The Pyrex SS hybrid Wick

[subsolanus]

Just some food for thought, porous ceramic tube. Do you think the exterior and thus the coil would become wet from seepage? Enough to corrode the coil? It would seem that it should help with airflow, but the point is to keep not only the wick isolated from the coil, but the coil isolated from the juice. And would it being porous take away from it's thermal conductivity or add to it? I saw some suggesting NON-porous ceramic tubing and like others have stated it turned me away to read that it's an "excellent thermal insulator" when the whole point is to transfer heat.

I've been looking for a source for porous ceramic tubes of this size for quite a while. Most are on the order of inches and are used as filters.

Back in the day, we used to use ceramic, zircona actually, sleeves for coupling fiber optic connectors together. They were 2.5 mm ID and probably about a half inch long. Very, very thin wall (0.5 mm) . Some were split and some were "solid" (un-split). If someone could get a hold of some of the solid stock before it was cut up, that would be an interesting material to try. It's probably all made in China now.

 

[Cjax]

Ok, more food for thought. Is the amount of heat generated by the wire directly related to the total ohms of the coil? What I mean is this: Nichrome has a lower ohm/inch than kanthal. Just for arguments sake, say it's 1:2 for 32 awg of both. Now the Nichrome coil would have twice as many wraps, so the heat would be displaced over twice the surface area as the kanthal.

I think I answerd my own question, the posts on flat kanthal ribbon just got me thinking. I may have to order some different wire since it's no longer a factor in the taste. So many applications coming from this stuff, it's awesome.

 

[dsy5]

More surface area, in theory, should vaporize more juice at any given time (that is, if the wick is able to supply it). The heat produced by each type of medium is a little more difficult to ascertain; you would have to find the spec sheets on each. Somewhere, in the threads, someone once posted either a link or a chart of the specifications of both. A search may find it...

A lot of builders tend to go for lower ohm coils; I see a lot of posts of 1.6Ω or less. They also tend to use 30ga Kanthal or lower - that would mean more wraps. I don't like that low of ohms - I still want to be able to use my DUD on an eGo or ePower, some of which can't handle the current. And seven or more wraps of 30ga is a bit much for me. Maybe it's time for me to search for some flat Kanthal or NiChrome...

 

[the ob]

So do we know that our fused quartz orders are being cancelled?

I've not heard anything yet.

 

[MikeE3]

Ok, guys, Bedazzle was spot-on about this. I have been having an interesting e-mail discussion with the owner of TGP. He was very curious what all of these orders for this same FQ tube product was about. I was upfront with him and explained what it was about. He's not too hot on the idea about shipping out all of these small orders. He said that he would be losing a lot of money on the shipping containers and such. He says that there are currently around 30 some orders that were placed. Maybe a central delivery, or maybe even delving into a co-op would be a better plan? I told him that I would feel out the situation here and get back to him. Thoughts?

Ok, so here is my input on the matter. I'm going to wheel and deal with TGP to get some sent out to me. Should be enough product for around 150 15mm pieces. I'm assuming, so far, that this is the best workable size of tube right now. If anyone has placed an order with TGP, then cancel it, and I will send out samples for testing to those who are interested. How does that sound? If this works for most, then I will fill in the details when everything is said and done.

Definity would participate in a co-op. Or would be most grateful for samples from you.

 

[the ob]

I'm in a coop too.

 

[gdeal]

Ok..this is great!

I took another stab at setting up a ScubaQu. Previous posts here (http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...x-ss-hybrid-wick-post7831032.html#post7831032) and here (http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...x-ss-hybrid-wick-post7837744.html#post7837744) detailed two earlier variations. Both produced vapor shown in the vids, but vape quality (fullness, feel) was not that good. Taste was good, but not the actual vapor itself. They were just okay and not to the point which would have me switch from a coil-on-mesh genny.

The issue here is air-flow. In the earlier versions, the glass tube was ~9mm long. I measured the top cap of the AGA to where the air hole is and it is about 5mm off the base when the top is fully tightened. So I pulled the set-up and shorted the glass tube to just under 6mm. I reassembled with the same wick and same coil. I did not take the coil off the atty. After sliding out the wick and tube, I just twisted down the two top nuts about 3mm. The 28g coil maintained it shape, the pitch between coils tighten, and I still had a 1.9 ohm coil. (Gotta luv that 28g).
I cleaned the tube with a q-tip, which remove most of the gunk from the earlier set-ups, but there was some gunk that was really baked on. This required a bit of hot water, then vodka which removed almost all the hard stuff. After reassembly, I aligned the air hole directly on the tube tip and vaped away at ~14 watts.

Before (9mm tube):

After (6mm tube):


Vapor quality improved significantly. I was actually surprised by the improvement. Taste was great, vapor fullness reappeared. The vape felt a bit airy, but I can’t do a real comparison since I used a new AGA that never saw a coil-on-mesh set-up. It may just be how an AGA vapes.
One thing I did note was that this set-up get hot. Very hot. I could also detect a bit of metallic heat, but it was not that noticeable. Overall the vapor was much truer to flavor. The vape is more moist than coil-on-mesh.

So this is getting much closer, however right now I still prefer coil-on-mesh. Even though flavor is better, the vapor does not feel as refined and heat up time for the tube version is not quite there. So good progress, but it needs a bit more tweaking.

A couple of side notes. The tube shows no sign of stress. No deformation, no cracking, etc. I had no problem grinding down 30% of it on a diamond wheel. Here are some pics of what it looked like when I pulled it from the atty and after a quick q-tip clean.

Before:


After:


Next stop here for me is to wait for the thin tube pyrex and bring the tube height down to 4 or 5mm just under the air-hole. It amazing what a few millimeters does to change the experience. Sorry about the long post…but this is gonna be a game changer.

 

[mre777]

Did someone find a suppler for the flat kanthal? I would like to try some out.

 

[dsy5]

I took another stab at setting up a ScubaQu. was not that noticeable. Overall the vapor was much truer to flavor. The vape is more moist than coil-on-mesh.

Before:


After:


Next stop here for me is to wait for the thin tube pyrex and bring the tube height down to 4 or 5mm just under the air-hole. It amazing what a few millimeters does to change the experience. Sorry about the long post…but this is gonna be a game changer.

Good news! Was your airhole aligned to wick? If so, then that may suggest that a higher placed airhole would benefit.

In the before picture is that a slit I see in the tube, or I am I just seeing things?

 

[dsy5]

Did someone find a suppler for the flat kanthal? I would like to try some out.

I spent about an hour and a half looking for suppliers - there are some, but none of them have any detailed info about size vs resistance and most you have to contact for quotes or are in China. Looks to be mostly bulk sales, also. And for those that listed prices, they seemed very expensive. Ebay had some, but more in the line of applications for ovens and toasters - too low resistance for vaping needs.

 

[mkhyper1]

Ok..this is great!

I took another stab at setting up a ScubaQu. Previous posts here (http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...x-ss-hybrid-wick-post7831032.html#post7831032) and here (http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...x-ss-hybrid-wick-post7837744.html#post7837744) detailed two earlier variations. Both produced vapor shown in the vids, but vape quality (fullness, feel) was not that good. Taste was good, but not the actual vapor itself. They were just okay and not to the point which would have me switch from a coil-on-mesh genny.

The issue here is air-flow. In the earlier versions, the glass tube was ~9mm long. I measured the top cap of the AGA to where the air hole is and it is about 5mm off the base when the top is fully tightened. So I pulled the set-up and shorted the glass tube to just under 6mm. I reassembled with the same wick and same coil. I did not take the coil off the atty. After sliding out the wick and tube, I just twisted down the two top nuts about 3mm. The 28g coil maintained it shape, the pitch between coils tighten, and I still had a 1.9 ohm coil. (Gotta luv that 28g).
I cleaned the tube with a q-tip, which remove most of the gunk from the earlier set-ups, but there was some gunk that was really baked on. This required a bit of hot water, then vodka which removed almost all the hard stuff. After reassembly, I aligned the air hole directly on the tube tip and vaped away at ~14 watts.

Before (9mm tube):

After (6mm tube):


Vapor quality improved significantly. I was actually surprised by the improvement. Taste was great, vapor fullness reappeared. The vape felt a bit airy, but I can’t do a real comparison since I used a new AGA that never saw a coil-on-mesh set-up. It may just be how an AGA vapes.
One thing I did note was that this set-up get hot. Very hot. I could also detect a bit of metallic heat, but it was not that noticeable. Overall the vapor was much truer to flavor. The vape is more moist than coil-on-mesh.

So this is getting much closer, however right now I still prefer coil-on-mesh. Even though flavor is better, the vapor does not feel as refined and heat up time for the tube version is not quite there. So good progress, but it needs a bit more tweaking.

A couple of side notes. The tube shows no sign of stress. No deformation, no cracking, etc. I had no problem grinding down 30% of it on a diamond wheel. Here are some pics of what it looked like when I pulled it from the atty and after a quick q-tip clean.

Before:


After:


Next stop here for me is to wait for the thin tube pyrex and bring the tube height down to 4 or 5mm just under the air-hole. It amazing what a few millimeters does to change the experience. Sorry about the long post…but this is gonna be a game changer.

How do you have your Stainless configured? What type of mesh, size of tube and is it solid or have a center channel? Also it looks like you have multiple wicks within the glass area? Is it just one wick or multiple? Thanks for the work testing and the details. I think this type of detailed experimentation certainly gets us closer.

 

[Jimi D.]

Has anyone tried ceramic heating elements?

 

[mre777]

I spent about an hour and a half looking for suppliers - there are some, but none of them have any detailed info about size vs resistance and most you have to contact for quotes or are in China. Looks to be mostly bulk sales, also. And for those that listed prices, they seemed very expensive. Ebay had some, but more in the line of applications for ovens and toasters - too low resistance for vaping needs.

Thanks dsy5 I also spent a bit of time looking, and was hoping someone had better luck. Well we could always get some 24 or 26 gauge and take some hammers to it.

I did find some nichrome ribbon here

 

[rusalka]

Thanks dsy5 I also spent a bit of time looking, and was hoping someone had better luck. Well we could always get some 24 or 26 gauge and take some hammers to it.

I did find some nichrome ribbon here

Let me know if I can help offset the cost of getting some.

 

[Cjax]

Thanks dsy5 I also spent a bit of time looking, and was hoping someone had better luck. Well we could always get some 24 or 26 gauge and take some hammers to it.

I did find some nichrome ribbon here

I saw that last night too. only thing is it's onlt .487 ohms/inch. Too many wraps for me to get to 2 ohms.

 

[gdeal]

Good news! Was your airhole aligned to wick? If so, then that may suggest that a higher placed airhole would benefit.

In the before picture is that a slit I see in the tube, or I am I just seeing things?

The airhole is aligned with the wick and measures to be just at the tip of the tube opening. I agree on airhole placement, I think even slightly higher than the tube opening may improve vapor further.

lol on the slit..I wish I had skills that good to do something that precise. Its just a reflection from the light.

How do you have your Stainless configured? What type of mesh, size of tube and is it solid or have a center channel? Also it looks like you have multiple wicks within the glass area? Is it just one wick or multiple? Thanks for the work testing and the details. I think this type of detailed experimentation certainly gets us closer.

In the earlier posts listed, I described the detailed set-up and components. No change from the second set up in the second post other than shortening the tube.

 

[mre777]

I saw that last night too. only thing is it's onlt .487 ohms/inch. Too many wraps for me to get to 2 ohms.

It says 5.85 ohms per foot, don't that work out to 2.05 ohms per inch?

Der 5.85 divided by 12 not 12 divided by 5.85... my bad

 

[bstedh]

The tubing use has re-sparked an idea I had a while back. Now that we have a good target we may want to start looking at laser diodes instead of coils....

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2

 

[perlionsmitnick]

Ok you guys I think its time we all have a class in glass working 101
First things first. I'm am a glass artist. I love glass and I love to melt it. I've been melting, faceting, grinding, molding, blowing, cutting, drilling, pulling, crushing and painting glass for over 10 years. My love of glass has taken me to the Czech Republic many times to study and research old glass tequniques used over 100 yrs ago. Here is a simple explanation I learned about glass from a old Czech master glass worker.

Glass is made of pure white sand and soda-lime. (Remember this is a simple explanation).
Think of glass as a soda bottle and its filled with sand. The sand is settled to the bottom and the soda is floating on the top. Nothing is disturbing the bottle of sand (glass). Everything is stable. Then someone comes along and bumps the table the soda bottle is sitting on.
Or starts heating up the glass tube. The sand starts to get mixed up into the soda and it starts to get a little cloudy.
Fire polishing or heating a glass tube will make your glass unstable. Then you pick the soda bottle up and shake it or your glass starts melting now you've reached a point were there is nothing you can do to settle the sand/glass down and it needs to sit or go into a kiln and and be annealed at 960 degress undisturbed for a period of time. This is the only way for your glass to go back to normal or settle back down.
Try to keep these simple principles in mind when working with your quartz glass and come up with even better
ways to build your tanks.
Of course there are many, many other veritables involved but you first need to know the basics.

If you can't place an order from TGP I'd be happy to place my normal monthly order and just get extra for everyone. I can send the tubes to your designated co-op guy after I receive the tubes.

Bedazzle

Good post. Glass I take it is similar in characteristics to metal, once you heat and anneal it. it loses it's original integrity. Would I be correct in assuming that with a juiced up wick on the other side of quartz it probably wouldn't get the quartz hot enough to cause weakening.

 

[perlionsmitnick]

The tubing use has re-sparked an idea I had a while back. Now that we have a good target we may want to start looking at laser diodes instead of coils....

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2

Breaktru and Craig will probably be all over that. lol