I'm starting to feel that this thread is starting to get a bit unfocussed. Guys, let me clarify my long-term goal, it's very simple. I want to design and manufacture the "perfect" e-cigarette, and I truly believe that given the vast pool of knowledge within this forum that it can be built. I think that active contributors (via contributed knowledge, finances, or other assets) can be financial beneficiaries of the final result, as no single individual has the ability to solve all the problems and manufacture the perfect
device. Once all the issues are resolved, and we have the best of everything, why should ECF members be the only ones to reap the benefits of the
device.
A number of innovations have resulted in commercial products, and many of them are simply excellent. To my knowledge, they are all (except perhaps for Imeo's AFS) power related, or simple changes to an existing piece of the e-cig. I want to do something different. The nichrome coil is poorly designed. Hell, it's a piece of junk that was designed to fail, so the chinese manufacturers could produce and sell more atomizers. I think I found a solution for that. I agree that other parts of the atomizer (airflow, wicking, insulation) are not well thought out, and indeed there are issues with feeding fluid from the carts, mouthpiece filtering, etc... but let's tackle these issues one at a time.
My thought is to keep things as simple as possible at first, and focus on a single issue. We will attack the other problems one at a time, a single problem per thread. We have a vast pool of resources at this forum, but nobody has stepped up to try to organize an effort. That's what I'm trying to do, is organize the effort. I'm not a mechanical, electrical, thermodynamic, or fluid dynamics engineer, or indeed an engineer of any type. I do recognize that all these engineering talents exist in this forum, and that the most talented minds tend to be single-minded within their scope. What I bring to the table is a solid understanding of project and resource management, the ability to keep projects and people focussed and on task, and to source resources and problem solve using unconventional thinking. I'm also relentless, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on which side of the conversation you sit.
I propose that we table the discussions of airflow, and other atomizer issues for another thread. Dan, I agree that this needs to be resolved, and I believe that redesigning the atomizer housing is the only way to do that. You have done a great deal of work here, and I would like to leverage that work and your experience after we figure out what to do about the heater.
I believe the first step is to figure out specifications on what we need to order in the sample batch. If we need to change a spec, we can do that and order another batch, but it's $25 for each piece, and we can only get 10 in a batch, so we need to give some thought to what we want. Let's get the product in the hands of people that have the skills and equipment to do the testing, experiment with various wicking methods, and can work with input from the rest of us to come up with the right solution. I suspect the first devices we order are not going to be the right ones for the final solution, and I anticipate there will need to be several different orders, based on what we find out. It's all part of the development process; test, analyze, revise, test, analyze, revise....
Step One: Thermal testing.
Let's find out what happens when we apply power and get the thing to temp. What happens when we drop some fluid? Is the end result vape-able, or is it burned? What about when it's saturated? What happens when we soak it, run it dry, soak it , run it dry, etc... 100 times? Does it get gooey? Since the heater is much larger than the coil, are we even going to be able to touch the atty tube when it heats up? Is it going to heat up quickly enough to be usable if it's saturated?
We have lots of questions to answer, just about this heater, before we can move on to other things. If we find that we cannot use this device, then all the other work that is being done here may be for naught.
We need a consensus on the following in order to place the order:
Diameter (min 3.8mm):
Length of heating area (minimum 6mm):
Length of non-heated tip (I assumed 0, but there is some discussion):
Length of non-heated base (minimum 4mm):
Optimal Surface temperature (it seems 160-200C, but I need a number):
Voltage (3.7v to maintain compatibility):
Ohms (I saw 2.5-3 was good? Can someone confirm?):
As soon as I have a concensus of what we should order (at least the first time out), I will verify that everyone that PM'd me still wants the device that is being ordered, and try to get at least one to everyone that wants one. It will take a week to product after they receive payment, and probably another 7-10 days to get here from China. I'll test each one at the appropriate voltage, just to make sure it's not DOA, and send them out as soon as I get them.
Thanks again everyone, for your participation and support!
Q4mK
