a7 "mini" now available on empiremods.

[Commie]

Thanks a lot for the response. I do get a gurgle when I take a dry toot. It is definitely flooding. I think I am overfilling the rba cup with my squonks. I will try very light squonks and see if I still get good toots.

How close to the top hole of the post should the coil be? Just nearly touching, or a bit higher?

It's up to you. Closer to the airhole will give more vapor and less throat hit. I keep mine at about 1mm.

About oversquonking -- it might turn out that it auto-feeds juice. That would be when your side airholes in the connection are partially blocked and your toots are pulling in juice. It may also happen if your juice is very thin. Make sure your side holes are not blocked, and if you juice is thin, you can use a reducer tube that Rob usually sends with all the mods.

 

[FeistyAlice]

Surface and Mini A7 fit the smaller catch-cups on Mini REOs and most brass catch-cups on Wood REOs.

Surface (German from original modder, Vape4me) and Mini A7 (clone of Surface). Very similar except for shape at top of cap. Similar weights, base, post insert, except Surface cap, sans white delrin piece, is 0.28 oz, Mini A7 0.15 oz. Surface has two little silicone tubing slices that go on insulated post. (This would be a good idea to put those on all our RBA insulated posts) And Surface has a delrin insert for cap to contain juices, or spitting, or keep condensation from coil area. It is easily removed. Threading pitch for caps and inserts are the same so parts interchangeable. Haven't unscrewed posts or post screws yet but I'll bet they are interchangeable, too. A7 has a tiny silicone band above screws threads on cap that Surface doesn't have. Surface top threaded part is a little longer.

Surface comes with extra small silicone slice for insulated post, an extra screw, and hex wrench, but no premade coil or wire or wick.

Mini A7 came with pre-installed coil/wick, and two extra wicked coils, and little screwdriver, but no extra wire or wick.

 

[FeistyAlice]

I was asked by a "lurker" REOnaut about using A7 and A7 Mini on eGo batteries. Yes there are "other" ways to vape. So I loaded DH's eGo batteries with A7, A7 Mini, and Surface for a picture. There is a tiny gap between bottom of RBA and added eGo collar used to give a more finished look. Although the A7 standard is too large for our Mini REO catch-cups, 1.0 and 2.0, (Surface, Mini A7, Hornet fit fine) I advised getting the A7 for dripping as the well on it is larger.

 

[FeistyAlice]

A7/A7 Mini co-op is still open and will be closing for updates 2/21/13. Get most excellent prices while you can. Note Paypal is only for international. Money order or other I'm not familiar with for US.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/active-coops/382935-a7-ss-black-mini-a8-co-op-2.html

Feisty Alice

 

[SilentEcho13]

So, how long do your coil/wick setups last you?

Mine are always at 1.5-1.9ohms for my Mini, and they all last me about 3 days. I'm not sure why either, it sucks!

I build hybrid setups (silica inside a mesh wrap), and recently just a straight up silica setup with 33awg Kanthal.

I only vape about 3ml daily too, and my juice is never too dark either... I don't even flood the thing. My builds are always clean too, no shorts, no hot spots, nothing!

Meh. I've gotta be doing SOMETHING wrong. 3-4 days in and it's tasting burnt already, even when I use mesh!

 

[Commie]

Echo, that's a trick question

The longest I've went with the same coil was about a week. There was nothing really wrong with it when I decided to make a new one, just wanted to try a different position. It's very rare that the coil itself pops. 30 and even 32 gauge kanthal is pretty durable.

I use cotton for wicks, and generally replace the wick when I refill the bottle. Only takes a minute (if that) and gives me cleaner vape. After a day, there's usually little to no visible dark spots on the wick when I pull it out. That, of course, depends heavily on your juice and whether or not you accidentally let it run dry.

I don't remember what was the longest I've went without changing the wick. I want to say 4-5 days.

Usually in my case it starts tasting bad only when I let it run dry. At that point, there's no return, pull the wick, dry burn the coil, and put in new wick

 

[SilentEcho13]

Eh I'm not sure. I've had no luck with cotton lol, but I'll give it another shot. My juice is always either 60/40 or 80/20, always clear too.

I use an Aero 510 that's been kicking hard for months, I'm really just trying to build a setup that lasts for atleast a month or more. I mean, I have a phoenix hybrid coil setup on my Provari that's been kicking strong for about 3 months now.

I'm getting tired of rebuilding every few days lol.

 

[Commie]

It's kind of a nature of rebuildables You'll be rebuilding them.

The simplest cotton I can suggest is made from a cotton ball. Roll it between your fingers. Just enough to be able to push it through your coil relatively loosely. When it saturates with juice, it'll be just right.

Problem with cotton wicks is that if the coil is too tight on the wick, it will not wick fast enough and will burn. So less is better.

 

[SilentEcho13]

Haha I understand that part. Rebuilding is fun, but if a build lasts 3 days I may as well use a cartomizer...lol

I'm looking at something that'll keep kicking for atleast 2-3 weeks. The main reason I use RBA's is because I enjoy the unique way they kick and taste, it's very 'personal' feeling IMO.

I've used cotton hemp and cotton embroidery thread before, both undyed. They worked well but didn't last too long, they were great at lower wattages (higher res, lower voltage).

I'll give the cotton ball idea a shot, it's definitely something I haven't tried before.

I'm starting to think that the silica I'm using may be the issue too. It's really 'loose' and comes apart easily, not really the firm kind that actually maintains itself if you bend it around.

Are you using kanthal or nichrome wire?

 

[Commie]

I'm using 30 and 32 gauge kanthal. I think you may have had your coils too tight around the cotton. With yarn, I put it into the coil very loosely. Just tight enough that it wouldn't fall out. Then I'm not having issues with it at 12 watt. Using 3 1mm strands of yarn in a coil wrapped around a toothpick or a 1/8" drill bit

 

[SilentEcho13]

I'm using 30 and 32 gauge kanthal. I think you may have had your coils too tight around the cotton. With yarn, I put it into the coil very loosely. Just tight enough that it wouldn't fall out. Then I'm not having issues with it at 12 watt. Using 3 1mm strands of yarn in a coil wrapped around a toothpick or a 1/8" drill bit

Possibly, maybe my coils are too tight around my hybrid wicks too and they're preventing proper wicking.

I'm gonna head home after work and try another build with a little less tugging haha.

 

[FeistyAlice]

As far as silica I've gotten it from several sources in small quantities. It ranges from falling apart when barely handling to very stiff and not easily shredded. Have them all mixed together so don't know what came from where. The only one I'm sure about is the 3mm I got from Silicawicks. It holds together pretty well and is not stiff. I'm going to be moving to smaller silica wick and would appreciate recommendations for 1 and 2mm that people have that is not fragile or easily shredded.

Any of the natural wicks are just too much hassle for me as my coils need dry burning daily and have to rewick using natural. Silica can go about a week of dry burning before it gets too fragile and starts falling apart. (Some better wick will last longer) Dan sent me a piece of ceramic braided wick but I haven't used it yet.

Feisty Alice

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

[FeistyAlice]

BTW... when removing natural wick for rewicking you can dry burn it so it basically shrivels up and falls out or easily blown out; no tugging.

Feisty Alice

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SilentEcho13]

I was reading about ceramic braided wick, please let us know how it does! I'm definitely interested in giving it a shot.

Edit: Ordered free samples from 3M. Can't wait!