Attack of the (Kayfun Mini V3) Clones!

He might--if posted in clown threads. I do not wish to incur his wrath.

Just go to YouTube--or to the authentic K3 (and K5) threads.

 

People who have to rewick every day I believe is down to the juice.. Unless something is going wrong and the cotton is burning.. Some juice with this high VG and certain flavors gunks up so damn fast..

I actually bought a legit kayfun mini v3 base.. Im hoping it fits on my clones tank. :::: keeping fingers crossed::::

 

You would have to move glacier slow for that to work. The original minis have flat spot among the threads to let the pressure out as you're screwing it down. However, some of the clones don't have this. Even if you go slow, you're going to pressurize the tank somewhat. I don't know if it's enough to cause juice to come out of the air holes, but it does pressurize it some. Try it in reverse. Back off the top cap slowly and watch the bubbles start coming out the bottom. You're creating a negative pressure because you're backing it off, which is the same thing in reverse. If you don't see any bubbles when backing it off, then tightening the cap won't be an issue either.

 

Mine does--otherwise it really would be futile.

 

Yeah, my clone has the flat spots on the top piece threads as well. I think most clones have this as well. I'm not sure there are any that don't.

I still have some seepage issues out the air intake holes, and possibly out the bottom of the base? Not a big issue, but turning the juice flow open after inverting the tank doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The issue gets a bit worse once my coil gets a bit gunked up, or after I accidentally burn the wick some.

I do use high VG tobacco flavors, though not NET flavored, or any other dark juices, as those juices just gunk everything up so quick they are not worth bothering with. Still, changing out my wick once A day works best for me, for now. I recently started diluting my high VG (70/30 VG/PG) juice with a bit of distilled water. This is something I used to have to do to keep my factory MTL coils going. I'm surprised I'm doing it now for a MTL RTA, but it does seem to help prevent dry hits, and keep the coil/wick setup lasting a day or two longer.

 

If you get some seepage right after filling, it could be because you pressurized the tank. Otherwise, it's because you have a bad seal. The vacuum is what holds the juice in, not the wick. Remove the tank, put it firmly in the palm of your hand, suck in on the tip and block it with your tongue. It should stick like a tick and pop when you finally pull it off. If not,change the o-rings, especially the one in the top cap. That one has to seal around the tube or it will leak.

 

I got my authentic kayfun base... Or at least im hoping it is lol.. The engravings on the bottom are deeper... but now im kind of wondering if i wasted my time/money lol.. Thought there would be something more magical on the authentic like fatter screws but even the screws are similar. It fits into my clone tank but a little snug.. Haven't built on it yet.. I guess ill see if there is a difference between the clone base and this one.. My main concern with the clones was the type of metal used deep inside.. China is notorious for using cheap metals and lead.. But its probably exactly the same .... anyway.. Well it wasn't a killing I got the base for 30 dollars

 

Just an update since probably no one cares.. KF3 is probably obsolete now lol... The original base fit fine in my clone tank and im vaping it now.. Its really not any different than the clone i bought for 8 dollars.. This base alone cost me 30. The screws are better.... but its practically the same ..... I can't blame people for buying clones..

 

Does FT have good replacement screws? I'm placing an order through FT for a few KF Mini V3 replacement parts (base center post screw "plate", o-rings, peek insulating gaskets, etc.). Because of that I was also thinking about getting some good (better?) coil securing deck screws (or whatever they are called), but am unsure what size I would get, or if it would even be worth bothering with? So far I have searched FT and not found KF Mini V3 specific deck screws.

 

Usually the screws on the clones sucks.. Maybe they have improved them though. I don't know. With the clones I had to wrap the wire around the screw otherwise it kept popping out. There is a site that sells the parts and screws for the authentic kayfun mini v3.. perhaps that would fit into the clone.. I am not sure. Everything was going smooth for me, but now its gurgling .. :-\ The one kayfun clone i bought that has worked amazing for like two years now.. I don't even remember where i got it,, which i did!

 

I hadn't seen that one, great find!

 

I ordered a Kayfun Mini V3 Plus from FT awhile back to tryout. I think it finally shipped a few days ago, so I'll finally get to see it in maybe a week or two.

I've been re-experimenting with temp control recently using my Kayfun Mini V3s on firmware updated iStick Picos. I think I am finally getting the hang of it. Disassembling my Kayfuns and reassembling tight with the help of thread locker in two or three spots has helped keep a more consistent connection for accurate TC.

I think the firmware upgrade was helpful too, but improving my method of wicking with rayon has been extremely important. I try not to wick too tightly, which is almost more important than avoiding wicking too loosely. Then after trimming the wick length, I go ahead and trim half the wick off right off the bat, from the top side of both tails, right up close to the coil - leaving maybe a millimeter or two sticking out. Then I trim the remaining tails to a blunt nosed taper (a flat bottomed "V" cut).

So far I'm getting good chain vaping MTL wick results, running a 0.5 ohm SS coil at a low 12 or so Watts, with max temp also set pretty low - to about 320F. That's a fairly "cool" vape, but produces satisfactory vapor and flavor for MTL chain vaping. I'm getting over a cold, so I'm taking it easy on the Wattage and temp settings for now.

Both of my Kayfun Mini V3 clones came from 3F Vspe. They seem to be pretty good clones, though I may have to replace the o-rings seals to stop some very modest juice seepage out the air intake holes. That's primarily after refilling. Turning the tanks upside down before reopening the the juice flow does seem to help some with that, but not completely. It's a minor issue.

 

Yeah, sometimes I get some modest seepage after re-filling too. It's extremely minor, just an annoyance. Just the nature of the beast, I guess. I'm guessing it has to develop a bit of a vacuum in the tank in order for the two opposing forces to balance out.

 

This is a classic example of doing it wrong, and very common. A person gets leaks, so they use the wick to partially block the juice channels. Then they get dry hits. So they thin the juice to improve flow or they try to find the perfect way to wick it. It's a balancing act that only leads to frustration and eventually giving up on the tank. This is why I advocate two important points. First, leaking is always caused by a bad seal. Do not adjust the wick due to leaking. Find the leaky o-ring and replace it. Second, dry hits are caused by bad wicking. The wick should only barely reach the deck. Stuff too much wick in there and you block the juice channels and cause dry hits. Follow those 2 simple rules and your tank will be trouble-free.

Here's the principle on which the tank works: When you draw on it, you pull juice from the juice channels into the juice well, creating suction in the tank. When you stop drawing on it, the suction pulls the juice back into the tank again. This will go on forever if you don't press the fire button. However, when you press the fire button, you vaporize some of the juice and dry out the wick. This will cause the wick to absorb some of the juice in the juice well, which is why the wick only needs to be long enough to reach it. So when the suction in the tank pulls the juice back in, some of the juice isn't there anymore because the wick took it. As a result, it sucks in some air, which is the bubbles you see coming up. The bubble goes to the top, relieves some of the suction, the juice in the tank drops a bit, and refills the juice channels, ready to start the process over again.

For all this to work, the tank MUST have a good seal. Wicking is NOT an art. It's very forgiving if you understand the purpose of it. If you're trying to do something it's not intended to do, then it's extremely finicky.

 

I also got my KF Mini V3 clone from 3F Vape, logo and all. The only problem I found with it is that they machine the coil "collar" (or shoulder) a little thin on one side and it has a slight corner notch. Doesn't affect the performance at all though, and the rest of the device is very good quality. Some may find this suprising, but so far for MTL vaping the best flavor I've gotten is from a Myjet pod, but the pods are too expensive even thought they can be rewicked, so I've been trying to emulate that flavor in my KF Mini V3, you can read my results thus far in this Myjet thread:
MyJet - Wismec
I'm interested in your work with TC and SS, I have a couple of TC devices, but never used them, and they don't do SS, which is what I will want to do try if I go TC. FYI, the Myjet gives me a cooler vape as well, since its unregulated battery voltage on a 1.3 ohm coil the only reason I can figure it does is because it has a smaller oblong coil collar and chimney, thus somewhat faster air flow by the coil despite the tight draw.

 

You certainly may be right. I've got some replacement seals on the way to tryout, to see if that helps. If it does that would be great. All my seals have visually looked fine when inspecting them, but that may not mean anything if it turns out some of them are the wrong size or something else quirky like that.

I'm rather surprised none of your TC mods do SS. I would think most TC mods do SS nowadays, so I'm guessing your TC mods are maybe a little older?

Regardless, if you want to do SS TC you will obviously need to get a mod that can do that. Most newer TC capable devices can do SS, so you will have no problem finding a suitable device, and SS 316L wire is available from all suppliers. I'm not familiar with the other types of SS vape wire that are out there. SS 316L is the most common.

For the most part I like the iStick Pico 75W for TC. I like the design enough that I ended up buying a second one as a backup - and may even get a 3rd (the latest one with the multicolor resin finish). There are plenty other affordable options available as well. I'm eyeing a few myself, but I'm not really in the market for a newer design box mod right now.

Previously I had an IPV D2. I think that's the right name. I can barely remember anymore. It could do SS too, I think, but I only used its TC functionality with factory built TC heads. I found (at the time at least) that factory MTL TC heads just never seemed to work very well, but that was maybe about a year ago.

One of the reasons I got back into rebuilding was because I had read somewhere that was really the only way to get good MTL tank TC results. And, of course, I was sick and tired of buying cruddy factory coils that just never lasted me very long.

I don't think there is anything magical about a SS TC build compared to a regular Kanthal power mode build. For now, I just do a 3mm inner diameter, 6 wrap coil, using 26 gauge SS 316L wire. That's just a build I read posted by someone else here on ECF.

It took me awhile to realize (be convinced by other forum members I should say) that I didn't need to try building above 1 ohm coils to get good mouth-to-lung results with SS for TC like I normally would with Kanthal wire. Also, if you wick with cotton, unlike me playing with rayon wick, you should probably have an easier time than I did. Cotton is generally easier to wick with, and used with a proper TC setup you shouldn't need to worry about burning it.

I just got into using rayon early on for its better than cotton wicking abilities, to help prevent dry hits when using high VG juices in tight'ish draw MTL builds.

I am allergic to high doses of PG in my juice, so that has caused me a few issues in my vaping life. High VG juices don't run very well in old school CE4 type eGo era clearomizers. Back in those days, good high VG juices were hard to find as well. A lot has changed since then, but most factory MTL coils for MTL tanks (not that there are that many good ones anyway) still don't run high VG juices very well. So now I'm into MTL RTAs. There has been a learning curve to deal with, but I am now much better off for the effort.

 

You truly ARE a Maestro, aren't you! Wow, this is great info (and thank you). So, for starters, let's do "first".

Leaking, you say, is always caused by a bad seal. How would one find and determine a bad seal? Often tanks do not come with spares, and I think this has been a vaper's lament for awhile now (in terms of getting replacement seals, better seals, etc.).

Your thoughts, Maestro?

 

Taking out the seals and visually inspecting them would let you know if there are any obvious issues, like a broken or deformed seal (which can happen when the tank is badly assembled in the factory). Other than that you would need to replace the seals with a replacement set that is hopeful good. But other than a basic visual inspection, how can you tell if the replacements are any good? Try them and see if they help or not. I'm not sure there are many other options than that.

Typically, at least one spare set of seals comes with my tanks when I buy a new one, but for whatever reason none came with my first two Kayfun Mini V3s from 3F Vape. Spare seals and screws did come with my 3rd one from the same supplier. I have no idea why, but I guess you have to expect that level of inconsistency when buying clones.

I bought several spare sets of o-ring seals from FT to make up for this, but they take several weeks to make it all the way over from China. I'm not sure about other good sources for spare o-rings. You could probably get genuine Kayfun ones from somewhere domestically. As far as I can tell, most domestic suppliers of the genuine tanks don't typically have spare o-rings available - though they often at least have replacement glass tanks available, so that's something. I'm sure you could probably get good o-ring replacements if you ordered direct from Kayfun (or is it Svoemesto?) in Germany, but that would be more expensive than ordering from China (or the US), and may take nearly as long to ship as an order from China. There's also no guarantee genuine Kayfun replacement o-rings would actually properly fit a clone, so that is another possible issue to contend with. (Does anyone here know for sure?) I guess the best advice is to buy spares early on, when you first order a new tank, just to be sure you have some replacement parts on hand as early as possible - as factory installed seals and screws occasionally get damaged during assembly, or are just simply out of spec.

 

Thanks, Katdarling. I appreciate your perceptiveness. LOL. Anyhow, most of the time the guilty o-ring is the small one in the center of the top cap. It has to seal around that tube that comes up. Another one is around the outer edge of the top cap. It's not usually a problem because it gets squeezed pretty tight. More like a gasket. The thickness of the o-ring isn't that critical as long as it's not too thin. The other two are on the glass and since they're screwed down pretty hard as well, they aren't usually a problem. They're more like a gasket too. The thickness of those isn't that critical either. The ones on the deck don't appear to have anything to do with it. I suspect they're just for the flow shut off. It's that pesky one in the center of the top cap that you really have to watch out for. It doesn't get squeezed. It just rides up and down on the tube. It seals on both sides and MUST be the right size.

The best way to check your seal is this: Remove the deck so that you just have the tank section in your hand. Press the open end of the tank firmly into the palm of your hand. Draw hard on the drip tip and plug it with your tongue. It should stick like a tick to a hound dog. After 10 or 15 seconds pull your tongue off and it should "pop" when you do it. If it does that, it has a good seal.

 

I agree. Fasttech is the way to go. Unlike Amazon, they don't have a minimum amount for free shipping. You can order something for 80 cents and they'll ship it to you for free. Spare O-rings, glass, screws and all the other parts are dirt cheap, so stock up.