Advice on RBA taste

[ohmyidontthinkthisworks]

Ok, so I have searched and tried many things, but in the end I keep ending up at the same place with rba. Ok, so first things first, I have been trying to get to this "zen" flavor/vapor that many people talk about. But, seems like I end up back with burnt taste out of my rebuild-able. Set up being used is AGA-T2, 400 SS Mesh, kanthal 32 4/5 wrap on vamo. I am running around 8.5 watts. Now I am a butane torch to oxidize the mesh/wire and doing a side cut on the bottom of the wick. I don't know if my coils are too tight or too lose using drill bit method. I am also pulsing out hot spots with small mech device. About to give up on it.

 

[HuNt4z]

mmm..8,5 watts is a pretty low voltage.
how many ohm does your resistence have anyway?

 

[ohmyidontthinkthisworks]

They usually work out to about 1.8-2.1 ohm. Yeah, I usually run around 10.5 on my vivi or kangers.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Low power doesnt translate to burnt taste. A few things are the issues:

- your wick is too fat and is choking in the hole.
- still have hot spots.
- tilt, dude. Keep the wick wet.
- less likely, but your coil may be too loose on the wick. If its too tight, you have massive hot spots that cant be fixed by just poking the coil around. Too loose, you have a burnt metallic taste.

 

[Scot Thomas]

If they're all lighting uniformly then there's no real worry.
I know my aga-t2 prefers lower wattage to give clean flavor.
One of the veterans has an awesome walk thru on rebuilding the aga-t. So does Phil Busardo at tasteyourjuice.com.
I wish I could find a quick link but I'm rather noobish at the forums.

 

[TheSystemHasFailed]

It's 95% oxidation problems with that SS, 5% coil.

Some will disagree, saying the coil needs more percentage, but it's so easy compared to FIRST mastering TOTAL oxidation.

No quenching/dipping in water to cool. Only burn the top half of the wick, leave the bottom un-touched. Give it a good, solid burn for over ten seconds, then air cool it. Do this 3-5 times. Now coil it, not so much as to bite into the wick, but do not have the coil loose either. Now, re-oxidize that coiled wick again a few times. Now install it, and fire slow and low, you are trying to re-oxidize any spots that appear during install.

 

[ohmyidontthinkthisworks]

I went through phil's video a couple times now. When it comes to wick size do you want it the same size as the hole or smaller. I guess it's hard to judge the size in videos. I have also heard of drilling out the wick hole itself for bigger wick. I guess I make mine to fit the hole without having to force it but it it slightly tight to the hole. The draw hole was already slightly increased in size.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

You want your wick thin enough to move around the hole easily. In fact, too small is always better than too big.

 

[ohmyidontthinkthisworks]

Ok I will try to make another tonight smaller than i normally do and use this info and see how it goes.

 

[El_tecolote]

Hard to say because of too many variables with your build, but I would first check the wick and coils...possibly too loose contributing to bad, burned taste.

 

[HuNt4z]

They usually work out to about 1.8-2.1 ohm. Yeah, I usually run around 10.5 on my vivi or kangers.

Then it's probably an oxidation problem you'll need some practice to complitely master that
just look on youtube for some other tutorial

 

[psauf]

I feel for ya. I went through the same thing burnt/harsh taste kind of metallic sometimes. I boil my wick for 5 min then dry, roll, wrap, check ohms dry fire on mech mod. if all is good 2 drops on wick burn off repeat 3-5 times that usually helps. Everyone has their "way". my wicks take about 1.5 tanks on my old faithful (DID clone) but my rsst i'm still trying to find that sweet spot

 

[CaliGrower]

on my AGI i run 2 2mm wicks ,same length back to back and wrapped with a 4/5 of 32 kanthal at 3.2v/6.4w and it works like a dream. no foul tastes, no having to "tilt" and CLOUDS of tasty vapor.

didnt have much luck with the SS mesh