So, I'm still at it, eternally searching for a short, handy, powerful, flavorful mod to use in the car. I've been around the block a few times. This time I thought I'd try a RDTA rather than a tank, see if I could gain some flavor and airflow. I settled on the Big Dripper, which I bought authentic, direct from the manufacturer, for $25.00 through their Sub Ohm Innovations eBay store. (Don't ask me why, but it's 5 bucks higher on their website.) It is an entirely conventional 3-post, dual coil dripper body, but the top cap is elongated to 45mm, to accommodate a 5ml tank in the "attic" of the top cap. juice is contained in the top cap by an air/vaccum system not unlike a non-genny tank; and dispensed by pushing down on the spring loaded chimney, which squirts a shot of juice into the dripper body and wets the wick. Despite the giant size of the top cap-- it's mostly juice storage, plus room for the chimney-- the dripper itself is a small volume flavor type. Airflow is adequate-to-good for lung hits, but grossly insufficient for cloud. The unit comes without a drip tip. I paired it with a no-brand stainless and pyrex wide bore finned assembly I happen to like.
The topper is unreasonably hard to build, IMHO, as the lip of the juice well is taller than the post holes. You have to bend the coil legs a bit to feed them through. It did lend itself to a vertical coil assembly, which I thought a plus, but you'll have to anneal your coils into contact before installing them as you can't get a pair of needlenose down into the well to tighten them up once they are installed. It has socket head (Allen) post screws, which I like better than Phillips. The posts are hollow below the post holes, you can cut the wire tightening it too much. I'm sure, once I get my roundtuit all polished up, I'll mod it by cutting another piece of the stainless steel shaft to fit in the post and top out at the bottom of the post holes. I do that all the time, and the piece of stainess shafting I bought was like 12 inches long, so it'll last a while using it up a couple millimeters at a time.
I built the dripper at .472 Ohms-- I was shooting for .5 so that's not bad-- using a 2-wire twist of 30ga Kanthal wrapped 5/4 on a 3mm mandrel. I wicked with rayon as is my habit, and I cut the wick off flush at the top of the posts. I considered a horseshoe wick, but I wasn't sure if there would be room under the cap, or if it might block flow up the chimney. It vapes pretty good, loaded with my desktop DIY Cinnamon Red Hots, which is my all day vape at work.
I had intended to put it on my MMV Nanos tube mod with the 350 tube installed. It's the shortest mod I own given their ingenious button assembly. However, the only 350-size batteries capable of withstanding the amp loading of a .5 coil are the new AW 800mAh ones, and they only come button top. For some reason, I was getting an autofire in the Nanos with the button in the off position. I have concluded (without a lot of study yet) the Nanos simply does not like button-top batteries. I have used the mod many times with other toppers and flat top batteries and it never happened before. Therefore it is presently installed on top of my MMV Poldiac, which is a side-button mod. That's probably safer for a car rig anyway, but the switch assembly lengthens the mod more than I like. Hhhmmm... perhaps a Hammer type would be better. In any event, it is 141mm base to drip tip on the Poldiac. So far, I like it just fine
The topper is unreasonably hard to build, IMHO, as the lip of the juice well is taller than the post holes. You have to bend the coil legs a bit to feed them through. It did lend itself to a vertical coil assembly, which I thought a plus, but you'll have to anneal your coils into contact before installing them as you can't get a pair of needlenose down into the well to tighten them up once they are installed. It has socket head (Allen) post screws, which I like better than Phillips. The posts are hollow below the post holes, you can cut the wire tightening it too much. I'm sure, once I get my roundtuit all polished up, I'll mod it by cutting another piece of the stainless steel shaft to fit in the post and top out at the bottom of the post holes. I do that all the time, and the piece of stainess shafting I bought was like 12 inches long, so it'll last a while using it up a couple millimeters at a time.
I built the dripper at .472 Ohms-- I was shooting for .5 so that's not bad-- using a 2-wire twist of 30ga Kanthal wrapped 5/4 on a 3mm mandrel. I wicked with rayon as is my habit, and I cut the wick off flush at the top of the posts. I considered a horseshoe wick, but I wasn't sure if there would be room under the cap, or if it might block flow up the chimney. It vapes pretty good, loaded with my desktop DIY Cinnamon Red Hots, which is my all day vape at work.
I had intended to put it on my MMV Nanos tube mod with the 350 tube installed. It's the shortest mod I own given their ingenious button assembly. However, the only 350-size batteries capable of withstanding the amp loading of a .5 coil are the new AW 800mAh ones, and they only come button top. For some reason, I was getting an autofire in the Nanos with the button in the off position. I have concluded (without a lot of study yet) the Nanos simply does not like button-top batteries. I have used the mod many times with other toppers and flat top batteries and it never happened before. Therefore it is presently installed on top of my MMV Poldiac, which is a side-button mod. That's probably safer for a car rig anyway, but the switch assembly lengthens the mod more than I like. Hhhmmm... perhaps a Hammer type would be better. In any event, it is 141mm base to drip tip on the Poldiac. So far, I like it just fine
Last edited:
