I've been thinking a lot about cart mods lately, and have tried a number of them. I've tried about 5 variations of PTB mods and plug mods but none of them have been satisfactory or have vaped anywhere close to dry. So I started thinking about the physics behind what it is we're all looking for. What I really needed was:
- A material that wicks reasonably well by trapping the liquid rather than absorbing it, yet allowed enough juice to last a while. Thus it had to be porous enough to trap liquid in its pores, but those pores had to be small enough to avoid leakage. PTBs seemed ideal for this, but how it had to be used -- the designs -- wasn't quite.
- A filler design that was capable of wicking liquid up towards the mouth of the cartridge without it getting trapped in the lower portion, allowed enough juice to be stored, and didn't leak or flood the atty.
The design of the filler matters just as much as the material. So today I'm experimenting with different designs all based around the same thing: I drink your milkshake!
Okay, a bit of an overdramatic and gratuitous movie reference, but the idea is not unlike a straw, but one that uses capillary attraction rather than suction, much like those aromatherapy sticks where you get a bottle of essential oil and a collection of wooden rods you stick in the bottle to wick the liquid up and release the fragrance.
These are the designs I'm trying:
I'm using ordinary scouring pads I picked up at the dollar store, mostly because it's what I have here and I can cut them into any shape I need, but you can certainly do this with blue foam or whatever you're using. The liquid I'm using right now is all VG-based.
The leg(s) on these designs are designed to wick liquid up to the top plug portion while allowing extra room for liquid below for the leg(s) to wick. Right now I am trying out the first design and so far I can say that wicking is excellent with fairly constant vaping, at least until the liquid starts running out. I do find that I have to stand my eGo on end to get gravity to help out if I'm vaping constantly, but I expect that with just about anything, as no mod I've found yet can wick liquid fast enough to replenish the atty with constant vaping, other than those who got a filler-less auto-drip design to work. So far though the N design has been vaping relatively dry.
My only problem with this design so far (and likely with the other two) is that the atty will push it down into the cart a bit which can, after a fair bit of use, result in sub-standard transfer of liquid from the filler to the atty -- but again, I kind of expect that with most mods as well, either recessing the filler material or creating a valley in the center. Once I pull it up again it's fine again for a while.
But so far I'm getting a better vape out of these than any other I have tried, but I'll try the other designs and test this long-term to see how it holds up.
- A material that wicks reasonably well by trapping the liquid rather than absorbing it, yet allowed enough juice to last a while. Thus it had to be porous enough to trap liquid in its pores, but those pores had to be small enough to avoid leakage. PTBs seemed ideal for this, but how it had to be used -- the designs -- wasn't quite.
- A filler design that was capable of wicking liquid up towards the mouth of the cartridge without it getting trapped in the lower portion, allowed enough juice to be stored, and didn't leak or flood the atty.
The design of the filler matters just as much as the material. So today I'm experimenting with different designs all based around the same thing: I drink your milkshake!
Okay, a bit of an overdramatic and gratuitous movie reference, but the idea is not unlike a straw, but one that uses capillary attraction rather than suction, much like those aromatherapy sticks where you get a bottle of essential oil and a collection of wooden rods you stick in the bottle to wick the liquid up and release the fragrance.
These are the designs I'm trying:
I'm using ordinary scouring pads I picked up at the dollar store, mostly because it's what I have here and I can cut them into any shape I need, but you can certainly do this with blue foam or whatever you're using. The liquid I'm using right now is all VG-based.
The leg(s) on these designs are designed to wick liquid up to the top plug portion while allowing extra room for liquid below for the leg(s) to wick. Right now I am trying out the first design and so far I can say that wicking is excellent with fairly constant vaping, at least until the liquid starts running out. I do find that I have to stand my eGo on end to get gravity to help out if I'm vaping constantly, but I expect that with just about anything, as no mod I've found yet can wick liquid fast enough to replenish the atty with constant vaping, other than those who got a filler-less auto-drip design to work. So far though the N design has been vaping relatively dry.
My only problem with this design so far (and likely with the other two) is that the atty will push it down into the cart a bit which can, after a fair bit of use, result in sub-standard transfer of liquid from the filler to the atty -- but again, I kind of expect that with most mods as well, either recessing the filler material or creating a valley in the center. Once I pull it up again it's fine again for a while.
But so far I'm getting a better vape out of these than any other I have tried, but I'll try the other designs and test this long-term to see how it holds up.
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