anybody tried hybrid wick on protank/BCC types

[pizza2me]

I've had decent results with SS wicks. Occasional leaking and trouble getting shorts and hotspots out in that little space. Enough to give silica a try. Seems to be working good but wife hasn't beat the crap outta it yet. I've been reading the igo-l (since i have one on the way ) thread and saw SS where the coil is wrapped and silica in the middle hanging out.

Gonna try this tonight. Silica wrapped in a little wrap of SS (where ss don't touch the sides). Only silica touching the grooves in head.

I'm sure this has been tried before.... Results or thoughts?

 

[REOfanatic]

to prevent flooding add a really small wick on top your coiled wick i wrap #500 ss mesh with a #400 top wick . i recommend using cotton with a light wrap of ss mesh around it

 

[pizza2me]

Thanks! Your 500 coiled wick is solid SS and your top wick has the cotton lightly wrapped?

 

[dhomes]

me on EVODs, unoxidized SS Mesh wick, about 2.0 mm (maybe a little less, wrapped in a thin but even layer of cotton to prevent shorts.

also, since the cotton expands when wet, it acts as a seal, haven't had any leak problems

overall, much better experience than with the regular heads

 

[pizza2me]

me on EVODs, unoxidized SS Mesh wick, about 2.0 mm (maybe a little less, wrapped in a thin but even layer of cotton to prevent shorts.

also, since the cotton expands when wet, it acts as a seal, haven't had any leak problems

overall, much better experience than with the regular heads

Interesting. The opposite hybrid from what I'm thinking. How long does the cotton last? I'm worried about it burning. Wife tends to crank it up too high. And what's the benefit of the over only using cotton? Thanks!

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Usually, the heat is transferred quick enough to the mesh that the cotton doesnt burn.

With regards to what you have in mind (cotton/ silica wrapped inside mesh), i am afraid flooding will occur unless you roll the hybrid wick very tight and add more wicks on top.

 

[REOfanatic]

its a really tight wrap lol and even smaller top wick

 

[dhomes]

Interesting. The opposite hybrid from what I'm thinking. How long does the cotton last? I'm worried about it burning. Wife tends to crank it up too high. And what's the benefit of the over only using cotton? Thanks!

if you use a thin layer of cotton you shouldn't have a problem

you could do it with oxidized mesh and no cotton, but the cotton expands so it seals the openings of the EVOD and prevents flooding

benefit: for UNOXIDIZED mesh is the only material I really can't taste, so it gives me the cleanest taste possible

your wick will also last longer (it will outlive the coil). With silica ~ based on juice type ~ you may have to change the wick after 1 or 2 weeks

the wick area below the coil will slowly get oxidized so it whole thing becomes short proof after a little while

In any case most decent VV/VW devices have short protection (I do it on a provari so I can also check resistance), and on a mechanical you just fire away (use a fresh battery though)

If you are starting with this type of built, better use a vv/vw device with protection though (mostly for the safety of your battery until you get understating of what is going on)

 

[dhomes]

btw, if you go with cottom, a trick for a denser wick is to rinse a decent portion in water, compact / rolls it with your fingers, dry on microwave one minute or two at the time. that takes care of collapsing the smaller, loose fibers

 

[pizza2me]

to prevent flooding add a really small wick on top your coiled wick i wrap #500 ss mesh with a #400 top wick . i recommend using cotton with a light wrap of ss mesh around it

This cotton with light wrap is just in the top wick. Right? Or both?

 

[pizza2me]

if you use a thin layer of cotton you shouldn't have a problem

you could do it with oxidized mesh and no cotton, but the cotton expands so it seals the openings of the EVOD and prevents flooding

benefit: for UNOXIDIZED mesh is the only material I really can't taste, so it gives me the cleanest taste possible

your wick will also last longer (it will outlive the coil). With silica ~ based on juice type ~ you may have to change the wick after 1 or 2 weeks

the wick area below the coil will slowly get oxidized so it whole thing becomes short proof after a little while

In any case most decent VV/VW devices have short protection (I do it on a provari so I can also check resistance), and on a mechanical you just fire away (use a fresh battery though)

If you are starting with this type of built, better use a vv/vw device with protection though (mostly for the safety of your battery until you get understating of what is going on)

This sounds great! I'm going to try both tomorrow. Just regular sterile cotton balls?

 

[heateris]

i tried my hand at a hybrid wick today. i got some 1mm Ekowool and rolled up some SS mesh and worked inside the ekowool. Gave it 4 wraps of 32g Kanthal. Got 1.7 ohm's, not bad. The taste is excellent and vapor production is decent, but it doesn't seem to give the real strong ripping crackle that I love.

 

[dhomes]

a pic is worth ....

 

[pizza2me]

btw, if you go with cottom, a trick for a denser wick is to rinse a decent portion in water, compact / rolls it with your fingers, dry on microwave one minute or two at the time. that takes care of collapsing the smaller, loose fibers

Threw one together real quick when I stopped home. Used cotton from a q-tip. So far so good! Wife is loving it! Thanks. We'll see how it lasts.Can you dry burn this when it gets gunked up?And mine wasn't as pretty as yours. You say wet/roll/nuke a piece of cotton. Do you then spread it? Flatten it? Both? My first was pretty clumpy and I had to peal some off

 

[heateris]

Threw one together real quick when I stopped home. Used cotton from a q-tip. So far so good! Wife is loving it! Thanks. We'll see how it lasts.Can you dry burn this when it gets gunked up?And mine wasn't as pretty as yours. You say wet/roll/nuke a piece of cotton. Do you then spread it? Flatten it? Both? My first was pretty clumpy and I had to peal some off

if you dry burn cotton it will fry right up and be ruined.

 

[dhomes]

I dont dry burn cotton! Remember, cotton here is NOT the wick (thats the function of the mesh) but to prevent shorting between the mesh and the evod head.

You could also skip altogether the cotton if you properly oxidize the mesh, but i prefer the clean taste of unoxidized mesh (i wash the mesh in water / soapy water / water)

The cotton from a qtip seems like a tad too little, i unroll a single ball of cotton from cotton ball (the ones used by women to remove make up), wash in water, compact it by rolling, dry on microwave, then roll an even THIN (say, half a milimetet) layer around the mesh, roll the two thing with my fingers, wrap my coil, place on evod head, put a couple of drops of the juice im going to vape to prime and prevent burning the cotton and close the whole thing

It may sound complicated but the whole process takes me about 5 mins from the moment i take a ball of cotton out (i already have a few sheet of washed and dried meshes around)

You can off couse keep buying evod heads and it would take you a lot less time, but once you master it you save some money in the long run, you (well, i do) get a better flavor, your wick doest clog after 1 or 2 weeks, etc etc (heck, i got 2 evods about 3 months ago, i have only changed the coils once per month)

Besides, DIY and tinkering is lots of fun!

The one downsize: changing flavors. Unless you rinse with water or the next flavor is complimentary tou the previous one you'll have a lesser experience (because of the cotton). But this is no different than with silica as far as i know

 

[dhomes]

i tried my hand at a hybrid wick today. i got some 1mm Ekowool and rolled up some SS mesh and worked inside the ekowool. Gave it 4 wraps of 32g Kanthal. Got 1.7 ohm's, not bad. The taste is excellent and vapor production is decent, but it doesn't seem to give the real strong ripping crackle that I love.

I mostly care about how clean the taste is, but if vapor if your deal either get some ribbon kanthal, use a lower gauge wire with more wraps or twist your current wire and Double - 1 the number of wraps (if you had, say, 3 -> 5, if 4 -> 7, etc)

The more coil area in comtact with the wick the bigger the amount of vapor)
In my pics i use 10 wraps of kanthal 38

 

[pizza2me]

Thanks guys. No dry burning. And, dhomes, you made me realize what might have been my problems with my only SS wicks. I don't think I was oxidizing enough. And the space is so limited in the protank/evod head, I was getting hotspots and shorts. It was hard to work them out. And probably some underneath that I couldn't see.

I did another one last night with just the cotton from a q-tip. Just pealed it off, smoothed it out and wrapped. My wife is not too picky about taste, but definitely doesn't like the metalic taste. And, she likes to burn attys , so I may try again without the cotton. OR, as you mentioned earlier, the SS slowly gets oxidised using this method. My cotton is so thin, maybe if and when it gets toasted, I'll just pull and wash it off.

In the meantime I'm going to oxidize the bejeevies outta a SS only wick and try it.

Absolutely want to rebuild all myself and not buy stock. I've totally converted to RBAs from carto tanks and now trying to get my wife off of them. I don't want to buy anything but wire and wick anymore. She didn't like the RBA due to leakage and stuff. So I'm trying the protank.

She love them! But, I just have to find just the right rebuild that she cannot burn, tastes good and doesn't leak.

Thanks again for your help!!!

(and I'd may try the other method, 2 rolls, somebody mentioned above. But, I'm still not clear with roll the cotton goes in. Or both)

 

[dhomes]

Absolutely want to rebuild all myself and not buy stock. I've totally converted to RBAs from carto tanks and now trying to get my wife off of them.

if you want to get into RBA + Meshes it's a good idea to get a mechanical mod, even one of the cheap ones (sub $25 you find at Fasttech or exhalevapors).

with a mech just pulse fire the unoxidized SS Mesh several times until the coil glows even. With a provari or other regulated voltage/wattege devices any short will trigger the short circuit protection

this is the way I setup my RBAs. After they are stable (even glow on coils) I transfer to my provari or vamo

actually, doing it like this I may not even add cotton next time (i have the evods just for taking out of the house, so they don't see that much use anyhow)

 

[pizza2me]

if you want to get into RBA + Meshes it's a good idea to get a mechanical mod, even one of the cheap ones (sub $25 you find at Fasttech or exhalevapors).

with a mech just pulse fire the unoxidized SS Mesh several times until the coil glows even. With a provari or other regulated voltage/wattege devices any short will trigger the short circuit protection

this is the way I setup my RBAs. After they are stable (even glow on coils) I transfer to my provari or vamo

actually, doing it like this I may not even add cotton next time (i have the evods just for taking out of the house, so they don't see that much use anyhow)

Yup! I've been studying. I've already ordered two sigelei 19E's mechs. I think that was my problem with just SS. Not oxidized good enough. It will be a while though, so I'll use your cotton system in the meantime. Actually, knowing me, I'll probably torch the chit out of a plain SS tonight and try it. This stuff is fun!!! (I don't know how many times I've rebuilt my RSST coils and not once was it necessary. Just trying different methods.)