So I decided to break into the world of rebuildable atomizers, and I read great things about the Aga-T, especially regarding the price. Soon after SteamMonkey.com's grand opening day, I ordered this rba, some 400 and 500 SS mesh, and some kanthal wire. Lance, the owner of the site, provides plenty of mesh and wire in the package to do some initial testing, but I ordered extra just to have it on hand, knowing that I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I'll review the site in another post, but Lance's service was top notch, with fast shipping and great information. The price of the Aga-T was $23, and he also sells mesh and wire at great prices as well. On to the review.
As I mentioned, I have no clue what I'm doing, so this is basically from the point of view of a newbie who has done quite a bit of reading, but no hands on with RBAs. I knew I wanted to use 400 mesh, and 28 wire, for the best surface area coverage. I wasn't too keen on trying out the positives/negatives of the 500, and I wanted the best wicking I could get, so I chose the 400. I used a piece of the included 400, which when turned a certain way was just about right for length ( a little over for trimming), and cut the width to about the height of a cigarette paper. I rolled it over a piece of welding rod that I had tested to fit loosely into the wick hole. Once I got the wick rolled somewhat loosely, I burnt it up with a torch a couple of times, and then put some fluid on it, and lit it on fire and let it burn itself out. I did this 3 times. I then tested it for fit in the wick hole, tightened it up a bit, and moved on to the coil.
To do the coil, I used the same welding rod, and while the rod was sitting in the wick hole, I wrapped a hook around the negative screw, and wrapped the coil tightly around the rod, adjusting it down as I went. I found that for my setup, for some reason I had to wrap around 8 or 9 wraps to get 1.1-1.2 ohms. I wanted to keep it low resistance, but I'm not sure why it took so many wraps. Probably because the welding rod I used was very loose in the wick hole, and perhaps I should have used something wider.
Once the coil was wrapped and not touching itself, I wrapped the end straight over onto the positive post, and nutted it down. This is the only thing I didn't really like about this setup. The positive post and nuts are TINY for my old eyes and hands. Anyhow, it worked. The two nuts need to be down to their lowest position, which is just about where they should be for the wire to go straight over. I tried to keep the wick standing up straight.
Once everything was locked down, I trimmed the wire a bit, and connected the Aga-T to my ego twist at the lowest voltage. I burnt the coil to red hot a few times, and looked for any hot spots. None to be found.
At this point, I slipped the wick down into the coil, which required a little twisting, until it almost hit bottom in the tank, but not quite.
Once the wick was in, I added a little fluid to it, and hit the voltage a few times, checking for hot spots or problems. There was some spattering and vapor, and it generally seemed to be working. I did this a few times, to burn the fluid onto the wick and coil some. After a while of this, I got a hot spot at the top for some reason. I believe it was my inexperience and some stray threads from the mesh causing it. I am sure I can work it out with some tweaking. I did manage to vape it a few times before the hot spot developed, and it about knocked me over. Flavor everywhere in my face and a hell of a throat hit. Even on the bolt at 3.7, and the lowest setting on the twist, it was heavy. I tested it with Gorilla juice, which probably was a little heavy to be hitting out of this thing for a first go.
For a first try, I did alright, and the Aga-T didn't hinder me much. The tiny nuts are a pain, but they work, and they are knurled, so it's not too bad. Good lighting helps a lot. Once I get the kinks worked out of my wick process, I know this thing will be a steam engine.
Overall my opinion is that the finish is very nice, the seals were all intact, and extras were provided, and the RBA looks very nice, especially on a metal device. It's solid, and I'm confident in it holding up. It's very versatile, and can be setup with different types of wicks, or at least I've heard tell of such things.
Here is what was provided in the package, for reference:
1 section of 316L stainless steel 400x400 mesh.
1 section of 316L stainless steel 500x500 mesh.
3 pieces of Kanthal wire (1 ea, 32, 30, and 28awg)
A random swirly colored drip tip.
spare parts for the Aga-T itself (o-rings, seals, screw)
Here are some pretty pictures.
View attachment 157653 View attachment 157654 View attachment 157655 View attachment 157656 View attachment 157661
As I mentioned, I have no clue what I'm doing, so this is basically from the point of view of a newbie who has done quite a bit of reading, but no hands on with RBAs. I knew I wanted to use 400 mesh, and 28 wire, for the best surface area coverage. I wasn't too keen on trying out the positives/negatives of the 500, and I wanted the best wicking I could get, so I chose the 400. I used a piece of the included 400, which when turned a certain way was just about right for length ( a little over for trimming), and cut the width to about the height of a cigarette paper. I rolled it over a piece of welding rod that I had tested to fit loosely into the wick hole. Once I got the wick rolled somewhat loosely, I burnt it up with a torch a couple of times, and then put some fluid on it, and lit it on fire and let it burn itself out. I did this 3 times. I then tested it for fit in the wick hole, tightened it up a bit, and moved on to the coil.
To do the coil, I used the same welding rod, and while the rod was sitting in the wick hole, I wrapped a hook around the negative screw, and wrapped the coil tightly around the rod, adjusting it down as I went. I found that for my setup, for some reason I had to wrap around 8 or 9 wraps to get 1.1-1.2 ohms. I wanted to keep it low resistance, but I'm not sure why it took so many wraps. Probably because the welding rod I used was very loose in the wick hole, and perhaps I should have used something wider.
Once the coil was wrapped and not touching itself, I wrapped the end straight over onto the positive post, and nutted it down. This is the only thing I didn't really like about this setup. The positive post and nuts are TINY for my old eyes and hands. Anyhow, it worked. The two nuts need to be down to their lowest position, which is just about where they should be for the wire to go straight over. I tried to keep the wick standing up straight.
Once everything was locked down, I trimmed the wire a bit, and connected the Aga-T to my ego twist at the lowest voltage. I burnt the coil to red hot a few times, and looked for any hot spots. None to be found.
At this point, I slipped the wick down into the coil, which required a little twisting, until it almost hit bottom in the tank, but not quite.
Once the wick was in, I added a little fluid to it, and hit the voltage a few times, checking for hot spots or problems. There was some spattering and vapor, and it generally seemed to be working. I did this a few times, to burn the fluid onto the wick and coil some. After a while of this, I got a hot spot at the top for some reason. I believe it was my inexperience and some stray threads from the mesh causing it. I am sure I can work it out with some tweaking. I did manage to vape it a few times before the hot spot developed, and it about knocked me over. Flavor everywhere in my face and a hell of a throat hit. Even on the bolt at 3.7, and the lowest setting on the twist, it was heavy. I tested it with Gorilla juice, which probably was a little heavy to be hitting out of this thing for a first go.
For a first try, I did alright, and the Aga-T didn't hinder me much. The tiny nuts are a pain, but they work, and they are knurled, so it's not too bad. Good lighting helps a lot. Once I get the kinks worked out of my wick process, I know this thing will be a steam engine.
Overall my opinion is that the finish is very nice, the seals were all intact, and extras were provided, and the RBA looks very nice, especially on a metal device. It's solid, and I'm confident in it holding up. It's very versatile, and can be setup with different types of wicks, or at least I've heard tell of such things.
Here is what was provided in the package, for reference:
1 section of 316L stainless steel 400x400 mesh.
1 section of 316L stainless steel 500x500 mesh.
3 pieces of Kanthal wire (1 ea, 32, 30, and 28awg)
A random swirly colored drip tip.
spare parts for the Aga-T itself (o-rings, seals, screw)
Here are some pretty pictures.
View attachment 157653 View attachment 157654 View attachment 157655 View attachment 157656 View attachment 157661
