Stardust questions

[Knotar]

So you don't have to be all that smart to see that the stardust is all the buzz at the moment, with good reason. My main intrest in it is that it is a CE2 that can be rebuilt. I'm sure some of you have some experience with these, so my questions go out to those people. As far as rebuilding them, where do you get your materials from to do so? I know I can get wicking from home depot. It is actually a surprisingly common material. But the correct wire type, gauge, and where to get it is where I'm lost. I would love to be able to get some from a local hardware store. That way I can get a different gauage or get more if I run out. I don't mind buying from online, but I prefer to buy locally.
On that note, has anyone tried vapor geeks coil wire? What kind of ohms do you get out of it in a stardust?

 

[TrueNorthist]

If you don't mind me askin, just what is the wicking material? I can see that it would make sense to swap that out after a time.

 

[Hitmetwice]

May not be much help but I plan getting another handful of the SD's when Canvape gets
the replacement wire and wicks in. Ordering everything from the same place saves
large on shipping costs.

Only ordered up 2 to try but all my cartos are now just sitting there collecting dust.

I've not tried VG wire but think any 0(zero) resistance kanthal(sp) would do fine.
I'm using 2.00 zippo lighter wicking for my butchery/fix-it projects. Get lots for 2 bucks.

 

[TrueNorthist]

I'm using 2.00 zippo lighter wicking for my butchery/fix-it projects. Get lots for 2 bucks.

Zippo wicks? Really? I already have a couple of packs of that in my tool box for my trusty old sidekick that sits collecting dust now. Bonus.

 

[Hitmetwice]

Ya gotta strip back the wire and string and trim and thin to size, but.....

I initially got it to re-wick my ego type b atty.
Used a very small amount. 1/2"x1/3 the thickness.
The wick is about 4" in length.
I've replaced 2 from the first 1/2" of wick and should get 1 more,
all from the first 1/2" or so.

Cheers

 

[curlyballs]

I bought the wick and coil from Vaporgeek. Me volt meter that I bought though sucks, and is giving me stupid readings. Even with the SR star dust, I shouldn't be reading 3.4 ohm...it's rated for 2.5-2.9...and the vapor geek coil is supposed to be .098 ohm/mm, but I read .136 ohm/mm. Going to return the meter I bought, and get a better one for sure.

Anyhow, the coil from vaporgeek is a little bit thicker than what comes stock in the star dust. I'm playing around with wick thickness, number of coil wraps, and wrap tightness right now. It's kinda hard to work with 20-22 mm of wire to wrap around the wick. 22mm of vaporgeek wire should equate to 2.156 ohms.

I'm not sure if the wick is absorbing enough...or if my wraps are too tight...or not enough wraps...but I'm getting dry hits. FYI, the dry hits on vaporgeek wick is DISGUSTING. It's not just a burning, but there's something else nasty about it...

Zippo wick is a great idea! Thick I'll look into that next.

Let's keep this thread going for advice and ideas!

 

[Madagain]

I have not ventured into the rebuildable stuff so I am not really sure if this will work or not but... Happy Vaper has a pack for use with a atomizer they sell.

Will those work for you?

 

[Toronto_Mike]

I've used the Zippo Wick with the eGo-C atty's - it definately works but is hit & miss. It's such a small wick & has to dead on in size & position to work beyond a just a day. I've had 1 or 2 work for a day & a couple go 3 or 4 days without an issue.

 

[TrueNorthist]

I have read that most wicking is glass fibre and I am wondering if wood stove door gasket would work. It is a glass fibre rope and withstands 1000°F heat. Easy to get too. Then there is ceramic fibre rope.

Sorry. Not trying to hijack the thread...

 

[Toronto_Mike]

I have read that most wicking is glass fibre and I am wondering if wood stove door gasket would work. It is a glass fibre rope and withstands 1000°F heat. Easy to get too. Then there is ceramic fibre rope.

Sorry. Not trying to hijack the thread...

there was a good thread on wick material..........http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/atomizer-mods/129327-wick-material-question.html

 

[Mr.Whitecloud]

Zippo wicks? Really? I already have a couple of packs of that in my tool box for my trusty old sidekick that sits collecting dust now. Bonus.

Remember always wear safety goggles when searching through old boxes

 

[wood]

I bought the wick and coil from Vaporgeek. Me volt meter that I bought though sucks, and is giving me stupid readings. Even with the SR star dust, I shouldn't be reading 3.4 ohm...it's rated for 2.5-2.9...and the vapor geek coil is supposed to be .098 ohm/mm, but I read .136 ohm/mm. Going to return the meter I bought, and get a better one for sure.

Anyhow, the coil from vaporgeek is a little bit thicker than what comes stock in the star dust. I'm playing around with wick thickness, number of coil wraps, and wrap tightness right now. It's kinda hard to work with 20-22 mm of wire to wrap around the wick. 22mm of vaporgeek wire should equate to 2.156 ohms.

I'm not sure if the wick is absorbing enough...or if my wraps are too tight...or not enough wraps...but I'm getting dry hits. FYI, the dry hits on vaporgeek wick is DISGUSTING. It's not just a burning, but there's something else nasty about it...

Zippo wick is a great idea! Thick I'll look into that next.

Let's keep this thread going for advice and ideas!

i had this problem too , hold the lead of your meter together and u will get a number say .8 so then u take your reading and if its say 2.8 u would have to minus the.8 to make up for meter error so you would be sitting at 2.0

 

[Knotar]

What I was thinking for wicking material was the wicks on oil lanterns. They tend to be made out of a silica or fiberglass sleeve with a cotton core, or similar such materials. After all this I think I may just make a order to vapor geek. I'm happy to hear that people are getting 2 ohms from their coil. It is stuff like this that makes me want to break down and get a vv device, but I don't want to abandon egos. I've been using them for almost 6 months.

 

[TrueNorthist]

The wicks for lamps are semi-combustible and often treated with a compound to make them work better so I am thinking they won't be so hot, but I could be wrong. The zippo wick is much the same and folks say it works ok. I have settled on the wood-stove door gasket as it is entirely made of glass fibre and is easy to find, should hold up very well and be relatively easy to use. I am told the wire from the fine stainless mesh works the best as a wick and will fiddle around with that for a while too. I just worry about shorting it and causing an explosive battery failure. I know there are circuits etc to help protect against that but I have dealt with enough of the problems that arise from supposedly foolproof systems to know better. Absolutely nothing is failure-proof.

Way to go starting this thread Knotar! Hopefully some folks will pipe in with a good source for 400 stainless mesh. I will be asking my steel supplier about it and will post back here.

 

[KillFace]

Just a question for you SR Stardust users....

What voltage do you like best??

 

[Northernshrink]

Also curious if they seem to heat up after a cpl draws like the Grandes etc do I find it really seems to mute the flavour of a lot of juices. I find myself with 3 mods in front of me rotating to prevent this

 

[EJH]

Replacing the wire and wick in a Stardust:

Gotvapes Stardust: Changing the Wick & Coil - YouTube

There are also a few links to replacement wire and wicks there.

 

[curlyballs]

i had this problem too , hold the lead of your meter together and u will get a number say .8 so then u take your reading and if its say 2.8 u would have to minus the.8 to make up for meter error so you would be sitting at 2.0

This is great...when I touched them together, it read .4, and all of my calculations with that difference work out. So, the vaporgeek wire is showing the proper ohm/mm rating of .098 now and the stock device reads as 2.9 ohms.

Thanks for the advice! Guess I'll keep this meter now haha.

 

[curlyballs]

Just hit a really nice sweet spot!

3mm of wick, completely unwound
25mm of coil, measuring 2.4-2.5 ohms

With this I'm able to get 3 loose wraps. I could probably go down to 2.0 ohms(20mm), but I really like that extra wrap.

As of right now, no gurgling or dry hits.

What I did is made sure the coil is loosely wrapped to not choke off the wicking of the juice. Also, un-braiding the wick is important for flow.

Once it's all together, I trim to the same length as the stock wick, so it touches or just barely touches the sides when assembled.

I'll post the results after a day or two. If this works out, I'll be set up for a long long time. I have enough coil and wick for hundreds of rebuilds

 

[TrueNorthist]

Also curious if they seem to heat up after a cpl draws like the Grandes etc do I find it really seems to mute the flavour of a lot of juices. I find myself with 3 mods in front of me rotating to prevent this

I have been vaping regularly off of mine for almost 3 days now and it shows no sign of suffering from heat fatigue. After 6 washes it still pumps out flavour rather well, but the wick is getting a wee bit slower to draw fresh juice between vapes so I have slowed the pace accordingly. It can get very warm but still works fine. Just as a test I chain-vaped a full ml and almost puked, but it never burned or stopped working well.

The flavour does get a bit muted after 4 or 5 fills but like I said, cleaning is easy and fast. Just fill with hot water and shake it a number of times then flick it out, blowing it out occasionally. Then hit it with a blow drier for a while on low and don't let it get too hot. Fill, soak a bit then vape away. I am almost sure this thing is gonna be a winner, but I need more time to give the full on 5-star rating.

Edit: I should add that tipping it frequently between vapes is essential when chain-vaping. I tip it 4 or 5 times min before taking another pull on it.