Kanger Protank rebuild, 32 kanthal, silica wick and...?

[Dannyboy5691]

I use mesh because i absolutely hate the idea of throwing out a burnt head. And also because im bringing a few eVod-eGo combos home for smoker friends as an intro to vaping. Im not in my home country 10 out of 12 months a year so i wanted something as hassle-free for them as possible. A steel wicked eVod seems perfect for that.

If more peole would like a tutorial i will make one, otherwise i ll just outline the process here for motuvap.

I'd really like a tutorial on how you rebuild your heads Kanj. I'm always interested to learn as much as I can. Thanks.

 

[madstabber]

I rebuilt one of my heads with the ceramic wick, it is called xc-116 and is similar in looks to silica. I didn't get great flavor from it but it could have been user error as it was my first rebuild of any coil ever. The flavor was muted and the vapor production was so-so. I may have wrapped the coil too tight or something. If at first you don't succeed try try again.

 

[Crocky]

Ceramic and mesh are just two alternatives for wicking materials, like silica.

I dont like silica so i ripped everything out of my Protank after 1 tank of juice for testing. As it comes (mine at least) the draw is way too airy and vapor & flavor production is poor. My guess is that since there is so much air in a draw and so little vapor, the flavor is diluted.

Rebuilt it with mesh and ribbon kanthal, works like a champ now. Way more vapor, flavor, and no leaking whatsoever.

Does ribbon kanthal come in different gauges as well and if so do you stick with 32. Also do you typically use 400 or 500 SS mesh wicks

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

So far i have seen 2 different sizes of kanthal, 0.5mm and 0.8mm in width. I have a big spool of the 0.5 it works great. Should be getting the 0.8 today to try and milk just a little more power from my batteries.

Note that larger width (same thickness and length) effectively translates to lower resistance. So they are like 2 different gauges of round kanthal. Ribbon, in my experience, is just better than round in many ways. If you think about it the physics makes sense too.

 

[MOTUVap]

Unless theres a lot other interested I'll prob stick with the cotton and coil for now, I just got my Protank and have never reuilt anything, I'll prob have a better understanding once I break one of these down, appreciate it though, I do wanna give all options a try to figure out what works best for me

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

I received a PM about the tutorial. I ll try to put one up this weekend if my work permits.

 

[COBRACOMMANDER82]

I would love to see this build video too!

 

[COBRACOMMANDER82]

Where did you order the kanthal from Kanj?

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

EBay, but im sure some vendor carries it, just for (much) higher price. I got a spool from Israel, took a week to arrive.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Downloaded move maker. When i make the video i will link to it here. Probably post another thread in the rebuildable forum section for easier track keeping,

 

[MOTUVap]

Thanks Kanj, youtubed some other vids bout it and they were horrible, couldnt understand it and most were super old with not too knowledgable sounding people so that would be greatly appreciated

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Made half the vid, roommate came back so the second half will need to wait.

 

[Saltwater]

Just rebuilt my first Evod head. Not going good. I used 2mm silica wick and laid it against a paper clip then wrapped 32 kanthal around that, put it on the head then pulled out the paperclip. I put two 1mm wicks on top. I'm getting a burnt tire taste and it's not good. Any suggestions?

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Sounds like burnt silica. Keep the voltage down. Wash it after rebuilding.

To those awaiting the video, i apologize for the delay. I made half of it, but since then never got a chance to finish. It is still on my list of things to do of course,

 

[Saltwater]

I dry burned it once before I screwed it in the tank with the liquid. Do you think that would have caused it, it's nasty, just like burning rubber. Also, will I have to scrap that one and start over or can I save it?

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Oh, you should have said burning rubber. Its the rubber gasket at the bottom of the head. Most likely your build has a short somewhere and your coil is burning the gasket. That smell is very hard to get rid of, i suggest discarding the build and wash everything else thoroughly with warm water, then build another one.

 

[Saltwater]

Ok, thanks. I wonder where it's shorting at? Any red flags to look for? Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[Guild]

I can't speak to the dry burn thing, but I've read that lightly torching the silica before install is actually a good thing to burn out any fluff ( which i didnt do.) I only replaced the top wicks with more silica and noticed a burned plastic or rubber flavor. Not exactly anything I've smelled or tasted before, but reminded me of that. I just kept the voltage really low, slowly increasing, and that flavor went away after half a tank. I'm vaping unflavored vg for now, so it really stood out, but was still very much vapable. Try turning down the volts to 3.4 or 3.6 on a 2.5 coil and slowly increase. I'm still a newb, so take all this with a grain of salt.

Edit: interestingly my phone doesn't recognize the word 'vaping'

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

It usually shorts when wire is touching the inner wall. Sometimes the two legs may get tangled up as well.

 

[Saltwater]

Thanks man.

It gave me a headache. It was rough...lol.