fc-2000 porous ceramic wick

[Elias]

About 20 pages back I was talking about the electrical method and making a simple way so that everyone could do it, this is simple well done, there is one thing I see and that is as the wire wraps around so to the resistance increases and the heat decreases, I had thought of using a 12v battery and a kanthal wire 10 times longer than what wee needed that way it glows nice and red, but I thought wait, thats 10 times the wire, not everyone would have access to a 12v battery and so I scrapped that thought...

Personally I love the simplicity of the above video using a tube... brilliant, simple, everone can get one, I would move the alligator clip along after it glows cooler so it keeps the kanthal hot, maybe fix the tube into a vice and roll the wick towards the tube, every time you need more wire you also need to move the alligator clip, that way the coil glows the same at all times where the wrap is.

 

[DeadPerfect]

the question is... do you get the same degree of fusing and break in time with this method, as opposed to heating both the coil and the stone?

 

[gdeal]

Okay, I finally nailed the .8mm flat kanthal. I stayed with the original EHW method using a micro-torch. The key here was to get the ceramic red hot with the tip of the blue flame and then roll the wire into the tip of the blue flame. This method would blaze through round wire so it was a bit surprising. Even when the wire goes beyond red hot, it still was able to take a bit more tension than I thought with out melting or popping. This wick is bit rougher than my other ones, so that may play into things here too. The coil as show is just under 11mm long, and just over 1.3ohms. I'll probably need to pull a wrap to fit into an atty.

 

[Scubabatdan]

About 20 pages back I was talking about the electrical method and making a simple way so that everyone could do it, this is simple well done, there is one thing I see and that is as the wire wraps around so to the resistance increases and the heat decreases, I had thought of using a 12v battery and a kanthal wire 10 times longer than what wee needed that way it glows nice and red, but I thought wait, thats 10 times the wire, not everyone would have access to a 12v battery and so I scrapped that thought...

Personally I love the simplicity of the above video using a tube... brilliant, simple, everone can get one, I would move the alligator clip along after it glows cooler so it keeps the kanthal hot, maybe fix the tube into a vice and roll the wick towards the tube, every time you need more wire you also need to move the alligator clip, that way the coil glows the same at all times where the wrap is.

Excellent point, and you are correct the more wire wrapped the less the temp will be. Two 3.7 lithiums with a reostat would solve this as the length increases you could increase the voltage output.

the question is... do you get the same degree of fusing and break in time with this method, as opposed to heating both the coil and the stone?

That has yet to be tested, maybe tomorrow if I have time I will test it out.
Dan

 

[vapdivrr]

wow, this stuff is getting interesting!

 

[vapdivrr]

just to let yall know , ive been hot wraping my 3/32 fc wicks without breaking any
oh and by the way vapdivrr , i re-built the last wick and put on 30 guage wire and ended up with 1.4 ohms running 8 watts till it breaks in a bit , but its so much better than the 32 guage....thanks a ton for the advice

no problem, and thanks for the info on hot wrapping the 3/32 wicks, just didnt know if anyone had sucess in doing them yet.

 

[vapdivrr]

scubabatdan, appreciate your input on the ceramic, i know this has been a work in progress for you long before most of us, so i just want to say thanks. ok, now we have a scuba/divrr

 

[turspedie]

Okay, I finally nailed the .8mm flat kanthal. I stayed with the original EHW method using a micro-torch. The key here was to get the ceramic red hot with the tip of the blue flame and then roll the wire into the tip of the blue flame. This method would blaze through round wire so it was a bit surprising. Even when the wire goes beyond red hot, it still was able to take a bit more tension than I thought with out melting or popping. This wick is bit rougher than my other ones, so that may play into things here too. The coil as show is just under 11mm long, and just over 1.3ohms. I'll probably need to pull a wrap to fit into an atty.

This is truly, a work of art!

 

[timothy]

Nice even wraps there good job

 

[TBinAZ]

One trick I have been successful with is to rough up the smooth freshly ground wick with medium emery cloth. Fold over into small U shape between fingers and lightly compress. I found it is more effective to use a loose spin from one end to the other while pushing the wick through. It doesn't take much. I guess a coarse sandpaper could be use too, but haven't tried it.

OK guys Ive noticed something, here it is, the smoother the surface the less the wick sticks using the EHW method, I have now verified this with the wicks I have some are rough on one side smooth on the other and the smooth side will not grip the wire as well as the rougher side....

I think I am going to take a scribe to them and rough them up a little, see how they turn out and report back here, but looking at it under the magnifying glass thats what ive noticed at this stage which would probably make sense to DSmooch and his set up above.

So dont sand them smooth guys, I think the rougher the better....

Back soon

Elias

 

[DeadPerfect]

just modded my Aga-T with a spring/washer in anticipation of getting my 3/32 wicks from Lhartman89. Props to whever came up with the idea. used a pen spring, and a washer from a dremel sander collete. slightly ground down the washer so it grips the wire better. cant wait!

 

[vapdivrr]

just modded my Aga-T with a spring/washer in anticipation of getting my 3/32 wicks from Lhartman89. Props to whever came up with the idea. used a pen spring, and a washer from a dremel sander collete. slightly ground down the washer so it grips the wire better. cant wait!

looks dead perfect! hey you changed your avatar, i thought you were going to change it when you sucessfully vaped a ceramic wick? anyways that spring set=up should reduce the chances of breaking a wick. when i got my ac-9, which came with this spring set up, i changed it back to just a nut set up, just becz i thought i wasnt getting a tight connection, but i might give it another try because i dont want to break any fc-wicks by over tightening. i have been lucky so far but i always kringe as i make a connection.

 

[vapdivrr]

interesting about the rougher surface of the wick being better for adhesion when hot wrapping. i guess the heat sort of burns a channel for the wire, and is held in place from protruding edges of the wick above and below and between?

 

[TBinAZ]

just modded my Aga-T with a spring/washer in anticipation of getting my 3/32 wicks from Lhartman89. Props to whever came up with the idea. used a pen spring, and a washer from a dremel sander collete. slightly ground down the washer so it grips the wire better. cant wait!

Another nifty tweak to that is to use the top washer from an old version Vivi Nova head that has the small sleeve/tube so it is a bit more rigid fitting than just a washer. Fits well.

 

[DeadPerfect]

vapdivrr, so you havent noticed using the spring/washer causes the coil to heat less efficiently? and yea, i figured it was time to get rid of the psycho avatar anyway, lol.

you should score the washer, or hit it with a grinding bit like i did so it grabs the wire better. better connection, less chance of slippage.

TBinAZ, thanks for the info. if i find it not rigid enough, ill make the spring longer. its pretty tight, though..

 

[DeadPerfect]

for anyone interested in something to hold wicks while using techniques on this thread, and dont want to make a dowel thing, here is a decent PIN VICE that holds up to 1/8th bits for 10 bucks. theres a few on amazon too, but alot are top or botom heavy, and alot dont state the maximum sizes they hold, or how deep the collets are. this one is 1/8th, has a deep enough collet, and also comes with some free drill bits. and you can store some ceramic wicks in the handle. im gonna grab it soon

HOBBY ZONE - Hobbico Tools - Pin Vise 1/8" Collet w/3 Bits

 

[vapdivrr]

vapdivrr, so you havent noticed using the spring/washer causes the coil to heat less efficiently? and yea, i figured it was time to get rid of the psycho avatar anyway, lol.

you should score the washer, or hit it with a grinding bit like i did so it grabs the wire better. better connection, less chance of slippage.

TBinAZ, thanks for the info. if i find it not rigid enough, ill make the spring longer. its pretty tight, though..

you know i probably didnt give it enough time to be honest, maybe it was the slippage factor. im not really sure if it will effect any efficiency, probably not. good idea about roughing up the washer, i think i will do that. just recieved my caravela, and set up my ac-9 on it with the 29g wire, 3/4 wrap @1Ω, this is freaking awesome, massive clouds of vapor. if there was a way to upgrade this, like the ribbon wire or whatever, i dont think i could handle it, this is as much as i can take, vapor wise. if you have seen my video in this thread on the cheese cloth, and seen the vapor i was getting, well the set-up i have going right now is twice that amount. its definatly the hot wrap method and an efficient mod that makes it so, and add a couple of days for complete break in, and you have a vapor machine, with tons of flavor.

 

[vapdivrr]

for anyone interested in something to hold wicks while using techniques on this thread, and dont want to make a dowel thing, here is a decent PIN VICE that holds up to 1/8th bits for 10 bucks. theres a few on amazon too, but alot are top or botom heavy, and alot dont state the maximum sizes they hold, or how deep the collets are. this one is 1/8th, has a deep enough collet, and also comes with some free drill bits. and you can store some ceramic wicks in the handle. im gonna grab it soon

HOBBY ZONE - Hobbico Tools - Pin Vise 1/8" Collet w/3 Bits

i just ordered one, thanks. it has been working good just by holding the wick with my fingers and hot wrapping with my other finger, but it does get hot, so this should work well.

 

[DeadPerfect]

i seen the rip tripper dudes video on the cloth wrap. didnt see yours ill look. my vamo only allows 1.2 ohm, so i cant do stuff like that. i do plan on making my own 1/8th wicks though. not sure if it was you, but someone said you only get 2 seconds before a dry hit if not tilted with the 3/32 wicks.. 8 or 9 seconds with the 1/8th. just hope my dremel can drill through the aga-t's stainless steel.

when you use the pin vice, id just make sure the wick has been soaked, and mabey even wrap it with some toilet paper or something b4 putting it in the metal collet. might help prevent breakage.

 

[vapdivrr]

thanks! I'm proud of my hard work
look i'm not sure if its my setup... I know the EHW didn't stick well on it. so it took a full tank to really settle. I had a good flow right from the start but I was hitting drys sooner than usual. With the FC I hardly ever hit a dry after half a tank when its warapped correctly. Again maybe just my setup.
Other than that they feel more solid, less fragile. I think its due to the fact they are a bit less porous. OR its maybe due to the fact that I finished them on the bench ginder so they have a more consistent finish than the FC.
All I can say for sure is that this morning it just works great...and I finally have my AC9s covered properly And I can make one for my miniDID too.
The sales pitch is obvious here: " 50cents-8$ .... 50cents-8$ .... 50cents-8$ .... 50cents-8$ .... 50cents-8$ ".... LOL
If you can hear it, the fishstix, it just makes sense and the fc days are over for me until it goes something like " 50cents-1$ .... 50cents-1$ ", I'll reconsider then.
My message to the fc2000 guy is "buddy, get real!"... economics 101, when the price is too high, smugglers are happy...

awesome job man. i really want to purchase a cobra and dont want to drill it out, so cannot use the fc wicks if they stop making the 3/32 ones, so i may be right behind you. and the price? you cant beat that. just looking at your wicks, they do look less porous, and harder, so i hope they keep on performing well. just recieved and set-up my caravela, the ac-9 fits perfectly, no threading issues at all. this mod hits really hard, and with the ac-9 and a 3/4 wrap of 29g, i dont think it could get any better, just absolute perfection.