Wick materials. Safe vs dangerous.

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JazzyTech

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The screw method worked great for me with my vivis. I hear you guys on the "getting bored" aspect of this all. When I first got involved with ECF and vaping, this thread took me a week to read through. I've tried most all of the cotton methods, and settled on cotton candle wick as preferred. I picked up an Ody clone, loaded my 2mm cotton wick, and that "was all she wrote" for me! I look over at my AGAs just sitting there unused... Bought a few TopFins in the hopes of improving them, but honestly I'm really pleased with the performance of my Terminators. They have most of the issues that the original Odys have, but once worked out, I'm in vape bliss :) Unless someone comes up with something completely new, I doubt I'll be doing much modding in the near future.
 

JazzyTech

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hehehehehe!!! we'll see on the modding Jazzy...... I am happy you've found bliss though.

The only thing that's bugging me right now is the Non-resist -> resistance wire. I've been trying various ways to tie so it fits in the ceramic cup and not in the channel. I saw that thread about using a disposable camera to spot-weld the wire but again, too lazy... :) I'm sure if I look around I'll find a simple method :)
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...95-resistance-no-resistance-wire-welder.html?

And.. keeping with this thread: For my Terminator (Ody Clone) I'm using 100% cotton #1/0 candle wick. It's approx. 2mm diameter and swells nicely keeping the fluid where it belongs and I cannot get a dry hit (Gotta love the mouthpiece dial :)) My provari's safety kicks in (or my skull) before the Terminator gives out :)
 
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in4mati0n11

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The only thing that's bugging me right now is the Non-resist -> resistance wire. I've been trying various ways to tie so it fits in the ceramic cup and not in the channel. I saw that thread about using a disposable camera to spot-weld the wire but again, too lazy... :) I'm sure if I look around I'll find a simple method :)
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...95-resistance-no-resistance-wire-welder.html?

And.. keeping with this thread: For my Terminator (Ody Clone) I'm using 100% cotton #1/0 candle wick. It's approx. 2mm diameter and swells nicely keeping the fluid where it belongs and I cannot get a dry hit (Gotta love the mouthpiece dial :)) My provari's safety kicks in (or my skull) before the Terminator gives out :)

Un-Freaking-Believable!!! I never thought I'd be joining this forum to meet a bunch of McGivers... This is genius..... The camera welder. ECF folks never cease to amaze me!
 

JazzyTech

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Un-Freaking-Believable!!! I never thought I'd be joining this forum to meet a bunch of McGivers... This is genius..... The camera welder. ECF folks never cease to amaze me!

I thought its pretty cool... Just have to be careful you don't go blind. That flash of power could hurt your sight if you don't look away though... just sayin' :)
 

Sgt. Pepper

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The screw method worked great for me with my vivis. I hear you guys on the "getting bored" aspect of this all. When I first got involved with ECF and vaping, this thread took me a week to read through. I've tried most all of the cotton methods, and settled on cotton candle wick as preferred. I picked up an Ody clone, loaded my 2mm cotton wick, and that "was all she wrote" for me! I look over at my AGAs just sitting there unused... Bought a few TopFins in the hopes of improving them, but honestly I'm really pleased with the performance of my Terminators. They have most of the issues that the original Odys have, but once worked out, I'm in vape bliss :) Unless someone comes up with something completely new, I doubt I'll be doing much modding in the near future.

Jazzy, I have a ody clone on order and was wondering where you are getting your cotton candle wick? After reading some of this thread, I'm not feeling very good about using silica (this is my first venture into rba's). I'm still going to try the cheese cloth method, but the cotton candle wick seems to make the most sense to me. Candle wick is sold to burn and people breath in the fumes from candles; so if it's 'safe' for that, it seems logical it would be safe for vaping. But what do I know.
thanks,
 

JazzyTech

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Jazzy, I have a ody clone on order and was wondering where you are getting your cotton candle wick? After reading some of this thread, I'm not feeling very good about using silica (this is my first venture into rba's). I'm still going to try the cheese cloth method, but the cotton candle wick seems to make the most sense to me. Candle wick is sold to burn and people breath in the fumes from candles; so if it's 'safe' for that, it seems logical it would be safe for vaping. But what do I know.
thanks,
Amazon.com: Cotton Square Braid Candle Wick - #1/0: Arts, Crafts & Sewing

That's the one I get. I use about 3 feet at a time and boil it to remove residue. Better to be safe. Be sure to not stretch it when wet as I've noticed that some of the thinner portions of the wick don't wick as well when it's been stretched. It puffs up nice N tight in the channels :)

Oh, and make sure your clone has 2mm wide ceramic channels. I'm not sure about 'em all , but I've heard they are different depending on which Ody they cloned. Mine are about 2mm wide. The cotton is just shy of 2mm when dry.

Dunno if you read this, but don't try to dry burn cotton... you'll just end up with ash. I get about 4-7 days out of my cotton wicks in this clone. I use the stack method where you put a shorter piece of wick over the longer piece and cut it where it's flush with the mouthpiece.. I have pics; i'll see if I can add 'em here.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...1356715772-terminator-ra-tank-img_5882sml.jpg

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...1356715970-terminator-ra-tank-img_5885sml.jpg

I wouldn't put the wraps as far apart as I did in those pics. They look nice, but they're not as efficient as when closer together. :)

I've gone without using non-resistance wire in the beginning and is doable, but you lose a lot of heat. Here's a video that does a decent job explaining how to make the coil with NR wire and install it in the Ody:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kZVFOA-X7c
He gets to making the coil at about 6:20 Hope this helps :)
 
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DSmooch

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Hey Jazzy, would you happen to know which wick # would have a ~3mm diameter.
I'm mainly using DIDs and AC9s and I've been wanting to try cotton forever. The problem is they never mention the diameter of the wick itself. They give you a burn rate and pillar match which doesn't help me much...
 

JazzyTech

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Hey Jazzy, would you happen to know which wick # would have a ~3mm diameter.
I'm mainly using DIDs and AC9s and I've been wanting to try cotton forever. The problem is they never mention the diameter of the wick itself. They give you a burn rate and pillar match which doesn't help me much...

Hi Smooch, Since I've never had to go any larger than #1/0, I'm not sure which size is equivalent to 3mm. My guess is the next size up #1 would be about 2.5mm and #2 would be 3mm. Candle wicking sizes can be confusing. For all I know, #1 may already be already 3mm... Can any of my fellow Americans measure their #1 cotton and let us know the diameter in inches?

Here are the sizes, small to large:

#6/0, #5/0, #4/0, #3/0, #2/0, #1/0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6.
There are larger, but if you're vaping anything larger you are not human :)

I'd suggest having a look online and sending an email or two to different places like a candle making company or someone on Ebay? There must be someone on ECF that knows this?
I regret I cannot be of more help.
 
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DSmooch

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Thanks a lot!
looks like I'll give a shot to a #4 or even #5 then....


Edit: Just got me some #5 from the amazon vendor just mentioned.
I hope it is as simple as a cotton wick. I'd really love to get rid of my torch.

just asking... can we coil around 1-1.2Ω without damaging the cotton?
 
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Sgt. Pepper

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Amazon.com: Cotton Square Braid Candle Wick - #1/0: Arts, Crafts & Sewing

That's the one I get. I use about 3 feet at a time and boil it to remove residue. Better to be safe. Be sure to not stretch it when wet as I've noticed that some of the thinner portions of the wick don't wick as well when it's been stretched. It puffs up nice N tight in the channels :)

Oh, and make sure your clone has 2mm wide ceramic channels. I'm not sure about 'em all , but I've heard they are different depending on which Ody they cloned. Mine are about 2mm wide. The cotton is just shy of 2mm when dry.

Dunno if you read this, but don't try to dry burn cotton... you'll just end up with ash. I get about 4-7 days out of my cotton wicks in this clone. I use the stack method where you put a shorter piece of wick over the longer piece and cut it where it's flush with the mouthpiece.. I have pics; i'll see if I can add 'em here.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...1356715772-terminator-ra-tank-img_5882sml.jpg

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...1356715970-terminator-ra-tank-img_5885sml.jpg

I wouldn't put the wraps as far apart as I did in those pics. They look nice, but they're not as efficient as when closer together. :)

I've gone without using non-resistance wire in the beginning and is doable, but you lose a lot of heat. Here's a video that does a decent job explaining how to make the coil with NR wire and install it in the Ody:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kZVFOA-X7c
He gets to making the coil at about 6:20 Hope this helps :)

Thanks Jazzy for the info. I had seen Scott's video from e-cig-reviews.com and had planned on using that method.
 

JazzyTech

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Thanks a lot!
looks like I'll give a shot to a #4 or even #5 then....


Edit: Just got me some #5 from the amazon vendor just mentioned.
I hope it is as simple as a cotton wick. I'd really love to get rid of my torch.

just asking... can we coil around 1-1.2Ω without damaging the cotton?

Just a "heads up" DSmooch: Cotton will swell when moist. You'll want to go with what fits but not too tight. I've had great luck that the #1/0 that I use just happens to work so well in my Ody clone.

Not sure how hot you can go with cotton. I typically use 32awg Kanthal (4-5 wraps) with an average of 2.5-2.7 ohms. I typically keep the voltage between 4.5-4.9 volts depending on the sweetness of the fluid I'm using. Be sure to get it nice and wet before you test the coil, otherwise it'll burn very quickly.
 

tmcase

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Just a "heads up" DSmooch: Cotton will swell when moist. You'll want to go with what fits but not too tight. I've had great luck that the #1/0 that I use just happens to work so well in my Ody clone.

This is true. I use the #1 cotton square braided in my Penelope which I think uses the same ceramic cup as the ody. Just be sure you don't wrap your coil too tight because of the swelling of the wick when it gets wet. I run mine at pretty low voltages and they don't last very long but the flavor makes it worth it.
 

JazzyTech

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This is true. I use the #1 cotton square braided in my Penelope which I think uses the same ceramic cup as the ody. Just be sure you don't wrap your coil too tight because of the swelling of the wick when it gets wet. I run mine at pretty low voltages and they don't last very long but the flavor makes it worth it.

I hear Ya on the flavor. I'll never forget the first time I vaped on my clone.. "Stop the Presses! This is real News!" :D My poor AGAs and Vivis.. just sitting there collecting dust.. If you don't mind the hassle of NR, Odys are certainly worth the trouble imho.
 
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Quigsworth

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For you Ody/Penny/clone guys looking to dial in a perfect cotton wick to match your slots, why not just go with cheese cloth?...I mean, you're already taking the time to mess with making your non res/res/non res coils (I've re-built an Ody once or twice :facepalm:)...why not go the extra 1/2 mile and make a cheese cloth wick as per my pics in TC's wiki, (it says it's for the Penny but the Ody or Ody clones are basically different variations of the same theme) instead of wondering what wick # to get...you can size your wick to the thread count (anywhere from 30 to 50 threads), plus, cheese cloth is down the street at your local grocery store, it's so cheap it may as well be free, it's food grade and ready to go, it swells predictably, wicks way better than candle wick due to it's looseness...and is totally repeatable once you find your sweet spot...just saying...
 
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