Kanger T3 & Ceramic Wick

[zippersnapper]

Ok. So I have been at the "Grinding Wheel" for awhile now, and thought I would summarize my thoughts on making these Ceramic wicks:

1. Very tedious. A diamond coated cutoff wheel is a must for sectioning up the the air stone, which can only be TopFin brand found only at Petsmart: (As of right now)

I have found .75" diamond cutoff wheels at Harbor freight, but they do wear out quickly if you don't keep your stone wet while cutting. These are much preferred, and were bought off e-bay:

I use the fine grit wheel on the grinder to get to my final dimensions only. I have come to the conclusion, if your serious about using and making these stones, invest in a lap grinder/polisher that jewelers use to facet and polish there rocks. These can be had reasonably on e-bay and even Craig's list:

Another idea is to simply find the diamond coated discs used for these machines and fit it to your bench grinder,

Here:
Inland Flat Lap Diamond Discs

 

[zippersnapper]

 

[zippersnapper]

AGA-T+ "Ceramic"

 

[harmonic]

so why only the top fin aristones? i can see that some of the other brands might be made of something else specially the colored ones...
i got a couple 'aircore' brand 'sand airstone' that are tan but idk what they are really made of and i havent had any time to play with them....

and great work zip

 

[mrelwood]

so why only the top fin aristones?

Because most others that have been tried either burn or crumble under a flame. Especially the colored ones.

 

[Hello World]

Never mind ... wrong thread.

 

[harmonic]

Because most others that have been tried either burn or crumble under a flame. Especially the colored ones.

humm so if i hit this airstone with a torch and nothing happens it could be safe to use?

 

[zippersnapper]

I don't have the answers why other stones cannot be used, except that it is explained in Scubabatdan's thread. Once again, he takes full credit for discovering these. It has something to do with they way they are cured I think. The blue ones and other colors I imagine have dye in them so they look pretty in a aquarium and henceforth, would be unacceptable. I did go to Petco, and they don't sell the TopFin brand.

My local Petsmart sold them in three different sizes, which I bough two each of the small and medium. Depending on your atty tank size, this could be an advantage. In the case of the AGA-T+, a 1 1/2" stone is just about right. I can cut up the smaller stone and get 8 wicks out of it. I suppose I could get 9, if I really measured it out. The medium size stone I bought is exactly double the length, so 16 to 18 stones could be cut. Nice thing is, the medium size stone, does not double in price. When I go back to get more, I will pick up the largest they sell, and see what happens.

As a DISCLAIMER: these are NOT what is being sold by some vendors. I have no clue as to the makeup of their ceramic stones.

 

[zippersnapper]

I have been steady in cutting stones today:

I figured a piece of 10ga Solid strand copper wire will make a nice "wrapping" post for a coil. Just a fraction smaller than a 7/64" drill bit. I have tried several times to wrap my Kanthal around the ceramic wick before and after inserting into tank. Wrapping the coil after its in the tank, has a 90% breakage rate for me. My percentage of success is about 50% if I wrap before. I have not broken one since I started making coils around a drill bit first, then securing the negative lead, followed by a gentle securing of the positive lead.
I do not fully tighten the locking nut down, but rather leave it a tad bit loose so the Kanthal can have room to "expand", as the ceramic wick is slowly "twisted" in, and down into the tank.

The obvious reason to make the coil a little bit smaller is so it can "grip" the wick, and have better contact. If you were to use a 1/8" drill bit, then the coil would fit too sloppy around the wick, resulting in poor heat transfer. Some people "anneal" the wire with a lighter before wrapping the Kanthal, which is perfect if your wrapping pre-install, but you would not want to do this if your going to pre make your coils. You do not want to loose the "memory" of the wire in this case. I found this Kanthal chart and want to repost it here for reference. If you take a look under the "Advantages" section, notably under the Nichrome, it claims "Higher Hot and Creep strength". Now I'm not to sure what that means, but I am hoping that it gets up to temperature, faster or has a quicker reaction time..We will see.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Decimal-fraction_equivalents--v0006.png/1024px-Decimal-fraction_equivalents--v0006.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Mm_to_1_inch_fraction_ruler.svg

 

[zippersnapper]

 

[HandbananA]

Kanger Wick.......
Why not make the wick dumbbell shaped for the Kanger? It would create more surface area for the juice to soak in. If there is enough room you can put holes in the ends(like the picture above) and create more surface area.

 

[rebar]

zippersnapper.. Do you feel the ceramic wicks juice faster? I just received my first twist/clearomizer and I'm not to happy with the dry/burnt vape and cant decide which tank system to try at work. I love my reo at home.

 

[zippersnapper]

Kanger Wick.......
Why not make the wick dumbbell shaped for the Kanger? It would create more surface area for the juice to soak in. If there is enough room you can put holes in the ends(like the picture above) and create more surface area.

The Dumbbell idea is good. Problem is, the amount of rod that can actually stick out, is VERY Limited, because the way the base screws on. I am however, going to have a "concave" surface, to increase the wicking effect. I am also not going to smooth the surface, but rather leave it rough.

zippersnapper.. Do you feel the ceramic wicks juice faster? I just received my first twist/clearomizer and I'm not to happy with the dry/burnt vape and cant decide which tank system to try at work. I love my reo at home.

The ceramic wicks much slower than traditional rope silica wicking. I must point out, I have only been using Boba's (100% VG) thus far as my test juice.

 

[zippersnapper]

Best place to find 6" diamond wheel...

New 6" Diamond lapidary Flat Lap Disk 80 3000 Grit | eBay

These are great to make your "through hole"

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-piece-18-shank-rotary-diamond-point-tips-69653.html

 

[santo19586]

awesome thread , great info. , thanks zip

 

[zippersnapper]

My latest idea involves putting a concave surface on the ends with idea of creating more surface area:

 

[NamVet68]

One word: Grooves