fc-2000 porous ceramic wick

[ericska]

Ok, I have taken the full plunge into the ceramic wick approach. Picked up some TopFin fine bubble stone from PS for under $6. Cut my pieces and went to work on the bench grinder. Broke the first 2 tries, but then came away with 2 perfectly sized wicks for my aga-t. I went with the approach from Rip and Vapdivrr and wrapped a strand of cheese cloth around the top of the wick, and then wrapped a 2.0ohm 4/3 wrap of 32awg kanthal. Holy $*%#!! This thing has rocked the house right from the start on my VAMO at 9 watts. What a forum this is! You guys are awesome and I now have the cleanest tasting and thickest vapor plumes I have ever experienced. Thanks to you all for the insights and the excellent video tutorials. I have found my vaping bliss for now - next move is a mechanical mod to try out the sub 1 ohm world. vape on my friends, vape on!

Hahaha~! I have the same story as yours. I post my story to share with my fellow Malaysian vapers.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/malaysia-forum/384046-alamak-omg-all-hail-porous-ceramic-wick.html
Vape on, my friends!

 

[Lhartman89]

There is at least 3mm between coil and wick (from top) which can be narrowed down by 1 mm easily, even more. (1.5mm to center post as seen from inside tank) You also have approx. 2mm to the outside, and you can steal 1mm from there too. A 9/64 centered will only take out another .6mm max per side. Lotsa room. You can drill straight through the center ... will go lightning fast.

I realize it looks otherwise, but the room is actually there, and I had to look at this several times over myself, as I also wasn't sure initially either until I looked at it long enough. I'd say there's enough to go up to 4.5mm before things get ugly. I'll post a pic after my stuff arrives.

I think you can do it if you have a drill press like SteveW said. Take a look at ericska's photo. He drilled it out to 3mm and it is cutting it close. This pic is on the link he just posted above my post.

 

[Hello World]

I think you can do it if you have a drill press like SteveW said. Take a look at ericska's photo. He drilled it out to 3mm and it is cutting it close. This pic is on the link he just posted above my post.

1/8 = 3.2mm, 9/64 = 3.6mm. Even in the picture another .3 mm a side is available. I can only reiterate 1mm is available from the edge of the wickhole to the tank-side pos. post.

I can see from here the actual distances available with my AGA-T2 right in front of me that I can cut 9/16 ... no problem.

I'll up a pic when all is said and done. And if in fact a drill press is required, I'll post that info too.

 

[ericska]

I think you can do it if you have a drill press like SteveW said. Take a look at ericska's photo. He drilled it out to 3mm and it is cutting it close. This pic is on the link he just posted above my post.

View attachment 181387

I used a 3mm Bosch HSS drill bit with a bench drill in slow speed, no problem at all and I have done 3 of my AGA-T+s. But best using cobalt drill bit, easier I think...

 

[Railrust]

any car will drive you home, the question is how fast... (and maybe the state of your behind after 50 miles)
the zau setup needs to be tweaked a bit.
The 1/8 ceramic fills the wick hole. your pretty much left with that tiny fill hole for air flow in the tank.
As a result, the brake in is a pain compared to the DID. so its probably best to sand that 1/8 a bit to let it breathe.
The main down side for me is the length of that center post. because of it, a 3/4 28g wrap on it with on the 1/8 amounts to 1ohm and I need that .8 the get my hit on a mechanical. ppl using the ZAP on the provary can coil at higher ohms and push the voltage, I don't have that luxury. Final observation, you gotta be damn careful with that top cap.
I think whatever performance comparison chart you had going with an ss setup is still valid with a ceramic setup. so staying with the car metaphor, the DID is faster, more powerful, more comfortable.
As of now, the DID on ceramic is giving me the vape of my life. I have very very high expectations for the AC9....

Just reading all this...its really hard to see getting a better vape then my AC9 on 500 mesh 28g right now...its the best I have had...but going to buy the ceramic (yes and pay $20) just to see. This thread is going to cost me...LOL

 

[Railrust]

hey guys, when i first recieved my ceramic wicks the only size i was able to get was the 3/32 ones, so this put my ac-9 & dids away till i could get the 1/8'ths. so aga here we go. when looking at these very small wicks i was initially going to drill out the wick hole in the aga but just decided to try the small ones first. they have been awesome, and now am glad i didnt drill out the hole. the only reason now that i would actually drill it out is to make a coil on it with 28g wire. so has anyone actually drilled out the aga to accomadate the 1/8 wicks? and how is this working? if this works just as good as the smaller wicks i might have to give it a go once i buy a new aga. my buddy just bought a new aga and this aga is half the weight of my original one, is the new ones ss? it looks to me that the new ones are more like a chrome. yes, the grooves into the wick has indeed been out there for some time, and there has been rumors that they actually, if perfected to the right depth and right number of turns, might add this as an option in the future. so my 1/8 wicks have finally arrived, i will be setting up my ac-9 tonight. the wick hole in the ac-9 is quite large, although there wont be the same space between the wick and wick hole as my current set-up, it is close. i kind of wish that the wick was a little more of a tighter fit, just to see if a loose fitting wick is indeed something that is necessary.

My AGA T2 looks nothing like yours on the video...just sayin...

 

[SteveW]

My AGA T2 looks nothing like yours on the video...just sayin...

Yours will be the new model with the pop on cap. The older models were screw tops. With the pop on cap you can line your airhole up with the wick which was an issue with the older version. Also, the new models are all stainless steel.

 

[vapdivrr]

I've heard of people going to 1/8" on the wick hole. That's about as far as you can go from what I've read and you have to be careful not to drill into the threads for the center post. Don't look at it from the top because it does look like you have a lot of room. Look at it from the bottom side. The hole is a lot closer looking at it that way.I tried to get a pic of the bottom side. while it is assembled cause I have juice in both of my T+'s.

View attachment 181380

They are full stainless steel. I attached some photos. You can see the machining marks from where they turned down the top plate and where they ground down the hole on the inside of the cap. I also weighed mine and it is a little over 64 grams. My guess is that with the knurling gone it weighs a little less.

View attachment 181377View attachment 181378

thats good to hear, and yes mine has a lot of ugly knurling, so this can be it.

 

[vapdivrr]

Just reading all this...its really hard to see getting a better vape then my AC9 on 500 mesh 28g right now...its the best I have had...but going to buy the ceramic (yes and pay $20) just to see. This thread is going to cost me...LOL

hey buddy, as you know i have the ac-9 and always had 500mesh& 28g wire, after setting up with the 1/8 ceramic and using a small lenght of cheesecloth this set-up is very much equal to the ss mesh set-up, maybe with the ceramic slightly more vapor, but the big difference is the flavor. the flavor with the ceramic completely blows away the ss mesh, hands down, no comparisons. it will take around a tank for this to shine. at first you might not really notice the difference, but after vaping a couple of tanks and then going back to ss mesh you will see that no matter how well you think your ss set-up was it will not compare to the ceramic. also you dont have to worry about shorting anymore. just watch a couple of rip trippers video's on the fc-wicks, and the 2 that i have made, good luck.. also try to keep the ceramic wick as low as possible, for the 1-1/2 lenght of the ceramic is a tad to short.

 

[Vito Capone]

Hahaha~! I have the same story as yours. I post my story to share with my fellow Malaysian vapers.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/malaysia-forum/384046-alamak-omg-all-hail-porous-ceramic-wick.html
Vape on, my friends!

Just did the same, stopped by ps yesterday and grabbed a couple of stones and went to work this morning. Only broke one but nw both aga's have the bubble stone and are already great. The bubble stone is a bit easier to work with because I was able to make it a bit thicker than the 3/32 fc2000 is. The porous ceramic is the way to go!

 

[Vito Capone]

Just did the same, stopped by ps yesterday and grabbed a couple of stones and went to work this morning. Only broke one but nw both aga's have the bubble stone and are already great. The bubble stone is a bit easier to work with because I was able to make it a bit thicker than the 3/32 fc2000 is. The porous ceramic is the way to go!

 

[Railrust]

hey buddy, as you know i have the ac-9 and always had 500mesh& 28g wire, after setting up with the 1/8 ceramic and using a small lenght of cheesecloth this set-up is very much equal to the ss mesh set-up, maybe with the ceramic slightly more vapor, but the big difference is the flavor. the flavor with the ceramic completely blows away the ss mesh, hands down, no comparisons. it will take around a tank for this to shine. at first you might not really notice the difference, but after vaping a couple of tanks and then going back to ss mesh you will see that no matter how well you think your ss set-up was it will not compare to the ceramic. also you dont have to worry about shorting anymore. just watch a couple of rip trippers video's on the fc-wicks, and the 2 that i have made, good luck.. also try to keep the ceramic wick as low as possible, for the 1-1/2 lenght of the ceramic is a tad to short.

Well I have seen your Vid....very nice. Need to check out Rips. I do trust you on this one. Im ordering now. If you say its that good it is...Thanks again!! Seems clean enough if the price gets right.

 

[vapdivrr]

Well I have seen your Vid....very nice. Need to check out Rips. I do trust you on this one. Im ordering now. If you say its that good it is...Thanks again!! Seems clean enough if the price gets right.

a couple of things i do is boil the wicks for 2 minutes then dry. i anneal the wires really good to start. i use the cheesecloth personally to speed break in time. wrap wires as tight as possible. after wrapping coil add juice before doing a very slight burn. just pulse coil a few times to slightly and slowly singe cheesecloth, no need to completly burn all off. vape away my friend, it does take some additional time to get broken in, in the mean time do not go all that high with volts. now personally i have not used the 28g wire on the 1/8 ceramic wicks yet. i have been trying to stay above 1 ohm so far. on both my wicks(1/8 in ac-9/ 3/32 in aga) i have been doing a 4/5 wrap@ 1.2Ω. the aga set-up is using 30g and the ac-9 is using 29g. with the 28g and a 4/5 wrap the resistances might be right at 1 ohm, which might be good as well, or maybe going to a 5/6 wrap. so i guess i will wait for your results as far as the 28g goes. i was told with the ceramic when i first started that the wicks really need to be broken in a while before attempting to go really low with resistances, so this is why i havent pushed them yet. i had the 3/32 wick in my aga for like 2 weeks and didnt do the 28g because of the very small diameter of the wick, but now with the 1/8 wick in my ac-9 i can do the 28g, but i will wait a few days before taking off a wrap.

 

[Stringer63]

Just did the same, stopped by ps yesterday and grabbed a couple of stones and went to work this morning. Only broke one but nw both aga's have the bubble stone and are already great. The bubble stone is a bit easier to work with because I was able to make it a bit thicker than the 3/32 fc2000 is. The porous ceramic is the way to go!

Amen to that! I'm on day 3 with my initial diy fishstick in the aga-t and it continues to absolutely rock the vapor/flavor. As mentioned by others, my coil is staying relatively clean - no dry burns needed after hours and hours of chain vaping (at least 15ml per day) and the juice in the tank stays clean! I am fully sold on this wick - going with the topfin fine bubble stone, I can make at least 12-15 wicks for under $6 with the long stone cut into thirds. The best vape I've experienced for dirt cheap. Real happy here. Having to get used to carrying the vamo/aga-t around everywhere now as I can't make myself go back to clearos while on the go.

 

[vapdivrr]

Amen to that! I'm on day 3 with my initial diy fishstick in the aga-t and it continues to absolutely rock the vapor/flavor. As mentioned by others, my coil is staying relatively clean - no dry burns needed after hours and hours of chain vaping (at least 15ml per day) and the juice in the tank stays clean! I am fully sold on this wick - going with the topfin fine bubble stone, I can make at least 12-15 wicks for under $6 with the long stone cut into thirds. The best vape I've experienced for dirt cheap. Real happy here. Having to get used to carrying the vamo/aga-t around everywhere now as I can't make myself go back to clearos while on the go.

it does eat up some juice, it seems like i am refilling often. what wire and resistances are you using stringer?

 

[Stringer63]

it does eat up some juice, it seems like i am refilling often. what wire and resistances are you using stringer?

I use a 4/3 wrap of 32 - usually comes in around 1.8 to 2.0 ohms. Been thinking about trying a mechanical mod to try 0.8 to 1.2 ohms but not there yet. Restricted by the vamo limits.

 

[Vito Capone]

Amen to that! I'm on day 3 with my initial diy fishstick in the aga-t and it continues to absolutely rock the vapor/flavor. As mentioned by others, my coil is staying relatively clean - no dry burns needed after hours and hours of chain vaping (at least 15ml per day) and the juice in the tank stays clean! I am fully sold on this wick - going with the topfin fine bubble stone, I can make at least 12-15 wicks for under $6 with the long stone cut into thirds. The best vape I've experienced for dirt cheap. Real happy here. Having to get used to carrying the vamo/aga-t around everywhere now as I can't make myself go back to clearos while on the go.

That's a lot of juice! It is hard to put the thing down though once you get it going.

 

[Stringer63]

That's a lot of juice! It is hard to put the thing down though once you get it going.

Yea, I'm a hopeless vaping adict - especially with this setup. My consumption goes down a bit at work but on the weekends its katy bar the door!

 

[Stringer63]

Its a good thing I make my own diy juice too or I'd go broke with this thing!

 

[Railrust]

yes, i knew when i placed the order that the stock caps were airy, so i ordered the tight cap initially. i have tried the stock cap a few times but just to airy for me. have you thought about trying the ceramic?

You bet going to buy some shortly...what did you do about the shortness of the wick in the AC9, just let it hang in the air?