A Big Thank You From a Blue Byrd

[yardbyrd]

You hear the smooth, even, sound of a coil firing well and as it makes a light snapping sound YardByrd suddenly appears -out of thin air- seated on a plain, brown, wooden, perch with a bevel cut on 1/4 of the "T". His platinum "YB" medallion is glowing lavender and you hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin, voice translating for him:

"Hail, lauds, greetings, and a big Thank You, to you coil builders who post in this sub forum on ECF! I have become interested, lately, in attempting to build micro coils and in particular to try some kind of build using cotton wick. So...I came to ECF -of course!

I studied and read many posts by you skilled and sharing builders. I went to YouTube, when indicated, and watched, listened and studied.

Today, for the first time, I built two successful micro coils! The first was for my IGO L. I used, also for the first time successfully, 28ga Kanthal wire. I built a micro coil using it and 3ml silica wick, less one strand as per instructions, and got a 1.4 ohm head that works like a dream!

Encouraged, I decided to try, once again, after many, many, failures to try to build a micro coil using cotton wick for a Protank head. I tried 28ga Kanthal but it was just too thick for me to use well. I changed to 32ga and used a paper clip to wrap the coil. I torched, tested, and fired my coil, again, due to excellent information found in this sub forum. The result was my first successful Protank head rebuild! The resulting coil came in at 1.3 ohms.

I am surprised, after rebuilding Vivi Nova heads, my IGO L, and my AGA T2, how much easier -and shorter-micro coils made my build times.

I want to sincerely thank all of you who post to this sub forum. My first two successful (and first two tries too!) micro coil builds, one using wire I don't normally use, and the other using new wick I had never tried, were successful because of the good information you have imparted.

Alas! There were just too many posts that I read, that helped me, to single out each one. So.....I came to thank you all! I am loving some of my NIUYBHT DIY (New and Improved Uncle YardByrd's Black Honey Tobacco) in my Protank 2 with cotton wick and it is nothing short of amazing; so are all you helpful ones who post to help those of us who seek to learn. Kudos to you all!

Oh! I almost forgot! There is one last thing I MUST say to make my post official, proper, certified, and correct: CAW!"
YardByrd, and his faithful realm traveling perch disappear in a large, thick, cloud, of vapor that leaves the slightly sweet aroma of Honey in the air.

 

[super_X_drifter]

Good work . Sounds like you are enjoying this stuff as much as the rest of us

Cool intro too

 

[yardbyrd]

YardByrd suddenly comes flying down and his faithful Realm traveling perch, a plain, brown, wooden one, with a bevel cut on 1/4 of the "T" appears and he lights on it gracefully. He pulls his wings in gently and the platinum "YB" medallion around his neck glows a constant violet. You hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin, voice translating his other Realm communique:

"Hail, lauds, greetings, and a big Thank You, to you coil builders who post in this sub forum on ECF! Salutations from across the Realms! CAW!

Encouraged by this sub forum, and others like it, that is rich with content, advice, and the experience of others I finally undertook two new builds yesterday.

I tried a hybrid wick/1mm hollow Ekowool/ cotton wick, vertical microcoil, for my Protank head.
I found some "Turkey Lacers" in the mark down bin at my local grocery store. I purchased them just for the long, open eye ended tines, they had, for coil building. I wrapped my microcoil on this tine. After I fired, squeezed and prepared the coil, I remounted it on the tine while placing the vertical coil and securing it. I used the hollow Ekowool (a tiny pice) threaded over the negative connection. It worked very well. So far it is amazing and good; I'm watching for wonky ohms and leakage but so far so good! 1.4 ohms/PT2/Aerobase/Hammer of Thor e-pipe/3.7V. I must remark that it is superior to my first cotton wick build and feel I have, at long last, found a good, viable, non leaking, and well performing build for my Protank/EVOD/MT3 type heads.

I also, for the first time, successfully used SS rope! I had failed, repeatedly, trying to get a good coil with this wick due to shorting. I bought some 3mm hollow Ekowool and sleeved this wick, freehand wrapped a coil with 32ga Kanthal on my AGA T2 and went! It made a 2.3 ohm coil. I'm using it on my Provari at 3.8 volts/6.27 W. It is performing in an amazing manner, especially, regarding flavor.

At the request of Mrs. Byrd I built a second Protank head for her PT2mini. All of these builds held e-liquid overnight with no leakage. They all are turning in superior performance; good vapor, stable ohms, and excellent flavor.

Without ECF, this sub forum, other good technical forums, and the input of others I'd still be buying 5 packs of head replacements and just getting o.k. performance. I would never have had the expertise, or confidence, to attempt such builds. Once again: Thank you all very much! CAW!"

YardByrd's talons grasp his perch firmly and they both start to spin. Slowly they turn, then fast, then faster, until they begin to drill downard creating a tunnel for their departure. The resulting friction creates a cloud of rich Peanut butter smelling vapor, that dissappates quickly as the hole seals over and YardByrd, and his faithful Realm traveling perch, spin on to other Realms.

 

[yardbyrd]

A soft purring sound is heard and suddenly YardByrd appears seated on his plain, brown, wooden, Realm traveling perch. The platinum "YB" medallion around his neck is glowing yellow and you hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin, voice translating all but his native greeting/farewell salute:

CAW! "Hail, lauds, greetings, and salutations from across the Realms, to those interested in RBAs and RDAs.

My assistant, James was recently shopping in our local Kroger and saw these in the mark down bin (the penny is present to give a perspective on size):



He instantly thought, "Those tines look like they would be great for building!" and purchased some, I think for, 59 cents! He then endeavored to take the advice, of many, who say "less wick is more". His build is two 15 wraps each microcoils of 32ga kanthal. The dual coils come in at 1.7 ohms. He was shooting for high ohms to test our mutual theory of late: Higher resistance, at higher voltage, can produce a sub-ohm like experience. These tines allowed ease of build, and mounting of the coils, and the eye hook on one end makes an easy grip while the opposing pointed end makes it a very useful tool for building. They are an odd size, apparently smaller than a paper clip and larger than a 1/16" drill bit. Here is a picture of the resulting build using the Turkey Lacer Tine:



He was using cotton wick but decided, since we are experimenting, to try the "less is more" approach to wick in our not so trendy build. He had left over, ravelled ends, from 3mm Ekowool and in an effort not to waste material trimmed and kept them for flavor wicks in protank style heads. Taking a very short length of 32ga Kanthal he bent it over and captured two of these small in diameter pieces of Ekowool and threaded them, doubled over, through each microcoil. This is the build, firing, on a Caterpillar RDA on a K100. Try as we might we could not capture the eveness of the firing, I suspect due to lighting, but submit this as our evidence.



The resulting build is working extremely well. Plumes of vapor and excellent flavor. So I took my build to my local B&M to Anthony, who builds and appreciates building, to get his feedback and let him use it. He liked it very much; so much so it is at his urging I post, here, regarding it. Apparently there is some merit to our theory that higher resistance, with the proper device and build, at higher Voltage or Ohms can produce a vaping experience similar to sub ohming. The small amount of wick used performs surprisingly well supporting the "less is more" school of thought regarding wicking in builds.

We thank you for your consideration and are enjoying this build very much. We both found the results serendipity." CAW!

The purring sound returns and YardByrd, and his faithful Realm traveling perch, dissolve into a quickly vanishing cloud of vapor leaving the distinct smell of "Mother's Milk's" alluring aroma.

 

[wolandepiphanius]

Thank you YB for sharing this. I've never done a sub ohm, but maybe you have something here for people too afraid (like me) to do sub ohm vaping. I may try this in the future, and test for myself if less is actually better for wicking. Thank you blue bird.

 

[Hoofhearted62]

Excellent post and descriptions.. Yardbyrd

 

[yardbyrd]

The ringing of churchbells fills the air and YardByrd materializes levitating in mid air. His right wing is extended and his left one is held in tight. His legs are held close together, talons closed, but not clenched. The platinum YB medallion around his neck is glowing Orange and you hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin, voice translating for him:

CAW! "Hail, lauds, greetings and salutations, from across the Realms, to those who grace this thread with information. I return today to make further comment on the Turkey Lacer as a tool for building. I, unfortunately, lent out my drill (which never came back) and do not own a Dremel. I wanted to try twisting some 32ga wire but it was a daunting task using only needle nosed pliers. I recently found the Turkey Lacer coming to my rescue when I wanted to manually twist wire. I determined the length of wire (32ga A1 Kanthal) I wanted to use. I then bent the length back, creating a nearly identical length, doubling it but only cutting one end. I held the two loose ends, tightly, in some needle nosed pliers. I used the open eye hook end of the Turkey Lacer to capture where the wire doubled back. I then twirled the long tine, similar to the way one would twirl SS mesh, in one direction. Care must be exercised to avoid the sharp tipped end of the tool but it isn't that hard if you are conscious of it. I was able to create twisted wire, manually, very easily. I don't know how well this would work on larger gauge wire. I had to come report my experience here in this thread." CAW!

The churchbells are chiming again, and as the last peale, fades YardByrd fades away and is gone.

 

[yardbyrd]

A loud POP is heard and YardByrd suddenly materializes, standing in mid air, levitating. The platinum YB medallion around his neck is glowing green. You hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin, voice translating for him:

CAW! 'Hail, lauds, greetings, salutations, and felicitations from across the Realms, you who care enough to read and reply to this thread. I'm not sure if it's o.k. to put this here...but here goes! I built my Stillaire Clone today for the first time. I used 28 ga kanthal, 12 wraps each, dual microcoils, and attained 1 Ω. Then I used hemp wick for the first time. I also re-wicked my Caterpillar dripper and Kayfun 3.1 clone with hemp. It is a little bit more scraggly than cotton. Unlike cotton, however, I could save leftover bits (if not too small) and continue to pack "bare spots" under or near my coils from my continued struggle to get an equal amount of wicking, esp. cotton, on both sides of an RDA.

So far it is performing very well and I am impressed with the flavor and vapor it delivers. I also recently purchased some Koga Cotton but have yet to experiment with it in any build. I hope my hope that this wicking material will continue to perform, in a superior manner, is not dashed. I will report more later. Adieu." CAW!

There is another loud POP and YardByrd vanishes.

 

[G-weezy]

Edit. Oops.

 

[yardbyrd]

The sound of one bubble of bubble wrap popping is heard and YardByrd materializes, seated on his plain, brown wooden, Realm traveling perch, on the floor of this thread. The platinum YB medallion around his neck is glowing purple and you hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin, voice translating for him:

CAW! 'Hail, lauds, greetings, salutations, and felicitations from across the Realms, you who care enough to read and reply to this thread. I'm barely 24 hours into my use of hemp wick and had to return with my observations and latest odd experiment with it. I still am loving this wick. Good flavor, lots of vapor, and my throat doesn't feel like a piece of sandpaper. I think the sandpaper effect was occurring from using average level cotton for wicking.

I used one dripper, copiously, since my last post, dripping varied, non-menthol tobacco flavors, in various Nic levels and PG/VG ratios. My wicking was a bit gunky looking and rather dark. So...I thought, ("Don't try this with Cotton!" (CAW! ) I'm experimenting lets see if this wicking is resilient or not. I took my dripper apart and carefully rinsed the wicking and deck (being careful not to lose "filler" bits) under hot tap water. It only took a few seconds for it to clean up tremendously. I took paper toweling and lightly pressed against the wicking, esp, that on the deck, until I removed most of the water. There were no more obvious wet spots on the paper towel. I then dry fired my RDA only once, and not long at all, say for about 3 seconds. I took my turkey lacer tool and fluffed the hemp, dripped some more new tobacco flavor, and it seems to have worked just fine. DON'T TRY THIS WITH COTTON! " CAW!"

One snap of one bubble of the wrap is heard and YardByrd vanishes leaving a cloud of tobacco smelling, slightly fruity mist, in his wake, which quickly is gone.

 

[yardbyrd]

The sound of a air breaks, on a big rig, being released is heard and YardByrd appears levitating in mid air. The platinum YB medallion around his neck is glowing beige and you hear a deep,smooth, male, Latin, voice translating all but his greeting and farewell:

CAW! "Hail, lauds, and greetings, to those who bother to read this! I had to return with a follow up and final report on my use of Hemp wick. I continued to use two RDAs, heavily, one at .9 Ω and the other at .95Ω for a total of three days. I rinsed out my wick twice during this period. I really tried to put pressure on my builds and this wick. After three days of hard use I finally had to change out my hemp wicking; it became slightly burned inside the microcoils. ''

I have hemp wick in my Kayfun 3.1 clone, currently, and for all outward appearances it seems to perform similarly to cotton. I will return to using cotton to see, if in fact, I have a sensitivity to it. The performance of the hemp wick in my RDA has been superior.

I finally, must offer, my thanks to Elf Wick who provided this wick in a drawing that I won. I am loving this wick." CAW!

YardByrd winks once and vanishes.

 

[yardbyrd]

The cheerful sound of birds singing fills the air and suddenly YardByrd appears! He is seated on his faithful, plain, brown, wooden, Realm traveling perch, (the one with a bevel cut on 1/4 of the "T") and the platinum YB medallion around his neck is glowing Saffron yellow. You hear a deep, smooth, male, Latin voice translating his utterances:

CAW! "Hail, lauds, greetings, and salutations from across the Realms, to those who still read this thread. I was recently PIFFED a Russian 91% tank. My nephew bought it but couldn't get it to stop leaking. He gave it to his Dad, my brother-in-law, who also had an issue with it "weeping" from the airflow control valve and air hole in its base, especially, when it got to a lower volume of e-liquid. He said I could have it...but the unspoken challenge was to get it to vape a full tank without leaking and I could have it! I now own this tank and offer a link, to a photo album, on my FB page, that shows the improper, unorthodox, and not recommended manner, that I wick this tank so it will not leak. I hope this link, and the post re: wicking of an RDA is suitable within this "Coil Builds" Realm. Here is a link for any who care to examine my unusual solution. You must have a FB account and log in to see it: https://www.facebook.com/yard.byrd.5/media_set?set=a.724774447608547.1073741832.100002279940504&type=1

I will test the link after posting and thank you all for your consideration. If this helps anyone else, at all, in any way, it will make me happy. I must away!" CAW!

The cheerful sound of birds singing, again, is heard, and as it fades away so does YardByrd...until both are gone.