Stainless Steel mesh, Oxide discussion.

[Fiamma]

SS should be safe as long as you don't heat the bejebus out of it, basically don't heat it until it glows. This is a cautious answer, it may turn out that you can stick it in lava and it will be fine but for now below 1200degF is all good.

Drawn silica is also basically safe. I did several tests myself and the particals that do shed are too large to make it past the lungs natural defenses. If you get a scratchy sensation from silica wicks just replace it with a new one.

Link: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ca-wick-not-safe-will-help-5.html#post7846987

This may help with the temperature of the metal.
View attachment 178854

Thank you for the information, I am somewhat reassured. I do not get scratchy sensation from my silica wicks and I have been using them for some time prior to the A7's in my RATanks.

I will watch the metal temps carefully. I had planned to torch both sides lightly, roll and torch again and assemble, no juice burns. Looks like I need to rethink that. Perhaps I would be better off using silica in the AGA T2's as well.

 

[Boden]

How are you measuring temperature?

I borrowed a Laser InfraRed Thermometer with emissivity set to .85 to compensate for the oxides forming. A good friend of mine has a pottery shop, they have all the cool toys.

 

[Boden]

Good deal. Any ETA on turnaround time?

Standard turnaround is 15 days.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

I have to give it up to Boden again, if nothing else I've learned that I really don't need to be flaming my wicks at ALL

I just set up my ZAP on my provari, not a cro mag of a mechnical. 1.4 coil, literally took 10 seconds of pulsing for it to lock in its vaping at warp speed right now, pretty funny. For anyone on the fence, just try it!

 

[ukeman]

I have been following this and another thread similar somewhat loosely and thank everyone for their contributions to our mutual health interests...
it's reassuring that so many of us are truly considerate of good health; at least to the point where inhaling a flavored nicotene liquid can be minimally harmful.

I admit if all I cared about was the nicotene, I'm sure we could find alternatives to vaporizing it... I love vaping as a cigarette substitute.

At least its good to know that minimal, if any, oxidizing of SS mesh wick is very doable.

OT: I find that 28g A1 is super for a couple reasons -1. it seems to require the least amount of fiddling re hot spots, and 2. sub 1.0 Ohms genesis vaping is the best i've found to date.
(You need a rather large area to set up as it is so thick, and the neg/pos post nuts are best to be large as well)

 

[Cool_Breeze]

...cigarette substitute.

accurate reference

 

[StaircaseWit]

I have to give it up to Boden again, if nothing else I've learned that I really don't need to be flaming my wicks at ALL

I just set up my ZAP on my provari, not a cro mag of a mechnical. 1.4 coil, literally took 10 seconds of pulsing for it to lock in its vaping at warp speed right now, pretty funny. For anyone on the fence, just try it!

Was your wick unoxidized? If I roll a wick with 500 SS only washed with dish soap, rinsed and dried, I get instant E1 errors on the Provari. I've tried again and again to no avail, with different wicks and coils, number of wraps and 32, 30 and 28ga Kanthal.

I'll be very interested to hear the results of the testing. Somehow I know many will discount the tests if they do show evidence of harmful chromium, and pat themselves on the back if they don't, but that's what happens when we have to self-test these things for our own health concerns.

Thanks Boden for taking the initiative. For the time being, I'm off SS mesh and using hemp. I think a lot of people would be surprised with the performance.

 

[ukeman]

Was your wick unoxidized? If I roll a wick with 500 SS only washed with dish soap, rinsed and dried, I get instant E1 errors on the Provari. I've tried again and again to no avail, with different wicks and coils, number of wraps and 32, 30 and 28ga Kanthal.

I'll be very interested to hear the results of the testing. Somehow I know many will discount the tests if they do show evidence of harmful chromium, and pat themselves on the back if they don't, but that's what happens when we have to self-test these things for our own health concerns.

Thanks Boden for taking the initiative. For the time being, I'm off SS mesh and using hemp. I think a lot of people would be surprised with the performance.

I always have trouble with the Provari even V2... for Genesis atomizers, unless its a 3/4 wrap of 32g... just saying.
28g with lots of room on the posts and a mechanical device is a breeze (with less oxidizing)

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Yes staircase, no flame treatment. Washed my hands three times and scrubbed the hell out of the mesh with soapy water, then water. Built coil on a drill bit, sprayed with water as I was pulsing to try and prevent it warping as it got hot, inserted wick (ended up disturbing the coil a bit anyway but it didn't matter). A few seconds of juiced pulsing with one twist of the wick and done.

DID on the left is ~20 mls in, with a hot water flush at 10 mls for a flavor change. ZAP is only in so far as what you see missing from the tank. Stable 1.4.

EDIT: That love bite on the DID wick, I honestly can't remember where it came from lol. I'm guessing I forgot to juice, hit the button, got ...... and flipped it upside down.

 

[BJ43]

Plain 100% VG without girlfriend flavor? Boring!!!!!!

Yes staircase, no flame treatment. Washed my hands three times and scrubbed the hell out of the mesh with soapy water, then water. Built coil on a drill bit, sprayed with water as I was pulsing to try and prevent it warping as it got hot, inserted wick (ended up disturbing the coil a bit anyway but it didn't matter). A few seconds of juiced pulsing with one twist of the wick and done.

DID on the left is ~20 mls in, with a hot water flush at 10 mls for a flavor change. ZAP is only in so far as what you see missing from the tank. Stable 1.4.

EDIT: That love bite on the DID wick, I honestly can't remember where it came from lol. I'm guessing I forgot to juice, hit the button, got ...... and flipped it upside down.

 

[tiburonfirst]

sorry, gotta get some threads back on my first page ............ sigh

 

[StaircaseWit]

I always have trouble with the Provari even V2... for Genesis atomizers, unless its a 3/4 wrap of 32g... just saying.
28g with lots of room on the posts and a mechanical device is a breeze (with less oxidizing)

Me too. I can't get an unoxidized wick to even pulse on my Provari V1.

Yes staircase, no flame treatment. Washed my hands three times and scrubbed the hell out of the mesh with soapy water, then water. Built coil on a drill bit, sprayed with water as I was pulsing to try and prevent it warping as it got hot, inserted wick (ended up disturbing the coil a bit anyway but it didn't matter). A few seconds of juiced pulsing with one twist of the wick and done.

Interesting. I need a cheap mechanical mod to pulse these things, because I get E1 errors even with a skinny wick that's barely contacting the wick hole. Hmm...

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Plain 100% VG without girlfriend flavor? Boring!!!!!!

LMAO BJ! 2% of a new TA someone sent me to make up for the loss of gf

Interesting. I need a cheap mechanical mod to pulse these things, because I get E1 errors even with a skinny wick that's barely contacting the wick hole. Hmm...

Do you soak your coils/wick in juice before starting the pulse? I'm literally sitting there with a juice bottle hitting it the second it starts to look like its anything short of flooded. And make sure you turn down to 2.9V

 

[Boden]

Minor update: After a discussion with the Chemist that will be doing the testing I have switched from the Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Test (which sounds cool ) to the more accurate and specific Method 7196A (yawn) ie. Diphenylcarbazide Colorimetric Method.

So when you see the results don't say "Hey!!! that's not the fancy sounding test...".

 

[MikeE3]

I have to give it up to Boden again, if nothing else I've learned that I really don't need to be flaming my wicks at ALL

I just set up my ZAP on my provari, not a cro mag of a mechnical. 1.4 coil, literally took 10 seconds of pulsing for it to lock in its vaping at warp speed right now, pretty funny. For anyone on the fence, just try it!

I gave it a go too Cyrus - was a little easier than I expected. 500 SS just washed with soap and rinsed. Drill bit method for the coil - didn't even burn it in with juice, just pulsed it a few times, then inserted the wick. With Provari at 3 volts just pulsed it until the top coils started to glow, kept pulsing until only the bottom 2 weren't glowing. Up'ed the volts to 3.4 and pulsed some more - then all coils glowing. A bit a tweaking the coil wraps and they were all glowing pretty even. Then added some drops of juice and burned that off a couple-few times. Now to fill it up and see how it works.

 

[Koman]

Girlfriend flavor, lol guys!

 

[laddu ga]

I gave it a go too Cyrus - was a little easier than I expected. 500 SS just washed with soap and rinsed. Drill bit method for the coil - didn't even burn it in with juice, just pulsed it a few times, then inserted the wick. With Provari at 3 volts just pulsed it until the top coils started to glow, kept pulsing until only the bottom 2 weren't glowing. Up'ed the volts to 3.4 and pulsed some more - then all coils glowing. A bit a tweaking the coil wraps and they were all glowing pretty even. Then added some drops of juice and burned that off a couple-few times. Now to fill it up and see how it works.

I'm not oxidizing as well and it's working well. The initial heating of the coil seems to take care of it. This also allows me to make a hybrid wick with cotton in the middle of the wick. I'm happy with the results. I'm going to keep using non-oxidized wicks and see what happens.

 

[VpnDrgn]

I am sorry, I could only get about half way through this thread before throwing in my 2 cents before going to work.
If this has already been brought up, I apologize.

I have seen various statements on two different techniques that may be combined to side step this problem all together.

- A ceramic coated coil has merit, but it has been observed that it may be too friable; causing problems with released particulates.

- A SS wick that has not been oxidized at all, shows to be doable after some fiddling with burning juice on the coil.

Would it not work better if the wick received a light ceramic coating? It seems to me the coil is too flexible to be a stable base
for the ceramic, maybe the wick would be rigid enough to prevent the ceramic from cracking.
Or, maybe there is some kind of carbon coating we could apply to the wick from a secondary source.
I seem to remember some articles about using electroplating to bond a thin layer of carbon to an existing structure.

From what I understand, the original purpose in torching and quenching a wick was to build up a layer of carbon for insulation.
Hence, the admonishment to use the orange part of the flame and not the blue. The juice burn was to "season" that layer of carbon
so that it would not effect the flavor of the juice; much the same way as you "season" a cast iron skillet.
Somehow the preparation of the wick has evolved from using the flame to deposit carbon on the wick to heat treating the mesh to
form an oxidation layer.

Maybe I am just rambling; after reading through this, I realize I may not even be on topic.

One last thought; has there been any consideration that insulating the wick from the metal parts of the tank would eliminate
most of the problems from shorts and hot spots? You know, path of least resistance, and all that.

 

[BJ43]

Quote Cyrus: LMAO BJ! 2% of a new TA someone sent me to make up for the loss of gf ,,,

Ok is it clear, I want some... Link please.

 

[StaircaseWit]

Do you soak your coils/wick in juice before starting the pulse? I'm literally sitting there with a juice bottle hitting it the second it starts to look like its anything short of flooded. And make sure you turn down to 2.9V

You left that part out!

No, I hadn't been doing that at all. Dry coil and wick. I'll have to try again next time I set up a stainless wick.