb stand’ for diameter. My ‘herb stand’ has a diameter of an inch. Using a 1” wood boring bit, bore a hole about ¼” deep. This will give you enough room to make sure the ‘herb stand’ slides in and fits snuggly. You may have to sand down the edge of the circle a bit for the herb stand to fit properly… or maybe just hammer it in? I chose the first route out of fear that I’d break something.
Optional: Bore another hole of a smaller diameter to hold the base of the halogen bulb snuggly. I made a shallow ½” diameter hole for my bulb. *I forgot to do that.. hehe*
[Note! Air should be able to pass by the bulb for passive air intake.]
Locate the center point of the hole you’ve just bored, and drill all the way through with a regular drill bit large enough for your power cord to fit through.
When you’ve done all of this, you should be able to make this little assembly:
The first thing you should note is that the base will not sit flat as it is. I decided to use the cylinder sand bit to cut a path for the cord. This just makes the project that much more ‘professional’, eh?
The last piece of drilling you’ll have to do is for your tubing! I used 3/8ths” outer diameter clear tubing from Home Depot. I will need to drill a 3/8ths” hole. There are a few ways to do this, but I’ve decided on trying to make the tubing come out the side. To do this, I have to make one vertical hole and one horizontal hole. The vertical hole should be at least ½” away from the herb stand and the same distance from the edge. Also, if you made a cutaway for your cord make sure that you’re drilling the tube holes on the other side of the piece of wood. You wouldn’t want to ruin the block of wood with stress cracks, would you? The horizontal hole with probably be a pain in the ass (I’m typing this before I go do it) but make damn well CERTAIN that you will intersect the two drill holes. If you miss, you pretty much ruin the piece of wood you’ve been using. If you do this, don’t worry! Home Depot has another 8$ block of wood waitin’ for ya!
I found that using a 3/8ths” wood bore to start the hole on the side of the block was a good way to go. After getting that hole started, I just used a slightly smaller drill bit to finish the holes vertically and horizontally(a bigger hole would be better, but I couldn’t find my 3/8thin drill bit.). This method produced this result:
Make sure your tubing fits snuggly while also getting good airflow!
Fantastic! Onwards to the final part!
[Part Three – The Jar and Final Assembly]
The jar you’ve acquired (if it’s like mine) will need to have some of the cap removed. I decided to make things easy on myself and just make a square cutout of the lid. The square should be large enough for the herb stand and tube hole to be seen and not blocked. You should leave enough of the lid intact so that you can use small (read: very small) nails to pin the lid down. Instead of using nails, I dumbly decided to use screws. I burnt through two Phillips head bits and managed to drill one screw in slanted.. oh well. My first attempt at making a hole in the lid was a failure.. I made the hole too small. Thankfully, that can be corrected.
Here is the first attempt (and failure):
Here is the completed jar lid:
For the final bits of assembly, get together your power cord and halogen bulb. Take extra caution to not touch the halogen bulb. Even a tiny bit of oil from your skin will cause the bulb to burst. Feed the power cable through the wooden base and give yourself enough slack for the cord to sit level on some surface. You’re going to solder the power cord directly to the halogen bulb. Don’t worry about positive or negative, it’s 120v AC so you don’t have to bother with it. When you’ve made a decent solder connection between the power cord and the bulb, make sure you wipe the bulb down with a piece of toilet paper or something. You may have slipped and touched the bulb. Don’t use electrical tape to cover the connections. They are far enough apart so that they won’t arc and the heat produced by the bulb will melt the tape. Pull the power cord till the bulb creates some resistance. Tape the power cord to the wooden base on the bottom so that the electrical cord won’t tug and rip the solder connections.
Congrats! You should be done! Put some herb in your ‘herb stand cap’, place it on the herb stand, screw the jar on and plug ‘er in! You’ve got a vape!
If you have any questions or comments, speak up! I didn't include a soldering pic as I haven't actually soldered my bulb/wires together yet. I suppose I'll run out and grab some solder tonight and have a video hosted of the vape in action by tomorrow. This is a working design, It's just a nicer model than the one I made over the weekend. (Was using 12v DC and it burned out the transformer in 15mins.. still got me high, though!
)<3
dlusion
