D-Nail Fact Sheet and FAQ

Let me start at the beginning:
The D-Nail team is a group of scientists, artists, mechanics, and craftspeople. Between us, there are degrees in physics, organic chemistry, mechanical engineering, and a few other assorted things.

We began  work for what is now the D-Nail in December 2012 when we saw what was going on with the Highly Educated E-Nail. People were calling our shop begging to spend $2,000 on them, and I decided to make something more affordable. Out of respect, and on the recommendation of our gallery manager, we held off on putting out a product until Task announced he was discontinuing his.

We are in the middle of developing multiple different technologies from control systems and nail designs to new materials, and new applications for our existing systems, and fundamentally different approaches to vaporization.

There has been some criticism that we are 'under development' while selling units. Let me be clear that we will always be under development, because every time we finish up a round, we talk about what can be done better.

Preference in temperature, rig size, vaporized material, budget, artistic taste, general manner of use.... all of these things matter, and all have legitimate scientific problems to solve.

Enclosure Types:

We offer black and white plastic enclosures, as well as wooden ones. Aluminium and carbon fiber are in the works. All wood is hand crafted by a local carpenter, and the response to the quality/style has been overwhelmingly positive.

Models: 1.1:

Our base model. All options are available. Vaporizer. Essential Oils Only. 

Compatibility:

All heaters/nails can be used in conjunction with other units. The only compatibility concerns are that they require the same set of pin connectors. We are limiting this to the two options forever.

Warranty:

All units are warrantied for 3 years. Rather than placing a time on the warranty for the heaters, all units come with a no questions asked replacement. This can be used any time regardless of the warranty period to get a replacement, backup, or different sized heater.

Additional Information:

We can/will build anything to specifications... within limits.

Current projects include wifi/Iphone control, new nail materials, new heater materials, and a ton of accessories.
All nails should be used with adapters. Not just electronic ones, all nails.

Heaters:

4 basic options with the heaters: Sheath, coil size, XL/standard, and encased. Kanthal nichrome resistance wire used in all. Originally, the plan was to also offer higher quality German heaters, but research showed the vastly increased price was not worth it. Plans are in the works to use entirely different materials for the 'high end' heaters, but this line does the job very well at affordable prices.

Sheath:

Primarily we offer fiberglass/silicone sheaths which are flexible, water resistant, and... black. They are also sticky. The XL heaters currently feature gold fiberglass sheaths which are more durable, less sticky, and scheduled to be our new default soon.

Coil size:

Our titanium uses a 10mm heater, and the quartz uses 16 or 20. Any size can be made on request. Side note, the free replacement heater included in all units can be used for any size.

XL/Standard:

The XL heaters are a different alloy. They will last longer. The standard ones should last up to tens of thousands of hours. The XL should last roughly twice as long.

Encased:

Currently, we are having new molds made for the encased heaters both for precision and availability on the full line of our heaters.
The pros: better thermal stability, longer heater life

The cons: they take longer to cool, they're heavier, and they're more expensive.

Pin Connectors:

(The part that connects the heater to the box) We offer two types of pin connectors now. The original/default are industrial/scientific pin connectors meant for heavy duty use. Alternately, we now offer sleek black pin connectors with EM shielding and gold plated connection points. This is primarily an aesthetic difference.

Titanium:

We use American grade 2 titanium, designed, forged, and machined in the US. I do not trust foreign standards.
The standard D-Nail uses 10mm heating coils. Smaller heaters last longer, positioning the heater soitisnotaswideasthedishismeantto minimize burns. The joint is 18(19)/14 male (not everyone knows what that means), and will fit into any standard 18(19)/14 female joint.

The joints reach approximately 200F while exposed to air, and we have some testing to do, but they should be under 250F inside glass.
It is not a serious safety concern, but we recommend using an adapter. As most rigs have male joints, an 18f/14f adapter will be a reversible, protected way of using your titanium on the most common joints. We stock these, and are working on getting a long-term supply of drop-down adapters to accommodate the height concerns raised by the taller nail/adapter.

Quartz:

We are studying the thermodynamics of quartz, and they are incredibly different. We have 2 very good nail designs, one is Joel Halen's design:

Very simply, the nail head is tapered into a bowl so that the oil goes where you want. They are well made, affordable, and very well received. All Halen nails are on ground joints. Size/shape of dish and joint by availability.

The Pukin Beagle nails are different. First, there are two different basic designs: direct inject and jointed. They will fit most joints, but be unstable on 45 degree angles. Beagle tends to have a full array of ground joints on hand. The dish is the same on both styles, and we have redesigned the head with a vertically centered dish for proper thermodynamics.

Coming Nail Designs:

Lot of that is classified so far, but really awesome stuff is in the works. 

Warranty:

All units are warrantied for 3 years. Rather than placing a time on the warranty for the heaters, all units come with a no questions asked replacement. This can be used any time regardless of the warranty period to get a replacement, backup, or different sized heater.