Question about silica wick from McMaster Carr versus fiberglass

[juicefreak]

i purchased some round braided: McMaster-Carr and some sleeve silica: McMaster-Carr

did a dry burn and it turned pitch black and didn't turn white again. it shriveled black. not cool. That tells me that CE2's must have fiberglass wicks in them, because they are easy to burn through to white?

anyone know (besides SS400) what a good safe wick is? I'd try the SS400, but I really don't want to invest in the latest 'part' when they keep changing. i'm sure SS400 is great, but i have yet to actually rebuild anything and i have tons of diy parts already.

anyone take a torch lighter to a true silica wick?

thx for any advice.

 

[JackOnan]

Bump. I've also been searching for some wick to rebuild my standard size clearomizers. I don't think the SS400 will work if I want to keep them in their original size tubes or a BD syringe mod tube. From what I've seen and read, it looks like the original wicks are 1/16" fiberglass(Update Edit: Some may be fiberglass and some are aromatic polyamide - a type of kevlar) . The fiberglass tends to fray and break apart as it degrades. When I took the CE2 apart to clean, the original wick broke in half and there were many small loose fibers.

I think the best option is probably to convert the CE2 to a tank mod using some beveled washers and a larger diameter plastic tube. Then the SS400 could be used. A square foot sheet of SS400 will run about $25 and probably yield 100 wicks or more.

Foregoing that, you could use fiberglass as long as you changed them often to make sure they don't break apart, but you still couldn't be sure there weren't any small fibers in the vapor. Here is one supplier of fiberglass wick:
Ten yard hank of #1376 round braid fiberglass wick. Diameter is approximately 1/16". Used for oil lamps - WickStore.com
10 yards of wick will cost about $20 delivered and yield about 180 2inch wicks. They also have a 100 yard spool.

The thing that really bothers me about fiberglass is that even handling it can be problematic:
GEAR » CAUTION! Fiberglass Wick -- BackpackingLight.com Forums

The SS400 is looking like the best solution we have sofar.

 

[JackOnan]

did a dry burn and it turned pitch black and didn't turn white again. it shriveled black.

How did you do the dry burn - torch or lighter? From what I've read a lighter doesn't get hot enough. You have to use a torch to get it to glow red to burn off the chemicals. Then it should go back to white.

Update: From the link provided for the round braided, it looks like you maybe got the wrong stuff? Make sure its the one for $3.71/ft with a max temp of 2300F. The coil can max out at 1200-1600F during a dry burn. The silica should be ok since it has a max of 2300F, but it needs to be cleaned of chemicals first with a torch(you can get a butane torch at harbor freight that can reach 2000F for $2.99)

 

[juicefreak]

thank you guys so much for the tips. i've been trying to use what i have to avoid another mod expenditure, so i'll try to get what i have to work.

i had some fiberglass wick that was recommended by scubatandan several incarnations ago. when he switched to silica, i ordered that and i think i threw the fiberglass ones out so i wouldn't confuse them.

these are the wicks i got:

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif]8828K71[/FONT]

and 88155K61

McMaster-Carr

phew they are both rated for 2300 degs. they fray pretty easily, so i don't think silica is original material in the CE2's. I'll see if i still have my fiberglass wick.

yes, i used a butane torch lighter. i was very surprised to see it turn black and shrivel. i've been torching my original CE2 wicks every time i clean the coil and they have performed like new.

for now i've been feeding new Ce2 wicks that broke off before ever used to help wick up material in the frayed/broken wick Ce2's that i have left. I think i'm going to try filling the syringe mod tube with fluval and a short wick and see how that does.

be interested to see if anyone else also got the silica part #'s above and how they are working for them.