Bad STeel taste in my New Kraken, and my new RSST. PLEASE Help?

[Yellow Hawk]

I have setup a bunch of drippers, these two (Real Kraken, and RSST), are the first Genesis style attys I've done. BOth, I tried several methods, wire rope, capped in mesh, and plain ole mesh, then 28 gauge Kanthal A-1 3/4 wraps. I took some new mesh my kid (38) had, oxidized the hell out of it, then rolled it around a likewise oxidized wire cable of correct size from Kidney Puncher, when done, it did wick, but tasted so BADLY like steel, it could NOT be used. The vapor, would hurt your nose it was so badly steel inundated. The smell of the vapor inthe air, smelled like PURE steel. wsithout the wire cable, SAME thing. I continuously oxidized the hell out of this mesh, trying to both clean it, and oxidize it. SAME thing, bad steel taste, could NOT be used it was so bad.
There has GOT to be a relatively simple issue, as so many people use them, setup just like I am. BTW, resistance, ends up around .8 ohms for both Gennys. My son, who considers himself an expert, (He's a beginner) tried also, to same results. ONLY thing that was always the same, was the 28 gauge Kanthal, well fired, and the mesh, VERY well fired. RSST had One coil, Kraken, always setup with 2. Kraken for some reason, seemed to have a bit less steel taste, but not by much.
PLEASE HELP!

Yellow Hawk

 

[Bunnykiller]

use cotton, no steel flavor.

 

[happigrinz]

Just out of curiosity... did you THOROUGHLY clean your atties when they came in? Sometimes machine oils are still left in the threads/posts/anywhere really. I take mine apart right when I get them and run them under hot hot water for a lil bit before I build them.

 

[crxess]

Yep, first thing is a serious bath to make sure nothing has hitched a ride.

Second, No matter how many design SS wicks you try, if they are not Wicking enough, you will be heating the wick to much. Any wick is a conduit, not a part of the heating process.

I had several nicely built wicks(500 mesh) with carefully built and tweaked coils that, no matter what, wanted to slow wick and under preform. Always leaving me with a juice/Steel flavor.

Opening up the air hole on the RSST helped a bit along with always making sure the wick was on the low side of the tank while vaping.

A simple fix was to thread a 2mm silica wick down the center of my SS mesh. I can have the wick at any position, except down as it now wicks insanely.

 

[happigrinz]

A simple fix was to thread a 2mm silica wick down the center of my SS mesh. I can have the wick at any position, except down as it now wicks insanely.

+1 to that.

 

[Yellow Hawk]

The answer to almost all the above was YES. Except for cotton, It's difficult to make a 1.5" cottton wick ;-), unless your speaking of using it in some other manner. I DID try ekoowook inside mesh, same thing, BAD steel taste, and both units went for a trip through dishwasher, and then unltrasound, excpept tanks, they were hand washed.
I WILL admit, on all the builds, the wicks did NOT seem to be wicking well at ALL. I tried a jump start by putting a couple drops on end of coils, that helped for a vape or two, then back to steel. I THOUGHT of using PURE silica, as IF you heat it good, it will stand up a BIT. And, with the center post, and ground screw holding the coil around wick, I THINK I could get it to stand up well enough to use for a wick. BUT, that LEaves something WRONG. I looked everywhere I could find and used those suggestions prior to posting this. THIS was a last resort, as I am a researcher, and USED to finding my answers in books, so I hunted long and hard prior to resorting to this method. (Forum).
I KNOW I must have missed something, many people are succesfully using these methods, so OBVIOUSLY, it is me, or my equipment/steel mesh/whatever. Any more ideas PLEASE post. Thank you all very much.

Yellow Hawk
And, remember, I am a stupid Indian, we don't follow directions, and are uneducable (according to BIA, during my gov't school years 1st-8th)

 

[Thrasher]

agree with the other posts
start by making sure the atty's are cleaned well, the kraken was very oily for me.

something not discussed much is make sure the grain in the mesh is running top to bottom of the wick to help wicking.

dont use a ton of mesh 40-50 mm wide maximum, roll it to fit the wickhole and not super tight.

then try this


this is how i do all my geni's, work everytime.

usually metal taste is a hotspot, short or a poorly built wick and/or coil.

 

[*deleon517*]

Since you are normally a dripper, you do have to hold the gennie's at a different angle then you would with a dripper. This is called the gennie tilt, where you hold the device closer to a 180 degree angle toward your face. Also make sure that the wick is facing down this will help as the wick will be submerged in the liquid inside the tank.

I just started dripping seriously about a week ago and haven't touched any of my gennie's since.

 

[Yellow Hawk]

Thankx for the input thrahser, I AM goping to try that, tell u the truth, with all that I've been through, I don't hold out much hope. Good video to.
To deleon517, I was "Counseled as to that method of holding atty by son, who hollered at me, for holding at 45 deg. angle like my other attys. So, they ARE being held straight out, wick down. except for Kraken, can't hold two opposing wicks both DOWN, so, they are side to side. COvered in juice, I look.

As I said, only attys, and mesh seem to be the things in common in all these builds, and as I said, attys had the living mess cleaned out of them. SO, any chance of Mesh being CRAP? I don't know If that has ever been an issue. AND, Deleon, drippers ARE GREAT, but, I would LOVE to have a larger volume (vapor wise) atty, that I do NOT have to feed constantly. ie; Genesis Style. That is why I'm gong through all these headaches.

Thanx;
OH, NOT a cloud chaser, lowest atty to date, .75ohms. Normal, between, .8-1.0 ohms. SO, 28 Gauge Kanthal A-1, or .9x.1 flat ribbon Kanthal.

Yellow Hawk

 

[crxess]

Guess I should ask:
Do you have any SPECIFIC information on your Mesh?
What Weave? they run from Door screen to 600 mesh, with , 350-400-500 -600 being most common. High is better for most applications.
Some mesh needs to be boiled to remove unwanted contaminants which can seriously effect the vape.

Steel rope, sorry - no experience on this. I prefer to solve one mystery at a time.
Now with the release of the Kayfuns/clones and the copies of the Ithaka, there as enough excellent tanks to easily get a good Vape without chasing new inventive ways to make a Genny better.

 

[*deleon517*]

Only other things I can think of that hasn't been mentioned was over oxidizing can cause issues. I generally do 1 or 2 glowing red burns for a second or 2 in each section, and then 1 burn with juice on the wick, followed by one more glowing red burn in each section for a second or two.

Also I never got good results by wrapping right on the mesh like you would with silica. It always pinched the wick and cause some sort of short or hot spot. Instead I would wrap on a drill bit or screw driver, making just slightly larger then the wick so I could assemble the coil on the gennie and slide the wick into place. That solved a ton of problems I was having.

 

[Yellow Hawk]

Thanx for the post crxess, Have NO idea where he got that mess. Looks new, a sheet about 4"x6" left. NO idea what mesh. I will get some most skosh. Take everything apart, dump in sonic cleaner, and retry.
That paragraph you wrote about the Invasion of the clones, Did NOT pick up on that one, "New inventive ways to make a gennie better". I got those two, as I got a good price on them, 140$ for the pair. Kraken is not clone. RSST is friendlier.

Yellow Hawk

 

[Yellow Hawk]

Deleon, I'll try it, thats how I do my micro and nano coils, on drill bits, or syringe needles, so that I KNOW how to do ;-)

Yellow Hawk