Please use only SuperWool 607 HT to avoid potential health risks.

Estimated price: $10-$20 to start producing in bulk. Small quantities of the fiber are available between $5-$15, any of which contain enough to last anyone for the rest of their lives. Pipe screens can be purchased in bulk for ~$5. Droppers can be obtained in bulk for as little as $2, even with bottles. Rubber gaskets should typically be under $1 for a pair.

REGARDING THE REQUEST FOR TESTERS:


Success!

Improved Model

Development of The Inspirator mkII



Original OP:

ceramic is awesome material.
i was at a stove(wood) shop a few years back and a salesman had a small bat of ceramic wool. he was demonstrating its insulative properties, and was holding a torch right up to it. the wool was pure white, and the flame didn't oxidize it at all. i would imagine it would be more difficult to clean than ss wool, and i would personally not use copper because it can be composed of many different alloys that may be harmful at high temps.(i guess the same is true for ss but it just seems safer) check for it at stoveshops--or possibly McMaster-Carr online.

SWIM's not sure it would be much harder to clean in SWIM's model of "the machine," as long as there's enough air passage. SWIM would also imagine that it would distribute heat much more evenly (due to increased surface area and effectiveness as a heat-sink) and provide much more protection of the product from the flame. SWIM's main concern is whether it would heat as rapidly as steel or copper. If it turns out to work as well as SWIM's imagining, a plug of this material would never have to be removed from SWIM's piece, making it much more self-contained, durable and effective.

SWIM doesn't have a stove-shop locally. He'll probably just order a wad of ceramic wool when he gets the cash.

Very soon, now....

Thought I'd quote this from another thread, due to its relevance to this one:

Ceramic Wool is suitable for temperatures up to 3000ºF . Layers of this fabric are commonly used on top of woodstove baffle plates ,check out your local wood stove place they have lots of this stuff .
I am going to test some .

SWIM's done it.... He's achieved the criterion of efficiency in vaporization after much sacrifice to his respiratory health and some sacrifice of spice.

It must be said that the ideal design, ceramic wool on it's own in the piece, does not work at all and burns the shit out of spice. However, as it turns out, the middle ground between SWIM's mini-machine bubbler stem and this ideal works absolutely perfectly in that it overcomes the drawbacks of both. Make a mini-machine of SWIM's design, stuff 1.5cm or so of ceramic fiber and a few mm of copper or steel mesh to lock it in, and you've got yourself "The Inspirator" (coming soon). This piece does not easily overheat, nor does it result in any runoff at all. The key is to ensure maximum airflow by poking holes in the ceramic and copper with a safety pin (take the time to do this right, as your throat and lungs will thank you later).

SWIM had forgotten the pure joy of being able to take such thick vapor with next to no harshness (he used to be able to do this with mesh-loaded bowl and a torch, but he didn't like how the product was so exposed to the flame and eventually ran down the stem). Because this has no runoff, SWIM no longer has to worry about the angle of the piece, making it ideal for standard bubblers.

This should also work for changa, though it may require a shorter plug.

Look around for the cheapest source of ceramic fiber (ceramic blankets seem to be the most common) you can find, as it will probably last you damn-near forever in any amount you're likely to find it in.

SWIM will write up a tek w/ pictorial in the morning. If there are any doubts, build one like SWIM's old model and master it (shouldn't take long at all, just adhere to SWIM's tips). Then imagine what it would be like with cooler vapor and no runoff, and you'll find plenty cause to make a small investment in some ceramic fiber.

Good work! Now we need to figure out how this compares to a VG.

ye, I second that.

It would be nice to hear about.

Some advantages that SWIM knows of off hand are that it's easy to make and keep multiple pieces on-hand, so that everyone has their own or so that they can be preloaded for whatever purpose, this piece facilitates the use of practically any standard bubbler, it's easy to clean, it's quite cheap (especially in consideration of being able to make multiples), and it's incredibly portable. Plus, it's so fun to make your own piece that doesn't look half bad and be able to easily teach others how to make their own.


It's too bad that some amount of metal had to remain, but at least it's a fairly minimal amount without direct flame application. SWIM's not so sure that other variations of "the machine" will be able to hold ceramic fiber well, since it tends to break quite easily and the heating implications may change due to a larger plug being used. It would seem that the dropper stem is the perfect size for this...like this is what it was made for.

Well, here's the tek, photos and all: https://wiki.dmt-nexus.me/The_Inspirator

Enjoy!

SWIM found that the easiest way to guarantee airflow is to simply condense and hold the plug with a rod, and put one to three holes all the way through the middle with a safety pin. He'll amend this to the tek.

To eliminate the use of scrub-pad, SWIM will be looking into ways of modifying screens to fit in place of the mesh plug and to work just as effectively, if not more-so. The result should at least be a more attractive and perhaps longer-lasting device (assuming screens to be made of better and more appropriate material). It works great as it is, but there's always room for improvement.

Hey Amor_Fati I just looked through the Wiki for this & saw that you credited me for "pioneering the use of a machine-style bowl with a bubbler."
And a bunch of my posts explaining it in detail, were used as reference.
Now I feel like I contributed something!

Thanks!
And this method still works best for me!


I don't get why you needed to keep a small amount of metal mesh in back of the ceramic mesh in you design.
What up with that?

So the ceramic mesh is pretty much all around cleaner & more inert when heated right?
How hard was it to find ceramic mesh?
How expensive?

Cool idea!

Cheers
WS

Cool, this looks good, but ye, where would one obtain the said mesh?

Glad to hear it! SWIM has spent the majority of his spice experience using the method you've recommended, and his recent developments have essentially been efforts to improve upon it. You're also credited here, by the way.



Partly to keep the ceramic fiber in place, but mostly because ceramic fiber gets way too hot way too easily to be in direct contact with the spice (SWIM's throat can attest to that...). SWIM has theories as to why this works better than mesh alone, such as ceramic keeping the glass from heating better than copper or steel--due to being a much better heat-sink--combined with the mesh keeping the spice in close (but not direct) proximity to the ceramic.

However, if screens work as well or better than scrubpad, SWIM will opt for those but keep the copper/steel mesh as an option.



You can usually find a fairly hefty quantity of ceramic fiber (most often as blankets) for around $20 online (ebay, and the like)--not sure about getting smaller, cheaper amounts, though. On this thread, some have reported types of stores that keep it on hand. It's used for woodstoves, kilns, forges, fake wood and cinders in gas fireplaces, and there are plenty wholesalers, but they deal in huge amounts at steep prices.

SWIM liked the way his original machine bubbler stems worked with just scrub-pad, but the heating wasn't quite as even as possible. The vapor in those was a bit hotter (SWIM generally had to be careful with his heat application and carb more often within a draw to keep it from being harsh) and the spice tended to run off a little ways. This has none of those problems, and SWIM can get full, thick doses within one draw as long as his airflow is correctly "calibrated" (which is no longer difficult to do, thankfully: http://dmt-nexus.me/forum/defau...&m=109123#post109123). The very first time SWIM added in the scrub-pad and had proper airflow, he got a thick white column of vapor (two, in fact...one after the other) right away and took it without any harshness.


SWIM will give the screens a go within the next couple days.

So is the DMT not melted into the ceramic fiber, but into the metal mesh behind?
Or it is just kind of a heatsink to help keep the ceramic fiber from getting too hot, with the DMT in the ceramic?


WS

Yes. Oh, and the copper/steel mesh should be thick enough to hold a large enough dose.... SWIM needs to specify that in the tek.



Actually it's more likely the other way around, with the ceramic acting as the heatsink and indirectly transferring heat to the metal mesh and air passing through it, in turn, heating the spice quite evenly.

Aaaaaaah, now I get it!

Nice idea, kind of like a machine-genie.....a machenie
keeping the flame totally away from the DMT & diffusing the heat.

NICE!!


WS

Yeah, the boys that run the genie operation didn't reply to SWIM's inquiry as to whether they were planing to make a bubbler adapter, so SWIM went ahead and made one himself. Guess he owes them a debt of gratitude, considering they inspired this in part with both their ingenuity and lack of customer service (by the way, he knows the glass genie's ceramic filter can be used with certain types of bubbler bowls, but why bother laying down that kind of cash when this is so much more fun and versatile?). Now all he needs is to get that scrub-pad out of there, and he's got a totally professional piece.

SWIM can't wait for the screen experiments, as it should help to maximize airflow, thus maximizing the efficiency of the device, if SWIM's experience is any indication.


SWIM's been considering the operation of his device, and he's now fairly certain that convection heating is the reason behind the lack of runoff (perfect convection heating achieved through a cheap homemade device!? SWIM's excited.), though he can't really know for sure. "The Machine" probably works mainly with conduction heating, which can cause the spice to run wherever it can until it's all vaporized (though the most effective variations of "the machine" generally don't give it anywhere to run except into more heat), which can be quite efficient but can also be a bit difficult to control in terms of heating. With convection heating, it doesn't run because it's surrounded by heat, and so the easiest thing to do is to simply disperse toward the negative pressure (the chamber and lungs).


SWIM's also going to make one to see if it'll work with a bit of bud (hates bud, but he'll do it for science) as a convenient way to test whether it will work with changa (or so he supposes).

im glad to hear the new improvements are working well. i still havnt tried the machine, or any other incarnations...yet.

i had a question about melting the spice prior to putting it in the bubbler. i see in the photo it looks like some waxy clump sitting on the metal mesh. is swiy saying to 'melt' this into the mesh before attempting to vaporise? wouldn't this lead to loss of vapor to atmosphere? what if one has flaky crystals, do they 'melt' without giving off vapor?

and i had a quick thought about the ceramic, too. do u think that a disc could be cut out of the ceramic that would plug a regular glass pipe? i mean take a glass pipe, put in some ash/herb, then spice, then plug the pipe with ceramic disc and use torch?