Is it normal for SS wire to turn brown?

[Andromendous]

I was just wondering. I've been using 316l for a while now to make clapton coils. I try my hardest not to glow them very much. When I'm working out the hotspots for the first time, i turn it waaaay down, i even go as far as going into a dark room so I can see the glow without it much effort. I dry burn them when I rewick, but just barely enough to get the gunk to burn off, then I let it cool down and rinse off. It always turns brown though, just wondering if thats something I should be worried about.

Pic below is the first rewick on these week old coils. Juiced up with no flavor.

 

[opticruby]

I was just wondering. I've been using 316l for a while now to make clapton coils. I try my hardest not to glow them very much. When I'm working out the hotspots for the first time, i turn it waaaay down, i even go as far as going into a dark room so I can see the glow without it much effort. I dry burn them when I rewick, but just barely enough to get the gunk to burn off, then I let it cool down and rinse off. It always turns brown though, just wondering if thats something I should be worried about.

Pic below is the first rewick on these week old coils. Juiced up with no flavor.

That Sir, is caramelized sweeteners on your wire, looks kinda like rust but its not, many people on this forum will have seen this. The bigger the wire the easier it is to see.

I find brushing my coils with a small wire brush after dry burning helps. I also quench my coils under water after dry burning also.

A tiny bit more power when dry burning will also help, dry burning is always a balance between being practical (removing all gunk), and not overly heating your wire.

 

[Oomee]

Note that most cameras are very sensitive to infrared, so you could see the coil heat up with a camera before your eyes will.

 

[Bunnykiller]

SS can turn many different colors when heated ...

go to Fasttech and check out the "Rainbow" SS mods

 

[Eskie]

Also note that even with dry burning and rinsing, the color will never truly look the same as an unused fresh coil. But it will look cleaner than when you started. As @opticruby points out, a bit more power would be useful in helping clean them up. Dry burning to an orange color and pulsing to keep it around that and not ending up cherry red and you should be fine.

 

[Wheelin247]

I was just wondering. I've been using 316l for a while now to make clapton coils. I try my hardest not to glow them very much. When I'm working out the hotspots for the first time, i turn it waaaay down, i even go as far as going into a dark room so I can see the glow without it much effort. I dry burn them when I rewick, but just barely enough to get the gunk to burn off, then I let it cool down and rinse off. It always turns brown though, just wondering if thats something I should be worried about.

I use SS and when I burn the the coils to clean them I get them to turn orange (not cherry red), then I have a 120ml bottle of water to quench the coils while they are orange. That ends up quenching the coils and also washes off any extra gunk that is on them. No need to go in a dark room to get them barely glowing. I would understand if your using Ni200 or Ti wire but not SS.

Like someone else commented, the brown is caramelized sweetener that hasn't been burned off because the coils hasn't been fired enough to burn it off. Fire it longer to burn the sweetener off and quench you will see a difference.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Andromendous]

Hmm.. well thats interesting. I make my own juice. I don't put any sweetener in my juice. I didn't even really need to try burn this one, but i did anyway. And I do also use a wire brush very lightly instead of using water while its glowing, i think i heard someone say thats bad for SS. Anyway, the coil will look sorta silverish grey, then after i rinse, it turns brown like that.

Its hard to tell in the compressed pic, but there is no gunk on those coils. They are clean as a wistle.

 

[ppeeble]

How stainless is your stainless steel ?
Could be rust.

 

[2GLR]

Article: Heat tint (temper) colours on stainless steel surfaces heated in air

 

[Andromendous]

How stainless is your stainless steel ?
Could be rust.

Its medical grade 316l. from a medical supply co.

I used to use Temco wire, but I switched to this company now. Hoping this would go away. It doesn't seem to impact flavor or performance. Its just brown....

 

[Andromendous]

Article: Heat tint (temper) colours on stainless steel surfaces heated in air

Interesting. So according to this, it is completely normal.

 

[sonicbomb]

I use SS and when I burn the the coils to clean them I get them to turn orange (not cherry red)

cooler = red > orange > yellow > white = hotter

 

[Ryedan]

I was just wondering. I've been using 316l for a while now to make clapton coils. I try my hardest not to glow them very much. When I'm working out the hotspots for the first time, i turn it waaaay down, i even go as far as going into a dark room so I can see the glow without it much effort. I dry burn them when I rewick, but just barely enough to get the gunk to burn off, then I let it cool down and rinse off. It always turns brown though, just wondering if thats something I should be worried about.

Pic below is the first rewick on these week old coils. Juiced up with no flavor.

Mine do the same thing. The discoloration is very shallow and could be polished off easily, but it would just come back the first time the wire gets hot enough to discolor. I don't worry about it.

 

[Andromendous]

cooler = red > orange > yellow > white = hotter

I was just thinking the same thing

 

[Boompumper]

I've been watching these types of discussions closely, and have not found a definitive answer yet. At the moment I am only using single strand builds, so I just replace them rather than clean them, but with more complex builds I could see where cleaning them could be valid.

I was discussing this with the 'smartest guy I know', he is not a metallurgist, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. He says in order for the metal to rust it would need to become porous, and in order for that to happen the metal itself would need to deteriorate, which leads me to believe resistance would change.

Interesting side note, he says that even if it was rust it would not break off easily doing what we do, and would not be as harmful as I think it might be even if it was inhaled.

Not a definitive answer so take this with a grain of salt.

 

[Andromendous]

I've been kinda watchin these videos for a few weeks now, this one is a good one, they talk about different wire. All her videos are over an hour long, if you have the time I highly suggest watching all of it, and more of her videos, but the part that is interesting in this conversation starts at 28mins, not necessarily about SS but wire in general. I like her alot, she really knows her stuff!

EDIT: BTW, she is talking to Shaun Casey, North American president of Flavor Art

 

[Kickingthesticks]

After you rinse do you burn it again to get excess water off?

 

[VHRB2014]

That looks like gunk. Try scrubbing with a toothbrush gently under running water. Dry burn again, then again with the tooth brush if not clean. They should be a dull blue-black metallic color when cleaned properly.

 

[Andromendous]

After you rinse do you burn it again to get excess water off?

After I let it dry off yes

I wonder if its something in the water, chlorine or fluoride

 

[Boompumper]

When I try and research this, the info I find definitely does not reassure me. I am not qualified to translate any of this to our use of stainless, hopefully one day I can find someone who is.

I found this helpful answer from a tutor on JustAnswer.com

Stainless Steel - Heat Treatment

It would seem to me that 'quenching' has the capability to change a metal's properties, whether that is good or bad or pertains to us at all I do not know. I do not know the temperature capabilities of a dry coil.