SS is the wick AND resistance wire

Status
Not open for further replies.

Bagazo

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Feb 19, 2009
278
86
KYFlyer67
Right slopes' idea is to connect the mesh end to end and hope that the rust on the surface keeps the mesh from heating up. I agree with you and don't think it would work but we could be wrong. My idea was to connect just a portion of the wick, maybe 1/4".


As asdaq pointed out, as long as it doesn't have anything that would cause it to short out it should work. I was thinking the tail of the wick would be in a 2ml plastic bottle (like for breath drops) filled with ejuice so shorting wouldn't be a problem.
 

slopes

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 19, 2009
616
210
London, UK
I really don't know if connecting the wick at either end will work - I remember seeing a video where it did. The problem with having to keep the juice tank full all the time to stop the lower part of the wick heating would make it a bit pointless. I'd like to see a device which worked like the technical 'clutch' pencils - which have a three-pronged clasp which pushes up to allow a led replacement and then retracts to grip the led in position. The fact that these things are made of metal should make them ideal for an SS wick mod.
 

l3oertjie

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Aug 26, 2009
549
236
South Africa
What if you take a piece of - say silica rope and roll just a small small piece of stainless mesh at the end (or in the middle if it is going to ber looped). The silica rope will act as the wick inside the liquid and the mesh will act as the heating element. Pardon the bad quality picture - just made a sample and took it with my cell phone.

IMG00967-20110310-0909.jpg
 

KYFlyer67

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Mar 20, 2010
243
5
Ky
KYFlyer67
Right slopes' idea is to connect the mesh end to end and hope that the rust on the surface keeps the mesh from heating up. I agree with you and don't think it would work but we could be wrong. My idea was to connect just a portion of the wick, maybe 1/4".


As asdaq pointed out, as long as it doesn't have anything that would cause it to short out it should work. I was thinking the tail of the wick would be in a 2ml plastic bottle (like for breath drops) filled with ejuice so shorting wouldn't be a problem.

I'm confident this would work - it's essentially what Dan did in an earlier post in this thread. The problem is that the resistance is way to low - Dan's was .6 ohms. .6 ohms will suck the life out of your battery quickly if it doesn't kill it outright. The SS mesh between the + & - leads has to have a very narrow section to get the ohms up. If it doesn't have a very narrow section, then it needs to be 10 feet long :)
 

KYFlyer67

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Mar 20, 2010
243
5
Ky
What if you take a piece of - say silica rope and roll just a small small piece of stainless mesh at the end (or in the middle if it is going to ber looped). The silica rope will act as the wick inside the liquid and the mesh will act as the heating element. Pardon the bad quality picture - just made a sample and took it with my cell phone.

IMG00967-20110310-0909.jpg

I think this would wick juice very well, but if you're putting the leads on each end of the ss tube I think the resistance will be way too low. The 2-part wick I pictured in an earlier post will work, and it will allow you to get resistance in the 2-3ohm range. However, I'm finding that it's not as consistent or reliable as a genesis setup. I'm about ready to chalk this one up as a lesson learned and move back to a genesis wick. At least I now know that if I need an atomizer quick and I run out of nichrome, I can make an atomizer wick with just ss mesh. Of course I have a couple hundred feet of nichrome wire, so the chances of running out seem slim. Who knows, maybe someone will come up with a design that makes a pure ss wick better than genesis, but for now Genesis is looking pretty good to me.
 

Bagazo

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Feb 19, 2009
278
86
The problem with having to keep the juice tank full all the time to stop the lower part of the wick heating would make it a bit pointless. I'd like to see a device which worked like the technical 'clutch' pencils - which have a three-pronged clasp which pushes up to allow a led replacement and then retracts to grip the led in position. The fact that these things are made of metal should make them ideal for an SS wick mod.

No need to keep the juice tank filled cause that part ain't getting hot cause their is no current flowing through it.

As to the clutch pencil idea I think all three prongs are connected so it would short out.

Low resistance could be a problem, maybe just have to move towards lower voltages. .6ohms on a 1.5 volt battery is 2.5 amps and 3.5 watts.
 

KYFlyer67

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Mar 20, 2010
243
5
Ky
No need to keep the juice tank filled cause that part ain't getting hot cause their is no current flowing through it.

As to the clutch pencil idea I think all three prongs are connected so it would short out.

Low resistance could be a problem, maybe just have to move towards lower voltages. .6ohms on a 1.5 volt battery is 2.5 amps and 3.5 watts.

I agree completely with the 1st 2 sentences. "Path of least resistance" forces the current to flow thru the ss mesh only where it has to, which is only between the + & - leads. 3rd sentence is interesting and calls for testing. However, I think the 1.5 volt battery is going to bottom out very quickly. Think about it - .6 ohms is almost like connecting a wire directly to the + and - of the battery. In other words your almost shorting the battery directly. Make the ss mesh, or at least part of it, very narrow and the shorting problem goes away because the resistance (ohms) rises. But like I said, narrow mesh doesn't wick very well. It seems odd that I'm the one that started this thread and now I'm the one lobbying against the idea. But hey, it was an experiment, and the purpose of the experiment was to learn something. What I think I've learned is that the genesis wick is a better idea than a pure ss wick. But I'd love it if someone proves me wrong... However, to prove me wrong you've got to build it and demonstrate it. Lots of things look good on paper, but you don't know for sure until you build it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread