Never fill a cart again - no dripping

[Shea]

I have searched through the forums and haven't seen anyone say they've tried this, but if I am wrong I apologize for wasting your time. I wanted to post and ask if this has been tried, though, prior to going through the trouble of building it.

My idea is to use a kevlar/fiberglass wick inside plastic tubing to deliver liquid to the atomizer at a constantly perfect flow. The tubing would run between a bottle (reservoir) of liquid and the cartridge with a hole cut into it. The wick would run from the bottom of the bottle to the atomizer bridge, where it would be tied or otherwise attached. The cartridge would be completely empty. No sucking up juice, no flooding the atty, no constant need to change out your cart.

Following are photos of some example wick material, plastic tubing and a quick concept drawing. The wick is kevlar/fiberglass and can be purchased for thirty-six cents a foot. I was able to quickly find it as small as 1/8" diameter. The tubing was easy to find with an internal diameter of 1/8". The drawing... sorry, but it should at least get the idea across. If this has been tried or is infeasible for some reason I am unaware of, I'd love to hear about it.

 

[testekleez]

If you can come up with a method to completely take the user out of the fuel feed process (other than replacing/adding fluid like filling up the tank when you drive), I think you'll make a mint!

From what I can tell the power issues have been basically solved with the bat mods and pass throughs. The atty's will only get better probably with time, but it's a part you can expect to replace periodically. Of course the fluids are all personal tastes so it's subjective.

I don't really care for the design you've drawn, as I think the liquid should be housed in the unit somehow or an in-line extension. I know that's a lot to ask but I think that's what will really sell well. A built-in device if you will (what do I know I'm just giving you my opinion and what I'd like to purchase personally).

I personally want to see an all metal unit capable of fuel feed. If the fuel feed can only work as a seperate entity, I'd learn to live with that though. The main thing is, consistent vape on demand and that's what I think we're all after.

I wish I had an engineering background because I would personally love to be involved in tackling the issue of the fuel feed and you can search for the "juicebox" and the "fang" for "similar" ideas to yours.

 

[Slickstick]

I do not think fiberglass is a good idea.

 

[Marctwo]

I'm sure it's only a concept design so I won't comment on that.

I don't think many people would ever be happy with inhaling via a fiberglass wick no matter who told them it was safe.

It won't wick anyway. If the wick is a snug fit in the tube then you'll have a vacuum problem. If you allow a bit of air then you have a gravity problem as flipping would then mean flooding.

 

[Shea]

testekleez,
Thanks for the tip on the fang and juicebox. Neither are actually what I'm going for. The Fang is a drip mod (manually squeeze to drip). It's a very cool mod, but still more effort than I was aiming at. The juicebox seems to be a battery mod. I don't have power issues. I just want to change the way the liquid hits the atomizer.

VaporHead4Life,
I understand your concerns with fiberglass. Inhalation of too much fiberglass dust could be very bad. This shouldn't be much of a concern here, however, as the fiberglass shouldn't be breaking to create dust and is encased in kevlar, anyhow. Either way, the mod could be done with any wicking material. The concept is just to automate the wicking process so that:

1) No refills are necessary beyond unscrewing/replacing your bottle
2) You never have to worry about flooding or getting liquid in your mouth

Has anyone else tested or explored this concept?

 

[testekleez]

testekleez,
Thanks for the tip on the fang and juicebox. Neither are actually what I'm going for. The Fang is a drip mod (manually squeeze to drip). It's a very cool mod, but still more effort than I was aiming at. The juicebox seems to be a battery mod. I don't have power issues. I just want to change the way the liquid hits the atomizer.

Right on! Yeah the juicebox is a fuel feed mod, not just a bat mod. The juice bottle is contained inside the housing and tubefed and manually squeezed on to the atomizer (I think the atty is his own design as well).

It really covers all three issues in one housing. I don't like it though as it's cheap and plastic and will not be a long lasting unit.

Look up the "Super Six" from Super t manufaturing thread. I think that is the future of vaping. I wasn't alluding to you trying to solve a power issue just FYI just saying you're looking to tackle the one issue everyone wants solved and I hope you succeed.

I've read and researched a lot of ideas and I haven't personally seen anyone try your method. If you get a viable prototype for market, send me a pm because I'd like to try it lol.

 

[Juice Junky]

I think that this would work great as a way to not have to frequently fill a cart. Like most of the mods, the down side would be an inability to keep up with some ones usage. It would run dry in a few hits, then need to sit to allow fresh juice to wick. This is where an injector like the fang separates itself. My stock 510 cart holds plenty of juice….the problem is it does not wick fast enough to allow me to vape at will. Always need to drip . Not to fill, but to get the juice there faster.

 

[voltaire]

^^^Exactly. I'll expound further on the above, although I'm mostly just repeating bits and pieces of what's been said in other threads.

The problem with any wicking material, including stock filler, is that if the material wicks too well, it won't really give up enough liquid to the lesser-wicking bridge. And if the material doesn't wick well enough, it will spew too much liquid and flood the atty. With wicking materials, the key is in achieving a good balance. And even when you manage to do that, it unfortunately means that if you vape too much too quickly, the bridge will tend to "go lean" on liquid, and you have to give it a chance to catch up and absorb some more, or otherwise you have to remove cart and drip some more in manually. So basically, any good wicking material will always require occasional dripping if you're vaping too quickly.

If you can't live with that limitation, you have to move away from wicking materials, such as with the ZFM mod, or some other way to deliver measured drips directly, whether automatically or manually. The (theoretical) automatic ideas I've seen with the most potential involve some sort of small micro pump (think like an inkjet printer) or some sort of vacuum action (powered by your puffs when you inhale) but obviously those ideas involve quite a bit of added complexity and probably create whole new problems of their own. Like everything in life, every possible option has it's own different pro's and con's and you just have to find the one that's right for your own wants and needs.