Alright, I'm putting my foot into the RBA door. Need experienced opinions pretty please!

[KillTheNoise]

Went to a local vape meet last night, and after seeing so many RBAs, I think I want to take the jump. I use carto tanks now, and they work incredibly well for me but I love tinkering with new things, and maybe I'll find my new go-to vape!

I have just a slight idea of where to start, but that's about it...so I have to turn to you guys for some help! Thanks in advance!

I want to stick in the 15-30 dollar range, but I want a decent enough RBA to last me a while if I do end up liking it. I was pointed in the direction of an AGA-T2 RBA, I was told they're cheap and good enough quality to be worth the effort and money put into it. Would you all also recommend this atty?

Now for the difficult part, the wiring and wick. I'm using an eVic so I can adjust the power, but I've seen some wiring only works well with mechanical devices. Also, I prefer a higher ohm (2.5ish) in cartos so I'm guessing I should stick to that higher ohm to start with. So...
1. Do I want kanthal-a1 or nichrome (60 or 80) wire, or should I just get some of both and see what I like best. As with most things in vaping, I'm sure this is more of a personal preference kind of thing?

2. Gauging...I've read 32 gauge is easiest to start with, but can you get it to around 2.5ohms? Would it better suit me to start with 34 or 36? Or again, should I just get some of each and see what I like?

3. Wicking...I don't want to use silica or any fibrous material, I want to use SS mesh. Do I want 325 or 400 (don't know what these numbers stand for, but they're the only two types I can find being sold)? How much would I want to buy to start out with, would a 3x3 inch sheet last me for a while?

Some other info on how I vape to help you all help me:

I'm using an eVic, so I can adjust voltage and wattage.
I like higher ohms in cartos, but for RBAs a lower ohm MAY be better, I just don't know.
I like a more airy draw, I use 801 cartos so I would like something close to that kind of flow.
I mainly use 50/50 blend fruity juices, don't have any really dark savory or sweet complex flavors like Bobas or Pluid.
I love tanks, but I have a lot of juice I've yet to test (still pretty new so I haven't found "my" juice yet)...so changing flavors with relative ease would be nice. (I'm not opposed to getting a separate dripping RBA if they're cheap enough.)

anddd...I guess that wraps it up. This was way longer than I wanted it to be, as I want to make it easy for you all to help me, but oh well.

I appreciate ANY help, ty all very much!

 

[tiggerrts]

Most people who sell the wire will tell you its resistance. A typical coil is around two inches long in total, give or take some, depending on the number of wraps. You can make a determination on the gauge wire to buy on its resistance at around 2" to hit your desired ohm reading.

This is a good video on how to make a coil work properly and he explains the difference between the SS:
Z-ATTY-PRO Rebuildable Atomizers For ProVari - YouTube

People are starting to use the Ceramic wick that can be purchased at Pet Smart:
New Porous Ceramic wick v2 - YouTube

This is the tank that I use:
The Vulcan - Rebuildable Atomizer Tank

 

[Cjax]

What up Richmond!! I wanted to go to the Brass Monkey meet last night but responsability got the better of me. Hope I didn't miss anything too awesome! J/k

The aga t2 is a great starter tank. A phoenix or igo-l are good starter drip atties. I prefer cotton wicks to ss mesh so I use a phoenix for dripping and terminator styles for tanks. The advantages of starting with a drip atty are that they are usually much cheaper (phoenix's are less than 10 bucks.) and the coils are MUCH easier to build for them. Discount vapors has the XL Phoenix for $9.99 Large juice capacity for a drip atty and perfect to learn on.

 

[lrage]

Most people who sell the wire will tell you its resistance. A typical coil is around two inches long in total, give or take some, depending on the number of wraps. You can make a determination on the gauge wire to buy on its resistance at around 2" to hit your desired ohm reading.

This is a good video on how to make a coil work properly and he explains the difference between the SS:
Z-ATTY-PRO Rebuildable Atomizers For ProVari - YouTube

People are starting to use the Ceramic wick that can be purchased at Pet Smart:
New Porous Ceramic wick v2 - YouTube

This is the tank that I use:
The Vulcan - Rebuildable Atomizer Tank

What is the actual product you can get at petsmart that works as a ceramic wick?

 

[Cjax]

What is the actual product you can get at petsmart that works as a ceramic coil?

Wait, let me guess. Is it fish tank filters?!

 

[lrage]

Wait, let me guess. Is it fish tank filters?!

From what I can tell it's Top Fin 6" airstone
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752197

And corrected the typo in my post. Obviously meant to say ceramic wick not ceramic coil.

 

[Hello World]

I'm using an eVic so I can adjust the power,

I'm using an eVic, so I can adjust voltage and wattage.

You can adjust both wattage and voltage with the eVic and should be fine on most RBAs.

 

[Rule62]

Most people who sell the wire will tell you its resistance. A typical coil is around two inches long in total, give or take some, depending on the number of wraps. You can make a determination on the gauge wire to buy on its resistance at around 2" to hit your desired ohm reading.

This is a good video on how to make a coil work properly and he explains the difference between the SS:
Z-ATTY-PRO Rebuildable Atomizers For ProVari - YouTube

People are starting to use the Ceramic wick that can be purchased at Pet Smart:
New Porous Ceramic wick v2 - YouTube

This is the tank that I use:
The Vulcan - Rebuildable Atomizer Tank

Ceramic wick at Pet Smart? That's about the last place I'd look. I wonder where in the store it would be found?

 

[StaircaseWit]

Ceramic wick at Pet Smart? That's about the last place I'd look. I wonder where in the store it would be found?

It's an aquarium airstone (you pump air through it to make bubbles in the tank to oxygenate the water), so look in the aquarium/fish section.

 

[Thrasher]

there is some debate as to using air stone becuase it is not ceramic and no no way to know how or what it really is and how it was fused together.

also buying the stone like that means it needs to be cut and shaped by you.

 

[KillTheNoise]

What up Richmond!! I wanted to go to the Brass Monkey meet last night but responsability got the better of me. Hope I didn't miss anything too awesome! J/k

The aga t2 is a great starter tank. A phoenix or igo-l are good starter drip atties. I prefer cotton wicks to ss mesh so I use a phoenix for dripping and terminator styles for tanks. The advantages of starting with a drip atty are that they are usually much cheaper (phoenix's are less than 10 bucks.) and the coils are MUCH easier to build for them. Discount vapors has the XL Phoenix for $9.99 Large juice capacity for a drip atty and perfect to learn on.

It was fun! Lot of good people were there, and I saw in person for the first time a multitude of high-end devices (provaris, ggts, ihybrids...) and got to try some awesome juices. Put a lot of ideas in my head, the reason I want to get into RBAs.

Anyone have other opinions to share? I'm sure I want SS mesh, so I don't care about the ceramic stuff.

 

[StaircaseWit]

there is some debate as to using air stone becuase it is not ceramic and no no way to know how or what it really is and how it was fused together.

also buying the stone like that means it needs to be cut and shaped by you.

Yeah, I don't personally trust it until a lot more has been done to insure what exactly it is and how it's made. And those videos of people grinding ceramic with no regard for inhaled dust...that stuff is similar to asbestos. I'll stick with SS.

 

[wolcen]

What up Richmond!! I wanted to go to the Brass Monkey meet last night but responsability got the better of me. Hope I didn't miss anything too awesome! J/k

The aga t2 is a great starter tank. A phoenix or igo-l are good starter drip atties. I prefer cotton wicks to ss mesh so I use a phoenix for dripping and terminator styles for tanks. The advantages of starting with a drip atty are that they are usually much cheaper (phoenix's are less than 10 bucks.) and the coils are MUCH easier to build for them. Discount vapors has the XL Phoenix for $9.99 Large juice capacity for a drip atty and perfect to learn on.

+1 for a Pheonix or similar (LOVE mine - I have an SS-specific RBA also and barely use it).
Another +1 for DiscountVapers. GREAT place to get rebuildables - they've got a ton. They also have the ceramic wicks now too.

EDIT: ACK! Apologies - the ceramic is coming soon.

PS - cotton in a dripper rocks.

 

[KillTheNoise]

I think I'm going with 400 SS mesh. I use 50/50 juice @ 18mg so I don't really want to get 325 and have too harsh of a TH.

Which route should I go with the wiring? I would like to try a few different ones, are there any vendors with like a sample bag of different types?

 

[jaybirdtherangerfan]

Watching the Caps Buffalo game now- How do you findout when the next meet is?

 

[StaircaseWit]

I think I'm going with 400 SS mesh. I use 50/50 juice @ 18mg so I don't really want to get 325 and have too harsh of a TH.

Which route should I go with the wiring? I would like to try a few different ones, are there any vendors with like a sample bag of different types?

Get a bunch of 32ga Kanthal. It's really the most versatile and easy to use to get a good initial setup. Any other gauges are better for later experimentation, for lower-res coils with more wraps, etc., but 32 will serve you well to start. Steammonkey.com has great prices on wire, or eBay if you want 100'.

 

[wolcen]

I got my nichrome from this guy on ebay robert44654 and he included a sheet with some of the other sizes, but they weren't well suited to our application. Still, the prices were cheap enough.

That's a great price from steammonkey

 

[Thrasher]

rtdvapor, when they are out go here:
Kanthal Wire - for lower prices order online through Pricedumper.com

 

[vapdivrr]

i am sure you will get numerous opinions from wire to mesh to rba, and all will be different. for an inexpensive genesis style atomizer it is hard to beat the aga-t imo, if set up correctly it will compare to the hi-end devices. when it comes to wire, my opinion is that 32g for one, is harder to work with and harder to set-up. to me it doesnt hold it shape as well as a thicker wire, it tends to move alittle more, also the flavor is by far more muted then lets say a 30g or 28g. but if you want a higher resistant coil, it will probably be your only option. i think that in general most start out with a set-up in resistance comparable to what they were vaping on their previous device , then after a while try different configurations . thats whats so cool about the gennys, they can be set-up so many different ways. if it is between 325 mesh and the 400 that you said is readily available, i would opt for the 400, although 500 mesh imo works the best. all in all you just got to dive in and try it out, but you cant go wrong with the aga-t, as for the set-up, i would buy a couple of different meshes, and a couple of different wires, this way you have all you need. good luck

 

[JD1]

.......I appreciate ANY help, ty all very much!

I recommend starting with one of the did clones (griffin, vulcan, gen 1, etc.) for the following reasons.

1. proven design that works well. For example, the wick hole is close to the edge, so that when the cap is on, the air hole is probably about 3 or 4 mm from the wick. I don't know for certain, but I think that's important.

2. They come with 400 mesh and 32 ga. kanthal to get you started. You can see if you like it before ordering more, and it'll probably be a year or more before you actually need to order more. This is a biggie in my eyes because I'm poor as a church mouse, and I can't afford to toss too many things back into the unused box lol.

3. Even if you don't like ss, all is not lost. Set it up for dripping to test new juices. Very easy to do with cotton or silica or even cotton covered ss. Let's just say that I will not be buying any more 510 attys.

4. Easy to set up in different ways. For example I'm using the spin-E setup for dripping in one of my gen 1s. I would never have even tried that except for the gen-1, and I love it. Another example is cotton/ss or silica/ss hybrids wicks, whatever works for you.

5. Glass tanks are available if you want one.

Some tips that I've learned from the forum here that work for me.

1. Make your wick slightly smaller than the wick hole. Important for two reasons. 1. makes for less chance of shorts in that area, and 2. aids in wicking. ( I just learned that today. See this post. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...tems/374459-who-vapes-100-vg.html#post8462373) If you're not using the Petar k method, just roll the wick until it fits a little sloppy. If you are going to use that method, make sure your drill bit, nail, or whatever, fits a little sloppy in the wick hole.

2. When testing, always check for resistance first, then pulse. Gently move your coils to cure hot spots. I felt like an idiot the first time I did that because I had no idea which way to move the coil. As it turns out, it's the movement that counts.

I hope some of this helps, and best of luck on whatever device you decide to get. I predict that you'll like it.

One last thing, if you order from COV, use code bigbuyer.