Basically what I am making is a system consting of tubing and pumps which will alow me to create any blend of bases imagineable- any ratios. I have a design in mind, but i lack one key feature; I need a pump that is able to dispense a specfic amount of base. I am considering a peristaltic pump which would be driven by a stepper motor- to provide feedback so my microcontroller knows how much liquid to dispense. From there I can dispense VG, PG, NICVG, NICPG in varying amounts to get a final blend. Any input from you guys would help, especially where to get some pumps cheap or to make them. Only ones I found were very expensive
edit: The resolution of the pump is a factor because I will make X number of revolutions = 1 ml.
Or the individual pumps like these
$15 per dosing pump sounds reasonable. I'm not sure if they will provide the resolution you are looking for though.
Build it! Can't wait to see the finished product!
Have you considered using an "autosampler?"
I got one of an older design, off ebay, for about $60 delivered.
It looks like http://imgur.com/DYis74t
It has a pump, syringe, etc and is all controllable.
I went with the older design, as opposed to, a newer design, as the older designs like this one appear to be more 'hackable.'
Haven't had time to fire it up, figure out the wiring, play with it yet, so I can't answer any questions as to how well it performs.
The holes on this model are just a hair smaller than the TFA 8ml vials from Wizard Labs, but empty vials can be obtained in the proper size easily, or you can make a new plate if you have access to CNC mills or a machine shop.
Good luck and happy vaping.
Wow that is really awesome! Ill look for one right now!
I noticed you weren't necessarily wanting to mix flavors, but said that you wanted to mix bases. For large qtys of various bases, you may want to ebay search for a "solvent pump."
A solvent pump is a device containing a controllable pump, and a switch / valve that allows it to select between X number of solvents. If you had a 4 fluid solvent pump, you could select between PG,VG,Nicotine Base, and Water. I've seen them in 6 fluid models as well, and I'm sure they come in other form factors.
If you had a an autosampler for flavorings, and a solvent pump for bases, and a few hot plater / stirrers and beakers, your workflow could look something like:
Place empty beaker under solvent pump outlet, select base recipe and batch size, and push 'fill'. Select flavor recipe and push 'mix' and watch robot mix flavor base. Pour flavor base into beaker w/ juice base, drop in magnetic stirrer puck, place on hot plate / stirrer, and steep/mix at X temp and Y speed for Z time. Fill bottles with some other cool machine.
Just thought I'd mention it.
I always thought a gravity fed system would be easy to set up, however the automation part might not be as simple.
The automation system is simple with the right programing, however with the high viscosity of the VG and PG bases, gravity isnt enough to pour the liquid out, it has to be pumped