A look at various wicking materials for rebuildable atomizers
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Good point. Baby steps may be in order here. First thing is can the wick deliver the juice to the coil?
I did some exploring on that a while back and used some foot long glass tubes with the wicking material inside. There was only about 5 inches of wick but used a dyed PG/VG and several different wicks to measure the rate and terminal height of wicking in a given period of time. I suppose you could heat the liquid but I did the test at room temp.
Duane
Dripping atomizer with top off mounted on TC mod lying on side on 1 inch piece of wood. Long wick thru dripper coil going down into small cup/vial of eliquid.....
I snapped pictures of the wicked tubes side by side at specific time periods to allow me accurately evaluate the results. There were from 4 to six different materials in each test run.
Duane
Duane
I've mainly used Japanese cotton for wicks. So now I'm trying rayon and getting good results.
I'm using eucalyptus tencel, and bamboo rayon, for most of my wicks atm, to see which I prefer.
Tencel. and Bamboo.
They both work well, the uniform direction and the straight silky strands of the bamboo fibers, make it easy to work with.
As the wicks made from both last a long time, it's not a quick process testing multiple wick materials, because the amount of time a wick lasts without needing changing is one of its most important attributes.
Both need to be run under warm gently flowing water to get rid of any taste. Only as much as you need to make a couple of wicks with, it tangles if you wet too much.
I'm using eucalyptus tencel, and bamboo rayon, for most of my wicks atm, to see which I prefer.
Tencel. and Bamboo.
They both work well, the uniform direction and the straight silky strands of the bamboo fibers, make it easy to work with.
As the wicks made from both last a long time, it's not a quick process testing multiple wick materials, because the amount of time a wick lasts without needing changing is one of its most important attributes.
Both need to be run under warm gently flowing water to get rid of any taste. Only as much as you need to make a couple of wicks with, it tangles if you wet too much.
No one is concerned about inhaling the fuzz that rayon gives off when handling it?
Or maybe when vaping it?
It tends to give of a cloud of fine fuzz when handling it.
Or maybe when vaping it?
It tends to give of a cloud of fine fuzz when handling it.
I had two qualms with Phil's test. First, he used 100% straight VG. People generally don't vape liquid that viscous. If you do a test, please use liquid that's more representative of what most people vape. Second, he tested how long it took for liquid to travel along a length of totally dry wicking material. I'm not sure how that's relevant to the real world use of a wick. I generally prime my wicks after I install the. I think a better test would be to pre-wet the wicks with uncolored liquid, then see how long it takes for colored liquid to travel the length of the wick.
The material I settled on about a year ago is Tidi rayon balls (medical grade). If you'd like some of that to include in your comparison, PM me.
I like the idea of figuring out a way to test wet wicks except I don't think there would be any driving capillary force for the colored liquid to move in a wick that's already wet with uncolored liquid.
Duane
I think that starting with a saturated wick is critical to characterizing real-world performance of these materials. I still like my first idea of threading the wick through a coil and vaporizing the liquid to set up the necessary capillary draw. Dangle one end of the saturated wick into a small bath of colored e-liquid and time it. Probably have to use my rDNA40 and a nickel coil to avoid burning the wick in the absence of any decent airflow. Pretty much on the same page as the suggestion Robert Cromwell posted above. I'll play around with it a bit while I acquire samples of the last few materials.
In the meantime, I think I'll start measuring the juice retention capacity of some of these materials. Not planning on anything fancy here: build a coil, weigh it, roll a wick, insert it into a coil, trim it, weigh it (wick+coil), soak it, weigh it. Very operator dependent and probably not very repeatable, but it seems relevant to the intended use.
In the meantime, I think I'll start measuring the juice retention capacity of some of these materials. Not planning on anything fancy here: build a coil, weigh it, roll a wick, insert it into a coil, trim it, weigh it (wick+coil), soak it, weigh it. Very operator dependent and probably not very repeatable, but it seems relevant to the intended use.
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Organic combed Pima cotton
Received from Avid Vapers. Combed long staple cotton which, at first glance, looks and feels a lot like the Vapers Choice cotton, only with that nice “ecru” unbleached organic cotton color.
Picked apart, the long staple cotton strands are very apparent, although they are not as well-aligned as the Vapers Choice. Peeling off a wick leaves more stray strands due to the additional fiber entanglement.
At 10X, the entangled fibers are readily apparent. As is the overall good fiber alignment.
Rolls very easily into a well formed wick and stays in place. Tear strength is quite good. Actually pretty nice to work with.
Overall, this stuff really appeals to me at this point. Wish the fibers were longer, but it seems like it could provide a good compromise between wicking and juice retention. But hey, after 30+ years in materials research, I've been wrong before.
Next up should be Graham Rayon Cellucotton, when it arrives.
Received from Avid Vapers. Combed long staple cotton which, at first glance, looks and feels a lot like the Vapers Choice cotton, only with that nice “ecru” unbleached organic cotton color.
Picked apart, the long staple cotton strands are very apparent, although they are not as well-aligned as the Vapers Choice. Peeling off a wick leaves more stray strands due to the additional fiber entanglement.
At 10X, the entangled fibers are readily apparent. As is the overall good fiber alignment.
Rolls very easily into a well formed wick and stays in place. Tear strength is quite good. Actually pretty nice to work with.
Overall, this stuff really appeals to me at this point. Wish the fibers were longer, but it seems like it could provide a good compromise between wicking and juice retention. But hey, after 30+ years in materials research, I've been wrong before.
Next up should be Graham Rayon Cellucotton, when it arrives.
Is that from personal experience or did you read it somewhere.
In the few weeks I've been using different rayons, there's no breakdown into fuzz or small particles.
The worst I've had has been the taste if it's been sealed in plastic for too long, and that rinses out in a few seconds under warm running water.
Rayon is an excellent wicking material.
If you're at all concerned about it, try the fiber freaks rayon, specially processed for vaping.
I'm trying out grahams cellucotton, fibre freaks, eucalyptus rayon, and bamboo rayon.
One thing I've found is it's how you make your wicks, is as important as what you're using.
So far I'm really impressed with rayon.
Saw it on a Busardo vid. Fuzz was floating in the air. At least I think it was Busardo.
As I read somewhere, most quickly water passes through tunnels with 100-200 mkm diameter. May be cable with thin glass or metal wires (100-200 mkm) will be the most useful for capillary effect
For anyone who cares, my lifetime supply of Graham Rayon Cellucotton arrived today.
I won't lie - I'm gonna have a hard time with this stuff. I can't stand to eat steamed fresh green beans because they squeak when you bite them. And this stuff gives me a heebie jeebie feeling that makes green beans seem like oatmeal when I try to roll a wick. But I'll suck it up and tough it out for you guys.
I won't lie - I'm gonna have a hard time with this stuff. I can't stand to eat steamed fresh green beans because they squeak when you bite them. And this stuff gives me a heebie jeebie feeling that makes green beans seem like oatmeal when I try to roll a wick. But I'll suck it up and tough it out for you guys.
If you bite it and it squeaks does it make you feel like it's alive?For anyone who cares, my lifetime supply of Graham Rayon Cellucotton arrived today.
I won't lie - I'm gonna have a hard time with this stuff. I can't stand to eat steamed fresh green beans because they squeak when you bite them. And this stuff gives me a heebie jeebie feeling that makes green beans seem like oatmeal when I try to roll a wick. But I'll suck it up and tough it out for you guys.
Duane
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