Titanium wire, vaping and safety

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ThunderDan

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Any more feedback from those using Ti wire from "SweetVapes.com", NOT "sweet-spot"?
I live in US, and have bought some Ti wire already from Unkamen, but I occasionally buy products from SweetVape, so it would be convenient. Then again, if the Unkamen wire is made in the U.S., and the SweetVape is made in China, I may pass.

http://sweet-vapes.com/ta1-titanium-wire-30ft-spool.html
I have this wire, the 26g is thinner than 26g should be, more like 27, or 27.5g. I suspect its china wire, but it works fine. I've been using it in dual coil RTAs lately more because its a little thinner.

I don't think I'll order another spool of it though, its OK, but I think I still prefer the unkamen true 26g to it.
 
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HolmanGT

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I wonder....

I've never dealt with Kanthal before so coming from Ni to Ti I found the stuff to be to "springy" and hard to work with. I sometimes resort to winding on screws and getting the torch out to heat the coil to keep the wound shape I gave it.

With Ni200 we needed ether large ID and/or lots and lots of windings with 28-32awg to get enough minimum resistance. Switching to Ti I started using 28-24awg with much less windings.

One day I was aimlessly winding Ti on a screw and came up with a 1.0ohm coil. It works fine on both my YiHi chipped mods. I have a few builds in the 0.6 to 1.0 ohm range. All 8-12 windings of Ti.

My current theory is that not only does equal windings of Ti/Ni create the same surface area for vaporization but the higher resistance of Ti allows your mod to regulate a more accurate vape.

Outside of thinking Ti is still a PITA to work with, I'm finally happy with the builds I've recently done.

YMMV.

Try some annealed Ti it is soft no springyness and a pure pleasure to work with. I get mine from reogrande.com but I am sure there are others that sell annealed Ti.

PS They anneal the Ti in and oxygen free furnace so there is no problem with Ti oxidation.
 

GeorgeS

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    Try some annealed Ti it is soft no springyness and a pure pleasure to work with. I get mine from reogrande.com but I am sure there are others that sell annealed Ti.

    PS They anneal the Ti in and oxygen free furnace so there is no problem with Ti oxidation.

    I already have a lifetime supply of Ti and I have a spool of SS that I'll be trying next.

    The only reason I started trying Ti out was in the hopes that I could change wicks without having to recoil. Otherwise I have no issues with Ni200, it works well enough for my vaping needs.
     
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    druckle

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    I must admit, I am amzed that people seem to find such large differences in taste etc between wires from different suppliers that are, in the end, identical or pretty much near it in chemical composition. I have wire from Unkamen, crazy wire, stealth vape, zivipf and probably some others and i really dont see any major difference for the same build with the same guage wire from different sources...
    In my opinion there IS NO difference if the wires are all grade 1. There are a lot of subtle differences that change vape perceptions and if one changes wire and detects a difference it's easy to attribute the change to the wire. It would be better to think about wicking, the age of the remaining juice in a tank etc. but that's not human nature.

    Duane
     

    Mactavish

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    I have this wire, the 26g is thinner than 26g should be, more like 27, or 27.5g. I suspect its china wire, but it works fine. I've been using it in dual coil RTAs lately more because its a little thinner.

    I don't think I'll order another spool of it though, its OK, but I think I still prefer the unkamen true 26g to it.

    Thanks for the feedback, a friend needed some recommendations and like me he buys products from SweetVapes, so I will pass this info on, and tell him to buy from Unkamen as I have already. I did however just buy some 24g from RioGrande, as it is supposedly annealed already and softer, too bad that's the thinnest gauge they sell.
     

    Mactavish

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    Try some annealed Ti it is soft no springyness and a pure pleasure to work with. I get mine from reogrande.com but I am sure there are others that sell annealed Ti.

    PS They anneal the Ti in and oxygen free furnace so there is no problem with Ti oxidation.

    I just ordered a spool from Reo, problem is 24 gauge is the thinnest they sell! Got my 26, and 28g from Unkamen.
     

    tchavei

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    I already have a lifetime supply of Ti and I have a spool of SS that I'll be trying next.

    The only reason I started trying Ti out was in the hopes that I could change wicks without having to recoil. Otherwise I have no issues with Ni200, it works well enough for my vaping needs.
    My Ti coil (24awg, annealed) survived 4 rewicks so far and no hint of any oxides despite dry burning at 580C

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.
     
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    KenD

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    My Ti coil (24awg, annealed) survived 4 rewicks so far and no hint of any oxides despite dry burning at 580C

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.
    I pretty much change out my ti coils (26 and 28 ga) only when I get bored. Really durable, and as I diy without any colouring in my liquids I really don't get any crusting.

    Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk
     

    pbanj

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    My Ti coil (24awg, annealed) survived 4 rewicks so far and no hint of any oxides despite dry burning at 580C

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.
    Yup I clean the gunk off of mine with a little wire brush. It's nice not having to make a new coil every time.
     

    Mactavish

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    My Ti coil (24awg, annealed) survived 4 rewicks so far and no hint of any oxides despite dry burning at 580C

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.

    Hi Tony,
    I just re wicked my first Ti build on the STM. Unkamen 26g. I annealed a short length between the posts on an atty, till light blue. This brand wire is for jewelry and is SLIGHTLY dull grey when new,,has a bit of a shine, it is supposedly acid washed. It was very clean as I only put a few tanks of juice through it, I still cleaned it with some 99% ISOPROPYL alcohol, and water with a tooth brush.

    Just wondering if the BLUE tint is lost after vaping a wire. Mine is now a VERY DULL GREY, no blue tint at all. There was NO white coating, so I'm going to put in a new wick. Thanks for any and all opinions!
     

    tchavei

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    Hi Tony,
    I just re wicked my first Ti build on the STM. Unkamen 26g. I annealed a short length between the posts on an atty, till light blue. This brand wire is for jewelry and is SLIGHTLY dull grey when new,,has a bit of a shine, it is supposedly acid washed. It was very clean as I only put a few tanks of juice through it, I still cleaned it with some 99% ISOPROPYL alcohol, and water with a tooth brush.

    Just wondering if the BLUE tint is lost after vaping a wire. Mine is now a VERY DULL GREY, no blue tint at all. There was NO white coating, so I'm going to put in a new wick. Thanks for any and all opinions!
    We are talking about inference colors here. There is no actual color, just layer thickness of the oxide. A very thin layer will appear yellowish then, as the layer builds up, it will start looking blueish and farther on, purple. At a point, suddently, you will see no more colors but only a grey / white dull cover that will come lose if you poke it with something sharp.

    Since your wire is dull from the beginning, I can't tell you if your wire has no significant oxide or if it has a thick layer of it.

    What matters most is that a thick oxide layer will be prone to chip off which is something we don't want. Poke your coil a few times and check if you're able to remove some of the layer or not. I'm pretty sure you won't but test it anyway. If you can't remove anything, you should be good to go.



    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.
     

    BigEgo

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    I've been dry burning my Ti coils at 20w for 1-2 seconds in a dark room. I then dunk them under the faucet. It cleans it right up and is much easier than having to worry with brushes, alcohol, simple green, etc.

    My coils have turned a bit yellow/grey (beyond blue) but are still shiny. I am not worried about TiO2 particles "flaking off" and inhaling them, but I've never thought that was a concern anyway. The dangerous TiO2 is the nano particles which we can't see. We could be getting nano particles regardless of whether we dry burn or not. Need research in that area.

    Even then, I am not too worried - the exposure probably isn't that high and TiO2 has never been shown to be carcinogenic in HUMANS. But, then again, nano particles in general are believed to be dangerous (seems to be debate within the scientific community on exactly which nano particles are harmful).
     

    TheotherSteveS

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    I've been dry burning my Ti coils at 20w for 1-2 seconds in a dark room. I then dunk them under the faucet. It cleans it right up and is much easier than having to worry with brushes, alcohol, simple green, etc.

    My coils have turned a bit yellow/grey (beyond blue) but are still shiny. I am not worried about TiO2 particles "flaking off" and inhaling them, but I've never thought that was a concern anyway. The dangerous TiO2 is the nano particles which we can't see. We could be getting nano particles regardless of whether we dry burn or not. Need research in that area.

    Even then, I am not too worried - the exposure probably isn't that high and TiO2 has never been shown to be carcinogenic in HUMANS. But, then again, nano particles in general are believed to be dangerous (seems to be debate within the scientific community on exactly which nano particles are harmful).
    to my knowledge, TiO2 has never shown to produce malignant cancers in anything. Chronic exposure in mice produces benign tumours...

    Dont forget, YiO2 has been used extensively in paint for years. If anyone has sanded down a wall that has been painted white, you will have exposed yourself to more TiO2 particles than you would in a lifetime of vaping I think...
     

    GeorgeS

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    Just for kicks I retrofitted some Aspire Maxi/T1 BVC/BDC atomizers with ittybitty Ti 32awg coils.

    - toodle puffing in the TC age baby -

    I also retrofitted a few Nautilus coils - not as much of a challenge - but I was able to get one to hit a target of 1.7ohms - while anything over 1ohm will kick out of TC mode on a iStick TC40, my YiHi chipped devices worked fine.

    The seemingly constant dry hits and tossing of factory made atomizers is what drove me to RTA's and TC in the first place. It was fun puffing on the tank that came with my first "starter kit" on a SXminiM. :)
     

    tchavei

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    to my knowledge, TiO2 has never shown to produce malignant cancers in anything. Chronic exposure in mice produces benign tumours...

    Dont forget, YiO2 has been used extensively in paint for years. If anyone has sanded down a wall that has been painted white, you will have exposed yourself to more TiO2 particles than you would in a lifetime of vaping I think...
    I think chronic exposure is an understatement... They gassed the mice 24/7 for weeks in a thick haze of TiO2. I'm surprised they didn't die in the process.

    I'm not worried at all. As you correctly stated, white paint has a lot of TiO2, toothpaste, soap and even milk has tio2 added. We're exposed to it on a daily basis.

    Packing workers, exposed daily for years in high tio2 concentration environments didn't ever show any increase in lung diseases.

    Now go research about nickel oxide... [emoji14]

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.
     

    TheotherSteveS

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    I think chronic exposure is an understatement... They gassed the mice 24/7 for weeks in a thick haze of TiO2. I'm surprised they didn't die in the process.

    I'm not worried at all. As you correctly stated, white paint has a lot of TiO2, toothpaste, soap and even milk has tio2 added. We're exposed to it on a daily basis.

    Packing workers, exposed daily for years in high tio2 concentration environments didn't ever show any increase in lung diseases.

    Now go research about nickel oxide... [emoji14]

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.


    You read that paper also!! Ridiculous experiment. Poor bloody mice! And having survived virtually intact, they will have be 'sacrificed' at the end of it anyway...

    Nickel oxide very bad!!
     

    tchavei

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    You read that paper also!! Ridiculous experiment. Poor bloody mice! And having survived virtually intact, they will have be 'sacrificed' at the end of it anyway...

    Nickel oxide very bad!!
    Yes I did. Not as ridiculous however as the poor packet employee having lung cancer and the investigators trying to find something to make it stick to TiO2 exposure when the guy was a 2 pad smoker for 40 years...

    Regards
    Tony

    Sent from my keyboard through my phone or something like that.
     

    Mactavish

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    I've been dry burning my Ti coils at 20w for 1-2 seconds in a dark room. I then dunk them under the faucet. It cleans it right up and is much easier than having to worry with brushes, alcohol, simple green, etc.

    My coils have turned a bit yellow/grey (beyond blue) but are still shiny. I am not worried about TiO2 particles "flaking off" and inhaling them, but I've never thought that was a concern anyway. The dangerous TiO2 is the nano particles which we can't see. We could be getting nano particles regardless of whether we dry burn or not. Need research in that area.

    Even then, I am not too worried - the exposure probably isn't that high and TiO2 has never been shown to be carcinogenic in HUMANS. But, then again, nano particles in general are believed to be dangerous (seems to be debate within the scientific community on exactly which nano particles are harmful).

    On my first re wicking my formally BLUE Unkamen Ti coils were grey, but not white. This wire comes fairly dull grey due to supposed "acid wash". I scrubbed them but they looked the same. I've read some using other brand Ti wire, seem to maintain a shine as well as the annealed colors. Guess I'm fine in continuing to use them, have not run much juice through em, just wanted to try cotton amount adjustment.
     
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    druckle

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    On my first re wicking my formally BLUE Unkamen Ti coils were grey, but not white. This wire comes fairly dull grey due to supposed "acid wash". I scrubbed them but they looked the same. I've read some using other brand Ti wire, seem to maintain a shine as well as the annealed colors. Guess I'm fine in continuing to use them, have not run much juice through em, just wanted to try cotton amount adjustment.
    Remember that the smoother (shiny wire) colors are interference colors. When the surface is acid etched (has micro roughness) a large portion of the surface is not perpendicular to your eyes visual field. Consequently less light is reflected back to the eye and the thickness of the oxygen rich layer on the titanium surface is greater in the reflected lights path. Consequently the perceived color is going to be significantly different. The appearance of the micro rough surface will be darker and less colorful. None of this has anything to do with the capability of the coil to safely provide a good vape. The micro rough surface is also likely to retain slightly more of the organic film developed during vaping and this will effectively block a large portion of the interference color from being apparent visually. It's just the physics of the situation.

    Duane
     
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