Wicking Material
- Thread starter Jim Davis
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Silica or long strand fiberglass, poi/fire rope OR McMaster as silica seal rope. Probably local if you can find a fireplace store - they use that as gasket material as well.
Pretty damn sure it's what is in them from the factory
I have kevlar too, but it gasses at high heat, and the temp rating for silica and fiberglass is WAY higher, so I didn't use it.
now HERE is a question for you
.... have you come up with a source for that goofy metal mesh stuff? That's the only thing I can't come up with a reasonable replacement for.
Pretty damn sure it's what is in them from the factory
I have kevlar too, but it gasses at high heat, and the temp rating for silica and fiberglass is WAY higher, so I didn't use it.
now HERE is a question for you
.... have you come up with a source for that goofy metal mesh stuff? That's the only thing I can't come up with a reasonable replacement for.
Silica or long strand fiberglass, poi/fire rope OR McMaster as silica seal rope. Probably local if you can find a fireplace store - they use that as gasket material as well.
Pretty damn sure it's what is in them from the factory
I have kevlar too, but it gasses at high heat, and the temp rating for silica and fiberglass is WAY higher, so I didn't use it.
now HERE is a question for you
Since the mesh does not come in contact with the coil, I don't see why stainless steel wire braid material wouldn't work. Most electronic sensor wires have the braided ground shield running the length of the wire. I'm just not sure which are stainless. I imagine a simple magnet test would suffice. Stainless is non magnetic, unless it's an alloy.
I don't think you need a wicking material, or any support for the coil. I made an open coil with a single strand of wire from Berkeley 45 lb test Steelon nylon coated leader wire, ~ 1 ohm/inch, and put a coil made from 2 inches of it into a 901 atomizer. No wick or support, just the coil, and it works fine. If you try working with this stuff it is easier to burn the insulation off with a flame, then unwind a single strand from the 7-strand bundle and heat the wire to red heat to take most of the spring out of it. It will still retain enough spring to make a good coil, and in practice it is actually not easy to make the coil turns touch each other if you wind it a bit larger, then compress it. Be sure it doesn't short to the mesh or the bridge. I didn't even solder it, just wound it around the lead wire a few turns and bent the lead wire end over onto the winds.
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I got my 801 pen style a few weeks ago and after about the first week I started experimenting with just adding a few drops right onto the atomizer without the cartridge and like it much better. The vapor is much denser and the flavor is cleaner tasting. I've learned just to add a few drops at a time to maintain just the right amount. When I'm driving I goose it up before I leave and it's good for about 40 to 50 draws. When I'm out I'll pullover and top it off and I'm on my way. I know it sounds ridicules, but for my life style it's OK. I feel like I'm getting the most out of my juice this way.
Found this, might work
Heres a link to the page
Stainless Screen Wicks for Aster Locomotive by Jeff Runge
Heres a link to the page
Stainless Screen Wicks for Aster Locomotive by Jeff Runge
That's the advantage with nichrome. I read that the chemistry of the nichrome creates an insulator when heated and the coils don't short out when wound tight.
I'm using thinner juice to see if the coil build up is less.
Silica or long strand fiberglass, poi/fire rope OR McMaster as silica seal rope. Probably local if you can find a fireplace store - they use that as gasket material as well.
Pretty damn sure it's what is in them from the factory
I have kevlar too, but it gasses at high heat, and the temp rating for silica and fiberglass is WAY higher, so I didn't use it.
now HERE is a question for you
Probably a common question with an already common answer (I'm new here), but given the effects of fiberglass fibers on skin (maddeningly itchy!), I wouldn't think the chance of inhaling fiberglass fibers sounds very appealing.
But, fiberglass, if it melts, wouldn't be inhaled. And if doesn't melt (at 2000C, sometimes lower), the strands would just become a trap for burned out juice. No danger to us, since the strands are entirely entrained within the coil. This isn't your typical insulation batt fiberglass, but even if it was......
Not necessarily. Basic SSs are magnetic; a basic SS being steel and Chromium only. Whether or not SS is magnetic or not, if so to what degree, usually depends on the amount of nickel added to the steel. SS high in chromium and nickel are non-magnetic.
All Stainless Steels are "alloys," in that alloys are combinations of different metals. Some SS Alloys are magnetic, some arent. (I think it's important to note that Steel is an alloy itself, comprising of iron and carbon)
Take the motorcycle in my avatar, if you stick a magnet on the headers, you'll get nothing. Stick it on the catalytic converter housing (which is also SS) the magnet will have a mild attraction (and I wouldn't figure nickel, which is slightly magnetic is the catalyist in my converter).
I think the ideal metal for use as an atomizer wick would probably be 316 SS, commonly used in food processing machinery and surgical equipment, is of a higher corrosion resistance than 304 (less reactive with other chemicals). Now where to find a 316 mesh suitable for an atomizer, I haven't the slightest clue.
Yes, but you'd have to assume that none of the fiberglass particles could possible break loose/free and get carried with the vapor/air. I'm new to e-cigs and not an expert by any stretch (actually, I joined more out of interest for the devices and their controversy than anything else), so please feel free to enlighten me, it's what I'm here for!
I just had to repair an atomizer recently. Actually, it had died, and I was curious/feeling adventurous, so I took it apart. Once I realized how simple it was, I figured I could repair it. The wicking material fell out of the coil when I removed it from the ceramic pot. It was pretty much useless at that point, so I had to replace it. I found something that worked very, very well, and is still working to this day. I didn't see this mentioned here, but I didn't dig through all the posts either, so I apologize if this is old news.
Go buy a replacement wick for a zippo. I don't know about any of the other company's wicks, but the one I had is from Zippo. The wick is made of two materials besides the copper wire that holds it together. The outer layer is braided cotton. I'm not sure what the core is made of, but I found it to be incredibly similar to what fell out of atomizer's coil. I pulled a small tuft of it out, wet it to get it to a nice point, and fed it through the coil. I don't remember exactly when I replaced it, but it's been some time now, and it actually works better than it did new. A lot better.
Obviously, you'd want to use a brand new wick, and not one you pulled out of an old lighter. Might be worth a shot. Worked fantastic for me, especially considering I was just experimenting.
Go buy a replacement wick for a zippo. I don't know about any of the other company's wicks, but the one I had is from Zippo. The wick is made of two materials besides the copper wire that holds it together. The outer layer is braided cotton. I'm not sure what the core is made of, but I found it to be incredibly similar to what fell out of atomizer's coil. I pulled a small tuft of it out, wet it to get it to a nice point, and fed it through the coil. I don't remember exactly when I replaced it, but it's been some time now, and it actually works better than it did new. A lot better.
Obviously, you'd want to use a brand new wick, and not one you pulled out of an old lighter. Might be worth a shot. Worked fantastic for me, especially considering I was just experimenting.
Someone posted this as a metal mesh supplier a while ago
Micronic wire mesh data,prices, helpful information
Not sure if that the same stuff as kender posted?
As far as the coil wick goes, wish it wasn't required,
I think it's the root of all evils.
Wish someone with a little knowledge could advise me about:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ce-wick-idea-worth-me-having-go-new-post.html
Micronic wire mesh data,prices, helpful information
Not sure if that the same stuff as kender posted?
As far as the coil wick goes, wish it wasn't required,
I think it's the root of all evils.
Wish someone with a little knowledge could advise me about:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ce-wick-idea-worth-me-having-go-new-post.html
Not familiar with the zippo wicks and don't have one to hand. But this seems to be a really great tip ! Plus you've done and tested it over some time. Excellent ingenuity. Thanks for sharing
ps: can you see if the material is actually still in the coil? Just a thought - perhaps it's long gone and not really needed after all (?)
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Exo - 2 things.
1) Wonder if you could try this (even if you think it's crazy) - take a cleaned up coil and simply remove the inner wick; try without it. Seems to me a reasonably good chance that it will work well enough without it. After all, most of the juice that's vaporized lands on the coil when (after) it is heated and the target area would still be pretty large (it might actually be hard for a droplet to squueze through a gap in the coil).
2) I think it best not to buy the reel for now but try to think where it is used and find a scrap item to salvage some from. It's a lot of money and not much use for other things.
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Plus you've done and tested it over some time. Excellent ingenuity. Thanks for sharing
ps: can you see if the material is actually still in the coil? Just a thought - perhaps it's long gone and not really needed after all (?)
Thank you for the compliment! I figured it was safe to throw that out there since I have been using it for a while, and I haven't had any ill effects from it. Hopefully it will help someone out in a jam, especially with these things becoming less and less available. I know these forums helped me out a lot. And I am definately keeping a sharp eye on some of the threads in here for a good bulk wire to use to replace coils, since I'd rather spend 30 bucks on a roll of wire that last a long, long time, than spend 20 or more on a new atomizer every few months.
I've always used zippos when I smoked cigarettes, and have obviously had to replace a few wicks over the years. When the little clump of stuff fell out of the coil, it immediately struck me as being similar to the wick. I honestly don't know what it is, but it kinda made sense to me that it would work. And since it was one of those 30 dollar for two, chinese "Health Cigarette"(The one that comes in the white box with the picture of the ocean), I figured I wouldn't lose any sleep if I messed it up.
I didn't even think about the fact that it might burn away, but I just checked and it is still there. Been there for over a month now, give or take a few days. But it is definately still there, and it doesn't appear to be horribly burnt, as the original material was. So it would seem to be holding up a lot better as well. The cigs were about 3 weeks old when the one atomizer failed(One of the wires leading to the coil was shorting out in the body of the atomizer), and the original wick was literally charred and disintegrating. As soon as I pulled the coil from the pot, it just fell out and broke into a bunch of pieces.
It did seem to make a huge difference in vapor production as well. It made enough of a difference that I pulled the working one apart and did the same thing to it. Granted, these cheap things aren't powerhouses, and I have no illusions that they ever will be. But they are very usable now. Not on the level of my EVO's, but close enough to put them in rotation with my others.
I will say that after replacing the coil wick I modified a few other things in the ecigs. I bored out the vent hole in the battery slightly to allow it to draw better, and chamfered it to reduce the whistling noise it made. I also adjusted the pressure switch, as you really had to suck hard to get the battery to switch on, even before I did anything to the vent hole. But on the whole, these 30 dollars junkers are much, much more usable now. And to be honest, it really wasn't much of a hassle to do. While all of these modifications contributed, I do believe the wick made the largest difference. Just hoping now that the batteries in all their cheap glory actually hold out, lol...
Here's a VERY rough drawing of what I did. I don't know if it's the proper way to do it, but it seems to be working very well. To be honest, I'm surprised the coild lasted as long as they have. The wick in the other one I replaced was extremely bad. It was almost baked to the point it was almost like ash, and it literally fell apart like an ash from a cigarette. The coil also had a heavy build-up of crust despite me being fairly diligent about cleaning them. I think this may have had something to do with the fact that the wick was so bad it really wasn't wicking much to the coil. Which was also probably why vapor production was pretty unremarkable.
I know it's a little hard to tell from my Rembrandt of a picture there, lol, so I'll also explain how I did it.
I made the wick considerably longer than the coil, and much wider than the mouth of the ceramic pot. I folded the ends of the wick up over the sides of the pot, and then wrapped the steel mesh over that to hold them down and in place. I think this is what they attempted to do originally, but whatever material they used for the wick degraded quickly, and was falling apart in the atomizer.
Again, I don't know if this is the correct way to do it, and if someone believes this to be a bad idea for whatever reason, please tell me. But I can say it made a considerable difference in how they worked. And for all I can tell, it's been nothing but good. The coils even seems to be holding up a little better as well, though that may be just due to pure luck.
Anyway, I hope this makes sense and helps someone out. And I apologize for being so long winded. Been a long weekend, lol...
h ttp://i651 DOT photobucket DOT com/albums/uu238/gvikar/wickreplacement DOT jpg
Grrr... I don't have enough posts to post links, so take out the space in http, and replace the DOTs with periods, lol...
I know it's a little hard to tell from my Rembrandt of a picture there, lol, so I'll also explain how I did it.
I made the wick considerably longer than the coil, and much wider than the mouth of the ceramic pot. I folded the ends of the wick up over the sides of the pot, and then wrapped the steel mesh over that to hold them down and in place. I think this is what they attempted to do originally, but whatever material they used for the wick degraded quickly, and was falling apart in the atomizer.
Again, I don't know if this is the correct way to do it, and if someone believes this to be a bad idea for whatever reason, please tell me. But I can say it made a considerable difference in how they worked. And for all I can tell, it's been nothing but good. The coils even seems to be holding up a little better as well, though that may be just due to pure luck.
Anyway, I hope this makes sense and helps someone out. And I apologize for being so long winded. Been a long weekend, lol...
h ttp://i651 DOT photobucket DOT com/albums/uu238/gvikar/wickreplacement DOT jpg
Grrr... I don't have enough posts to post links, so take out the space in http, and replace the DOTs with periods, lol...
A true modder. Thank you for that zippo wick info, gvii. Now if I could only get some of your zippo wick, or RjG's poi wick, and some .004 NiCo 80, I could probably build something that barely works. And fizzled, 360 might be to right stuff, but does it oxidize to prevent shorts?
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