Hi all
I saw on a well known shoppingsite from china an interesting image while browsing for multifuel-campingstoves:
A steel cable as a wick? Hm! Does this work? I mean, it would conduct heat quite well and would help in this scenario to evaporate fuel to be used in its gaseous state at the burner-end...
But has someone experience with a steel cable as wick?? Inputs, comment, ideas?
Builder of stuff, creator of things, inventor of many and master of none.
Tinkerer by heart, archer by choice and electronics engineer by trade.
I had a rather camping lantern with some ago with a steel wick.
Nowhere near as fancy as your examples though.
Just the wick crimped into place and that's it.
But am not fully convinced it is just a steel wire.
The entire lamp literally rusted away after just one season, despite claimed to have been made from stainless steel for duratility and a long service life LOL
But this wick never got any rust or corrosion, let alone rust.
Wire as a wick though works just fine.
I think part of what makes it work is that the heat makes the fuel evaporate and gain pressure.
Or why else would a simple camping lantern need a fuel cap that actually seals properly?
Exploring the works of the old inventors, mixng them up with a modern touch.
To tinker and create means to be alive.
Bringing the long lost back means history comes alive again.
Yeah. The pressure-Management is important in such lanterns or stoves.
I keep this idea of using a steel cable as durable wick on my backhead for a future project
Builder of stuff, creator of things, inventor of many and master of none.
Tinkerer by heart, archer by choice and electronics engineer by trade.
Considering for how long we have all sorts of cables I wonder why we were hanging on for so long to normal wicks....
Now we only need a wick that can turn itself on....
Exploring the works of the old inventors, mixng them up with a modern touch.
To tinker and create means to be alive.
Bringing the long lost back means history comes alive again.
I subbose the wicking-action is not as good as with very fine fibres... Capilary action is mostly dictated by surface-properties and tight gaps...
Writing this, maybe a bundle of very fine stranded copper wire (0.01mm fibres max) with a durable outer meshing might be quite good.
I think it works in this application because the process here relies on termal transfer and evaporation quite a distance away from the location one wants to use the gas...
With the vaping-Thingies, the wiking-action doesnt need to be good as it is heated up significantly and becomes quite liquid compared to the cold viscosity of the "juice"
Builder of stuff, creator of things, inventor of many and master of none.
Tinkerer by heart, archer by choice and electronics engineer by trade.
Don't try Copper, did that and it just does not work.
Won't stay hot enough to keep the flame going.
Tried from candle size to to big, about 0.25mm² to 4mm² ultra fine speaker wires - low oxygen for better sound LOL
I tired to understand some papers online....
If I understand correctly the classic wick effect is when said wick already sucks up the fuel as it is and with no flame.
As in, fill up, screw the cap with the dry wick on and shortly after it is wet.
What these wire wicks might abuse is a thermodynamic effect.
Those inner gaps are properly sealed to the other gaps.
A wick is always matched in size with the flame you need -often with the fuel in mind.
A candle only needs a twine like wick, an oil lamp with a large and wide flame a much bigger one.
Same must be true for the wires.
I would be interesting to see a FLIR image of the entire wick in action.
From my old Zippo I know that it makes a completely different flame if I replaced the standard wick with one that has an added copper wire wrapped around it.
Got the later version by accident as until I just clicked to order it I only knew the standard wicks.
Compared to the normal the copper wire one produced a calmer flame, less "dancing around" so to say.They lasted a lot longer too.
If the wire means a somewhat cooler combustion or preventing the wick from burning off, then how would fibreglass work?
Fire blankets have quite fine fibres in them and you only need a few...
They would not really transport much heat at all but do provide sufficient capillary action.
If they won't sustain a flame we know the wick has to get hotter.
Unless of course those fine fibres just melts and make a mess out of things.
Now I can't sleep properly until I find some wire and something to abuse as a wick holder.....
Exploring the works of the old inventors, mixng them up with a modern touch.
To tinker and create means to be alive.
Bringing the long lost back means history comes alive again.
