AQUA keeps getting dry hits! Help??

[acidtabvocab]

Hey ecf! I just got the Aqua clone i think by Tobecco, and ive tried about 5 different builds with cotton and i cant seem to get it to wick right. Ive used little cotton a lot of cotton lots of wraps very few wire wraps. Big inner diameter small diameter and i cant seem to get it to perform right. I usually can get 3-4 three second draws and then it burns the cotton. Or it will wick great for about 5 draws and then completely dry up. Ive explored other threads and still cant figure out whats going on. Im using releticely thin juice; 60/40 and 50/50, still no luck. Here is the current build. I know pictures help. Im fed up so i am about to go out and dremel out the wells for the wick so i can get better juice flow. Ive also tried opening the juice feed all the way open all the way closed, air flow open or closed and everything inbetween. LASTLY, i have modded the atty, you can see in the photos i drilled bigger and extra holes on the sides. The deck i also drilled out a bit. However, that shouldnt effect the juice flow at all. Please direct me in the right way, im about to give up! thanks!!!

 

[suspectK]

Waaaayyyy too much cotton.. You want to have the tail of the wick about half-way down the wick channel.

 

[acidtabvocab]

Waaaayyyy too much cotton.. You want to have the tail of the wick about half-way down the wick channel.

Really? I tried doing that once before too and no luck. I also just dremeled out the wells and it all threads together perfect thankfully. Ill try using less of a tail like you suggested. I think the added space in the wells should help too. I was under the impression that the wick was supposed to go all the way through the wells not just half way down. Ill report back. For now, here are some pics of the dremel job.

 

[steel bender]

Hey ecf! I just got the Aqua clone i think by Tobecco, and ive tried about 5 different builds with cotton and i cant seem to get it to wick right. Ive used little cotton a lot of cotton lots of wraps very few wire wraps. Big inner diameter small diameter and i cant seem to get it to perform right. I usually can get 3-4 three second draws and then it burns the cotton. Or it will wick great for about 5 draws and then completely dry up. Ive explored other threads and still cant figure out whats going on. Im using releticely thin juice; 60/40 and 50/50, still no luck. Here is the current build. I know pictures help. Im fed up so i am about to go out and dremel out the wells for the wick so i can get better juice flow. Ive also tried opening the juice feed all the way open all the way closed, air flow open or closed and everything inbetween. LASTLY, i have modded the atty, you can see in the photos i drilled bigger and extra holes on the sides. The deck i also drilled out a bit. However, that shouldnt effect the juice flow at all. Please direct me in the right way, im about to give up! thanks!!!

Drilling out the air holes can have a huge effect on wicking. Less pressure being created, so less juice is being pulled up.

Try closing off the airflow almost all the way and opening up the juice control all the way, you should be able to flood it very quickly, then it's just a matter of opening up the airflow/closing juice until it stops gurgling.

About the wick, it looks like you have some going around the deck, which isn't necessary and could be blocking the flow of juice. All you need is to get some wick straight down in the channels from the coil. Also, I believe the makers of the original said if you put wick all the way down through the channels, you might get dry hits, but for most people, it works great that way. So you might want to try only having you wick going down the vertical channel and not horizontal.

 

[bcastela]

Weird, I have about the same cotton and I can vape at 0,8 ohm almost fully closed juice control without dry hits.

How much power are you vaping at? What's the diameter on those coils? Also, check if the coils are heating evenly. A super hot coil would explain the dry hits.

I agree with steel, increased air holes reduce negative pressure. If everything fails, try closing the air flow to see if it helps wicking.

 

[acidtabvocab]

Steel, i have experimented and closed off the air, it does seem to improve it. Ive also put the cotton just vertical in the wells, has also helped. Unfortunately i cant take a draw longer than 3 seconds otherwise... burnt. Im thinking of giving up and buying a russian 91 like i had originally planned. Any more tips?

Coils are wrapped around 7/64 bit, coils are glowing as even as they can be.

 

[HughDaHand]

When I was working to figure out the right amount of cotton for my aqua I would fill the channels with dry cotton. I would then wet it with juice really well. Then let it sit for about an hour or so and see how much the cotton swelled. You want it to not swell out of the channels very much. The hard part was remembering how much I had used, It took a little while but I think the experimenting really helped me nail down how to wick a aqua. Once I got that figured out my aqua almost wicked to well and I ended up going with a slightly lower ohm coil.

 

[bcastela]

Ok, i just checked a chart, 7/64 is 2.7mm? That seems way to much. I imagine it would be difficult to find a balance where the coil is making contact with the cotton without overfilling the Chanel paths.

I'm using 1.8mm microcoils. Closer to a 5/64 drill but you could go has far as 1/16.


Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk

 

[bce22]

Steel, i have experimented and closed off the air, it does seem to improve it. Ive also put the cotton just vertical in the wells, has also helped. Unfortunately i cant take a draw longer than 3 seconds otherwise... burnt. Im thinking of giving up and buying a russian 91 like i had originally planned. Any more tips?

Coils are wrapped around 7/64 bit, coils are glowing as even as they can be.

Your coils are too big.

Make coils around 1/16 bit. This will also limit the amount of cotton to the right amount. Cut the cotton so it just touches the bottom of the vertical channel. If you cut it a little long just push the wick up so the end is equal to the bottom of channel. It makes a kind of mustache looking wick through the coil but it works.

 

[steel bender]

Yup, I'll go along with that, 1/16th micros seemed to work best for me. I tried 3/32, but I thought it was too much cotton for the channels...

 

[Cheflance]

Hhmm. I'm wrapping around a #6 machine screw. 6 coils on each gave me 1 ohm resistance. Organic cotton rolled and put all the way down the channels with a little sticking out the bottom horizontal channel. Vaping like a champ on the third try. Used this link to figure the wraps:

Coil wrapping | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Good luck. Hope it works because I am really happy with my Aqua clone.

 

[betterthanyou]

I have a drilled out modified Aqua and I run dual coils consistently sub ohm. I have never had a problem with dry hits, ever. Maybe I'm just lucky or possibly my first builds on this device I just happened to 'get right'. I tuck the (wetted) cotton into each juice channel and pack it against the vertical channel back wall. I don't let any cotton go beyond that and into the horizontal channel at the base of the vertical one.

I pack the cotton in each channel and make sure that when all the cotton is wetted and tucked, that no cotton extends out of the channels (for example coming out around the threading). I have had 100% success with this method, juice control fully tightened, airflow fully opened.. When I refill I close off the side airhole, fill from the top until the liquid barely reaches above the bottom chimney well (I keep all juice below threading), then I'll screw on the top cap, flip the device upside down, and tighten the cap fully. While upside down I open the airflow and then turn the device right side up and insert my drip tip. At this point I'll take a few drags without firing.

Sometimes I get a little juice that comes out of the side airhole, but not often and when it happens it aint much, I just wipe it down with a paper towel and continue to draw on the device without firing to get the juice up into the chamber. Result: massive clouds and superb flavor.

I do have a heavily drilled aqua however, see my thread about that in this RBA subforum if interested.