How did you coil/wick/cotton your tank today?

[lil_buddy]

Nice tank!

I assume, the deck is:

It looks like you made a good buy here! Plenty of space on the deck for this kind of rba and 4ml is nice for a "carrier".
Is it leaking while carrying around?

I retired this tank due to the severe leaking, but brought it out of retirement to attempt this build. My goal is to rebuild the coils for my aero/mini protanks.

Happily, it has not leaked so far but I haven't attempted to carry it in my purse - the ultimate challenge.

4ml is a misleading spec because I learned the hard way that you cannot allow the liquid to get below wick hole on the coils. Those wick holes are 1/4-1/3 of the way up the tank - so really the capacity is 2.7-3ml if you don't like dry hits/gurgling/leaking.

 

[lil_buddy]

If you look really, really carefully at those 2 pictures, you will notice that the coil in the toptank kit says "mini rba plus" while the other one says "mini rba". It is my understanding that the "plus" was solely for the toptank to stop the copious leaking. The non-plus version comes with Kanger subtanks. The difference is the plus version has smaller wick holes. It makes it a bit more challenging to stuff the cotton in there- it has to be just so.

 

[WillyZee]

7 wraps of 30ga on the little blue screwdriver

 

[Winblows]

I retired this tank due to the severe leaking, but brought it out of retirement to attempt this build. My goal is to rebuild the coils for my aero/mini protanks.

Happily, it has not leaked so far but I haven't attempted to carry it in my purse - the ultimate challenge.

4ml is a misleading spec because I learned the hard way that you cannot allow the liquid to get below wick hole on the coils. Those wick holes are 1/4-1/3 of the way up the tank - so really the capacity is 2.7-3ml if you don't like dry hits/gurgling/leaking.

Regarding to leaking. I think, that every tank will leak, if not treated right (and different).

My experience with this annoying issue is the proper wick positioning.
The cotton is responsible for transporting the juice to the coil thread, but not only that.
On the Kayfun V5, V3 mini (my best and least leaking tanks so far), I have experimented a lot with the positioning of the wick.
The only way to get rid of leaking is to learn your tank and place the right amount of cotton close to or even inside the juice/airflow holes.
My worst experiences are from Eleaf Melo 3 Mini tank, that came along with my first iStick Pico mod (a fantastic mod).

 

[lil_buddy]

Regarding to leaking. I think, that every tank will leak, if not treated right (and different).

My experience with this annoying issue is the proper wick positioning.
The cotton is responsible for transporting the juice to the coil thread, but not only that.
On the Kayfun V5, V3 mini (my best and least leaking tanks so far), I have experimented a lot with the positioning of the wick.
The only way to get rid of leaking is to learn your tank and place the right amount of cotton close to or even inside the juice/airflow holes.
My worst experiences are from Eleaf Melo 3 Mini tank, that came along with my first iStick Pico mod (a fantastic mod).

Never had leaking issues with the aerotank/mini protank 3.

 

[Winblows]

7 wraps of 30ga on the little blue screwdriver

View attachment 649151

Cool. Those screwdrivers, that follows many of our tanks, right?
I don't have any of them with me right now, but they are ... say ø2mm ?
7 wraps on a 30ga (0.25) SS 316L, should give 0.75 - 1.0 ohm

 

[lil_buddy]

Cool. Those screwdrivers, that follows many of our tanks, right?
I don't have any of them with me right now, but they are ... say ø2mm ?
7 wraps on a 30ga (0.25) SS 316L, should give 0.75 - 1.0 ohm

Yep

 

[bwh79]

Busted out the STM for a build today. Took some pics for you:

5 wraps of 26ga Kanthal on a 3mm ID, wicked and trimmed (rayon wick):

Another angle:

Collar fits...:

...and wick fills the juice ports:

I've been using this flavor a lot, recently:

Like, a LOT a lot. There used to be 120ml here a little over three weeks ago, now I'm down to about 45:

Priming the coil:

Wick's changed color in the juice ports, time to put 'er all back together:

Reading about .8:

Bubbles mean we're wicking properly:

...aaand, we've got vapor!:

 

[Winblows]

@lil_buddy
Nice!
I appreciate your "Bubbles mean we're wicking properly" - mine (bubbles) comes always after the first draw on a new build.

 

[bwh79]

Trying to do a build a day. We'll see how long that lasts. Today I'm building the Movkin Luggy vertical RBA:

Using a similar coil this time but on a 3.5mm bit, and spaced this time:

For the Luggy RBA the coil leads need to come off like this:

Wicking with Koh Gen Do this time. I used a full-length strip, cut to the width of the coil and with one of the "skins" peeled off:

Putting the coil tool back in helps the coil hold its shape while I wrap the cotton around it:

Now I have to feed one lead through this hole in the top cap:

Again, the coil tool helps keep everything where it belongs:

Looks good from this angle:

Whoah deja vu! Now I have to feed the other end through this other hole:

Success! Time to tighten those set screws and clamp the coil in place:

All tightened up and ready to have the leads clipped:

Still looks pretty good:

Don't forget this "collar" piece. That's how you get juice all over your mod. Go ahead, ask me how I know:

All back together:

Primed and ready:

Resistance is a little higher this time...:

...but it still works!:

Today's build brought to you by LEEKSPIN DOT COM. I've been spinning for 1:08:26. The build and pictures took me to 0:40:35.

 

[ChelsB]

I have been looking for a fellow vertical coil builder, @bwh79! Those are great pics of how it's done. I took several screenshots! I have a terrible time getting the wick wrapped tight enough. You've obviously mastered it![emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Winblows]

Nice again!, @bwh79.
I wonder what is best for these small coils? I do a lot on my eGoONE CLR's, but can't figure out if it's better with tight or loose windings ?

 

[bwh79]

I have a terrible time getting the wick wrapped tight enough. You've obviously mastered it!

*blush* I don't know that I'd call myself a "master," but I guess I'm starting to get the hang of it. I peel off one "skin" so it has a smooth side and a fluffy side; smooth side faces in toward the coil, and fluffy side faces out towards the juice ports. I don't know if that actually helps anything but it's how I've done the last couple times I've built it. After I wrap the cotton around the coil, it is still kind of loose, and so I roll it between my fingers a little, not back and forth but always in the same direction as the wrap, to tighten it up a little bit. Then once I have it in place, I pack the excess cotton (shouldn't be much, but there's always a little) down around the coil before removing the rod, so it stays clear of the middle.

 

[Winblows]

Wismec Reux
2x SS 316L 26ga, Ø2.5mm, 8 wraps, 0.3ohm

Here, I was not sure what to do. I wondered if I should fill the juice flow holes with the remaining cotton.
I decided to cut the cotton close to the juceflow holes.

... here everything was fine. A lot of vapor with direct lung inhale, great flavor.
That was yesterday evening.
This morning, just before I left home, I filled the tank almost full, finished my coffee, opened the airflow and ... - disaster - I got at least 1ml of juice all over the mod.
I don't know what is wrong, but it happened before with a different build.
When I keep the juice level under ½ of the tank, it works fine.

 

[bwh79]

Thought I might not get a build in today, but I cranked one out at the last minute!

Today I'm building the Geek Vape "Medusa" RDTA:

I decided I'd copy your coils. SS316 28ga 2.5mm duals:

Mounted...:

...and from the side:

Reads a little lower than yours did (settled on around .24 after breaking in):

Rayon wick again. Gotta really pack 'er in there with the rayon. If you've ever used the "Scottish Roll" technique, rayon is basically one giant, 500-foot rope of pre-made Scottish Roll. This is one section of the rope, torn in half down the middle to make two wicks:

Fluffed and trimmed:

Thought the wicks might behave better if I got them a little wet first:

Results are mixed. They may have held their shape a little better but it was messy getting them in place. I missed the pics of once they were inserted and test-fitting the collar on, but here's a pic of me doing a fire-test:

...aaand, she chucks!:

I don't have a drip tip on her yet. Waiting on one from FT that I hope looks alright once it's out of "restocking" status.

I accidentally had it set in TC mode (but this mod only does TC-Ni) so that initial test fired at the full 60 watts and burnt my wick. I didn't take any pictures the second time; it was basically the same except I didn't wet the wicks before inserting them into the reservoir. The final pic is with the new wicks. I have a long weekend coming up so no builds for a few days (I don't subject my family to my building endeavors) but hopefully I'll be back on Monday for another one!

 

[bwh79]

This morning, just before I left home, I filled the tank almost full, finished my coffee, opened the airflow and ... - disaster - I got at least 1ml of juice all over the mod.
I don't know what is wrong, but it happened before with a different build.
When I keep the juice level under ½ of the tank, it works fine.

That's odd, I usually find just the opposite. My tanks tend to leak (if they leak at all) when they do get low, and are less likely to when they are full. It has to do with the vacuum pressure inside the tank. Gravity wants to push down on the liquid in the tank, making it flow into the evaporation chamber and, ultimately, down through the airflow. When there is just a small air bubble inside the tank, the vacuum pressure is enough to hold that gravity in check as it is trying to "pull" back on the liquid while gravity tries to push it into the chamber. When the tank level gets low, and there is a larger volume of air inside, then this vacuum doesn't pull quite as hard, and so gravity gets the upper hand. That's been my experience, anyway, and my understanding of why it is so.

 

[Winblows]

Reload RTA rebuild
2x SS 316L 26ga, Ø2.5mm, 10 wraps, 0.33ohm (say my eVic VTC), 0.26 (says my iStick Pico)

 

[SK1LL]

five wraps of 0.6×0.1mm k1 ribbon on a 2.2mm bit for 0.91ohms of instantly satisfying mtl goodness
it just looks bigger in the pic

 

[Winblows]

@SK1LL
Nice!, and questions
What is this ribbon? and what is this tank?
It looks VERY interesting!

 

[SK1LL]

it's just an old squid RDA clone. That coil ended up being a bit too small inner diameter so I scrapped it
It warmed up so dang fast and I didn't wanna have to resort to vv/vw
that ribbon is some temco kanthal a-1 annealed flat resistance wire I only tried the 0.1mm thick stuff