EvilGrym, I may have missed it, but have you used cotton yarn or only the bamboo?
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Have people used the cotton or bamboo wicks in bulli a2-mt? This is cheap enough to try but I still don't understand how these wicks don't just burn up everyone.
This thread is generating quite a few questions 
Unfortunately I have no answers, hopefully Grym does, and hopefully the thread expands to the point where we can all get further clarity on this
I'm going to set up one of my stardusts with the medical gauze I posted the pic of above, I'll report back with pics if possible.
The way I see it, we stuff that gauze INTO peoples bodies, quite literally, in the hospital. If its anything other than sterile cotton, that would be very bad. Even bleaching (they are white) would have to leave no residues for it to be safe to have a wad of that stuff in your abdomen for two days
Unfortunately I have no answers, hopefully Grym does, and hopefully the thread expands to the point where we can all get further clarity on thisI'm going to set up one of my stardusts with the medical gauze I posted the pic of above, I'll report back with pics if possible.
The way I see it, we stuff that gauze INTO peoples bodies, quite literally, in the hospital. If its anything other than sterile cotton, that would be very bad. Even bleaching (they are white) would have to leave no residues for it to be safe to have a wad of that stuff in your abdomen for two days
This thread is generating quite a few questions
I'm going to set up one of my stardusts with the medical gauze I posted the pic of above, I'll report back with pics if possible.
The way I see it, we stuff that gauze INTO peoples bodies, quite literally, in the hospital. If its anything other than sterile cotton, that would be very bad. Even bleaching (they are white) would have to leave no residues for it to be safe to have a wad of that stuff in your abdomen for two days
I like that logic!
I think I'll try that out today - not sure if I have any laying around the house but if not I'll pick some up when I make my rounds.
keep us posted! I'm trying to set this up now, but having issues not related to the wick lol
Here it is! Its vaping great, the vapor is a tad thin, but I'm not sure if its because the wick isn't ideal thickness or what. Its difficult to get the gauze in an ideal configuration, I'm going to have to recruit the gf to make braids for me
Flavor is a bit different too. A bit more pure? I don't know.
The negative here is that dry burning is going to be out of the question. But so far it works.
That's great news!
I am just starting to work on mine right now - had to get some gauze.
I am twirling 3 small strips then will braid them to see how that works.
Will post back with the results...
I am just starting to work on mine right now - had to get some gauze.
I am twirling 3 small strips then will braid them to see how that works.
Will post back with the results...
Ok I'm back with the results.
This definitely does work - and seems to work real well. Further experimentation is under way...
I started with 3 narrow strands of gauze and twirled trying to keep them as loose as possible but round them out like a rope.
I then braided them together to form the wick. I tied the ends with small twirls of gauze but don't think that is even necessary.
Here is the finished wick:
Wick in the stardust assembly:
Inside the stardust with juice. The juice is a PG/VG combo - 70/30. The juice is dark (used one of my least favorite - comes in handy for experimenting purposes though) and also the stardust is colored - I don't have any clear case ones in my possession at the moment to use:
Here is the wick after the experiment. It wicked very well and shows no burn marks around the coil:
Here's the details:
Initially I felt the wick may be too wound too tight but proceeded anyway so I would have a benchmark if it did not work.
Once the juice was added the wick expanded substantially and sponged up the juice real quick.
The resistance measured 1.8 ohms on the Provari.
I started at 3.0 volts. Got vapor and a very clean almost creamy flavor.
From there went up in .2 volt increments.
At around 3.8 and definitely 4.0 (remember the coil is 1.8 ohms) I got a burning taste. I actually think this comes from the silicon under cap that serves as a barrier to keep the coil ends from touching where they shouldn't. I always get this taste on these stardusts when using higher voltages. The trick is to push it down further after you've set your coil to reduce the area of contact with the wire. I did not do this in this experiment.
3.5-3.6 seemed to be the sweet spot. I chain vape a lot so did not wait long periods of time between vapes - maybe 10 seconds or so at some intervals. The wick seemed to perform perfectly at these voltages given the short interval between vapes.
To address the flavor I find that the stardust setup itself does account for a cleaner and less flavorful vape than a filler based carto depending on the juice.
The improvement being made here is that the standard stardust setup just does not wick properly for me at all - no matter what I've tried.
I am now working on a slightly looser gauze wick as I feel that will wick even better and maybe even give more flavor. I'll let you know my findings when that's done.
In conclusion gauze does work and works very well. I am very satisfied with the results and will continue experimenting.
Hope this helps those of you who were wondering about gauze and/or looking to improve on the stardust vaping experience at a minimal cost. The gauze is super cheap and can be purchased at any supermarket or drug store ect... so there's no shortage of that. I made the coil from a salvaged old carto so no expense there either.
Vape On!
This definitely does work - and seems to work real well. Further experimentation is under way...
I started with 3 narrow strands of gauze and twirled trying to keep them as loose as possible but round them out like a rope.
I then braided them together to form the wick. I tied the ends with small twirls of gauze but don't think that is even necessary.
Here is the finished wick:
Wick in the stardust assembly:
Inside the stardust with juice. The juice is a PG/VG combo - 70/30. The juice is dark (used one of my least favorite - comes in handy for experimenting purposes though) and also the stardust is colored - I don't have any clear case ones in my possession at the moment to use:
Here is the wick after the experiment. It wicked very well and shows no burn marks around the coil:
Here's the details:
Initially I felt the wick may be too wound too tight but proceeded anyway so I would have a benchmark if it did not work.
Once the juice was added the wick expanded substantially and sponged up the juice real quick.
The resistance measured 1.8 ohms on the Provari.
I started at 3.0 volts. Got vapor and a very clean almost creamy flavor.
From there went up in .2 volt increments.
At around 3.8 and definitely 4.0 (remember the coil is 1.8 ohms) I got a burning taste. I actually think this comes from the silicon under cap that serves as a barrier to keep the coil ends from touching where they shouldn't. I always get this taste on these stardusts when using higher voltages. The trick is to push it down further after you've set your coil to reduce the area of contact with the wire. I did not do this in this experiment.
3.5-3.6 seemed to be the sweet spot. I chain vape a lot so did not wait long periods of time between vapes - maybe 10 seconds or so at some intervals. The wick seemed to perform perfectly at these voltages given the short interval between vapes.
To address the flavor I find that the stardust setup itself does account for a cleaner and less flavorful vape than a filler based carto depending on the juice.
The improvement being made here is that the standard stardust setup just does not wick properly for me at all - no matter what I've tried.
I am now working on a slightly looser gauze wick as I feel that will wick even better and maybe even give more flavor. I'll let you know my findings when that's done.
In conclusion gauze does work and works very well. I am very satisfied with the results and will continue experimenting.
Hope this helps those of you who were wondering about gauze and/or looking to improve on the stardust vaping experience at a minimal cost. The gauze is super cheap and can be purchased at any supermarket or drug store ect... so there's no shortage of that. I made the coil from a salvaged old carto so no expense there either.
Vape On!
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Thanks for the information Startle and going into detail.... that is very helpful. I will give this a try when one of my tanks go empty and I rebuild a ce2.
Phenomenal tutorial and information Startle! Your wicks are beautiful, make mine look like crap! I'm not nuts about the vapor (weak) I'm getting, and I think its the wick, its just not pulling in enough juice. I have to make a nice wick like yours and try again.
Awesome!
Awesome!
Thanks Cyrus! Let me know when there is a vape meet - sounds like fun.
Update:
I made a thinner wick and it was not nearly as good as the thicker original one. That thing blew up like a sponge and wicked perfectly.
The one thing that I'm questioning now is the lack of flavor and off flavors that I (and from what I have read it's not just me) have been experiencing with the clearo/stardust type of configuration.
The obvious difference between this configuration and the standard carto is that the coil in the carto is embedded in the filler material where as the wick in the clearo type is wrapped around the wick and exposed. Could the coil itself be acting in a capacity similar to that of an ionizer and burning off the flavor as well as creating the other off flavors? Is the silicon under cap giving off a bad taste or possibly a combination of the two?
To try and gain more insight into this I am going to create a wick with the coil wire woven inside of it. This should create an environment more similar to the cartos.
I guess I'll create a new thread for that as it's not directly related to the original subject matter of this one.
Vape On!
Update:
I made a thinner wick and it was not nearly as good as the thicker original one. That thing blew up like a sponge and wicked perfectly.
The one thing that I'm questioning now is the lack of flavor and off flavors that I (and from what I have read it's not just me) have been experiencing with the clearo/stardust type of configuration.
The obvious difference between this configuration and the standard carto is that the coil in the carto is embedded in the filler material where as the wick in the clearo type is wrapped around the wick and exposed. Could the coil itself be acting in a capacity similar to that of an ionizer and burning off the flavor as well as creating the other off flavors? Is the silicon under cap giving off a bad taste or possibly a combination of the two?
To try and gain more insight into this I am going to create a wick with the coil wire woven inside of it. This should create an environment more similar to the cartos.
I guess I'll create a new thread for that as it's not directly related to the original subject matter of this one.
Vape On!
I've noticed with the stardusts, that if the coils are too close to the silicon, I get a distinct nasty silicon burning kind of taste
That aside, adding a wrap around the coil and effectively embedding it is an amazing idea, make sure you link us to the thread
I'm going to recruit my gf to make me some braided gauze, I'm pumped!
That aside, adding a wrap around the coil and effectively embedding it is an amazing idea, make sure you link us to the thread
I'm going to recruit my gf to make me some braided gauze, I'm pumped!
The silicon cap on the post of the stardust and the stock tips are to blame for the muted flavor. Other that that clearos are leaps and bounds above cartos for flavor. Try pulling off the silicon and vaping it with the tip off. (make sure you don't let the liquid past the metal tube as you tip though) You will notice a difference. They still aren't as good as ce2s
Charlz,
I removed the silicon cap and the tip as suggested and there it definitely more flavor present.
There is still a consistent off flavor going on with these however. The culprit is either silicon undercap or the the coil itself giving off the flavor due to it being external and not filtering through anything to break it up.
I experience the exact same off flavor with both the stock wick as well as the gauze so I conclude that it is not the medium that is causing this.
Next step is to eliminate the silicon undercap from the system and see if that makes a difference.
Thanks for your input - it has helped a lot! Kudos to Cyrus as well!
Regardless of the flavor obstacle we have proven that gauze does work real well as a wick and is a great option for improving the wicking component in this system.
Vape On!
Cool thread. I have been following it for a while now. I always figured the muted flavor was due to the fact that the vapor in the stardusts was shielded from the other liquid. I can draw off of a cartomizer with no power and still get a slight taste of the juice inside (I usually do this to figure out what may be in there - learned it from trying to use an eGo when turned off!). I am looking forward to trying the gauze as a wick, along with other natural materials.
KJ
KJ
Its amazing what your motor memory will be able to handle for you even when you can't consciously recollect things; just sat down with the a.m. coffee and figured I'd give your braided wick a whirl. My fingers seem to recall how to do it! Pretty funny. I guess it was all those lanyards we used to make as kids 20 years ago.
Gonna strap this on to a Ce2 and see what happens
Back at it this am.
I managed to braid the coil into the wick so none of it is exposed. Took several tries but it ended up being fairly simple. I'll post the method if I find it makes an improvement.
Now I'm trying to remove all silicon from the configuration. Problem is how do you do so and maintain a safe contact with the negative end of the wire.
I tried making the contact externally and as suspected it did not work successfully to complete the circuit:
Anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this without any silicone or solder? Maybe try to fabricate the inner silicone separator cap from another medium that won't (shouldn't) burn like aqua clear foam or something?
I think we should name this the Heidi mod based the looks of the above photo - also could be that Wendy's chick lol.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I managed to braid the coil into the wick so none of it is exposed. Took several tries but it ended up being fairly simple. I'll post the method if I find it makes an improvement.
Now I'm trying to remove all silicon from the configuration. Problem is how do you do so and maintain a safe contact with the negative end of the wire.
I tried making the contact externally and as suspected it did not work successfully to complete the circuit:
Anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this without any silicone or solder? Maybe try to fabricate the inner silicone separator cap from another medium that won't (shouldn't) burn like aqua clear foam or something?
I think we should name this the Heidi mod based the looks of the above photo - also could be that Wendy's chick lol.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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