Ithaka: best build?

[zaubara]

Hey!

Since there's a huge Ithaka thread with all the information that you just can't find ^^, I figured I'd ask in a seperate post.

Whats your favorite build?
I got mine yesterday, rebuilt it twice, but so far I wasn't able to achieve the performance of a ProTank, so I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong.

First built was a simple X-shaped dual coil at around .9ohms, using 2mm Ecowool and 0.2mm Kanthal D/0.2mm nickel (guess that's 32g - weird system). Had only around 3 pretty far spread wraps, tasted like nothingnothingnothingBURNT. That was my first build ever.
Rebuilt it with the same stuff, only now I used more res wire and ended up with 1.4amps. I ended up with 5-6 coils each. I also put an uncoiled string of ecowool in between the two coils - I ended up cutting most of the excess wool while screwing the thing together.
It's a bit better now, but I ended up with less vapor and a bit of a weird taste, but that might be the coils needing some more burning in...
I also have some 3mm Ecowool, and I'd try that next. Possibly not in an X-shape, but I dont think that's my main problem here..

Any ideas? Pictures/Vids would be awesome, I think I just suck at building coils.
Also, what's the deal with micro coils? Would that work on an Ithaka? Why use cotton instead of seperated silica wicks?

Thanks

 

[Aal_]

My First guess, after me and the guys experienced with Ekowool, is just it doesn't wick fast enough. I say experiment with silica, or if all you have is Ekowool, use the Krinkle method, where the wick is only on top of ceramic without coming inside the channels. 2mm might have blocked the channels and the delivery of juice. With duals you need juice flowing more freely.

 

[MadMatt986]

I would highly recommend 2,5mm Wolf Silika: https://www.vapor-freak.de/zubehoer/Selberwickeln/Wolf-Silikatschnur

It wicks like crazy and has a high resistance to heat.

I started with simple crossed wick single coil build. This helped me get my head around all the adjustment capabilities the Ithaka provides. I have just now moved up to a double coil and getting it dialed in was easy. One thing I have learned is that the adjustable air feed can help a lot. Allowing more air though the coil keeps it cooler. With my current double coil setup I am opening up the air control when the battery is fresh and then slowly closing it as the voltage drops. Think of it as manual thermal management ;-)

 

[gheebee]

I keep it simple with a single coil now because of some issues I'm having but back before this started, my favorite and best Ithaka build was a double dual coil in an X. I forget the lengths but I think I did 2 wires that both had 2 parallell, 2.5" pieces of R wire in them. Wrapped them around 2 wicks, installed in an X, and it was great; resistance was around .9 and it lasted for weeks.

 

[Darkreign]

My personal experience (as limited as it may be) is to have dual coils parallel, .5 ribbon Kanthal and 32Ga Nickel NR. 1.5 Ohm each (.75 Ohms total) wrapped around cotton yarn I got from Wally World. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sugar-n-Cream-Yarn-Cones/24629135 Trim slightly higher than the base o-ring so none of the "fluff" gets caught in your seal.

Cotton wicks better than any of the silica or ekowool I have. The drawback is that you cant "dry burn" with the wicks in place. The solution was to configure the coils in parallel and treat them similar to Microcoils in that you can just leave the coils in, remove the cotton wick, dry burn without a wick in, and thread a new wick when the coils are clean.

I typically use sweet fruity flavors so with traditional coils I needed to replace or dry burn every 3-4 tanks. The ribbon wire doesn't seem to gunk up as fast as traditional resistance wire, however some people have reported that ribbon wire has a sharper TH. Bishop calls them "Razer Edge Coils" (although my construction varies slightly) and they seem to produce a much hotter vape. (not warmer, HOTTER, as in you have to aim the airflow in your mouth or you will feel like you are burning the inside of your mouth. )

So far I am on about 3 weeks with the same coils and 2 dry burns compared to 2 dry burns a week with a traditional setup. After dry burns, taste is off a little bit for about 1/4 tank then cleans right up. YMMV.

 

[subver]

So far for me: dual coils, 32g Kanthal 30g Nickel, .6-.7ohm with cotton hemp yarn wicks or silica (still need to try hemp twine)

 

[CaptSteve]

The best build I've come up with for the Ithaka requires just a few things to pay attention to. First off if I may suggest forget ecowool, cotton etc (just MHO) use 2mm silica wick from Esmoke Guru or COV, best whicking I've tested (I know many of you may disagree but it's my personal opinion). Make two coils of about 1.6-1.7 ohms and make them of equal length. I use Nickel .20 for non-res and Nickel Chrome .20 for resistance wire.
It's important to understand that dual coils require very good juice feeding because they run much hotter than any single coil. The trick to good juice feeding is not only the correct use of Ithaka's mouthpiece juice control. The coils MUST not be wound tight around the silica because this causes restricted juice feeding. I use a single piece of 2mm silica in each channel which provides for ample room in the silica channels of the ceramic housing for good juice feed. To ensure I don't wrap my coils tight I use a needle with the silica when I wrap my coils and apply only enough pressure to wrap the wire around the silica. Once wrapped I remove the needle and the result is a wrapped coil that doesn't restrict juice flow. Depending on the viscosity of your juice you could increase the thickness of your silica. I use 80% VG and 20% PG so my juice is very think and I need good flow in the channels hence I use 2mm silica. If you use thinner juice with high PG content base you could use 3mm silica.
Once my coils are installed in the ceramic housing in the X configuration I space them out so they sit nice and equally in the center. I then prime them and the silica with juice before installing the mouthpiece.
My juice requires the mouthpiece juice control at least 1/3 rd open
Hope this helps
Happy vaping

PS As anything Ithaka requires some trial and error to find what works for you best but it's an incredible atty which once mastered simply cannot be matched.

 

[Electraglide1]

Capt Steve with that configuration do you use the basic feed too or close it off?

 

[CaptSteve]

I personally keep it off and just open the mouthpiece

 

[fright88]

CaptSteve's build is very similar to mine although I use about 2.5mm wick because I vape 50/50 juice. I agree with all of his statements about the coil don't wrap to tight and make sure you don't put to much wick in the channels.

 

[MadMatt986]

and make sure you don't put to much wick in the channels.

This is important. I also fray the ends of the wicks a little. I have no scientific proof that this is better, it just seemed like the right thing to do

 

[zaubara]

Thanks guys!
I rebuilt it yesterday, got around 1ohms with both, and the result is now way better. I didn't do an X this time around, but I managed to create much neater coils, using a nail for the wrap so its not too tight, and also priming all of my wick first (boiled it in hot water).
It's much, much better now!

I also created a microcoil on my ProTank mini, ended up with way to much resistance (around 3.7ohms), but surprisingly it works decently...

Only thing is, I still get a little bit of a bad taste in the ProTank, just like I did with the Ithaka before. It looks like this really could be an issue with the liquid flow, or it's just the wick/kanthal needing some time to settle.

I will try to trim the wick a bit more, but so far it looks way better now. Thanks!

 

[CaptSteve]

In the Protank ensure your wick isn't being choked by the silicon seal cover when you screw the bottom cap. You need to use very thin single wick.

 

[tribe]

I'm really new to rebuildables so I have not experimented a lot. My build consists of a single coil with a 1.7 ohm ready wire from madvapes and 2 x 2mm silica wicks. I'm getting incredible taste and double amount of vapor than my typical Protank setup. I can't imagine how it can get better but I will with no doubt explore the double coil option soon. My question is: Can I use the same ready wires for a double coil; 1.7 ohm? or is it better to use 2 X 2.5 ohm or 3 ohm?

 

[CaptSteve]

You can use the same ready made wires, in fact twin 1.7ohms will give you an overall resistance of 0.8 to 0.9 ohms which is perfect in my opinion. If you feel it's just too much for you go for two 2.2 to 2.3 ohms which will give an overall resistance of about 1.1ohms. Remember that whatever resistance coils you put the overall resistance is halved.

 

[dw'struth]

Great thread......marked.

 

[souroull]

I make 1 dual coil out of 0.16mm kanthal and wrap it around 2 pieces of the stock 2mm(is it?) wick. Comes out to around 2-3 dual turns. Length is just under an inch each wire for 0.6ohm.

Need to try something new as i need more vapor but first i'll try replacing my CRG 2250mah pannys to something else as i suspect they may be the culprit.

 

[Mini Cooper S]

I'm still running a single coil dual wicks for almost a week with one dry burn.


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[thedrpepperdude]

I like dual coil X. with extra piece of wick in between. 1.5 ohm ready wires and COV 3mm silica with two strands removed from the channels. Longest run was 18 days, usually change out every 7-10 days.

 

[zaubara]

I finally got some cotton and .30mm kanthal a1, and have built two more now. I tried dual micro coils, since one worked really well on my ProTank.
1.) Dual micro coil - 2x .30mm parallel, around 12 wraps, ~1.2ohms:
took a while to start even at 12-15W, little airflow, good taste initially but lacking in vapor and when it did, it i got burnt taste quickly. So most of the time, there was either no vapor or burnt taste. Meh.
2.) Just now finished a single coil build - 1x .30mm 12 wraps across and a string of wool without coil ABOVE (I wasnt sure if under the coil would be a good idea, also it was quite fiddly when I put it under the coil), so it's an X with only one coil. Ended up with ~2.2ohms.
very good vapor, really good flash, but it feels like there's less taste, but that might just be me right now. So far the best build i've tried!

Regarding the Krinkle-method: I adapted it a bit. I think it might be less useful when there's only little juice left (apart from pressure sucking it in/tilting the device), so I figured I use just so much that it reaches down until about half the channel. The automatic liquid thingy would then not touch any wool, so I turned it around, reducing the chances of flooding the whole thing. But's it still long enough to be held in place by the ring and touch liquid even when the juice control is opened only a tiny bit.


One thing I noticed with dual micro coils is that they had a hard time to light up, even when I maxed my SVD at 15 watts. I figure they need too much power, especially with 12 wraps.
The next thing I might try is dual micro coils with less wraps, maybe around 8 and see how that performs. It's just quite a pain in the rear to align them properly without an external heating device