# Home made Vaporizer design;



## HIVE+ (Jan 4, 2012)

Russ said:


> Anybody out there come up with a good working design for a 12V. Oxalic Acid Vaporizer ]
> RUSS, I can't believe you didn't get any responses. I'm interested in the same information. One of the tidbits I've run across is the use of a "glowplug" for the heating element. I'm also thinking about a reostat to control the current, much like in an uncapping knife. What progress have you made?


----------



## Irmo (Jan 9, 2012)

Do a search. I recall a thread from last year with the OP sharing his/her design and then many others chimed in with their variations.


----------



## Irmo (Jan 9, 2012)

Try this one:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ic-Acid-Vaporizer-Part-II&highlight=vaporizer 

I searched on "vaporizer" These a ton of threads, just look for one that talks about design.


----------



## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

The heating source an electric vaporizer is a VW glow plug.


----------



## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I messed around with making one last year. I had the materials to make the vaporizer on hand except the glow plug. that cost about $10. but my ideas for how to machine it etc led to having to make some device to attach it to a hive. Some nearly $100 later I finally just bought one from Canada for $99. I am not through with making them myself. Just still looking for a way to get it done in my shop. If I could find a way to make them for not much more than the cost of the glow plug I woudl make several of them for my own use.

Mainly it is nothing but a glow plug and an aluminum plate with a recess to old the OA. Machining for the glow plug is probably the hardest part. I can get that done. it is coming up with some way to make a recess in the plate. for me it woudl mean getting some end mill or something which are not cheap. The aluminum plate is not cheap either. Cutting metal is a pain when what you have is a wood shop.

So it is not the how to do it for me. it is the cost in getting the tools to do it.


----------



## Russ (Sep 9, 2001)

Thanks Guys for the info, keep it coming.


----------



## MJuric (Jul 12, 2010)

Is there a specific advantage of an electric version over a torch version? I can see an electric version being more "Self guided" but that would only do you any good if either it took a long time to vaporize the material or if you had multiple of them. 

I'm just asking because I'm planning on making a torch version and the designs are pretty simple. 

Have no experience with either so I could be missing something. 

~Matt


----------



## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...buy-oxalic-acid-vaporizer&p=994700#post994700


----------



## Randy south MS (Aug 7, 2013)

Working on mine now Russ. Im lucky tho we have a machine shop at work so during break and at lunch I work on my government job..lol... We even have the scrap metal so all im out is the glow plug....The Autolite 1104 is recommended as it will take the full 12 volts and the Bosch 80010 will do the same just for more cash. The auto lite is 9.95 here at Advance auto parts.


----------



## tank (Jun 20, 2013)

There is a thread in the disease and pests forum i have been following its still pretty new like 3 or 4 from the top they have pictures of a couple different design


----------



## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Make it low enough that it will slip through a standard hive front entrance. The oxalic bubbles and froths as it boils of so make the bowl quite large or you get overflow and loss. The standard dose for double deep is only half a teaspoonful but at some point in the boil off it expands to 3 or 4 times that volume. The version I am useing is near 7/8" high and I have to pry some hives up to slip it in and out. Much nicer if it can be done without disturbing the hive even if it is wrapped and snow on the ground.


----------



## Glen H (Aug 17, 2013)

This is the first one I made, It a traveling 12 volt coffee heater with a 3/4 copper plumbing end cap.





And this one is a dual 12 volt diesel glow plug heater with an on off switch. It works well and is the one I use.










Glen


----------



## HIVE+ (Jan 4, 2012)

Thanks to all who replied. I've just been reading threads from most recent back and ran across RUSS's query with no replies, hope he gets the word. I'm going to get right on building a vaporizer. Thanks again.


----------



## cristianNiculae (Jul 2, 2013)

For me the best and easiest result came from Glen's water heater's idea.
The only thing one must find out is the time input. I made tests using water(and OA); you don't want it to boil crazy. I have 500W/220V tiny water heater. I plug it in for 15 seconds and then on minute #3 another 3sec. push in order to have complete combustion.
I think it is pretty easy to tune up any heater this way and the water heater thing is super cheap and easy to do. My 3/4 cup has also double walls (soldered the end of a pipe inside of it).
So I lift the deep, place the device under the frames, put it back down and do the treatment. After 10 minutes from the start you get those tiny crystals deposited on the frames. 

Cristian


----------



## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Glen H does your first one with the coffie heater get hot enough?


----------



## Glen H (Aug 17, 2013)

Oh it gets plenty hot enough and fast. There is a good sized heater and a very small mass to heat up. My only fear with it is, it is designed to be immersed in liquid (Coffee) and not in the open. So there is a possibly risk of it overheating if it is not unplugged soon enough. It needs close baby sitting. Wear as the dual glow plug one so far caps out at around 330 deg. F. But then again that could also be attributed the battery's ability to provide current and the voltage drop created by the load of those two glow plugs.
It draws almost 30 amps on my 12 volt lawn tractor battery. Using a larger car or truck battery may produce higher temps due to the decrease in voltage drop. I have not tried it on my truck yet.

Glen


----------



## VodoBaas1 (Mar 26, 2013)

I just made one. I bought 0.5x2.5x8 inch pieces of aluminum from ebay. I bought 3 of them for $17, including shipping. I bought a bosch 80010 glow plug for $12. Bought a threaded 3/16 rod and a chisel handle, both for about $10. And finally I bought some 12 guage speaker wire, gator clips and wire connectors for about $10. So all in I have about $50 into it. I cut the aluminum using a carbide tipped blade from 8in to 2.5in . I used a borrowed 1 inch drill bit on a press to make the main hole. I would use a 1.25 - 1.50 bit if you have one. The glow plug hole was drilled with 1/4 in bit I believe and then drilled a whole for the handle and a hole for a set screw to hold the glow plug in. I tapped both of those holes. It took about 3-4 hours total and works great. I would take more metal if possible, since it takes about 5 min to heat up, but that will be a winter endeavor. I will post a couple pictures soon.


----------



## Steves1967 (May 16, 2012)

I started a thread called "homemade oxalic acid vaporizer" in diseases and pests. Made four copies of a design that someone posted ( thanks . ) and have only one treatment left. I will try to post some dimensions in a day or two.


----------



## beemartin (Mar 13, 2013)

Glen H, how did you get the cap to fit in the coffee heater? I have both, but am having trouble getting them to fit together... there has to be a secret... ;-)


----------



## Glen H (Aug 17, 2013)

beemartin said:


> Glen H, how did you get the cap to fit in the coffee heater? I have both, but am having trouble getting them to fit together... there has to be a secret... ;-)


Hi, I believe I opened up the heating element coil a bit to get the plumbing end cap to fit in. It fit in really tight. I took the two screws out of the plastic case to allow the coil to be re-shaped. The case splits in two.


----------



## MikeinCarolina (Mar 9, 2014)

Is there any reason an old tin pie plate or one of those cheap aluminum pans couldn't be cut up, molded to shape and a glow plug attached to it ? I am trying to think of a easy alternative to milling aluminum plate which seems to be the sticking point for most of us. Maybe have a solid steel bottom made of something readily available like a steel slug or something and aluminum sides molded around it ..........


----------



## craneman54 (Sep 5, 2014)

MikeinCarolina--- I would think aluminum pie plate would be too lite a gauge,even folded several times.

Aluminum can be cut and or milled with wood working tools. You could use a router and a straight cut bit to dish out an aluminum plate, or you can use a scrollsaw or a band saw to cut out the size in a thinner plate and then tap and screw another piece under the plate with the hole. Tap for a piece of all-thread and you just about have a vaporizer. Tap drill and another hole for your glow plug,wire it up and you are off and running.


----------



## BeeBop (Apr 23, 2015)

A plain old miter saw with a fine toothed carbide blade works great for cutting blocks of aluminum. Don't forget the safety glasses.


----------



## Little-John (Jun 18, 2015)

The problem with designs involving machined blocks of aluminium is their mass: requiring relatively long warm-up and cool-down times. Not a problem with half a dozen hives, but not so good with larger numbers. I've designed vapourisers based on copper tube with a copper pan attached with a mass of <30 grams which work well, especially when 4 are run together in series-parallel.
LJ


----------



## thehackleguy (Jul 29, 2014)

Just a thought here....I LOVE to make my own equipment....but I bought a vaporizer because I know it will work correctly without trial. SNL sent me an oxyvap that works awesome without trial and error


----------



## BeeBop (Apr 23, 2015)

Little-John said:


> The problem with designs involving machined blocks of aluminium is their mass: requiring relatively long warm-up and cool-down times. Not a problem with half a dozen hives, but not so good with larger numbers.


That's absolutely true. My machined vaporizer is a little slower than what most folks advertise because it has more mass than necessary. (needs about 3-1/2 minutes of "on" time)
But it doesn't need to be that way and certainly a machined block could be designed to be just as lightweight as your copper pans. 

I could machine quite a bit of unneeded aluminum out of mine and probably get it under 30 grams. That will be an exercise for the next one I build.


----------



## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

I fashioned an aluminum bar that I got from Metal by the Foot. In their scrap bin they had a couple of pieces of 3"X 4" by 1" thick. Cost me like 4 bucks. I drilled a 1" diameter hole halfway through the bar and use a chisel and bench grinder to widen the depression and smooth it out. I then fashioned a tray to hold the Al bar out of sheet metal. Then I tack welded a long handle made out of thin steel bar.

For the heat source, I drilled 2 small diameter holes on either side of the depression in the Al bar. Then I inserted a glow plug in each hole and wired them up to work of off a car battery.

The rig looks absolutely hideous, but works great.

Aluminun works great because it heats up fast and then stays hot for a long time. On several ocassions after treating a hive, the Al stays hot enough to instantly vaporize the next dose of OA that you place in there for the next hive. In fact, I only have to apply current to the glow plugs for a short durations periodically. I found out that you do not want to keep the battery connected the whole time because it will quickly overheat.


----------



## phopkinsiii (May 4, 2014)

Glen H said:


> This is the first one I made, It a traveling 12 volt coffee heater with a 3/4 copper plumbing end cap.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I know this thread is a couple years old, but I wanted to give credit to the original designer, Glen. I made one of these based on design in the first photo, mainly because it was easy and I had the materials on hand.
The problem with mine is that it gets too hot. It melts the solder (rosin core 60/40) I used to hold the cap in the heater coil after about 90 seconds. The melting point of this solder is 361 F and I believe that the target temp is around 320 F to vaporize the OA.
I can probably figure out another way to hold the cap in the coil, but I'm trying to think of a way to regulate the temp. I could just turn the power off sooner, but I'd be afraid I wasn't getting complete vaporization.
For those more electronically skilled than I, would it be possible to put a 12 volt potentiometer in the circuit to regulate the power to the coil?


Thanks.


----------



## Colby828 (Dec 4, 2013)

Here is the one I made


----------



## phopkinsiii (May 4, 2014)

Thanks.
Do you know the temp it reaches?
Can you give me some details of the materials and design?
Do I remember that you used a CNC machine to make the tray?


----------



## Colby828 (Dec 4, 2013)

I did use a CNC to make the pan, I used two autolite 1104 glow plugs, i am not sure what temp it reaches, but it takes about 2 1/2 minutes to vaporize two grams of OA. I made a couple and sold them on ebay, and am in the process of making several more.


----------

