That video by zen helped me quite a bit, I got my hydra going tonight with ss mesh and I love it. Tomorrow comes the tiamat, gonna build another ss mesh. Keep trying, you'll get it.
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My Tiamet should arrive this afternoon - I will apply my standard tweaks and see how this works for me. Maybe a used Griffin or 2 for sale?
The Tiamat arrived a few hours ago. Been tinkering ever since! It is working after quite a bit of tweaking and fiddling.
First Impressions
1) It's big! A lot bigger in diameter than the Hydra.
2) The machining appears to be better than the Hydra - threads are not as rough (there is only one set of threads on the body; cap and top plate) and seems a little smoother.
3) The center post is threaded, unlike the Hydra. I'm thinking that if the right size, this thing should be able to take a glass tank.
4) Has a nice aesthetic appearance. The undercut lines on the cap look good and after a little polishing on my buffing wheel, has a nice shine.
5) The center post is not as wobbly as the Hydra - although I still applied my wire insulation shim to it, to make it rock solid.
6) The air hole was a disappointment - did not line up at all. Was about 120 degrees lag from the wick hole. To line it up, I had to back it off 2/3 of a turn. Still a good seal on the o-ring, but a major gap between cap and top plate.
Tweaks
1) I mentioned the shimming of the post, I also put an old cartomizer insulator in the top, and a small washer on top of that, with another screw (post is 2mm thread).
2) Pulled out the 'Ignore this post' (for lack of a better term). The post broke off instead of twisting out like the Hydra; it's made of brass, so I drilled the rest of it out. With this version of the AGA, this hole is drilled completely through the plate; it made it easy to drill out. And it may make for another hole for a 2 wick set-up; although it is smaller than the actual wick hole. I use it for now as the fill hole.
3) Opened up the airhole to 1.2mm.
4) Sanded down the cap so that the airhole would line up with the wick hole - this took a while since it was so far off.
5) Have not done it yet, but I might use the two carto insulator tweak on the battery end post. (Even though there are spare insulators for top and bottom included with the unit; along with a couple extra o-rings - one of each size and an extra knurled nut)
So there you have it. How's the vape? Well, I spent some time getting the coil and wick going - I was in a hurry and butchered the coil. It took quite a while to get rid of the shorts and hot spots because I was too stubborn to make a new coil. So I've only been vaping it for about a couple hours on and off - not a lot of time to break in the wick, but the taste is quite good and I'm getting a good amount of vapor. I will continue to use it until it settles in and report back.
And I'll try to post a couple pics of the Tiamat and the Hydra on my Provari.
First Impressions
1) It's big! A lot bigger in diameter than the Hydra.
2) The machining appears to be better than the Hydra - threads are not as rough (there is only one set of threads on the body; cap and top plate) and seems a little smoother.
3) The center post is threaded, unlike the Hydra. I'm thinking that if the right size, this thing should be able to take a glass tank.
4) Has a nice aesthetic appearance. The undercut lines on the cap look good and after a little polishing on my buffing wheel, has a nice shine.
5) The center post is not as wobbly as the Hydra - although I still applied my wire insulation shim to it, to make it rock solid.
6) The air hole was a disappointment - did not line up at all. Was about 120 degrees lag from the wick hole. To line it up, I had to back it off 2/3 of a turn. Still a good seal on the o-ring, but a major gap between cap and top plate.
Tweaks
1) I mentioned the shimming of the post, I also put an old cartomizer insulator in the top, and a small washer on top of that, with another screw (post is 2mm thread).
2) Pulled out the 'Ignore this post' (for lack of a better term). The post broke off instead of twisting out like the Hydra; it's made of brass, so I drilled the rest of it out. With this version of the AGA, this hole is drilled completely through the plate; it made it easy to drill out. And it may make for another hole for a 2 wick set-up; although it is smaller than the actual wick hole. I use it for now as the fill hole.
3) Opened up the airhole to 1.2mm.
4) Sanded down the cap so that the airhole would line up with the wick hole - this took a while since it was so far off.
5) Have not done it yet, but I might use the two carto insulator tweak on the battery end post. (Even though there are spare insulators for top and bottom included with the unit; along with a couple extra o-rings - one of each size and an extra knurled nut)
So there you have it. How's the vape? Well, I spent some time getting the coil and wick going - I was in a hurry and butchered the coil. It took quite a while to get rid of the shorts and hot spots because I was too stubborn to make a new coil. So I've only been vaping it for about a couple hours on and off - not a lot of time to break in the wick, but the taste is quite good and I'm getting a good amount of vapor. I will continue to use it until it settles in and report back.
And I'll try to post a couple pics of the Tiamat and the Hydra on my Provari.
Pictures of Tiamat, Hydra and Griffin...
Note: No o-rings on Griffin tank - used a syringe that was tight enough to seal w/o...
Edit: These pics are not meant for size comparison - just showing my set-ups.
Note: No o-rings on Griffin tank - used a syringe that was tight enough to seal w/o...Edit: These pics are not meant for size comparison - just showing my set-ups.
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Great info dsy5, much appreciated! I like the look sof the Tiamat a lot. Only thing that has held me back is the layout under the cap. The posts/screws are so far apart that it looks like a hot spot nightmare on the legs.
Has anyone tried a cotton wick on either the hydra or Tiamat? I am running one in my EOD DID clone and it is working extremely well.
Has anyone tried a cotton wick on either the hydra or Tiamat? I am running one in my EOD DID clone and it is working extremely well.
Hot spots are no different than with a DID clone, you get 'em, you fix 'em...
Seroiusly, the posts are not that far apart - aside from the crappy job I did on the coil, I got it up and running fairly quickly. The taste and vapor are increasing as it gets broken in.
Have not tried cotton wicks at all - no help here, sorry.
Looks good on the Provari, I am glad thought it might hang over more. Glad to hear center post is threaded too would hate to think it was held together by just the positive post and knurled nut's. I am thinking a ink pin spring and a small washer might work on the positive post just might have to try it. Thanks for the pictures.
I have just made one with a cotton wick, I will report back and let ya know how it works!!
Wook
I'm wondering just how well a simple vertical piece of silica rope would work. Like the ss, but silica instead. Never tried a silica wick in a vertical position.
One could wrap the coil tighter without fear of shorts, so it should stay in place pretty well. Just wonder what kind of wicking action could be expected. Maybe I'll give it a try on one of the Griffins.
One could wrap the coil tighter without fear of shorts, so it should stay in place pretty well. Just wonder what kind of wicking action could be expected. Maybe I'll give it a try on one of the Griffins.
Ok, so I tried the silica wick. I did not use a Griffin, but instead used a Smoktec Vivi tank (didn't want to bugger up my currently good set-ups
. All I can say is WOW!
You would not believe the amount of vapor! The flavor is not as intense as the ss mesh, but it is not that bad, either. I want to give this a little work out to see if there will be any dry wicking issues, but after about 20 hits, I haven't had any burnt tastes. This may need some more investigation...
. All I can say is WOW! You would not believe the amount of vapor! The flavor is not as intense as the ss mesh, but it is not that bad, either. I want to give this a little work out to see if there will be any dry wicking issues, but after about 20 hits, I haven't had any burnt tastes. This may need some more investigation...
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If you like the Silica, try using 3 strands of this DMC Embroidery floss has same vapor and better flavor. Wrap the coil loose as cotton will expand. One of the best vapes I have experienced. I use it in my bottom feeder rba's and it's even better vertical style in a did clone. Cost a whopping 30 cents at wally world for 8 meters.
I received a reply from someone who saw my pictures of the Tiamat on my Provari and he said he thought it looked wider than the Provari and it is slightly. Then he said that it was a shame that the knurling is so large on the bottom of the unit. I agreed and thought about some possible cosmetic mods:
Note: Photoshopped pictures
This shouldn't be too hard to do - a lathe would be the thing, but might be able to do it in a drill press...
Note: Photoshopped pictures
This shouldn't be too hard to do - a lathe would be the thing, but might be able to do it in a drill press...
I rebuilt a Griffin with the silica wick and have been using it all day. I filled it in the morning and vaped it at work. After 9 hours I still have slightly less than a half a tank! With stainless wick I probably would have had to fill it at work.
I like the vapor, taste and the fact I don't have to point the airhole towards the bottom to get the wick primed. It also doesn't eat up my battery - same battery is still going strong. It doesn't require higher voltage or low ohm coils to work well. I can use it on all my batteries with the 2.1 ohm coil I wrapped. If the silica wicking continues to perform at this rate, it may be farewell to ss mesh.
Tomorrow I think I'll try it on the Hydra or Tiamat...
I like the vapor, taste and the fact I don't have to point the airhole towards the bottom to get the wick primed. It also doesn't eat up my battery - same battery is still going strong. It doesn't require higher voltage or low ohm coils to work well. I can use it on all my batteries with the 2.1 ohm coil I wrapped. If the silica wicking continues to perform at this rate, it may be farewell to ss mesh.
Tomorrow I think I'll try it on the Hydra or Tiamat...
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thanks for the info dsy5,
I just rebuilt my first vivi nova head, must have done ok, tastes better than oem
now on to smok vivi
Glad to hear of your success - keep at it and you'll be a pro in no time. Rebuilding is not really difficult - just takes a little patience and persistance (and good eyes/steady hand
I opened my Hydra air hole up to 1/16 and I am running 500 SS mesh very tightly rolled with 28 awg Kanthal A-1 ...It's a 
fog machine I've got vapor coming out my ears I'm really liking the 500 mesh and once I opened up the air hole it made a night and day difference in vapor production
For the price you just can't beat these
fog machine I've got vapor coming out my ears I'm really liking the 500 mesh and once I opened up the air hole it made a night and day difference in vapor production For the price you just can't beat these
I opened my Hydra air hole up to 1/16 and I am running 500 SS mesh very tightly rolled with 28 awg Kanthal A-1 ...It's a
For the price you just can't beat these
I opened mine up to 1.2 mm - I found 1/16" to be a little too airy for me. Haven't got any #500 mesh so I can't comment on that. But for the price of these you can't go wrong - you may want to have a look at the Tiamat, if you're not put off by the size.
You know I really started to like the airy-ish draw since I got a Zenasis Mini (1/16 air hole) . I think that there is something to the thought of a larger air hole really stokes the coil/wick and produces tons of vapor.
I probably will get the Tiamat but it does look HUGE
I probably will get the Tiamat but it does look HUGE
The Tiamat is larger than the Hydra and is built like a tank.Ilike mine so much i bought another one.
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