Suitable mesh oxidising tool?

[womble]

I'm planning on using a std blow torch that plumbers use, that would do the job wouldn't it? And they are dirt cheap in any DIY shed.

[Ron]

Oct 25, 2012 17:03:49 GMT OneDay said:

Oct 25, 2012 15:19:12 GMT Ron said:

While walking round Tescos I saw a little gadget that you use for lighting gas stoves.

Have you got a link or a pic?

No I looked but they are Bar-B-Q lighters they do not burn white hot and do the wicks in about two minutes both open then rolled to get it to WICK. Done two Gemesis now both worked .I was going to ask if this is why I didn't get the problems others seemed to get

[alvoram]

Macca, can you do me a favour, because it keeps cropping up, what exactly is a hot spot? Can you explain in detail, what it is, what causes it, and how to avoid it/cure it pretty please? there's going to be a lot of us rewicking with SS soon.

[alvoram]

Oct 25, 2012 19:03:45 GMT womble said:

I'm planning on using a std blow torch that plumbers use, that would do the job wouldn't it? And they are dirt cheap in any DIY shed.

Sure I've heard that these are some of the best ones to get...

[timnowvapes]

I got my last gas torch and bottle from an offer from Screwfix, under £10 for both, and it was superb, did heating up of anything, cheated with it to light the forge, stove bbq's, used it to solder copper piping too. Think there was still some gas left in it when I had to give it away when we moved last.

Tis probably the more useful to get, controllable, and safer to use, with many more practical uses!

don't compromise on safety through cost!

[bluemagnum]

I use one of these from maplins.

www.maplin.co.uk/pt-200-blow-torch-35518

[Gordy]

Oct 25, 2012 17:54:07 GMT @lunerdog said:

Oct 25, 2012 16:12:38 GMT Gordy said:

personally i would stay away from cheap crud
i used a cheapo ebay one the other day to make some wicks for a mate
the starter had broken and the flame control was blooming useless !!!
one minute i would manage to get the flame workable and the next it would spit a flame 2 foot long across the room

i personally use a quality gas solder iron with attachment but it would be very useful to see if anyone has found a decent torch they could recommend

I sat and watched him use this piece of cheap crud, was quite amusing as Gordy knew how to deal with it and he knows some good expletives

BUT

In the hands of somebody without any experience with these things that was a house fire waiting to happen.

DON'T GO FOR CHEAP SHITE, THESE THINGS ARE DANGEROUS

Spend your money and buy a decent one, its not worth saving a couple of quid just to have your house surrounded by fire engines and ambulances or even worse, multiple hearses.

all i can say is i think i was lucky not to have set Georges three dogs alight ...seriously that cheap piece of crud should have gone straight in the bin

[Perpetua]

Wouldn't it be a wondrous thing, if someone sold pre-oxidized mesh wicks?

Assuming there is some standardization of mesh wick sizes . . . .

[maccafan]

Oct 25, 2012 20:34:55 GMT alvoram said:

Macca, can you do me a favour, because it keeps cropping up, what exactly is a hot spot? Can you explain in detail, what it is, what causes it, and how to avoid it/cure it pretty please? there's going to be a lot of us rewicking with SS soon.

Hotspot originally meant where the coil is shorting on the mesh at a small point or spot. You will be able to see minute but bright arcing where this happens. But it's now grown to include glowing winding or windings of the coil while other windings are dark, or a hotter coil which becomes incandescent sooner than the other windings whilst still inhaling. It imparts a funky metallic taste to the vape and you can tell straightaway. Usual reasons as follows and it is by no means exhaustive:

1. Wick not wicking sufficiently. The coils furthest away from the wick exhibit this behaviour for example the top coil of a top coil genesis. Usual cure is to get the wick to wick better. Known cures include better carbonation by burning the SS wick doused in PG/juice and hybrid wicks ie. silica wick inside the mesh or even cotton rubbing on the outside to keep the wick wet. Wicks can also not wick because air is not getting inside the tank to replace the burnt ejuice causing a partial vacuum.In the absence of a separate airhole the wick should be slightly loose inside the hole and also have a through and through hole in the middle of the wick.

2. Run from wick to terminals glowing. Cure is to minimize the run between the point where the wire leaves the mesh and the point where it makes contact with the post or ground crew. Cures include, kinking the wire to make more contact with the mesh or post sooner or bending the wick towards the posts etc., Basically you are trying to minimize the amount of wire in the air or use non-res wires for the run.

3. Coil winding or windings shorting. May be due to inadequate oxidization or or there is too much tension in the wires going to the post and it has cut through the oxidization layer. A good cure is to reoxidize the wick and use the rizla paper trick where you put rizla rice/rollie paper on the wick before you wind the coil and then burn it off before use. Even though you have rolled the wick to a certain size, you have to remember that wicks can open out gradually causing sudden failures. Tightening nuts causes the wires to be pulled too giving rise to the tension too. Normally in this case coils will glow white hot and blow.

4. Genuine hotspot ie., arcing at a single point. Normally sorted by moving the coils about a bit. Troublesome hotspots can also be dealt with by dripping juice directly on the hotspot and firing and low voltages to deposit gunk which insulates and also keeps the wick wet.

Use rebuildable gennies on batteries with good short circuit protection till you gain in confidence. The wick coil arrangement can go bad at any time and they will cause battery circuitry failures in basic ego type batteries, especially when you get a short.

I am sure when you start making them, everyone will deal with problems that arise in their own way. A good start is to go about it in the PetarK method by winding the coil on a drill bit or some such and fixing it place on the atty and firing to stabilize the resistance. then you make a SS wick of suitable size, oxidize it and slide it in place. The coils do not need to be tight around the mesh wick, just touching.

Initially make hybrid wicks ie., roll the mesh around silica wick to help it wick better. #500 mesh eliminates the need to do this but there is no harm. SS wicks do take a tankful of juice to fully break in so be patient.

Wicking tubes/silica sock will more or less eliminate all of the above issues but there is a significant reduction in throat hit, at least for me, and slight muting of flavour. I can live with the latter but not the former.

Once you get it right it has no parallel in terms of flavour and throat hit in my limited experience for tobacco flavoured juices.

[alvoram]

Macca, thank you, that was a brilliant, clear and informative response, and I appreciate it a lot... should have it's own thread!!!

1 small question though, LRider LTv4... is the short circuit protection good enough?

[maccafan]

To be honest there are so many versions flying around now it's hard to keep track but all LT's come with decent protection..

Should be good..I think it has inbuilt error messages doesn't it? If it is this one, it specifically mentions SC & reverse battery protection:

www.vapeescape.co.uk/lavatube-v4~431

Ego Twists and Vision VV spinners have good protection too though with the twist, strangely, the button remains lit with zero voltage output on a short.

[alvoram]

yes it is that one Macca, from Jason. I've also just ordered a couple of Kgo-vv from Ecig-Wizard www.ecigwizard.com/shop/en/batteries/535-ego-variable-voltage-passthrough-battery.html#axzz2ALw9fG52 Which specifically mention "hardshort protection" is that the jobby?

[maccafan]

Well most ego batteries come with hard short protection..

The problem is when you get a semi-short where you have a length of coil which starts shorting after a certain length basically equivalent to putting a 0.5 ohm or 1 ohm coil and firing it at say 3.7 volts which is not a dead short. The mosfet/regulator in many of these does not seem to recognise that and burns out the circu. The wires are also very thin and even if it does not burn the circuit out, the large current heats up the wire so much that the solder melts..Whenever you make a wick start at the lowest voltage to test. Does less damage that way if anything goes wrong. A popped coil is pennies, a dead battery is about £10.00..

[alvoram]

Oct 26, 2012 19:19:05 GMT maccafan said:

Well most ego batteries come with hard short protection..

The problem is when you get a semi-short where you have a length of coil which starts shorting after a certain length basically equivalent to putting a 0.5 ohm or 1 ohm coil and firing it at say 3.7 volts which is not a dead short. The mosfet/regulator in many of these does not seem to recognise that and burns out the circu. The wires are also very thin and even if it does not burn the circuit out, the large current heats up the wire so much that the solder melts..Whenever you make a wick start at the lowest voltage to test. Does less damage that way if anything goes wrong. A popped coil is pennies, a dead battery is about £10.00..

Or £20 for one of these think I'll use the LT until I'm more experienced, would need a slimmer rebuildable for the Kgo anyway

[maccafan]

Get a VV spinner 1300 fat boy mate..I did consider these Kgo VV's for it's passthrough function but the length put me off..

Brilliant batteries for the price and a vapingthing genesis on top for a total of around £35.00 you get a nice looking and highly portable decent setup..