Last night, I had this bright idea to try taking a straight piece of kanthal, and laying it width-wise along the top of an unrolled, oxidized piece of mesh, at the level where the air hole would stoke the wick. At the end of the mesh that would end up being in the center of the roll, I bent the kanthal 90 degrees, so when the whole thing was rolled up, it came directly out the top of the mesh. Basically, it's a coil that gets rolled up inside your mesh wick.
Obviously, since it's been removed from the testing rig, it didn't work as well as expected. It takes awhile for it to heat up, because the heat-sink effects of the mesh are compounded.
On the other hand, it wicks really, really well- indefinitely- and is very easy to set up once it is rolled. It's biggest issue is airflow, but I have a not-so-easy fix to take care of that. Sending air over the outside of the mesh will never work for a design like this (or the glass-surround wicks, etc).
Obviously, since it's been removed from the testing rig, it didn't work as well as expected. It takes awhile for it to heat up, because the heat-sink effects of the mesh are compounded.
On the other hand, it wicks really, really well- indefinitely- and is very easy to set up once it is rolled. It's biggest issue is airflow, but I have a not-so-easy fix to take care of that. Sending air over the outside of the mesh will never work for a design like this (or the glass-surround wicks, etc).
