SimpleCJ's eGo-T Wick Mod

[simplecj]

Right tsbrewers. I think what I have pictured might be overkill. Might only need like 1/4 of a strand from the rope or less.

If it starts running dry on you, you prob need a looser wick/less wick material. Because of different juice thicknesses, this will vary.

 

[DaveP]

You just have to be careful not to completely block the piercing tube with wick and the wrapper. Allow some space where you can see a spot of light when you shine a flashlight behind it. This seems to promote better juice feeding to the wick and allows some air back into the tank after it feeds. The tank can get vacuum locked if there's no way for makeup air to travel back in (the wick itself is saturated).

 

[ledouxmike]

So do u use less wick than the factory one?

 

[IOU]

Very nice SimpleCJ! Great instructions and pics, very well thought out!

 

[simplecj]

I wouldn't say less than factory since from what I saw there was hardly any silica in mine.

As for leaving a hole to prevent lock-up. I don't think that's needed, in fact I think that actually leads to too much juice flowing out. There are no visible "holes" or gaps in my needle and it wicks fine. It just slows it down too much if you stuff too much wick in there. As I said, how much wick (how dense of pack) will depend on how thick your juice is. I'm using a 50/50 mix....

I've read many threads with people saying that gaps in the wick caused leaks and that it was stopped by "fluffing" the wick to block any holes that you can see light thru.

 

[ledouxmike]

My wicks had more to them than yours. They were very tight in the needle tube. Whenever I get a chance to fool with mine, i'll make a few wicks of different sizes and see how it goes. thanks cj

 

[simplecj]

One little thing I would add to the "how to" would be to use some thread or string to pull the wick through. When you double over the PTB feed some string through it and double it over too, then feed the string through the bottom of the wick plate and out the top. Then used the string to pull the new wick assembly in through the plate. Much easier to get the new wick in that way instead of trying to jamb it in there with a syringe or tooth pick, or what ever.

Next I will add that it seems to me, less is more. The first few times I replaced the wick, I was adding a bunch of the silica rope thinking that if I had more, it would wick more of the fluid. But it seems like if you have too much wicking material it will stop the fluid from wicking at all. When I use a much smaller amount of silica rope, it wicks much better.

Brew

Excellent recommendation on the string!! Too bad I can't edit the main post anymore. Hopefully people will read through these replies too. I'm hoping to get more good feedback like this as people experiment with it.

I think you are right about the less-is-more. I made one with the amount pictured and it seemed to be working fine for a few days then started running dry on me. Remade it with about half as much silica and is working much better now. Key I think is to adjust to your liquid. Too loose of wicking with thin liquids will probably leak when the same wick might do fine with some thicker VG juice. That's the great thing about this mod though, is you can find what works best for you and your juice. I can now completely replace my wick in just a few minutes and my eGo-T is now helping me quit analogs!

Only had two analogs in the past three days! Ordered a bit higher nic though as my 12mg juice doesn't seem to totally cut my cravings. Considering I was a pack a day smoker for the past 14 years, this is huge progress! Can't remember the last day I went without a smoke before this last week. The leaking wick issue almost canned my latest attempt, but since I've dealt with it I think I'm going to do just fine! I love my eGo-T!!!

 

[arjay55]

If you find that you have a little too much wick, or it doesn't seem to wick properly you can use a safety pin (or equivalent) to gently work a few (start with one) holes half the way through the wick-plate spike. I have done this and when I poke it with the pin I then give it a little bit of a fluff up as well to cover the pinhole, but it still allows it to breathe/wick better.

My current vape on one of these is a mix of 40% PEG and 50% PG and 10% VG. I have Arctic Ice (VB-70/30), Unflavoured PEG 24mg, Oryental Ecopure (Fauk), Pimps Butterscotch Doubler (JuiceWhore 0mg) and it works great, tastes darn nice too.

The other one is 50% Dekang Menthol VG and 50% Wordupcig Cloves 80/20. It was way too strong in my CE2's but really nice full flavour on the eGo-T

Another thing I do is use a pipe cleaner to remove the condensation from the whistle tip and air tubes, which makes a huge difference to the flavour. I do this everyday, just pop out the tip (I don't use the flat thing inside the whistle tip tank).

 

[ledouxmike]

Glad you got it back up and vaping cj. Do you have any backups, atty's, carto's, besides the tank atty's? If you don't I would recommend getting a couple 510 atty's or a pack of carto's just in case yours keep failing. I see you recently quit or nearly quit smoking. I hate to see frustration with the ego t bring you back to smoking.

I thought about it but I didn't give up. I ordered some atty's and carto's and I'm set. Don't have to worry about going back to analogs and I really feel satisfied after a few vapes.

I don't depend on the ego t , I can't, and there are a lot better options with the ego battery.

 

[Katfeesh]

I can't wait to try this once I get my coil clean

 

[simplecj]

I do have backups, sort of. I started with the Volcano 510 set, short battery life and tiny carts that would never wick right.. then I got a Great Lakes Vapor big battery PV with a manual push button. The batteries lasted for days and I had a bit more luck with the 702's, but still too much hassle having to carry everything around and fuss with cart mods and/or dripping. Plus the GLV one was kinda big and dorky looking.

So far I'm feeling pretty confident in my eGo-T. It's wicking great and a tank will last me most the day along with the battery life which is great. I love the simple USB charger, and the battery shutoff feature for if I feel the need to carry a second battery. Also love the tanks and the little rubber caps, makes it very easy to carry extra juice without the need for the original juice bottles. Simply swap and go! I love it, don't think I'll need the other ones unless I feel the urge to drip something tasty.... really the eGo-T should act like a constant drip when it's wicking good. Just don't want it dripping too much or it floods out.

Just ordered some new flavors from Gourmet Vapor. The selection there is almost overwhelming. Got me some 36mg unflavored PG, and a few double or triple flavored 12mg juice I'm going to mix up to 24mg by doubling the vol. Starting with 5ml flavors till I find something I like. I'll prob have to be careful about chain vaping 24mg. =)

 

[simplecj]

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!​

Just went to order a foot of the silica and noticed something I should have caught earlier:
FROM MCMASTER CARR: Silica has the flexibility of fiberglass, plus a higher temperature rating.
(3) Round Braided—Made of 99% silica. Temperature range is –100° to +2300° F. Color is white.
(4) Square Braided—Made of 98.8% silica. The square design fits many oven and furnace door grooves and provides more sealing surface than round braided. Temp. range is –40° to +2300° F. Color is tan.

Order the ROUND Braided rope, the square braid is not as pure of silica as we want for our wicks. We want the white, 99% silica!

Anyone know if a Mod can open the original posts for further editing???

 

[Macromny]

Just a thought but all us ce2 cartomizer users were not too long ago doing PTB mods and disguarding the excess wick. This left over wick is a perfect fit for the ego-t mod here. Now I'm excited to get home and give this a try. I ordered a GoGo because the tank was useless with my 100% VG homebrew, but with a smaller wick I believe this may be a suitable fix.

Great idea!

 

[simplecj]

I have been able to vape my VG juice with no problems. I have both VG and PG juices so I've been mixing similar flavors to 50/50 just to thin it out a bit. VG varies quite a bit from what I've seen. I have some cherry VG which is pretty thick and I tried it with my new wick and it still worked fine. I think PG seems to give more flavor though. I can hardly taste the cherry... Gormet Vapor recommends a 80/20 PG/VG for best flavor and vapor production. I think 50/50 or 60/40 is fine. I prefer to limit my PG intake as much as possible.

 

[orion7319]

I really wish I had seen this thread last night! It would have saved me hours of head scratching. Anyway, I wasn't going for a wick mod, as I don't have any wick material, but I am going to order some as this is a must have with these atties. Why they don't sell replacement wicks is beyond me. I had two of my LR t atties start to die on me after only a week of use. I was using an 80/30 juice with dark coloring and extra sweetener. I think the dark coloring or the sweetener was gumming it up, because my 50/50 mix doesn't mess these things up. So I took the atty apart with some jewelers pliers. (Just place them in to the side of the piecing tube and pop it out.. easy) I found that the wicks were pretty gummed up, so I hit them with a lighter until they were completely white again. Next I tried to roll the wick material so that it wasn't all over the place and would go back onto the atty. That's when I learned you can't touch the wick material after flame cleaning it without it coming apart. So after much head scratching, on my second atty I decided to run it under the faucet with a very low flow. This allows you to shape the wick, and and allows you to place it back directly on the atty. During this whole process you never want to touch the wick with your fingers, just leave it in the spike to burn and wet. If you have one stuck to the atty, use tweezers to remove it, and hold it. Also looking at how the juice was gumming up, I can tell that dry burning these things with the wick on is a big no no and will only gum up the wick even more! The heat from the atty just won't clean it and will only dry the juice in nice large clumps right on your wick. Only burning it with a lighter will clean it. The only time to dry burn these puppies is when you have removed the wick. Also, overdoing the dry burn or if the coil is too close to the side, will start to melt and deform the reservoir cup a bit. Either that or the clotted burnt juice collects on it to a degree it can't be cleaned with dry burning. I believe this because of how nasty things looked inside one of my atties and how I had that burned taste even when I just dripped right on the exposed atty. At any rate I wound up trashing one atty yet saving two! Like I said not a mod, but a way to save a seemingly dead t atty. At some point though, I am going to try your mod!

 

[themysterious1]

Nice write up but the only thing is how much would it cost to do this? Wouldnt it be cheaper to just buy another atty?

 

[simplecj]

Nice write up but the only thing is how much would it cost to do this? Wouldnt it be cheaper to just buy another atty?

Considering a new atty is like $15, you could buy enough material for hundreds of wicks for that much. Plus, why toss an atty just because the wick is messed up? Toss hundreds of atty's and do you still think it'd be cheaper?

@Orion7319: That's what this mod is for, simply toss the old crappy wicks and put new ones in, problem solved! Once you've done it a few times it's no big deal. I can completely replace the wick in a few minutes and get on with my life...

ALSO, as I mentioned, grabbing the needle with pliers can damage the surface and lead to leaky tanks. I recommend only popping it out from the side. AND yes, thick dark juices will require way more cleaning and wick replacements regardless of the PG/VG mix. Try to find juices with nearly clear flavorings. Any darkness to the liquid is stuff that won't vape out, it just gums up your vaporizer.

With my mod, you can touch the wick all you want, only matters that it's pointing straight out before you install it. The factory one is made a bit different and does fall apart easily.

 

[orion7319]

I bet your mod also lasts longer than the factory wicks. Those things are fragile! I will be ordering some silicate rope here soon and hunting for some lipton tea! Might I ask how long does one of your modded wicks hold up before it starts to gum up?

It's a shame about the dark juices and the t tanks.. the perfect ecig doesn't exist yet I suppose. I'm beginning to view my t tank as my go to, day to day no hassle, convenient and easy to carry around with me e cig, but it's obviously got it's limitations. I still have plenty of 510 cartos, 510 atties, drip tips and my screwdrivers to enjoy those dark juices with though.

You are quite right about pulling the needle out with the pliers as I found out the hard way! lol What I am doing is different. The jewelers pliers are so small I can fit them inside the atty and offside to the needle. I place it in above one of the slots and use it to apply pressure to the needle which causes the needle assembly to pop loose. I can pop the things out in less than two seconds like this without damaging the needle at all.

 

[lorderos33]

I wonder if a wick made of fine ss mesh would work? I think I'll try that when one of mine start to act up again.

 

[simplecj]

I wonder if a wick made of fine ss mesh would work? I think I'll try that when one of mine start to act up again.

No, if you contact the coil with ss mesh it will draw too much heat from the coil and probably melt other parts in your atty. Without contact to the coil you won't get any decent vapor if any at all. Silica is what's used in all atty's to do this. Spend a few bucks and just buy some silica rope. One foot will last a long time, only $3.71 plus shipping from McMaster Carr.

Or whatever... try ss mesh if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you...