AGA-T2 first build and a few questions :-)

[Vault]

As the header says I received my RBA today (nice bit of kit) and have built it up.

I used the mesh supplied assuming its #400 but not the wire, I used the 31awg (0.22mm) Kanthal A1 I use to re-coil and rewick my Evods.
The wick I made as per all the video`s namely.... trimming it correctly and checking for frays that could cause shorts.
Oxidising open (un-rolled) then folding one end over and rolling it around a needle until the right diameter (no problem for me having been used to making 40+ roll-ups per day )

Oxidising again three times at least in it`s rolled configeration.

Oxidised the kanthal (as I would for coil making) and with the needle inserted into the wick lightly (in case of breaking through the oxide created) wrapped 5 coils around.

Inserted the wick/coil assembly and wired it in.Checked Ohms (1.6). Set Vamo on volts, set volts at 3.0v and pulsed until the coiled glowed.
No hot spots! (which I was impressed with but have been making coils before,just not on a RBA specific).
Up the voltage to 3.5 and pulse again, all good. Dripped some juice on the coil, fired and nice crackle with lots of vapour

Filled the tank and vaped.

Now the questions. I`m getting a metallic flavour from it, I`ve got the same juice in an Evod thats working well so it`s not that.
No shorts but the ohms do fluctuate abit even though I`ve double checked the connections.
The flavour is a slight harsh metallic twang not un-vapable but there.
In my hurry to get this working I didn`t wash the tank before so could it be manufacturing residue?
The wick was well oxidised so I don`t suspect that.
Do these "bed-in" after a couple of tanks? The ohms and the taste settle? I`m only on low voltage (3.7v) at the moment as I want things to settle down.
Any thoughts appreciated

 

[Sockfootball21]

There is a bit of a break in period with stainless steel mesh. After a tank or two you shouldn't have that taste anymore. Now the nice thing is the wick will last a long time. I have been using the same wick for about 2 and a half months.

 

[Vault]

Thanks I made a bit of a school boy error and did`nt fill the tank completely
I guess this gave me more of the mesh flavour than usual as with the now full tank! the metallic twang is already diminishing.

It seems patience is the key with these things I had an Evod that had a similar problem out of the box but was fine after a fill or two.
Even now though the bloody thing hits like a tank! much more TH than anything I`ve used to date and I might have to re-think my juice pg/vg ratios and nic content (which is no bad thing )

 

[Sockfootball21]

There are a few things I have noticed with genesis style attys. first you will go through more juice, the nicotine will hit you harder than say a carto. I have stepped down to 6mg bc I tend to chain vape.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

It is possiblemfor Genesis atty to develop hot spots as you vape. This spontaneous behavior will stop once you get the setup broken in, but at the beginning you will still have to get rid of hotspots as you vape.

 

[grainey1968]

Usually there is a break in period for all new setups. 2 to 3 tanks should be enough to get you to optimal performance of your build. If there is still a metallic taste or anything funky going on, I would go back to the setup as there is probably something wrong (hotspot or wicking issue etc).

 

[Vault]

Thanks for the advice and thoughts guys I`ll vape through a couple of tanks and check for hot-spots at the refills and let it settle down.
I`m slowly increasing the voltage and it is vaping well at the moment. One thing I have noticed....it`s quiet! Sounds strange but compared to a Boge 2.0ohm cartomiser or my Evods coiled to 1.9ohms which both crackle and hiss at anything near 3.7v this thing is silent maybe all the stainless shielding is hiding the violence underneath

 

[palmmute]

There might be a short if there is a metallic taste.

Try not refilling the whole tank on your next refill. Maybe a quarter so when it's out you can dry burn and or troubleshoot your set up.

 

[Sockfootball21]

There might be a short if there is a metallic taste.

Try not refilling the whole tank on your next refill. Maybe a quarter so when it's out you can dry burn and or troubleshoot your set up.

I always use my syringe to pull all the ejuice out and do a quick dry burn every morning. Some of the juice I use tend to get a burned taste after a day-day and a half of vaping unless I dry burn every morning.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

I always use my syringe to pull all the ejuice out and do a quick dry burn every morning. Some of the juice I use tend to get a burned taste after a day-day and a half of vaping unless I dry burn every morning.

You may be underpowering you coil and having a bunch of gunk on your coil.

 

[Sockfootball21]

I have been using. 1.1-1.2 ohm coil at around 4-4.2 volts so I don't think I am under powering it

 

[neptoon]

I'm also an aga t2 user for several weeks now and I also get metallic taste like 30-40% of the time especially when i'm out and not home.
It could be several things, wick touching bottom and shorting, coil touching either posts, tiny mesh hairs fusing the coil (which sounds like what you had since your ohms were jumping), connections not tight enough or hotspots. Also, I found making a nice dent between the positive and the wick so the its not a straight path helps with that hotspot.

There's also other possobilities like wick too thick or too thin, coil too tight or too loose. omg the rage!!!

 

[Sockfootball21]

I'm also an aga t2 user for several weeks now and I also get metallic taste like 30-40% of the time especially when i'm out and not home.
It could be several things, wick touching bottom and shorting, coil touching either posts, tiny mesh hairs fusing the coil (which sounds like what you had since your ohms were jumping), connections not tight enough or hotspots. Also, I found making a nice dent between the positive and the wick so the its not a straight path helps with that hotspot.

There's also other possobilities like wick too thick or too thin, coil too tight or too loose. omg the rage!!!

That is a great point about the "dent" in the top coil. I have been doin that for a few months. I thought it was just me bc I havnt heard of anyone else that does that (till now)

 

[cghildreth]

You are probably experiencing the taste of a coil that is not fully seated on the wick. I too use tube wicks in my gennies, but unlike the process you described, I tend to wrap the wick about as tight as I can get it on the wick (while the wick is inserted over a needle). While a wick doesn't taste as good as it gets until a tank or two in, I never have any metallic taste, even off of a brand new coil. A brand new wick and coil should still taste pretty damn good if properly setup.

Metallic taste is a very bad thing, both taste wise and also potentially for your health. Most metals tend to be poisonous to humans if ingested in such a way that our body can actually absorb. Metal fumes are VERY absorb-able through the tissues of your lungs. Be careful.

If you didn't completely disassemble and clean the hell out of your tank, I also advise that you do so immediately (and throw out the liquid that you've put into the tank). Certainly scrub the parts with a good oil-removing dish soap. You may also consider boiling the parts to sanitize them. Finally, be sure that you run your kanthal/nichrome through a flame until it glows bright red before wrapping to make sure that any manufacturing residues are cleaned off.

 

[Vault]

This may sound daft so forgive me but should the wick touch the bottom or not? It touches every other negative part of the body so would it matter if it touched the bottom as long as it was properly oxidised ?

 

[palmmute]

Mine doesn't touch the bottom of the tank. If think it E's out on my Provari if the wick touches the bottom but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Vault]

Ok I just made another wick and coil combo after washing out the tank and all the fittings.

As an aside... I did check my first attempt with a dry burn after it was all washed and no hot-spots that I could see...anyway... I used the same method as before and triple oxidised it ( did it open first then three times when rolled) I also torched the Kanthal before wrapping the coil.
I wrapped it tighter than before meaning tight to the wick. Fitted it and dry pulsed at low volts. I got a slight hot-leg at the top but put the "dink" in it and the hot spot moved onto the wick at the top. Very interesting
I did notice that the top coil still wasn`t touching the wick all the way around, the second coil was slightly better and the other three down to the neg screw were all good. There was no way I could adjust the coils to touch so.... I adjust the wick to touch the coils
Stuck a toothpick down the top of the wick and back wound until the expanded wick is tight to the coils...simple

I was also worrying about rolling the ends of the wick exactly flush when there is no need, I cut the mesh a few mm overlength and as long as the wick is parrallel I cut the ends square before oxidising. The new set-up is working well, (the wick is just shy of the bottom now) but it`s too close to call if it is vaping better than my first go. One thing though, the metallic taste has gone Don`t know if I can put that down to the new wick/coil combo or if it`s just because I washed everything out this time around
Anyway working well at 1.4ohm on the Vamo

Hmmm quite like the look of those stainless U-wicks.....how hard can it be eh?

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Wick not touching bottom is a total myth. Makes no sense. Plus, with my wick firmly seated at the bottom of my tank i dont have to tilt to vape the tank dry down to the last drop.

Vault, it sounds like your wick is quite hollow and not tightly rolled. For a first setup it is fine, however to improve your vape experience (by a large margin) try to roll a solid, tight wick without no center channel. Use high density mesh like 500.

I use mesh ropes now, couldnt be happier.

 

[cghildreth]

Wick not touching bottom is a total myth. Makes no sense. Plus, with my wick firmly seated at the bottom of my tank i dont have to tilt to vape the tank dry down to the last drop.

Agree with this completely. So long as the coil is set up properly, you shouldn't have a problem with shorts through the wick, regardless of where it is touching the atomizer. Keep in mind that with most atomizers the wick is touching the atomizer in the wick hole. A little bit of extra surface area touching the bottom of the tank is not going to hurt at all. That said, if I leave my wick touching the bottom of the tank, I tend to cut it at an angle to make sure that I'm not hydraulically locking the wick.

Vault, it sounds like your wick is quite hollow and not tightly rolled. For a first setup it is fine, however to improve your vape experience (by a large margin) try to roll a solid, tight wick without no center channel. Use high density mesh like 500.

YMMV using a solid rolled wick. While solid rolled wicks do offer some advantage, including better wicking due to more surface area for capillary action and the ability to leave your pv/tank set on its side without leaking, I have moved away from solid wicks. I find that I get MUCH better flavor from tube style wicks. I do have to do the APV tilt to make sure that I've got enough juice to avoid a dry burn, but I prefer to vape tilted anyway so its not a big problem for me. Tube style wicks result in faster coil response, hotter coils, and permit the interior of the wick to actually provide a channel for vapor to come off the wick (more vapor!). Also, because there is much less mass of stainless mesh, you tend to avoid the flavor that a stainless wick can impart.

 

[Vault]

Thats what I like about ECF nobody mentioned the wick has to be solid! Or at least is better solid, I always assumed (and watching video`s) that the wicks were hollow as they were always wound around something and again I assumed that capillary action played a part!
Plus I`ve read and seen a lot about silica wicks wrapped with SS mesh (or SS mesh stuffed with silica if you want to put it the other way around ).
No problem I`ve got a couple of oxidised wicks made up that are hollow (the tube is about 1.2mm internal diameter) so I guess I could wrap a very thin core of SS and wrangle it up there making a solid wick. A bit fiddly but do-able.
The fact that I can stick a needle up the wick does help me wrapping the coils tight without deforming the wick but no reason why I cant back fill the wick with another smaller wick after the coils are wrapped.
One question..would this inner wick need to be oxidised? I cant see why as it won`t be in contact with either the coils or the body?
Thanks for the heads-up