Zippo lighter mod

[muldrick]

I've been messing with this Zippo (BBQ) lighter since for ever.
I thought to use the butane container as a liquid nic container.
I emptied a butane bottle (and the lighter) and was able to put liquid in it using a syringe.

I have the electrical part done. I need help with the liguid part.
When I fill the butane bottle with the syringe it actually adds a little (air) pressure. It also fills the lighter compartment ok.
When activating the lighter switch, a slider opens the valve for the butane (liquid) compartment and some fluid flows through the hose (which will go to the cart).
I need to add more pressure to the liquid compartment without blowing it up.

Sorry about the image quality, I only have a web cam available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujTVrsQI3GM

Any ideas on how to get pressure into this compartment?

 

[nicowolf]

Wow. Awesome mod. I wish I had a solution figured out for ya. I know the way medicine vials work without creating a vacuum in the bottle is by injecting at least the same volume of air into the vial as the liquid you plan to remove. I wonder if a one-way valve at the other end of the canister would work to pump air in without letting liquid out. You could pump up your PV like the old Reebok pump basketball shoes.

 

[dumwaldo]

I think this begs the question how did you clean out all the butane?

DW

 

[muldrick]

I didn't, still in the testing phase. I haven't completed the liquid part yet.
However, liquid butane turns into a gas when the pressure is released. I just pushed down the valve and let the gas escape. I doubt there is much (if any at all) left in the compartments.

 

[muldrick]

You could pump up your PV like the old Reebok pump basketball shoes.

Yeah, I tried to do that with the syringe, into the bottle. Push air in, quickly really, refill the syringe with air, push it in again. It put some pressure in the bottle, but it doesn't seem to transfer into the lighter compartment.
I need more pressure!

 

[shoes]

Maybe if you had some kind of little bag inside of the container. The bag would collapse as the liquid left the bag.

 

[happily]

would assume you need a squeeze pump to add air as the fluid goes down, since you won't be able to add to much pressure without bursting

 

[SS109]

How are you filling it? Through the nozzle that originally released the butane? I know most butane lighters have a seperate refill valve located somewhere on them. Does yours have one?

This is my Zippo butane lighter and a pic of where the refill valve is in the end of it.

If you have a refill valve, maybe you could modify an empty butane canister (like in the first pic) to have an air hose attachment to it. The bottom...

...would seem like an ideal location. The key is figuring out exactly how much pressure do you need and what is safe. I imagine if you do some research on the web you can find out what pressure is normally acceptable in these butane lighters. You could possibly get the canister to provide the pressure and liquid all in one shot.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[muldrick]

Yes, that's the same lighter I'm using.
I assume I can search for the max pressure in that butane canister and do as you said with some type of regulator.
That can doesn't mention pressure, does it?

 

[ApOsTle51]

how about filling it with compressed air ?? you know , like the ones you get from pcworld for blowing dust off you keyboard.

I dunno , just thought i'd throw it out there

Like this

 

[SS109]

how about filling it with compressed air ?? you know , like the ones you get from pcworld for blowing dust off you keyboard.

I dunno , just thought i'd throw it out there

Like this

That's not a bad idea. The key is would it be enough pressure to be effective.

I think a fill valve on the butane refill canister would be ideal. Use a small hand operated pump with an accurate gauge and slowely pump it up to the required pressure and you should be in business.

 

[muldrick]

I think a fill valve on the butane refill canister would be ideal. Use a small hand operated pump with an accurate gauge and slowely pump it up to the required pressure and you should be in business.

I was reading THIS, some info about pressures.
"At temperatures above 120F these cheap butane lighters can explode. At 140F the pressure in the lighter is 7 ATM".

Not sure what he means by "ATM"...atmospheric pressure?

I didn't get a chance to read it all....yet.

 

[40oz]

atm is just a unit of measurement for atmospheric pressure. It is equal to about 14.7 psi

 

[eric]

I've been browsing through some of these mods, and wow, you guys are brilliant. Have you considered maybe finding a different sort of lighter?

Is there a way to use a wick, similar to those of the standard Zippo lighter, to soak up e-liquid instead of butane, and be put in direct contact with the atomizer?

 

[q258]

I've been browsing through some of these mods, and wow, you guys are brilliant. Have you considered maybe finding a different sort of lighter?

Is there a way to use a wick, similar to those of the standard Zippo lighter, to soak up e-liquid instead of butane, and be put in direct contact with the atomizer?

That works, have done it in the past... For a test you can stick a wick in a cart and watch how well it burns, of course it will melt the plastic cart after a min but it works for sure.

 

[muldrick]

atm is just a unit of measurement for atmospheric pressure. It is equal to about 14.7 psi

So 7ATM's would equal 102 PSI ????
He says it bursts at 7 ATM, so I assume 4 ATM is safe = 60 PSI?
Still seems quite high for a plastic casing.

 

[Rubberjohnny]

I was looking into this idea of using a pressure/juice supply a couple of months ago and posted my findings. The main problem (long before the practical engineering phase) allways came back to finding a suitable safe propellant to mix with the juice. To provide reliable pressure to dispence say 3ml of juice (a day's vape) you need a liquid to gas propellant mixed with the juice.Compressed air would have to be at very high pressure (dangerously so) since the overall unit is only of small size whereas a relativly small amount of the right liquid propellant would maintain a much more controlable lower steady even pressure on the juice and could be contained in a plastic unit (cig lighter).I have to date been unable to find a suitable safe easily available propellant.Very good luck to your experimentation.

 

[ichaya]

That's not a bad idea. The key is would it be enough pressure to be effective.

I think a fill valve on the butane refill canister would be ideal. Use a small hand operated pump with an accurate gauge and slowely pump it up to the required pressure and you should be in business.

PLEASE DO NOT USE COMPRESSED CANS OF AIR!!!

Please note the cans of "air" that they sell to clean off your keyboards, etc are NOT actually air. They usually contain things like iso-butane.

Most, if not all are flammable, and VERY bad to breath in.

You could actually use compressed air out of a small hobby air compressor.

I do this to clean out my cartidges. (I use VK cartomizers).
Run some hot water through the cart, and then use an air compressor set @ 5psi to blow out all the water,

Something like that might work for you.

 

[SS109]

You are right ichaya. I should have clarified my post. Compressed air from a compressor, yes. Compressed "air" from the PC cleaning cans, no.

BTW, with an air compressor you could get some really clean air by adding a particulate filter and a good water seperator.