# DIY "Volcano" Vaporizer



## [email protected]

If you've tried and fallen in love with vaporizing your bud rather than burning it (which destroys most of the THC before it ever gets into your body), have I got the DIY project for you. My first vaporizer was one of those "hot box" type that I picked up for under $100. Worked great and I've been hooked since. Then I started reading all this hype about Volcanoes. Everybody seems to rave about them. Then I priced one. 
:holysheep: They want over $500 for a basic one...:holysheep: then I found a page somewhere that described a home made Volcano. I built one, refined it a bit and then gave my cheap-o vaporizer to my Dad....

Supplies:
Some metal screening for the bowl
(1) Heat Gun - this is the most expensive part of this project....don't skimp on it. The best is a digital heat gun with ceramic heating element. You can find these online for $35 and up. Make sure that the lowest temp setting is a max of 250 F or you'll have to use the "couple of 90 degree bends to take up some heat" mod that I used. If you don't get one with a ceramic heating element, you risk inhaling some nasties from the heated aluminum or whatever other material is used for the element. 
(1) 1" or 1 1/2" female (depending on the size of the heat gun tip) by 3/4" female threaded brass adapter...we'll call this part A
(1) 3" long 3/4" brass threaded pipe for the airflow passage...part B
(1) 3/4" female threaded (looks like a garden hose female end) by 1/2" male threaded brass fitting...part C
(1) Ball valve with 1/2" female threaded ends...part D
(1) 1/2" male threaded barbed fitting...part E
(1) "Turkey" sized oven bag
If you skimped on the heat gun, or decided not to get the digital one, or don't want to buy a second heat gun, as was my case, then you'll also need a couple of 3/4" male by 3/4" female brass elbows...see the pics

Take a piece of screening that's double, or triple the size needed (depending on the size of the holes in the screen) to fit into the female opening of part C, fold it up and put it in....this is what stops your ground up bud from filling the bag rather than the vaporized goodness. Then screw in part B.....you now have a bowl. On the male end of part C, screw on one side of the ball valve then attach the barbed fitting to the other side. Slide the oven bag over the barbed fitting and clamp in place. I just use some wire and a pair of pliers to twist it tight, then a little tape to seal it all up. Test it out by opening the valve, blowing air into the bag, closing the valve, and squeezing the bag. If you've got a leak, plug it.

Now grind up some bud....the finer it is the better, up to a point. You don't want it to blow through the screen. Put the bud in "bowl"....just enough to cover the screen. If you use more it can be wasteful unless you hit it multiple times, stirring it up in between.

Now screw on part A to the other end of the "bowl" (part B) and open the ball valve. Dial up your heat gun to the lowest setting, put it on the end of your "volcano" and turn it on. When the bag is full, or if you start to get smoke rather than vapor, close the valve and turn off the heat gun. Unscrew the ball valve/oven bag from the "bowl", open the valve, and squeeze the bag while inhaling. Hope your sitting down....or you might fall down :hubba: 

Here's a couple of pics...The first is all the parts, expanded view. Second is part A. Third is the "elbow mod". Fourth is parts B & C, "the bowl". Fifth is parts D & E with the oven bag attached. Then the whole contraption.


----------



## [email protected]

It takes a little practice....but you'll get the hang of it. Just don't burn yourself or anything else with the heat gun....it's very HOT!

BTW....don't throw out the "popcorn" that's left in the bowl. Save it up. When you've filled a container with a good amount pour in enough 100% ISO to cover it all and make some ISO Oil....you'll be amazed at how much THC you've been wasting by incinerating your bud. Don't get the standard ISO from the grocery store.....even the 91% or 99% isn't good enough since the rest of the liquid is water and won't fully evaporate. You can get the good stuff at your local electronics store....not Radio Shack. When cleaning electrical circuits, even 1% water is too much so they've always got some.


----------



## TpAIN

Hmm so do all heating guns look the same / tip size and what power of one do u get or are they all pretty much generic? Also is it possible to list the a,b,c, etc pieces to the pictures because for some reason im thinking u dont need so much pipe?


----------



## [email protected]

TpAIN said:
			
		

> Hmm so do all heating guns look the same / tip size and what power of one do u get or are they all pretty much generic? Also is it possible to list the a,b,c, etc pieces to the pictures because for some reason im thinking u dont need so much pipe?


 
Here's an example of the heat gun....
hxxp://www.idealtruevalue.com/servlet/the-65332/Detail

As for the amount of pipe, it's trial and error....the pieces I use are parts from version 3 of my "volcano". If your gun's heat is low enough you could do away with the two 90 degree bends and use a shorter pipe. If the heat is too high you're back to incinerating the bud. You'll have to experiment a little.

Here's another pic, if it helps...


----------



## BagSeed

can you show a pic of everything including a heat gun in use... I think i understand this but im not sure...


----------



## [email protected]

BagSeed said:
			
		

> can you show a pic of everything including a heat gun in use... I think i understand this but im not sure...


 
Here ya go.....notice the bag. It's full or yummy goodness. No smoke, just vapors. If your bag doesn't look mostly clear when full, ie: smoky, then your heat is too high.

With that said let me just say that you will almost definitely have to develop your own technique for this. The first time I made one of these, my heat gun was totally different and I didn't have the two elbows. With that one I filled it by holding the heat gun between my left arm and my chest in the crook of my bent arm. Then I picked up the "vaporizer" with my right hand, put it to the end of the heat gun and held it in place with my left hand, pushing the whole setup into my bicep. Then I opened the valve and operated the heat gun with my right hand. Once I came up with the elbow contraption to absorb the extra heat, it was too long for this method......hope this clears it up and doesn't add any more confusion.


----------



## papabeach1

I do see what you mean,   


why not do this..

empty 2 liter, cut the bottom off,  the cap that goes on the top,  make a hole and get a brass pipe bowl,  make a hole on the cap,  bowl go with the cap.... then get clean bread bag.. (merta bread bag),   or  trash bag

clean the inside bag and 2 liter,  then attach the bag to the bottle,  tape it all around  duct tape works good,  then put cap with bowl  back to the bottle s twist..    okay  first step,     get cap with bowl off,     suck the bottle up till the bag is completly under the bottle... then put the cap back on along with bowl...  fire it up, pull the bag out of the 2 liter, u gonna have huge smokes,    then get cap off..  suck it,   bang u down big time!!  its simple process..


----------



## [email protected]

papabeach1 said:
			
		

> I do see what you mean,
> 
> 
> why not do this..
> 
> empty 2 liter, cut the bottom off, the cap that goes on the top, make a hole and get a brass pipe bowl, make a hole on the cap, bowl go with the cap.... then get clean bread bag.. (merta bread bag), or trash bag
> 
> clean the inside bag and 2 liter, then attach the bag to the bottle, tape it all around duct tape works good, then put cap with bowl back to the bottle s twist.. okay first step, get cap with bowl off, suck the bottle up till the bag is completly under the bottle... then put the cap back on along with bowl... fire it up, pull the bag out of the 2 liter, u gonna have huge smokes, then get cap off.. suck it, bang u down big time!! its simple process..


 
Excellent question.....I had similiar thoughts about cheaper building materials too....I always do. I would highly advise against your idea though. It's a health thing.....heat + plastic = never a good thing. 
Even if the plastic doesn't "look" melted, it still gives off it's own "vapor" when sending a bunch of heated air through/over it. That's also why you want to be sure and get a heat gun with a ceramic heating element. Anything else is a health risk. One of the main reasons to vaporize rather than burn is that it's a lot healthier for you than sucking in incinerated plant matter and butane....using the plastic would defeat that purpose entirely. Besides, except for the heat gun, I think I paid about $15 total for this setup's materials....


----------



## Dozingoffaroundthecorner

:hubba: Can you just use the ceramic heating element in a waterpipe instead?


----------



## massproducer

Are you sure brass is safe to be using?  Doesn't the zinc in brass give of toxic fumes when heated?


----------



## [email protected]

massproducer said:
			
		

> Are you sure brass is safe to be using? Doesn't the zinc in brass give of toxic fumes when heated?


 
From everything that I've read, yes brass can release toxic fumes, but it has to be heated to over 1500 degrees before that happens. We're dealing with less than 300 degrees for this.


----------



## massproducer

ok, i understand, myself I don't think I would want to chance it, IMO, my lungs and health are worth a lot more then the $450 or so they want for a volcano.  I think you would be better of just smoking a joint or hitting the bong

Also if the fumes are not released until 1500 degrees, when does this metal melt?


----------



## [email protected]

at 1500 degrees....

hxxp://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/metal1.html


----------



## Dozingoffaroundthecorner

Wouldn't the metal be really hot to hold from 800 degree heat?


----------



## massproducer

So it melts at 1500, but does it release any fumes while it is heating?  I would think it would.  I know that the fumes from melting brass are very toxic


----------



## [email protected]

Dozingoffaroundthecorner said:
			
		

> Wouldn't the metal be really hot to hold from 800 degree heat?


----------



## [email protected]

hxxp://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=brass+tobacco+pipe&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

hxxp://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_hot_does_a_bic_lighter_flame_get

If you can suck a flame that's over 1000 degrees through brass and only have to worry about the toxins from the tobacco, you can blow air that's 250 degrees through it without any worries. It doesn't even result in combustion of the dried leaves in the bowl.


----------



## Weezy

i made a homemade vaporizer that resembles a "hot box" vapor bros. one... I made it with a soldering iron (40watt), plastic tube and some plumbing attachments (two nipples, two sink aerators, two female to male adapters (or just female adapters), and those were brass.  I did thoroughly clean each metal piece with soap and water and left it on for hours before actually using it to half-a$$ attempt to burn off unwanted chemicals on the metal pieces and I swear there were still some fumes that I've inhaled that I didn't exactly want to inhale.  I blame the metal pieces thinking the galvanized nipples were it or the brass was it...needless to say the vaporizer worked like a charm for costing only $23 to make but I went ahead and bought a vapor bros. in the end.


----------



## Dozingoffaroundthecorner

You know wouldn't the metal be hot after heating the bud?

Hash pipes are metal and I know everyone has used one of those one way or another even to smoke tobacco. 

Well we are inhaling fumes anyways from the lighter. There are glass wands that you heat up and put to the bowl that cancels out the fumes from the lighter but I have never used one personally so not sure if it works or not.


----------



## [email protected]

Dozingoffaroundthecorner said:
			
		

> You know wouldn't the metal be hot after heating the bud?
> 
> Hash pipes are metal and I know everyone has used one of those one way or another even to smoke tobacco.
> 
> Well we are inhaling fumes anyways from the lighter. There are glass wands that you heat up and put to the bowl that cancels out the fumes from the lighter but I have never used one personally so not sure if it works or not.


 
I believe those are called grotto sticks....I have one and it works great. You won't believe how much taste you get from the lighter flame. If you are going to combust the bud, it's the best way to go. As far as this thing getting hot, it gets warm, but not hot....you are only blowing 250 degree air through it, and only enough to fill an oven bag, and the parts are thick enough to not cause any burns. The last heat gun I had got REALLY hot and even then you use it for such a short time that the parts were still handleable.....


----------



## Dozingoffaroundthecorner

Do you have a pick of the "grotto" stick in action? I have been really interested in them. Definitely worried about dropping one because I don't know how many lighters hit the ground after the big one.


----------



## [email protected]

Dozingoffaroundthecorner said:
			
		

> Do you have a pick of the "grotto" stick in action? I have been really interested in them. Definitely worried about dropping one because I don't know how many lighters hit the ground after the big one.


 
Sorry, but no. They are easy enough to use. You need a propane torch though.....You could use the flame from your stove, but the torch is much quicker...Get your bong setup and ready to go then you just place the globe of glass into the flame to heat it, rolling it back and forth a bit so as not to get one spot super hot and possibly warp it. When the ball of glass starts to glow red a bit, it's ready. Don't touch the bud with the glowing ball. The idea is to vaporize your bud. If you've got a hooka, this is the only way to go....of course you could touch the bud with it. It'll burn of course, but it still tastes a LOT better than the butane flame.
:bong:


----------



## Dozingoffaroundthecorner

That sounds interesting for sure.


----------



## massproducer

What also about the heating element.  From my research i have found that terpines start to vapourize at 260, but the actual psycho-active cannabinoids don't vapourize until atleast 370


----------



## [email protected]

massproducer said:
			
		

> What also about the heating element. From my research i have found that terpines start to vapourize at 260, but the actual psycho-active cannabinoids don't vapourize until atleast 370


 
I've read the same....the temp of 250 is a starting point to avoid burning it since the accuracy of the gun's settings is questionable. You can tell when it's vaporizing. You'll see the bag become less clear a bit...hopefully not too much.


----------



## massproducer

don't mind me, I just like to be the devil's advocate to make sure that you thought of everything.  

Pretty cool


----------



## [email protected]

massproducer said:
			
		

> don't mind me, I just like to be the devil's advocate to make sure that you thought of everything.
> 
> Pretty cool


 
 You'd think I'd get used to it.....my wife is the same way.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes.


----------



## TpAIN

Well what I am going to try is pretty much the same setup except use an actual hookah and somehow change it into a vaporizer! Ill let u know if it goes anywhere


----------



## [email protected]

TpAIN said:
			
		

> Well what I am going to try is pretty much the same setup except use an actual hookah and somehow change it into a vaporizer! Ill let u know if it goes anywhere


 
This may help you out....

hxxp://www.vriptech.com/product.htm


----------



## BuxParway

nice but you actually want it @ 350F @ least or else ur missing out on many great cannabinoids


----------



## jangel

And they use brass for wine cups etc for years, with no ill health affects.  Also commonly used in plumbing as well with no ill affects, so I am pretty sure it would not harm you useing the brass for this.  Great idea.  

Thanks!

Peace

Life,
J-angel


----------



## lordhighlama

papabeach1 said:
			
		

> I do see what you mean,
> 
> 
> why not do this..
> 
> empty 2 liter, cut the bottom off, the cap that goes on the top, make a hole and get a brass pipe bowl, make a hole on the cap, bowl go with the cap.... then get clean bread bag.. (merta bread bag), or trash bag
> 
> clean the inside bag and 2 liter, then attach the bag to the bottle, tape it all around duct tape works good, then put cap with bowl back to the bottle s twist.. okay first step, get cap with bowl off, suck the bottle up till the bag is completly under the bottle... then put the cap back on along with bowl... fire it up, pull the bag out of the 2 liter, u gonna have huge smokes, then get cap off.. suck it, bang u down big time!! its simple process..


 
We've always called this a gravity bong, gets you super huge hits like you described but is nothing like a vaporizer.


----------



## PencilHead

papabeach1 said:
			
		

> I do see what you mean,
> 
> 
> why not do this..
> 
> empty 2 liter, cut the bottom off, the cap that goes on the top, make a hole and get a brass pipe bowl, make a hole on the cap, bowl go with the cap.... then get clean bread bag.. (merta bread bag), or trash bag
> 
> clean the inside bag and 2 liter, then attach the bag to the bottle, tape it all around duct tape works good, then put cap with bowl back to the bottle s twist.. okay first step, get cap with bowl off, suck the bottle up till the bag is completly under the bottle... then put the cap back on along with bowl... fire it up, pull the bag out of the 2 liter, u gonna have huge smokes, then get cap off.. suck it, bang u down big time!! its simple process..


 
A few years back it was considered green to re-use bread bags then someone remembered the printing on them was lead based. Don't know if that's still the case but.... Unless you *need* lead in your pencil--:hubba: LOL


----------



## Lemmongrass

uhhhhh.

id **** my pants if the labels were made from anything but soy dyes.
Almost everything is colored with soy or other biologically derived chemicals. i actually remember from cul school there being some products with less nutritional value than the soy dye used to color the box.
lead?


----------

