Where to get wick for Tank

[Mooler]

I've cleaned up some atomizers and got them working well again with some help from these:

Volcano tank-O-Mizers video YouTube - Volcano Tank-O-Mizers

eGo-T Atomizer Needle Plate Removal « Zombienerd's PV Blog

With the plate out, you can really clean inside and clean the wick. But, 2 of my wicks fell apart, so I'm looking for how to replace them - blue foam?

To clean, I used alcohol rinse first, then boiling water, then blew them out, then put them back together.

I tried cleaning the wick by dipping in the alcohol and then gently wiping on a tissue, but when I did that, 2 of them fell apart. I suspect they were going to break anyway. I also tried burning a wick with a lighter but it seemed to be burning the wick...?

I saw some threads talking about wicks but no links, where to you buy it, what size?

 

[juicejunky]

You can get silica rope here

McMaster-Carr

It's
Round Braided Silica Rope Seal 3/8" Diameter by the foot and it cost about $4 to ship.


If you PM with your address I can send you a few inches of it. If you have any old dead atomizers you will need to harvest some metal mesh to make it flow properly. It works without the mesh but more finicky.

Make sure you soak the wick/rope in alcohol or burn it under high heat (takes more than a lighter) to get rid of any chemicals they may have added to the silica since it was made to be rope not wicks.

 

[Mooler]

Thanks. I ordered a foot

I'll clean the rope real good, probably both methods.

Does it stay OK in the plate?

 

[juicejunky]

It took a few tries for me to get the correct thickness. I made some 1 inch stands with the longer pieces about half the width of what a strand of the rope is when you pull it apart. I got rid of all the short fibers (stuff is kind of fragile and actually fiberglass so don't get it everywhere, it itches) cleaned it and then folded it in half around some thin picture frame wire like thread on a needle. If I had had mesh at the time I would have made a band around it. Then I pulled it through the needle plate hole and cut off both ends.

Another hint is to prime the bottom of the new wick with VG or ejuice well before you put it back and try it. If the juice doesn't flow perfectly and totally soak it, you get the nasty burnt taste.

Good luck.

See Vicky at Cignot's video about the mesh hat. I bought my 3 from her and all 3 were a band around the wick like the photos in my profile. Maybe you can innovate it to perfection.

Use an empty tank to put the plate back and it goes in smoothly to just the right spot.

 

[juicejunky]

I also tried burning a wick with a lighter but it seemed to be burning the wick...?

The wick will first go black and then turn white again with enough heat. A lighter doesn't really work. I burned the crap out of my fingers trying. My good ECF friend kelleymcm suggest a gas stove burner, but since I'm electric I used my propane grill. You need some good long heat resistant tweezers or clamps to hold it there long enough. It glows red for a while before it goes back to white. Kind of cool once, but a pain.

Frankly if I do this again I'll just go with a long alcohol or PGA soak.

 

[Mooler]

Thanks for the info