The Next Big thing.... Porous Ceramic Wicks

[gdeal]

Gdeal wrote a tutorial on how to do this on this thread, but I start out with a rectangular block...first cut the notch out that will straddle the deck fit it..then shape the legs if the legs are to tall you can always grind them down...then shape the cross bar. yeah a diamond burr is what I think G uses. i use a diamond dremel cut off wheel, and a diamond hand file that's about 6 inches long and is 5mm wide and 1mm thick. the cut off wheel works great grinding the legs to follow the contour of the chimney,

Thats the basic concept for the monkey bar. I actually use an oscillating tool with a diamond blade now. The grit on the oscillating blade is rougher than the small diamond wheel. It seems to break off the individual AO grits on the block rather than try to cut through them.

Its also a bit more manageable. I may have gotten better at cutting them but I hold the block in my hand, then slice off a piece and then round the individual wick on the side of the blade. No water, very little dust, but a lot of sand sized pieces on the table/floor afterwards. You burn through a bit more material, but it cuts the time to produce to 1/3 of what it used to take.

 

[l3oertjie]

Amazing this thread is still going, and to answer your question. No I have heard nothing from the company I sent 20 wicks to to micro plate them. But I have been away for sometime, holidays and all, Two totaled cars (teenagers). Gotta love because ya cant kill em.
I will try and get caught up. The donut things look interesting, but with the wire on the inside it will be hard to fire them for cleaning. As we all know the ceramic pores will clog over time and require firing to clean out to make them viable again.
Dan

Howdy Dan - long time!

You say the guys have not yet replied? Maybe time to ask them to return the wicks to you or get their act together...

 

[X-Puppy]

Thats the basic concept for the monkey bar. I actually use an oscillating tool with a diamond blade now. The grit on the oscillating blade is rougher than the small diamond wheel. It seems to break off the individual AO grits on the block rather than try to cut through them.

Its also a bit more manageable. I may have gotten better at cutting them but I hold the block in my hand, then slice off a piece and then round the individual wick on the side of the blade. No water, very little dust, but a lot of sand sized pieces on the table/floor afterwards. You burn through a bit more material, but it cuts the time to produce to 1/3 of what it used to take.

I'm getting ready to cut my first few wicks and I have everything including the oscillating tool with a good diamond blade (and more). You say you hold the brick in your hand when making the cut. Do you use anything to clamp the oscillating tool?

I've been monitoring this thread since the first post. This has been a great learning experience.

 

[gdeal]

I'm getting ready to cut my first few wicks and I have everything including the oscillating tool with a good diamond blade (and more). You say you hold the brick in your hand when making the cut. Do you use anything to clamp the oscillating tool?

I've been monitoring this thread since the first post. This has been a great learning experience.

I hold the block in my left hand, the oscillating tool in my right hand. I mark off a cut line about a 1/4 thick from the edge. I do it freehand. I start on the edge closest to me and work my way out on the cut. I then take the 1/4 slice and then repeat to cut the slice in half. Then I take the long rectangular blanks and start rounding then on the side of the blade. I hold the blank between forefinger and thumb and rotate to get roundness. You dont need to press hard. You float the blank over the grits and they pop-off. Then its eyeballing and using a gauge for size.

The oscillating tool with the diamond blade wont cut you, but you need to be very careful, it can take skin off with pressure..... You can lightly touch the grits on the side of the blade with your finger. (not the edge!) Take appropriate measures......dont rush it...be safe. You get a feel for it quickly.

Yes there is a lot of waste... but I still have my original block and havent run out of wicks yet.

 

[X-Puppy]

Great detail on technique Gdeal. Thank you so much. That will save me some time.

 

[DrMA]

I use the same exact technique as gdeal, only with a rotary tool (Dremel) and diamond disk.

 

[Equality 7-2521]

I use a similar technique but i like to use a couple of diamond hand files to shape the notch just right and to shape the the cross bar round......

Anyway, i was thinking of getting a mini bliss, but you can't drill out the wick hole which are really small for ceramic..so I was looking at a setup of using a microcoil and a very thin ss wick i thought it might be a good set up for the mini bliss, so I built the set up, and..........i vaped it and.......yuckkkk....I remembered why I started using ceramic over ss in the first place......it's not that the flavor of ss is bad it's just got a few other flavors added into the juice like metal......once you go block go never go back.

I was on another forum and they were totally convinced AO was a very very dangerous wick, that all kinds of things would happen to you from cancer to alzhiemers....there was no talking to them, and i can't say a single one of them had any evidence about their fear other than a friend told them it was very dangerous to vape ceramic.
It was like going to a witch burning.

 

[gdeal]

Yes! Those mini diamond files are a must for fine tuning.

once you go block go never go back.

ROFL.

Send those guys over to Boden' s thread: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...08-stainless-steel-mesh-oxide-discussion.html if they are SS guys....

 

[DrMA]

There's a lot of misunderstanding about aluminum and Alzheimer's. But basically, whereas your Al antiperspirant may give you a degenerative brain disease, the Al in ceramic wicks is totally safe, because it comes in a form that's completely inert chemically and biologically.

In fact, a large percentage of the planet's crust is made up of a similarly inert Al silicate material. If that were toxic, life as we know it would not be possible....

 

[ricks]

Where is this forum? I need to see this.

I use a similar technique but i like to use a couple of diamond hand files to shape the notch just right and to shape the the cross bar round......

Anyway, i was thinking of getting a mini bliss, but you can't drill out the wick hole which are really small for ceramic..so I was looking at a setup of using a microcoil and a very thin ss wick i thought it might be a good set up for the mini bliss, so I built the set up, and..........i vaped it and.......yuckkkk....I remembered why I started using ceramic over ss in the first place......it's not that the flavor of ss is bad it's just got a few other flavors added into the juice like metal......once you go block go never go back.

I was on another forum and they were totally convinced AO was a very very dangerous wick, that all kinds of things would happen to you from cancer to alzhiemers....there was no talking to them, and i can't say a single one of them had any evidence about their fear other than a friend told them it was very dangerous to vape ceramic.
It was like going to a witch burning.

 

[Equality 7-2521]

Nothing to see really like i said there was no refrences to any scientific source or articles, just fear mongering gossip,and second hand vodoo superstitions, along with an excessive adolescent male relish for profanity and bodily functions laced heavily with a guilty obsession of homoerotica. Ironically these meatheads deal exclusively with high end mods......a sort of vaping circle jerk....look how big mine gets.

 

[Tintreach]

Anyone got some AI wicks made they wish to part with? PM me if you do

 

[MikeE3]

Nothing to see really like i said there was no refrences to any scientific source or articles, just fear mongering gossip,and second hand vodoo superstitions, along with an excessive adolescent male relish for profanity and bodily functions laced heavily with a guilty obsession of homoerotica. Ironically these meatheads deal exclusively with high end mods......a sort of vaping circle jerk....look how big mine gets.

I've been there - I def recognized it for sure by your description. Spot on!

 

[ricks]

I'm still curious and would like a fun read...

 

[asdaq]

Thanks Mike, I missed the edit from three days ago, now I know the spot. For ricks, just some small hints: VF. But I doubt it is in a single thread, just clusters of comments strewn throughout a lot of other stuff to wade through.

 

[tiburonfirst]

Thanks Mike, I missed the edit from three days ago, now I know the spot. For ricks, just some small hints: VF. But I doubt it is in a single thread, just clusters of comments strewn throughout a lot of other stuff to wade through.

and here i thought they had cleaned up their act!

 

[asdaq]

Nope! I can still log in.

 

[ricks]

What forum is this???

 

[tiburonfirst]

I've been there - I def recognized it for sure by your description. Spot on!

well, it seems to have kicked the bucket now

 

[asdaq]

What forum is this???

Hard to say, but it belongs to vapers.