I will try this buff puff if I don't need a spring... Is it as easy as the blue foam?
The buff stuff is a little more difficult to cut to size, but it works better than anything I've used so far. Going on day 4 and no reduction in performance. I haven't tried it without some kind of support - I use a cut & notched drinking straw to support the plug vs. the spring. The straw acts as a reservoir to fill with liquid and the top edge of it acts as a ledge to support the plug. the straw is 10-12mm tall, with 2 notches at the bottom, to allow air flow.
The buff stuff is build kind of like a flexible honeycomb. It's flexible and squeezable, like an accordian, one way, but not the other way. So it forms accordian-like channels. You cut it so the channels run lengthwise into your cart. You squeeze it like an accorian, slip it into the cart with tweezers and then it expands back out to the sides to plug the opening. If you put it in the other direction, it doesn't really wick, because the channels are running crosswise in the cart, rather than pointing towards the atty.
The pad is 1" thick, so it's way too thick for the cart & needs to be cut down considerably to get to the right size. I squeeze it thin and snip off a square piece. When it expands back, you have one long, narrow, rectangular piece. I then snip a piece of that off to a little larger than the width of the cart, so I have to squeeze it to get it in. I end up with a piece about 8mm long, 5mm deep and 6mm wide.
Ya know Kristin... you're going to HAVE to do a diagram on that. The orientation of the grain is so very important on the buff-stuff.... and if it isn't done the right way, it's not going to work worth a dern.
See how freely I volunteer your time! ;-)
So using this pic as a guide:I know - I just can't figure out how to draw it properly - I've started it a few times and it just looks like a bunch of lines, lol!
Pretty much. Check out this other post - I just posted a diagram: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...oir-straw-plug-mod-rsp-mod-23.html#post732914So using this pic as a guide:
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Can the drop at the bottom be used as a pointer/arrow for the direction of flow?
I haven't tasted anything - even when it gets drier. Pretty cool! And I could taste other fillers. PTB wasn't bad tasting for me, though. It could depend on the liquid...hey kristin, does it taste bad?
the material itself...
I found the LTB to taste horrid for some reason, and I can sort of taste the blue foam and white fluval.
Kristin, thanks for all this info! I had in my bathroom cabinet small generic CVS facial cleaning sponges (FCS), which are essentially generic buff puffs. They do seem like a honeycomb matrix like has been described for the bigger sponges, more omni-directional and random like original filler (OF). I rinse out the soap that is in the FCS completely with hot water, let it dry, and cut about 1/4 inch strip fromm one edge. Folded in half, added straw, inserted into my 510 cart, and cut off flush with the cart opening. Filled easily, seems to pull in VG fluid better than OF. Vaped almost exactly like OF. PTB wicks better, but the ones I made seemed to be lacking in the vapor production department. No filler flavor that I could detect from the FCS, but we'll try it a couple of days to see how it hangs up. One thing about FCSs, all you need is scissors. One sponge would make several carts, and quickly.
Just another twist on the sponge filler thing. One thing about these cleaning sponges though, and I am at work now so can't check up on it, is that they are abrasive cleaning sponges. This may mean the fibers have little barbs on them so they are "deep cleaning", and these barbs might inhibit wicking to the atty some. But I will look closely at mine tonight to see if this is true. These sponges are certainly less hassle and cheaper than PTB. My guess is a box of FCSs would make at least 500 carts.
At this point, however, my favorite cart is OF + straw. Haven't tried the plugs or springs yet. Hoping the FCSs + straw are at least as good after a couple of days. I generally get at least a week out of OF+straw before I replace the filler, and that's only to clean out the flavor. The function generally is still very good after a week or so.
We are actually testing that right now. Another member and I have tried lengthening the plug and removing the straw. It has different reactions to different liquids. Using a thinner liquid, a longer, denser plug works well. Using a thicker liquid, a shorter, looser plug works better. HV liquid from nhaler seems to work better when the atty is warmer, too.Kurt or Kristin,
Would this work as well without the straw mod???
I use Tulle from hobby lobby, better than PTB in my opinion..less prone to folding over where the wick hits it, it springs back better, maintains better contact, and holds insane amounts of juice with good wicking properties.