stainless steel mesh as cartridge medium

[Bertrand]

There was a post from a while ago on the .nl forum (now up again) in which someone had tried using woven stainless steel as the cartridge medium. He noted that he could have used a coarser mesh. The stuff he was using is hard to get and minimum ordering quantities were huge.

I tried a coarser and more available mesh, specifically the permanent filter material in a crappy teapot. So far it has been fairly good. The way I was dripping into the "nylon wool", I would only get about three drops in when it was running out. This stuff I get about 10 - 15 drops, so it does seem more comes out of it.

There are a few drawbacks so far:

1. You *need* a small piece of fabric over the top of the stainless steel - I used cheesecloth (a cotton fabric used in cooking.) Without this, it works okay to begin with, but metal does not bounce back, and after it has been pushed down by the atomizer mesh, it stays down. The next time you put it in, they won't connect. Sure, you can rotate it a bit and so forth, but eventually it won't work any more.

2. When you are making this, you *will* cut yourself. If you don't like to bleed, or have haemophilia, I don't suggest doing this.

3. When you are making it, you should use your least favourite eliquid. Apart from using it up, in testing, you will end up having so much of it you will end up hating the eliquid you use in doing so.

I have tested it by smoking it quickly (to test its wicking ability) and it was better than the nylon wool. I also left it overnight (to test its ability to adsorb the eliquid) and it didn't seem to just drain into the mouthpiece.

You will need to play around with it to get it to work - I used it in a DSE901 cartridge (specifically a screwdriver.) It may work better or worse in other models.

I intend on buying a "permanent" coffee filter for those ridiculous "drip filter coffee machines" that are so popular in the US. These come in stainless steel and have a finer mesh than the tea filter. Many of them are gold plated, though, which I am guessing will just flake off and get inhaled when you bend it - I'll see if I can get one without the gold plating.

[PeteMcArthur]

Hi,

That's very interesting so I'm going to have a go at it. How did you scrunch up the mesh? Was it rolled into a tube shape or was it just a random crunch? I thing you are right about the coffee filter idea, the tea trainers I've seen have a much coarser mesh.

[Bertrand]

Roll it into the shape of the cartridge. You will need a depression in the middle for the atomizer to fit into. It's a visualize in 3d and cut into 2d type thing. If your cartridge is a two piece, rip them apart to get the measurements. You will probably screw up the first few, but you get plenty of mesh in a tea strainer. Actually, I'm not sure you need a finer mesh. E-liquid seems to have quite a low surface tension. (Probably they need some heavy duty emulsifiers to dissolve all the toxic chemicals in there hehehehe.)

[Bertrand]

By the way, I found the best tool for rolling it is a very small set of pliers. I did try a sharp set of tweezers, but the pliers worked better. But you *will* cut yourself either way, heheheheh.

[MagusSteele]

Slap a small Battery type spring behind it.

[Bertrand]

Slap a small Battery type spring behind it.

Good idea. Actually, I think this was in the .nl post. It would make refilling easier. (You don't need to get nicotine all over yourself removing the fabric cover.) Now to find a stainless steel or otherwise mostly inert or non-toxic spring...

There is one issue, though: unless you are very precise, you do need to mash the stainless steel mesh down with a small hammer (or similar device - I used a large pair of pliers). If it goes past the end of the cartridge you are in a world of eliquid-in-the-mouth. I'm sure this is easily overcome with a bit of experimentation, and after all you should only need two cartridges.

[PeteMcArthur]

How about the stainless steel at the rear of the cart, with a thin layer of filler at the front? Sort of a hybrid cart. Might be difficult with a 901 but easier with a pen sytle.

[Bertrand]

How about the stainless steel at the rear of the cart, with a thin layer of filler at the front? Sort of a hybrid cart. Might be difficult with a 901 but easier with a pen sytle.

That's how I have it setup at the moment. The spring would make it easier to refill, though. Otherwise you need to pull the filler up to refill. (And then make sure you put it back so it doesn't overlap the edge of the cartridge so you don't get (much of) the liquid in your mouth.) It does work okay with the 901 cartridge, though.

[SANJP]

some pics of this would be nice

[PeteMcArthur]

That's how I have it setup at the moment. The spring would make it easier to refill, though. Otherwise you need to pull the filler up to refill. (And then make sure you put it back so it doesn't overlap the edge of the cartridge so you don't get (much of) the liquid in your mouth.) It does work okay with the 901 cartridge, though.

Sorry I misread your original post, I assumed you had just a single thin layer of cheesecloth. One of my problems will be that the position of the bridge on the atomiser varies between types, about 3mm. This means that on one type of atomiser the wool is really squashed back into the cart, the other type the wool simply has a small indent in it. The spring would be the answer, but more difficult to implement.