sub ohm silica wicking

[vaping_penguin]

hi everyone,
i was wondering if anyone has tried silica wick in a sub ohm rta? or braided silica with cotton core? i used to love rebuilding coil heads and using a zapper and welding wires. i got started thinking about trying the silica wick in one of my tanks and wanted to see if anyone has tried it before and how it worked out?

have a wonderful day everyone

 

[r055co]

I won't use silica, breathing in silica dust isn't a good idea to say the least.

 

[vaping_penguin]

we used it for years before cotton that doesn't bother me to much and it actually taste great and lasts forever but i haven't bought the stuff in ages not even sure if anyone still carries it.

 

[r055co]

Nope, I won't even touch it due to the dust and what not.

If you want to try the rope style check out cotton yarn/rope. I've seen around where some people use it and like it.

 

[HondaDavidson]

Depends on the rta...... it doesn't generally get used much at higher wattages because I find it doesn't wick as much juice as cotton does.... gives a hotter hit..... I tried o me hollow core on my Avocado on a .4 ohm SS coil but was getting dry hits at less than 20 watts. Cotton core might work better.. but you loose the advantage of silica... imp. No rewicking...

Pretty much anymore I mostly just use silica in my dripper for taste testing and flavor chasing.

The dust thing like metals gassing.. is a risk..... IF... you are prone to dry vaping. Wet there is no dust and metals don't get hot enough to gas.

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[vaping_penguin]

Depends on the rta...... it doesn't generally get used much at higher wattages because I find it doesn't wick as much juice as cotton does.... gives a hotter hit..... I tried o me hollow core on my Avocado on a .4 ohm SS coil but was getting dry hits at less than 20 watts. Cotton core might work better.. but you loose the advantage of silica... imp. No rewicking...

Pretty much anymore I mostly just use silica in my dripper for taste testing and flavor chasing.

The dust thing like metals gassing.. is a risk..... IF... you are prone to dry vaping. Wet there is no dust and metals don't get hot enough to gas.

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thanks Honda thats what i was worried about that it wouldnt wick fast enough if i ever find my old stuff maybe ill give it a try but don't think ill spend any money on buying any

 

[MrScaryZ]

we used it for years before cotton that doesn't bother me to much and it actually taste great and lasts forever but i haven't bought the stuff in ages not even sure if anyone still carries it.

that was before high wattage and sub ohm vaping their is no correlation .

 

[HondaDavidson]

that was before high wattage and sub ohm vaping their is no correlation .

Yeah.... my favorite materials are silica or mesh.... but they just can't keep up with big thirsty coils.

Although I did just order some stainless mesh to try in the Avocado. Thinking stainless on stainless will taste good.

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[Wildberries59]

Lightning Vapes has silica, ecowool, and stainless mesh, and I think the silica is on sale for like half price right now.

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[vaping_penguin]

that was before high wattage and sub ohm vaping their is no correlation .

there is plenty of comparison i don't vape at anything above 30 watts normally i cant stand these bigger and bigger mods and larger and larger tanks there just not needed for 300 350 watts hell there isn't any need for 200 watts. who wants to carry a brick around all day a nice 75 watt device is more then adequate. a very thick flavorful vape can easily be gotten at 30 or less watts my normal builds are between .3 and 1.1 ohms depends on the tank and weather it is single or dual coil. hell i even still rock a glassomizer and carto tanks i even still use a zapper and rebuild coil heads nothing like a great cheap vape.

 

[marco67]

I use ekowool on my Nectar & Pico auto drippers.
22-25 watts, .7 ohm builds, delicious.

All of a sudden i need a 2 nicron mask? for dust? HaHa..

 

[r055co]

I use ekowool on my Nectar & Pico auto drippers.
22-25 watts, .7 ohm builds, delicious.

All of a sudden i need a 2 nicron mask? for dust? HaHa..

Just of silica

 

[Huckleberried]

I have no personal experience with this, but have always heard good things about it. https://vapepour.com/readyxwick.html

 

[Jimi D]

I have no personal experience with this, but have always heard good things about it. https://vapepour.com/readyxwick.html

Looks like ecowool to me.

 

[Huckleberried]

Looks like ecowool to me.

I honestly don't know. There used to be a pretty cool video on it. The description says it's "treated ceramic wick". I've never used ecowool, so if that's what that is, maybe? I used silica when I started out, moved to cotton, settled on rayon.

 

[MacTechVpr]

thanks Honda thats what i was worried about that it wouldnt wick fast enough if i ever find my old stuff maybe ill give it a try but don't think ill spend any money on buying any

No material we use has better capillary action (wicking) than Nextel ceramic fiber. No other such media has a higher heat resistance (no-burn period) or thermal conductivity than Nextel (it's ceramic, we cook on it). It doesn't issue particulates large enough to be a risk for aspiration. But if used carelessly they can irritate skin. No problem though to manage the wetted wick however. It's not glass or fiberglass either but alumina like the ceramic layer that develops on Kanthal with oxidation. So thermal transfer compatibility between wick and wind is ideal. Because of its absolutely neutral taste and incredible flow potential there are no limits on power application…other than your imagination and the coil diameter limits that are best for its performance.



It's sold as ReadyXWick by one of the founders of this forum.

Do a search on my handle and ReadyXwick, Nextel or ceramic fiber. I've written about as much or more on this subject than most. And always glad to help where I can.

Good luck.

 

[Briandesimone]

I just worry about inhaling ceramic when the wick degrades.

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[MacTechVpr]

I just worry about inhaling ceramic when the wick degrades.

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Particle size is too large to aspirate. You just have to be careful to not over-handle it dry if you're skin sensitive (I am). This IS the main reason I quit smoking…to research the potential of this media and wind improvements that might lend to its use. Had no idea how far superior it might prove to be at the time. The scientific research goes back more than a decade on its bio-suitability for human use. There's a heck of a lot of misinformation out there on this material which predates it's formal preparation for our purposes by RBAsupplies and others.

Good luck all.

 

[HondaDavidson]

thanks Honda thats what i was worried about that it wouldnt wick fast enough if i ever find my old stuff maybe ill give it a try but don't think ill spend any money on buying any

I did a 3mm hollow core silica coil on my avocado.......15watts on .4ohm SS build. TC and VW used..... it worked but had to keep tank tipped to prevent burning. Couldn't keep up with chain vaping at all. Cotton/rayon core would work better but that would defeat the purpose of silica.

I'm running silica in my Chalice on my mech squonker at .6 ohm stainless wire. And in one of my kayfuns. Now these only get used maybe 1 or 2 days a month. But it been almost a year since I wicked the Reo and the Kayfun build has been there longer. It's a 1.1ohm twisted build. Probably nichrome 32awg.

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[vaping_penguin]

No material we use has better capillary action (wicking) than Nextel ceramic fiber. No other such media has a higher heat resistance (no-burn period) or thermal conductivity than Nextel (it's ceramic, we cook on it). It doesn't issue particulates large enough to be a risk for aspiration. But if used carelessly they can irritate skin. No problem though to manage the wetted wick however. It's not glass or fiberglass either but alumina like the ceramic layer that develops on Kanthal with oxidation. So thermal transfer compatibility between wick and wind is ideal. Because of its absolutely neutral taste and incredible flow potential there are no limits on power application…other than your imagination and the coil diameter limits that are best for its performance.

I did a 3mm hollow core silica coil on my avocado.......15watts on .4ohm SS build. TC and VW used..... it worked but had to keep tank tipped to prevent burning. Couldn't keep up with chain vaping at all. Cotton/rayon core would work better but that would defeat the purpose of silica.
I'm running silica in my Chalice on my mech squonker at .6 ohm stainless wire. And in one of my kayfuns. Now these only get used maybe 1 or 2 days a month. But it been almost a year since I wicked the Reo and the Kayfun build has been there longer. It's a 1.1ohm twisted build. Probably nichrome 32awg.

hey guys sorry been out of town just saw the posts i ended up using two strands of 1.5/2mm silica wicked a simple 1.1 ohm clapton coil on my ammit and it worked great biggest issue i had was keeping up when chain vaping. i really want to to try the ceramic wicking, i still love vaping what most would consider out dated stuff CE4's, carts, carto tanks, bridgeless atomizers and rebuildable cartos for my money i don't think you can beat the flavor and vape especially for tobacco flavors and NETs nice warm mouth to lung vape is hard to beat. if that ceramic wick will keep up i could see not using cotton at all do you know of any suppliers for that ceramic wick MacTechVpr if so i would appreciate it.

 

[pulsevape]

Particle size is too large to aspirate. You just have to be careful to not over-handle it dry if you're skin sensitive (I am). This IS the main reason I quit smoking…to research the potential of this media and wind improvements that might lend to its use. Had no idea how far superior it might prove to be at the time. The scientific research goes back more than a decade on its bio-suitability for human use. There's a heck of a lot of misinformation out there on this material which predates it's formal preparation for our purposes by RBAsupplies and others.

Good luck all.

stuff always gave me the creeps..I vaped AO wicks in my gennys for over a year, but that damn readywick sheds fibers like a cat..just handeling it your fingers get covered with the fibers and I always worried about inhaling them..though in truth AO is pretty safe to inhale...However I never found readywick to be all that great at wicking.maybe I was just wrapping it to tight and chocking the wick, or maybe it has to sit for a while to charge the wick, but I never got a stellar vape out of them.

 

[pulsevape]

Yeah.... my favorite materials are silica or mesh.... but they just can't keep up with big thirsty coils.

Although I did just order some stainless mesh to try in the Avocado. Thinking stainless on stainless will taste good.

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yeah I just recently started using ss wire with ss mesh, I'm still playing with it but so far the things I like about it is..Kanthal seems to give off a slight metallic taste..that ss doesn't...when your coils gunk up with kanthal there is a burnt nasty taste..not so with ss, what you get is a diminishing of the flavor...I'm not 100% sold on ss wire with mesh, but I'm pretty impressed haven't used kanthal in 3 weeks so far.

 

[MacTechVpr]

stuff always gave me the creeps..I vaped AO wicks in my gennys for over a year, but that damn readywick sheds fibers like a cat..just handeling it your fingers get covered with the fibers and I always worried about inhaling them..though in truth AO is pretty safe to inhale...

Who suggested handling this media dry? Once moist, it doesn't shed and any stray fiber in liquid is readily pulled into the wick where it lodges. How then would one see it in the vapor stream at all?

Treated wet ends of RxW doesn't fray at all in operation, except by handling. Silica will from heat exposure, not ceramic weave. However, properly treated weave media will be extremely dry due to the heat levels used in the treatment process. And the better (longer) the heat exposure, the more shedding. It's good that you point this out as it's actually a positive where woven continuous 3M ceramic is concerned for our use. It's confirmation of adequate treatment. How about other ceramic media where the fraction particulate size is unknown? Now there you'd have a valid concern.

However I never found readywick to be all that great at wicking.maybe I was just wrapping it to tight and chocking the wick, or maybe it has to sit for a while to charge the wick, but I never got a stellar vape out of them.

Sorry to hear that. But I'd concede not everyone will be happy with this media.



Just bustin' pulse. Glad to help really if you ever wanna give it a go.

Good luck.

 

[pulsevape]

Who suggested handling this media dry? Once moist, it doesn't shed and any stray fiber in liquid is readily pulled into the wick where it lodges. How then would one see it in the vapor stream at all?

Treated wet ends of RxW doesn't fray at all in operation, except by handling. Silica will from heat exposure, not ceramic weave. However, properly treated weave media will be extremely dry due to the heat levels used in the treatment process. And the better (longer) the heat exposure, the more shedding. It's good that you point this out as it's actually a positive where woven continuous 3M ceramic is concerned for our use. It's confirmation of adequate treatment. How about other ceramic media where the fraction particulate size is unknown? Now there you'd have a valid concern.



Sorry to hear that. But I'd concede not everyone will be happy with this media.

View attachment 78160

Just bustin' pulse. Glad to help really if you ever wanna give it a go.

Good luck.

yeah I do wanna give it a go and I'd appreciate a tutorial on how to wick with it how to handle it, coil sizes for each particular thickness of wick ect..I went to the readyxwick site and it seemed he's closed it down ..he used to sell it direct but it seems only vendors are handeling it nowdays and you can buy direct from him anymore.....but please a tutorial on how to use it would be appreciated.
as for inhaling porous cermic... I don't know if you know DrMA over at ecf ..he's got a Phd in toxicolgy and he seems to feel inahling AO is no great health concern he vaped on porous ceramic himself for awhile...also when you use rigid AO it is a good idea to put it in an unltrasonic cleaner...it dislodges any dust which clogs the pores and allows the wick to wick better.

 

[MacTechVpr]

yeah I do wanna give it a go and I'd appreciate a tutorial on how to wick with it how to handle it, coil sizes for each particular thickness of wick ect..I went to the readyxwick site and it seemed he's closed it down ..he used to sell it direct but it seems only vendors are handeling it nowdays and you can buy direct from him anymore.....but please a tutorial on how to use it would be appreciated.
as for inhaling porous cermic... I don't know if you know DrMA over at ecf ..he's got a Phd in toxicolgy and he seems to feel inahling AO is no great health concern he vaped on porous ceramic himself for awhile...also when you use rigid AO it is a good idea to put it in an unltrasonic cleaner...it dislodges any dust which clogs the pores and allows the wick to wick better.

Cool man. I realize it's not for everybody and I was extremely skeptical as I read up on this stuff in '12. I do know the debris can be mitigated. It was a problem for me as I'm skin sensitive. Just have to be consistent in handling it and not rush. When I demo the product live to prospective and experienced vapers they're shocked. It is key tho to make a good appropriately tight consistent coil. Or you may not see the flow advantage. So diameters are limited to a small range for both the 2 and 3 mm and building a properly oxidized tensioned micro adds significantly to concentrate power. The media can definitely handle that as demonstrated by the above pic. And IT'S NOT that a great deal of power was applied. It's how much the media absorbs, its excellent conductivity. Again visible in the above pic by it's great distribution of vapor along the length of the wick! So you have vapor compression within the closed contact wind and excellent inflow of air volume to support production along with rapid exodus of vapor.

When I first saw this work right, this synergy of forces, as I tested Nextel extensively in KPT's I was truly blown away.



Haven't gotten yet to the point of trying to take advantage of the potential on really big builds using the 4mm media but I hope to this year. The expectation being that we should be able to achieve some impressive vapor density and volume avoiding the high temp's typical for such production.

RBA appears to be rebuilding their website…RBA Supplies LLC.

Finally I'd encourange everyone to do their own due diligence on every type of media. For reasons I've written about here on VU and elsewhere, I truly believe it's one of the safer alternatives applying the reasonable measures suggested. Makes things far easier in several respects like upkeep and longevity but it has its own nuances just as any other media for both safety and quality results.

Good luck.

p.s. Lightly wet the wick ends with VG for coil insertion. I use a pointed needle-nose tweezers to compress the wick tip and put it all the way through the coil, or well through. Then withdraw the tweezer and rotate the wick into its working position. When done, wipe the ends with a moistened paper towel. Don't use tissues. This may leave more residue than the fragments you're taking off. And nothing will clog a wick faster than paper dust.

 

[pulsevape]

Cool man. I realize it's not for everybody and I was extremely skeptical as I read up on this stuff in '12. I do know the debris can be mitigated. It was a problem for me as I'm skin sensitive. Just have to be consistent in handling it and not rush. When I demo the product live to prospective and experienced vapers they're shocked. It is key tho to make a good appropriately tight consistent coil. Or you may not see the flow advantage. So diameters are limited to a small range for both the 2 and 3 mm and building a properly oxidized tensioned micro adds significantly to concentrate power. The media can definitely handle that as demonstrated by the above pic. And IT'S NOT that a great deal of power was applied. It's how much the media absorbs, its excellent conductivity. Again visible in the above pic by it's great distribution of vapor along the length of the wick! So you have vapor compression within the closed contact wind and excellent inflow of air volume to support production along with rapid exodus of vapor.

When I first saw this work right, this synergy of forces, as I tested Nextel extensively in KPT's I was truly blown away.



Haven't gotten yet to the point of trying to take advantage of the potential on really big builds using the 4mm media but I hope to this year. The expectation being that we should be able to achieve some impressive vapor density and volume avoiding the high temp's typical for such production.

RBA appears to be rebuilding their website…RBA Supplies LLC.

Finally I'd encourange everyone to do their own due diligence on every type of media. For reasons I've written about here on VU and elsewhere, I truly believe it's one of the safer alternatives applying the reasonable measures suggested. Makes things far easier in several respects like upkeep and longevity but it has its own nuances just as any other media for both safety and quality results.

Good luck.

p.s. Lightly wet the wick ends with VG for coil insertion. I use a pointed needle-nose tweezers to compress the wick tip and put it all the way through the coil, or well through. Then withdraw the tweezer and rotate the wick into its working position. When done, wipe the ends with a moistened paper towel. Don't use tissues. This may leave more residue than the fragments you're taking off. And nothing will clog a wick faster than paper dust.

could you elaborate on how to build with it you say the key is make good approprately tight coils what do you means...could you run us through a set up.

 

[MacTechVpr]

@pulsevape, going to point you over here for starters just for the pics of the wind and a pin vise that can accommodate say 2.5-3.2mm typical for sub-Ω. A hard spool of wire pref TEMCO as the spools are actually stiff and the useful for leverage. A tensioned contact coil is just that…one where the wire has been pulled or strained to a minimal point or range of elongation. It is this stretching to this zone which induces a reordering of the internal structure of the wire; and which later helps promote rapid oxidation when you pulse at low voltage.

The process is simple. The wire traps in the collet parallel to the bit. I put the narrowing point of the collet of the PV directly on the edge of the spool and rotate as I pull away with both wrists (or forearms for upwards of AWG 24). This will impart substantial strain to the wire if you maintain your right thumb pushing away on the PV from the spool. If you start slowly gradually increasing the tension you will see the wire stack up evenly then tighten. If you let go after a few turns you may see the turns separate or the diameter even expand slightly. This would confirm that you haven't reached the point of adhesion yet. What I describe as the tightest point nature will allow you to squeeze the wire together. Keep adding turns until the wires fail to separate or expand off the bit. It's just a bit beyond this point of adhesion I sometimes refer to as "sticky". The wind will then be stable.

It may take a few coiling efforts and perhaps a few builds to confirm that you're getting there, absent of gaps which produce grey zones on firing. The coil then ceases to light from center fired but more uniformly or completely end to end as in the pics below. Start at relatively low voltage and avoid firing to red hot until it's firing end to end. Squeeze very slightly with a ceramic tweezer to close any gaps. Use a needle water dropper to retard firing of any coil getting ahead of the other should this occur in a dual coil. No compression should be necessary, or raking for that matter. You've bound the symmetry into the wind with strain. You may observe a very pale blue-aqua passivation layer begin to form. When as uniform as possible excluding outside turns do a final test fire to full red as below to confirm the absence of gaps. You're done.

That's the basic sum of it. Elsewhere I've written quite a bit on the subject of oxidation and how to achieve it pulse firing to cure the coil. It will happen very rapidly if the wind is consistent. Be patient and get back to me. If need be I'll video or coach. But I suspect if you've already wound more than a few conventionals that it'll drop in quickly for you. Otherwise, just PM me and I'll do my best to get to the email alert asap.

Best of luck.

My current base mech build: 23x2 7/6 2.75mmØ=0.2519Ω 54.35-70.03W (14.69-16.67A) 168-217 mW/mm²