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I got another Tobeco clone arrive today and have just stripped it down for a bath. One of the deck screws will not budge at all.Has anybody any tips how to loosen it? It is screwed right down.Thanks for any help.
Well my SJMY KF5 just arrived. Ordered last friday, China EMS said it was picked up last saturday, then the only tracking info i got days ago was it made a pitstop on Ascension Island? Australia Post can also track China EMS, but there was nothing other than Ascension Is either. So tracking is hopeless at least on this package. I guestimated the other day it would arrive today, and on the way home from shopping, and on the bus almost at my stop i got a notification on my delivery tracking app that it had been delivered....yay, no delivery card under the door (i live in a secure building so someone must have answered the door) and having to go back out to the post office.
Walked in and there it was.
Unboxed:
First impressions:
Mine at least came with the steel section fitted. Until i figure out if the jfc (which i think most will know i feel is a marketing ....) came be left fully open, like every other tank ive had that has been afflicted with jfc, i will use the glass tank. But the steel section make it look classy
The threads are buttery smooth, probably the best threading ive seen in any tank ive had so far...better than the Merlin i had for sure...speaking of which the threading being buttery smooth meant that the jfc actually worked without almost having to use pliers, like i did with my Merlin - just one of its many flaws. Even the 510 pin looks a proper length
The airflow on the highest setting is a little more restrictive than my Lemo 2 wide open (which is how i have it), and i like a restrictive dtl, so all looking good
The airflow and jfc control on this thing do at least make sense in how they work, as mush as i loathe jfc.
Doesnt smell of oil etc, but ill give it a bath anyways and build it later
Top Tip/Warning:
When removing the foam insert form the box, be aware that (at least on mine) the foam surrounding the tank is in 2 sections the main part surrounding the tank and atty, and a separate layer on the bottom. So if youre not careful its possible for the atty or glass to fall right through, and onto the floor. You can just see the bottom section of foam at the bottom edge in the pic, i should really have made it stand out more. I suggest you do not get shinyitis at the mailbox and open it walking around, and open the package anywhere than on top of a flat surface. Still its almost still better than the packaging from Svoe Mesto...for all the money you pay for a genuine they send you something that looks like two spark plug boxes (holding the tank and glass) inside another box...disgraceful for that money.
Walked in and there it was.
Unboxed:
First impressions:
Mine at least came with the steel section fitted. Until i figure out if the jfc (which i think most will know i feel is a marketing ....) came be left fully open, like every other tank ive had that has been afflicted with jfc, i will use the glass tank. But the steel section make it look classy
The threads are buttery smooth, probably the best threading ive seen in any tank ive had so far...better than the Merlin i had for sure...speaking of which the threading being buttery smooth meant that the jfc actually worked without almost having to use pliers, like i did with my Merlin - just one of its many flaws. Even the 510 pin looks a proper length
The airflow on the highest setting is a little more restrictive than my Lemo 2 wide open (which is how i have it), and i like a restrictive dtl, so all looking good
The airflow and jfc control on this thing do at least make sense in how they work, as mush as i loathe jfc.
Doesnt smell of oil etc, but ill give it a bath anyways and build it later
Top Tip/Warning:
When removing the foam insert form the box, be aware that (at least on mine) the foam surrounding the tank is in 2 sections the main part surrounding the tank and atty, and a separate layer on the bottom. So if youre not careful its possible for the atty or glass to fall right through, and onto the floor. You can just see the bottom section of foam at the bottom edge in the pic, i should really have made it stand out more. I suggest you do not get shinyitis at the mailbox and open it walking around, and open the package anywhere than on top of a flat surface. Still its almost still better than the packaging from Svoe Mesto...for all the money you pay for a genuine they send you something that looks like two spark plug boxes (holding the tank and glass) inside another box...disgraceful for that money.
After a bath, it is built...
Observations:
Overall build quality -
I havent found anything in the machining to even have a niggle over. Its better made than my main squeeze, the Lemo 2. Threads are extremely well machined.
That one reviewer (DJLSB) mentioned the authentic has wonky threads, and at that price, when the clone is buttery makes me feel less guilty about buying the clone.
Fitting a coil -
I use tc full time, so its my usual 7 wraps of 26g 316L SS on 3mm id - usually gets me just under 0.6.
The kanger style trapping is a plus, its the only thing id change on my Lemo 2 deck (i did beg them for this in the Lemo 3, but they went the other way and built a heretical dual coil piece of nonsense with a massive airflow trough in the middle that Lemo devotees dont want to buy - but they did put in better coil leg trapping, so...). I put the leg in the channel and bent the leg around (warning, at least with 26g, you cant rely on putting it in the channel, straight through and trapping it...at least on the clone, as the outward pressure form the coil forces the leg to the outside of the channel, and the screw doesnt quite reach). So down the channel and bent around the screw, and screwed down and youre good. I suppose you could "u" it back around the screw, but you'd need snips to get down there on the return channel to snip it off. Anyways, trapped the leg was. Whacked it on the TreeBox, new coil ...yes, and 0.56ohms it read. Whacked it on the Efusion DNA200 and ran atty analyser (live readings) in Escribe.....0.57 and stable as my Lemo 2...so conductivity and stability looks good so far for tc. Put the TB in watts mode, turned it down to 12w and pulsed the coil...uniform heating yay - i rarely even bother to pulse/dry burn my builds these days (in fact i havent done it in 7 months up until this point), but with a new tank i wanted to get this right and rule out this if there was an issue. One comment on the deck, id personally like it to be a bit wider, but then id probably like to see most decks a little wider - getting 7 spaced wraps in there is a bit fiddly, as i like to leave a good space between each wrap...and this is my own belief/observation, because once you fire it the outward tension or the tendency for the wire to want to spring outwards changes...the wire loses that outward tendency with heat and instead wants to collapse...hence why i like to leave a decent space between each wrap. So bigger decks, yes please for spaced coil people maybe...people stuffing in kanthal contact coils and low wrap/ohmage claptons etc probably arent going to complain. Maybe im the only one who wants slightly wider decks....
Coil centered and pulled about 3mm off the deck, same as i do on my Lemo 2
Wicking -
Cut the wick ends just outside of the base diameter. Despite after 18 months of knowing that what appears as large and easy in youtube tutorials, putting the wick into the channels was just a bit more fiddly first time out than Daniels review and build youtube video made it seem. I dont have the curved tweezers, so the bend and slot it back into the channels was a bit fiddlier. It will get easier with each build though. I made sure that the wick filled both the lenght and the width of the channel, and by looking at the cutaway slots on one side of the deck, i could see i got it pretty much spot on...the wick ends touching the deck uniformly, and the wick coming out of the coil flowing down nicely, i.e. no upward kink of wick above the coil. Not bad considering when i cut it just outside of the base diameter i was eyeballing, and initially thought i hadnt left enough on
Airflow control -
Im starting to think its a bit of genius in the way it works. The dots on the clone at least could be easier to see. But the lift up and twist until you see the size you want via the dots and then push back down is the goodness. It will not move without user intervention. I like it, a lot.
And now we come to my bugbear and my most contentious device feature in vaping, and one i loathe, because i personally believe its a marketing bullet point, and a bit of wankery/gadgetry thats to me entirely unnecessary...
Juice flow control -
I closed it up. I filled the tank. I opened it 2 turns. I vaped. At thsi point i knew the wicking was good, i cranked it another turn. I vaped. Then i opened it all the way. I vaped.
No leaks.
Now my unflavoured mix, since moving to distilled water is like water compared to my previous mix at 50/50 or 60/40 VG/PG.
Currently it is (14mg 30ml batch):
* 2.1ml Nic (200mg/100% PG based - usually i do 12mg mixes, but moving to DW, i adjusted it up to counter the water a bit)
* 24.9ml VG
* 3ml Distilled Water
In percentages thats
7% Nic/PG
83% VG
10% Distilled Water
83% VG might sound thick, but not once the DW gets thrown into the mix. Its easily the thinnest mix ive ever run.
My point being that if if any of my tanks was going to leak, it would do it with this mix in it
JFC wide open, chain vaping...no leaks....
So im going to have a slight rant on jfc again, and then ill leave you in peace. I made this same point when i had the Merlin...jfc does effectively nothing to stop leaking, with one caveat, you have your wicking right. In less details (probably) than my rant in the Merlin thread (where i purposely badly wicked it to make my point), even in the most often fired back defence of it...at filling time, i still call bs. Because any tank with the wicking done right, a properly sealing afc, and a fill method with return pressure path, theres no need for jfc - it wont leak even during filling. I wont rehash my entire post on the fluid dynamics and physics that make my ultimate point about jfc here, except to say that Svoe Mesto made topfill pressure leaking even less likely by the chamfering of the topfill cap...so even less reason for jfc during filling. Like i said in that thread and in many threads since, jfc needs to die, its unnecessary in a well made tank, introduces an extra mechanical element/complexity, and often steals space at the bottom of a tank which could be better devoted to knurling or other tactile areas.....id much rather a tank had extra space to grip than blooimg jfc, at least on this its internal...but i bet you i could as i do on my Lemo 2, leave the airflow (and in the KF5 jfc) open and refill it without a leak.
btw the tanks been sitting there for an hour now wide open jfc, no pool of juice on my beloved TreeBox. This thing will not leak if you get the wicking right, ruling out a manufacturing error, bad orings...
The important bit
The vape -
The vape, even using unflavoured is really good, due to the airflow its a little denser than my beloved Lemo 2. Is it as cloudy? Im no cloud chaser, but even i get pretty decent clouds out of my Lemo 2 with my normal mix. With the Kayfun 5 its hard to measure per draw, due to the restriction on it, but someone going past my window ( which i vape right next and i eject my vapour out so i dont set of the fire alarm) just a little while ago said ".... on". I then had to let them down and tell them what it was, and that i dont even drink caffeinated coffee
I suspect when i get a flavoured juice in there when this tanks empty it will be very very good.
Observations:
Overall build quality -
I havent found anything in the machining to even have a niggle over. Its better made than my main squeeze, the Lemo 2. Threads are extremely well machined.
That one reviewer (DJLSB) mentioned the authentic has wonky threads, and at that price, when the clone is buttery makes me feel less guilty about buying the clone.
Fitting a coil -
I use tc full time, so its my usual 7 wraps of 26g 316L SS on 3mm id - usually gets me just under 0.6.
The kanger style trapping is a plus, its the only thing id change on my Lemo 2 deck (i did beg them for this in the Lemo 3, but they went the other way and built a heretical dual coil piece of nonsense with a massive airflow trough in the middle that Lemo devotees dont want to buy - but they did put in better coil leg trapping, so...). I put the leg in the channel and bent the leg around (warning, at least with 26g, you cant rely on putting it in the channel, straight through and trapping it...at least on the clone, as the outward pressure form the coil forces the leg to the outside of the channel, and the screw doesnt quite reach). So down the channel and bent around the screw, and screwed down and youre good. I suppose you could "u" it back around the screw, but you'd need snips to get down there on the return channel to snip it off. Anyways, trapped the leg was. Whacked it on the TreeBox, new coil ...yes, and 0.56ohms it read. Whacked it on the Efusion DNA200 and ran atty analyser (live readings) in Escribe.....0.57 and stable as my Lemo 2...so conductivity and stability looks good so far for tc. Put the TB in watts mode, turned it down to 12w and pulsed the coil...uniform heating yay - i rarely even bother to pulse/dry burn my builds these days (in fact i havent done it in 7 months up until this point), but with a new tank i wanted to get this right and rule out this if there was an issue. One comment on the deck, id personally like it to be a bit wider, but then id probably like to see most decks a little wider - getting 7 spaced wraps in there is a bit fiddly, as i like to leave a good space between each wrap...and this is my own belief/observation, because once you fire it the outward tension or the tendency for the wire to want to spring outwards changes...the wire loses that outward tendency with heat and instead wants to collapse...hence why i like to leave a decent space between each wrap. So bigger decks, yes please for spaced coil people maybe...people stuffing in kanthal contact coils and low wrap/ohmage claptons etc probably arent going to complain. Maybe im the only one who wants slightly wider decks....
Coil centered and pulled about 3mm off the deck, same as i do on my Lemo 2
Wicking -
Cut the wick ends just outside of the base diameter. Despite after 18 months of knowing that what appears as large and easy in youtube tutorials, putting the wick into the channels was just a bit more fiddly first time out than Daniels review and build youtube video made it seem. I dont have the curved tweezers, so the bend and slot it back into the channels was a bit fiddlier. It will get easier with each build though. I made sure that the wick filled both the lenght and the width of the channel, and by looking at the cutaway slots on one side of the deck, i could see i got it pretty much spot on...the wick ends touching the deck uniformly, and the wick coming out of the coil flowing down nicely, i.e. no upward kink of wick above the coil. Not bad considering when i cut it just outside of the base diameter i was eyeballing, and initially thought i hadnt left enough on
Airflow control -
Im starting to think its a bit of genius in the way it works. The dots on the clone at least could be easier to see. But the lift up and twist until you see the size you want via the dots and then push back down is the goodness. It will not move without user intervention. I like it, a lot.
And now we come to my bugbear and my most contentious device feature in vaping, and one i loathe, because i personally believe its a marketing bullet point, and a bit of wankery/gadgetry thats to me entirely unnecessary...
Juice flow control -
I closed it up. I filled the tank. I opened it 2 turns. I vaped. At thsi point i knew the wicking was good, i cranked it another turn. I vaped. Then i opened it all the way. I vaped.
No leaks.
Now my unflavoured mix, since moving to distilled water is like water compared to my previous mix at 50/50 or 60/40 VG/PG.
Currently it is (14mg 30ml batch):
* 2.1ml Nic (200mg/100% PG based - usually i do 12mg mixes, but moving to DW, i adjusted it up to counter the water a bit)
* 24.9ml VG
* 3ml Distilled Water
In percentages thats
7% Nic/PG
83% VG
10% Distilled Water
83% VG might sound thick, but not once the DW gets thrown into the mix. Its easily the thinnest mix ive ever run.
My point being that if if any of my tanks was going to leak, it would do it with this mix in it
JFC wide open, chain vaping...no leaks....
So im going to have a slight rant on jfc again, and then ill leave you in peace. I made this same point when i had the Merlin...jfc does effectively nothing to stop leaking, with one caveat, you have your wicking right. In less details (probably) than my rant in the Merlin thread (where i purposely badly wicked it to make my point), even in the most often fired back defence of it...at filling time, i still call bs. Because any tank with the wicking done right, a properly sealing afc, and a fill method with return pressure path, theres no need for jfc - it wont leak even during filling. I wont rehash my entire post on the fluid dynamics and physics that make my ultimate point about jfc here, except to say that Svoe Mesto made topfill pressure leaking even less likely by the chamfering of the topfill cap...so even less reason for jfc during filling. Like i said in that thread and in many threads since, jfc needs to die, its unnecessary in a well made tank, introduces an extra mechanical element/complexity, and often steals space at the bottom of a tank which could be better devoted to knurling or other tactile areas.....id much rather a tank had extra space to grip than blooimg jfc, at least on this its internal...but i bet you i could as i do on my Lemo 2, leave the airflow (and in the KF5 jfc) open and refill it without a leak.
btw the tanks been sitting there for an hour now wide open jfc, no pool of juice on my beloved TreeBox. This thing will not leak if you get the wicking right, ruling out a manufacturing error, bad orings...
The important bit
The vape -
The vape, even using unflavoured is really good, due to the airflow its a little denser than my beloved Lemo 2. Is it as cloudy? Im no cloud chaser, but even i get pretty decent clouds out of my Lemo 2 with my normal mix. With the Kayfun 5 its hard to measure per draw, due to the restriction on it, but someone going past my window ( which i vape right next and i eject my vapour out so i dont set of the fire alarm) just a little while ago said ".... on". I then had to let them down and tell them what it was, and that i dont even drink caffeinated coffee
I suspect when i get a flavoured juice in there when this tanks empty it will be very very good.
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Not sure what youre trying to say
And Phils using water there to overdramatise the effect
Regardless
I do know for a fact that i can safely open the side fill port on my Lemo 2 and refill it with the airflow wide ope...been doing it for about 7 months solid...no leaks, even with my current mix
For anything else, and completely inline with my comment on jfc, any tank where you can close the airflow, and have a decent wick in place, you will not get it to leak...theres no path where the liquid can flow out, theres a wick , which if setup properly can only take on so much liquid because of fluid dynamics, and beyond that, from the minute the juice youre putting in hits the juice holes, stored air from there to the airflow control ring creating a pressure cushion if you like...youre not getting juice past either of those without forcing it...so whats the point of jfc....i stand by my comments
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Then it obviously works for you. For me, though, with the Serpent I had issues with the JFC not being completely closed when it was supposed to be. Before I managed to fix it by fitting an o-ring, it would leak like hell everytime I tried to fill it from the top. Several others had the same problem.
Of course I COULD probably have managed to balance the wicking between leaking and dry hits until it worked, but for me it is much easier to just use the JFC. That way I can make it wick generously and still not be worried that it will leak in my pocket (as long as JFC is shut, obviously).
I found myself saying to another vapist just a few minutes ago:
Ive had a year of tanks that have been dead to me within 1 to 8 hours of coming out of the box, and been sent back the following day (unfortunately sans explosives as a message to the manufacturers to express my displeasure at being sold crap)
A clone?...who knew?
Ive had a year of tanks that have been dead to me within 1 to 8 hours of coming out of the box, and been sent back the following day (unfortunately sans explosives as a message to the manufacturers to express my displeasure at being sold crap)
A clone?...who knew?
I have 5 of them 4 tobeco's 1 SXK,no leaking at all.The worse i have had is a drop of condensation coming out of the airflow and that was on a really hot and humid day.
The only leaks i have ever had out of a tank were because a) i didnt wick it right or b) the tank failed to seal at the airflow control ring - the Bachelor i had was The worst for this (and i picked it over the Serpent because of Serpent issues and non changeable glass), manufacturing tolerances (usually) or an incorrect oring spec, somewhere failing to achieve a proper vaccuum/seal, and i think since i spent hours trying to troubleshoot the Bachelor - changed the oring out for the spare etc, it was the machining....bad machining you cant control. wicking you can. Having something else inserted in there to provide another way of avoiding this sounds like a good idea, until you see the number of post per week with people with bad gear. Id much rather vape manufacturers spent more time getting their processes and tolerances better. can imagine how small threads would be if they spent more time building stuff to a better degree, rather than throwing new .... out every 3 or 4 weeks.
I get where youre coming, but i approach things according to my own brand of weird logic/rationalisation, and if im building something i build it as good as i can, take more time, rather than half ... it and rely on injecting another device/gadget into the mix to overcome what should be, if design and time are taken in the first place, something thats avoidable.
Theres a reason i have 3 Lemo 2's and call them indestructotanks, i can take them each week on my travel up to 800m, airflow wide open and they dont leak even with the air pressure differential...i did this with my first tank, a SubTank Mini (or as i call them a Subleak Spitty, and the thing was the leakiest thing ive ever owned, and that was with the airflow closed). In winter, when its gets to freezing, i can (like i did this winter when i was petminding/housesitting for weeks at 800m) take a 70% VG mix (packed in a hurry and without realising what id picked up) with me and not have an issue with wicking, in a tank with arguably the smallest juice holes in any tank, and with the added hurdle of a very small gap between glass and chimney, creating a potential wicking issue, especially with gluggy heavy VG due to the temp. When i woke up the first morning and had to refill and realised id bought 70% vg i thought i was buggered and would have to travel all the way home for the other mix, i filled it up and had a vape...and it would still not throw the Lemo 2...no dry hits the entire weeks i was there. When you get a tank that will cope with all you throw at it you tend to have 1 or 3. Its why you tend to find Lemo 2 owners with more than 1, my friend has 8 of the bloody things
Eleaf got the first two Lemo's right, the 3rd one is dead to me
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I havent vaped my beloved Lemo 2's since i got the SJMY built 7 hours ago....cant remember when this last happened with a new tank....ive pretty much given up trying to find a fault/make it fail, now im just enjoying it
Nice family you've got thereMy family is finally complete, I think I'm done buying vape-gear for a while now:
!
Nice family you've got there
Thank you
I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I still haven't put a build on the SXK mini yet. I've been so busy lately and then I was immobilized by a bad back last week, I just didn't get around to it. Normally I'm always so eager to try out a new tank as soon as it arrives but I guess the other K5 clones have made the need for that less urgent.
I hope to get around to it this week though. I've had a couple of new flavors mixed and ready to go for weeks now and I want to use the mini to try them out.
Curious if Dragonfruit or Cola can get me off my regular banana-custard-cream mix. Probably not, lol
Curious if Dragonfruit or Cola can get me off my regular banana-custard-cream mix. Probably not, lol
I can't vape anything else but Vanilla custard,been mixing French vanilla and Vanilla custard together for six months now.I never even think of trying anything else, lol.
I can't vape anything else but Vanilla custard,been mixing French vanilla and Vanilla custard together for six months now.I never even think of trying anything else, lol.
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