we really have no idea how ti foam will wick - i had found some with pretty close specs to the ni foam but not sure if it will translate to the same wicking abilities.
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The medical industry has been using titanium for joint replacement for a very long time and is just now starting to use titanium foam as a bone replacement.
I watched a really interesting video last night showing a CGI example of how it's being integrated directly into a subject's bone structure and having bone grow throughout it.
Now whether it's safe or not for vaping ....is not yet known by me?
But if it's being used in the same place where your body creates red blood cells, then I would have to say that it's probably safe for vaping.
But that's coming from someone that really has no idea.
Now on to experiment #2.
Needed to clean up my Richman atty anyway.
The wick hole is smaller than an Ihy or Rsst so I used about an 8mm piece in width and 33mm long.
Torched coil end, inserted, coiled(many times). Hotspots from hell. So, I thought to myself, self, I says, cut a small piece of torched 500ss mesh, wrap around the end, reinsert into tank and try that. Not only will it help insulate, but may absord any bad stuff on the nickel. Pulsed, and viola'. A 6wrap, 30 ga., ohms 2.0. Perfect for the Provari. Set it at 4.2 volts and it is as good as any other set up using a known juice. The flavor popped immediately, maybe due to the mesh, I don't know. But the Ni-foam is doing what it is supposed to and pleased with this set-up also. Will report back tomorrow with follow-up, if you're interested.
Needed to clean up my Richman atty anyway.
The wick hole is smaller than an Ihy or Rsst so I used about an 8mm piece in width and 33mm long.
Torched coil end, inserted, coiled(many times). Hotspots from hell. So, I thought to myself, self, I says, cut a small piece of torched 500ss mesh, wrap around the end, reinsert into tank and try that. Not only will it help insulate, but may absord any bad stuff on the nickel. Pulsed, and viola'. A 6wrap, 30 ga., ohms 2.0. Perfect for the Provari. Set it at 4.2 volts and it is as good as any other set up using a known juice. The flavor popped immediately, maybe due to the mesh, I don't know. But the Ni-foam is doing what it is supposed to and pleased with this set-up also. Will report back tomorrow with follow-up, if you're interested.
I would guess that the question would then be... can he/she run a three legged sack race by his/her self? JK...
BOT, been trying the nickel mesh atty with no observable health issues thus far.
I still have not received mine. I am enjoying reading all the comments. For some it wicks and for others it doesn't. My main reason to try this was to test it for wicking (capillary action). My first test would be to make a wick the full 4 inch length. drop one end dry in one inch of water and see how high and how fast the water rises up the foam. I have a feeling not much. From how it was used originally I assume it was not a wick but a medium to flow juice down by gravity from the poly filler to the silica wick in a standard atty. If it did have capillary action I would then do the kerosene lamp burn and measure its capacity compared to other wicks I have used. BTW we use many "wicks" that have little or no capillary action in vaping with different results depending on the style (tilting) of the vaping of each user. I once cut four channels on a 2.5mm SS screw and it worked as well if not better than the SS rope. One of the uses I intend to try the foam is to regulate the flow on BCC units that tend to over wick. Something like what it was originally used for. Anyway guys/gals, keep up the good work, and I am looking forward to playing with this stuff.
BTW, I will not be using any SS overlap. After many years of being a steel man I can no longer stand the metal taste steel gives off. I still have a bunch old SS setups that I have not yet converted to white ceramic and when I try them, I wonder how I could ever stand that flavor. At first I thought all the other wicks I tried were muted flavor until I realized that SS gives off its own flavor. The white ceramic wick IMO is the only wick that adds no flavor and gives a true representation of the juice you vape. I know, I know, I also liked my SS flavor for years. I also liked Lucky strikes and then changed to Pall Mall...
BTW, I will not be using any SS overlap. After many years of being a steel man I can no longer stand the metal taste steel gives off. I still have a bunch old SS setups that I have not yet converted to white ceramic and when I try them, I wonder how I could ever stand that flavor. At first I thought all the other wicks I tried were muted flavor until I realized that SS gives off its own flavor. The white ceramic wick IMO is the only wick that adds no flavor and gives a true representation of the juice you vape. I know, I know, I also liked my SS flavor for years. I also liked Lucky strikes and then changed to Pall Mall...
Yep...I know exactly what you mean. I also believed that Stainless was the only way to go pretty quickly after I started building RBAs..then switched over to ceramics almost as soon as Dan (scubabatdan) started posting about them...never looked back.
Last night I set up one of my RSSTs with a Stainless Steel wick to do a three-way test between the foam, White Wick, and Stainless...the test really didn't last too long...after about a half-hour of using the Stainless wick, I drained the tank & said Fugeddaboudit... I forgot how nasty that metallic flavor was. It reminded me of going to the dentist and getting a new filling (the old-school amalgam ones)
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and that coming from the feller who gave us the bonut!
The Bonut just works as a tank not a wick/coil. Still use it.
I look back at how I raved about discovering #500 and #635 mesh. There has been only one constant in all my life, "I love women"!!
and let's hope that'll never change! because you really need ONE constant in your life!
and let's hope that'll never change! because you really need ONE constant in your life!
Yep she has been a constant PITA for 38 years, but I love her.
Hey BJ, I’m hearing you with the SS. Definitely a ‘taste’ when compared to the ceramics. That being said I was hoping that you would try your wicking experiments with the nickel foam inside a SS mesh ‘straw’. For no other reason than intuition, I just think that that would be an awesome delivery mechanism.
Don't see the science in it. I am pretty sure that NI foam does not wick (capillary action) better than #500 mesh. If you want gravitational flow when tilting just leave a small hole in your mesh wick.
Todds review was interesting, but I never really thought of this as a standard coil/wick solution. The pore spacing on this is to large for it to be a true wick, I look at it more like a regulated tank medium, something like the function my Bonuts do. Will post more on some ideas when I get the stuff.
One Idea I want to try is a foam sleeve around the ceramic wick in the tank. I won't get into all the science behind this but my experiments sleeving other wicks in the tank improved wicking. A small straw just larger than the wick worked great. This small straw works like a capillary tube around the wick and is always full, then the juice has to travel a shorter distance up. The equivalent of always having a full tank. This gives a more constant regulated flow of juice.
BJ,
I saw the same thing with my limited trys here with the foam. There is too much porosity to get good capillary action. (It definitely can flow well on a 90 degree tilt)
I thought by compressing it that would compensate for the openness of the material and collapse the pores somewhat. But that led to the material crumbling for me. (I think this material is ~100 pores per inch, but I will need to go back and look at the calculations for actual pore size and compare to ceramic/ss mesh).
BTW I cant vape Stainless Steel anymore either. I still have one atty set-up with #500 that has fantastic wicking, but now it just taste too funky....
I saw the same thing with my limited trys here with the foam. There is too much porosity to get good capillary action. (It definitely can flow well on a 90 degree tilt)
I thought by compressing it that would compensate for the openness of the material and collapse the pores somewhat. But that led to the material crumbling for me. (I think this material is ~100 pores per inch, but I will need to go back and look at the calculations for actual pore size and compare to ceramic/ss mesh).
BTW I cant vape Stainless Steel anymore either. I still have one atty set-up with #500 that has fantastic wicking, but now it just taste too funky....
that corresponds with boden's opinion ...........
from his last email to me ^
if the ni foam can be used to supplement and improve a ceramic wick then we stand a chance with the ti foam
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