I will try this buff puff if I don't need a spring... Is it as easy as the blue foam?
The buff stuff is a little more difficult to cut to size, but it works better than anything I've used so far. Going on day 4 and no reduction in performance. I haven't tried it without some kind of support - I use a cut & notched drinking straw to support the plug vs. the spring. The straw acts as a reservoir to fill with liquid and the top edge of it acts as a ledge to support the plug. the straw is 10-12mm tall, with 2 notches at the bottom, to allow air flow.
The buff stuff is build kind of like a flexible honeycomb. It's flexible and squeezable, like an accordian, one way, but not the other way. So it forms accordian-like channels. You cut it so the channels run lengthwise into your cart. You squeeze it like an accorian, slip it into the cart with tweezers and then it expands back out to the sides to plug the opening. If you put it in the other direction, it doesn't really wick, because the channels are running crosswise in the cart, rather than pointing towards the atty.
The pad is 1" thick, so it's way too thick for the cart & needs to be cut down considerably to get to the right size. I squeeze it thin and snip off a square piece. When it expands back, you have one long, narrow, rectangular piece. I then snip a piece of that off to a little larger than the width of the cart, so I have to squeeze it to get it in. I end up with a piece about 8mm long, 5mm deep and 6mm wide.
Tell you what if you can't find it at your local pet store send me a PM with your address and I will send you a box of it, I don't need the stuff I have it's only missing 1/2 a sheet of the 4 in it, there is still damn near a lifetime supply of it here, lol! It should be easy to find in places like Walmart, or PetZone or whatever chain is near you though in the aquarium department.
I preferred the Fluval for the ease of use when I still monkeyed around with 3pc models. Some people like the PTB mod as well but since I switched to the GreenCig I threw away the 510 I had, and gave my mother the Dragon kit I originally purchased. It's here if you can't find it. I don't get all the monkeying with a product to make it work right, that annoys the hell out of me that's why I went to the 2pc models, it's so much less BS to get a good vaping session, and no juice shots!
Pretty much. Check out this other post - I just posted a diagram: Reservoir Straw & Plug Mod (RSP Mod)
Kristin, thanks for all this info! I had in my bathroom cabinet small generic CVS facial cleaning sponges (FCS), which are essentially generic buff puffs. They do seem like a honeycomb matrix like has been described for the bigger sponges, more omni-directional and random like original filler (OF). I rinse out the soap that is in the FCS completely with hot water, let it dry, and cut about 1/4 inch strip fromm one edge. Folded in half, added straw, inserted into my 510 cart, and cut off flush with the cart opening. Filled easily, seems to pull in VG fluid better than OF. Vaped almost exactly like OF. PTB wicks better, but the ones I made seemed to be lacking in the vapor production department. No filler flavor that I could detect from the FCS, but we'll try it a couple of days to see how it hangs up. One thing about FCSs, all you need is scissors. One sponge would make several carts, and quickly.
Just another twist on the sponge filler thing. One thing about these cleaning sponges though, and I am at work now so can't check up on it, is that they are abrasive cleaning sponges. This may mean the fibers have little barbs on them so they are "deep cleaning", and these barbs might inhibit wicking to the atty some. But I will look closely at mine tonight to see if this is true. These sponges are certainly less hassle and cheaper than PTB. My guess is a box of FCSs would make at least 500 carts.
At this point, however, my favorite cart is OF + straw. Haven't tried the plugs or springs yet. Hoping the FCSs + straw are at least as good after a couple of days. I generally get at least a week out of OF+straw before I replace the filler, and that's only to clean out the flavor. The function generally is still very good after a week or so.
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