Cotton wick in the Protank

[Rane]

I have no fear about being able to complete the task. I worry about the leaking and i know ill have to prolly make a few attempts to get it right. Im very confident in my coil building skills as i can work on surface mount electronics so a coil is a breeze.

 

[Ottotek]

I've got a couple of PT2s, and several burnt heads stashed in the vape Cabinet. I was keeping the heads around till I got the courage up to try rebuilding one. It looks so small, I was intimidated.

Well, tonight was the night. I watched a couple of YouTubes, the one by Riptripper was best. And it was incredibly easy!!

Used a bottle needle tip, 30ga Kanthal, and cotton ball. 13 wraps, 1.9 ohms. And it vapes like a dream! I'm a believer now. And gonna save a bit on replacement heads to boot!

 

[DeepSix]

Something to keep in mind with cotton, as I just found out 20 minutes ago......

Make sure you check your wick after every tank, especially if you chained vaped and heated up the base of the tank! Both my wife's and mine charred heavily around the coil to the point I couldnt get the burnt cotton out of the coil and I had to build fresh coils. Its not a big deal, just after every tank or two, take a peek on the cotton wick. If there is any dark brown on the cotton, pull the wick and re-wick. If you procrastinate, when you go to pull the wick from the coil, cotton stays on the inner part of the coil and burns there, preventing you from pushing a new cotton core through the coil.

Just some something to consider

 

[Sucker_dad]

Well you could just burn it off by dry burning then rinse the ash away and rewick as normal.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[Nunnster]

Well, I had an old protank head laying around, decided to give this cotton thing a shot. WOWZERS. Took me two seconds to fashion a make shift wick out of a cotton ball, and couldnt have been simpler to get it in there. The vapor production was like 10 fold, and I was already a fan of the vapor production with the normal protank. I even had to lower my voltage, because it was a bit much for me @ 5 volts. Very impressed. Thanks for the heads up. Only drawback in the five min ive been testing it out is a faint, strange burned hair taste at the end, but like I said, I fashioned it out of some cotton balls I had laying around and I was not exactly accurate on the size and shape of the wick. I am sure with some tinkering I could so get this to work.

My only question is, if it increased my performance this much, why are companies not producing these kind of wicks. What are the drawbacks and or dangers of burning cotton?

 

[JulesXsmokr]

drawbacks for company, they can't sell you coils and wicks if you roll your own...

 

[VaporClouds]

Well, I had an old protank head laying around, decided to give this cotton thing a shot. WOWZERS. Took me two seconds to fashion a make shift wick out of a cotton ball, and couldnt have been simpler to get it in there. The vapor production was like 10 fold, and I was already a fan of the vapor production with the normal protank. I even had to lower my voltage, because it was a bit much for me @ 5 volts. Very impressed. Thanks for the heads up. Only drawback in the five min ive been testing it out is a faint, strange burned hair taste at the end, but like I said, I fashioned it out of some cotton balls I had laying around and I was not exactly accurate on the size and shape of the wick. I am sure with some tinkering I could so get this to work.

My only question is, if it increased my performance this much, why are companies not producing these kind of wicks. What are the drawbacks and or dangers of burning cotton?

Well this is just a guess but im willing to bet its because cotton needs to actually be manually juiced up first by removing the cap of the head and putting a few drops in or else youll ruin the entire wick. Silica can just wick from the juice in the tank and doesnt need to be manually juiced. Im just guessing though. I love this cotton thing and it has motivated me to now get into coil building.

 

[JulesXsmokr]

Good video for some ... He has another using a nano coil.. good stuff here..

Mini Protank Micro Coil Rebuild - YouTube

 

[JulesXsmokr]

here the other
Nano Micro Coil build for Kanger Protank 2 - YouTube

Now, you can use 30 gauge kanthal and around 7 -8 wraps - do it the same way..make sure to test on your device first for shorts !!

 

[Sucker_dad]

You don't have to juice em up first it just helps. If you put the tank together and let it sit for about 5 minutes it'll be good. My guess is the slight burnt taste is because the cotton was not fully saturated.

 

[KurrptSenate]

I also strictly use cotton and micro coils in my protanks

I never boil the cotton. Never really felt the need to do so. The first few hits are a little off, but when the cotton becomes fully saturated, its fine for me

 

[WCSR]

I rebuild all of my Protank heads with micro coils and cotton wick. I use organic cotton and boil it. You don't HAVE to boil it, but I feel that it really improved the flavor. And remember to only use a small amount of cotton through the coil. Just pull it through until there is a little resistance. Cotton expands like CRAZY and if you use too much, it will not wick enough juice to the coil (you are choking it). And usually a teeny-tiny wick on top works well to prevent flooding and leaking.

This is exactly correct. Too much cotton, and it can't expand enough to allow juicy to wick through it. Too little cotton, and it floods like Texas in April.

As you said... Roll the cotton just thick enough to slide in the coil with little resistance, add a small flavor wick on top. Easy money.

how many wraps are you doing what size wire and what the ohms your getting on your home brewed coils?

5 wraps with 32 guage kanthal gives me a 1.9-2.1 ohm coil. If you go with a 30 guage it takes about 7 If I remember correct. You can also use a 5/64 drill bit to increase resistance a little as the wire is then a little longer but the coil will not be noticeably larger.

I do 32 gauge kanthal with 5 close wraps around 5/64' drill bit and it usually lands at 2.3 ohms. The closer you make the coils to each other, the lower the resistance.

My question is, everybody says cotton is so much better for wicking, and I will definitely agree, then why hasnt Kanger started making cotton wick coil heads instead of Silica? It would be great to not have to pull the silica out and then try to barely squeeze cotton between the coils? Cant Kanger do this for me? I would appreciate it

Easy answer... Money. Silica doesn't last as long as cotton, so people will buy more heads...until they finally learn how to recoil/rewick their old heads.

Well this is just a guess but im willing to bet its because cotton needs to actually be manually juiced up first by removing the cap of the head and putting a few drops in or else youll ruin the entire wick. Silica can just wick from the juice in the tank and doesnt need to be manually juiced. Im just guessing though. I love this cotton thing and it has motivated me to now get into coil building.

I don't actually juice my cotton up first. I roll my cotton with water to make it a nice tight roll, stick through the coil, trim it, and then run it under water again. Once I reassemble the tank, I vape away the water quickly. As the water vapes away, the cotton is primed for accepting the liquid right away. Takes 10 seconds to vape the water out and start tasting the liquid with no burning of the cotton at all.

 

[VaporClouds]

I don't actually juice my cotton up first. I roll my cotton with water to make it a nice tight roll, stick through the coil, trim it, and then run it under water again. Once I reassemble the tank, I vape away the water quickly. As the water vapes away, the cotton is primed for accepting the liquid right away. Takes 10 seconds to vape the water out and start tasting the liquid with no burning of the cotton at all.

Sweet thanks man,ill try that out. Im still learning as well just wanted to share with others how well cotton actually works.

 

[WCSR]

Sweet thanks man,ill try that out. Im still learning as well just wanted to share with others how well cotton actually works.

Right on. My method isn't the be-all-end-all of methods. Many ways one can prime their cotton. Definitely try the water method though. It absorbs into the cotton quickly, expands it, and basically opens up the cells for the thicker eliquids to absorb quickly once you vape out the water. I use short drags to vape the water out though. after about 5 short drags, you'll actually start to see the water vapor when you exhale, and then you'll start tasting your flavor a few drags later.

 

[WCSR]

The real benefit of cotton over silica is this:

Silica wicks juice through the coil at a decent rate. That's it.

Cotton not only wicks at a very nice rate, but also expands to hold a reservoir of juice within it. Like a sponge. Keeping your coils and wick wet at all times.

 

[03FXDWG]

My first couple hits off my first cotton wick actually scared me because of all the vapor. I though I had done something wrong! How can that little EVOD tank hold that much vapor? And my DIY liquid is over flavored now so I can save even more money by reducing my flavorings. I used my silica wicks while I was out today and now they taste weird compared to my fluffy white cotton ones. First thing I did when I got home was pulled out the silica head and put in one of my newly wicked cotton ones. Vaping happily away on Pineapple-Raspberry that actually tastes like Pineapple-Raspberry instead of some kind of fruit just flashed by but couldn't quite taste it.

 

[RubyRoo]

This is so awesome everyone! I'm so glad to see so many folks trying out the cotton wicks! I will probably never go back to silica. If anyone out there is reading this thread and afraid to try, don't be! Just remember a few things about cotton wicks in a Kanger head:

1) NEVER DRYBURN COTTON WICKS
2) Prime your wick with e-juice before putting it back in the tank
3) Give your cotton some time to fully soak up the e juice before you vape it (5-10 minutes) Primer puffs will aid wicking as well!
4) Don't use too much cotton! Just pull enough through so that you get a little resistance. Sometimes a teeny tiny flavor wick over the coiled wick will prevent flooding depending on the viscosity of your e-juice. (Especially if you are rebuilding with a 1/16 drill bit.)
5) Don't be afraid to crank up the watts! After your wicks are fully saturated, try turning up the voltage/wattage. It's a DREAM MACHINE!
6) Check your wicks after every tank. If they are getting dark brown, time to rewick!
7) Sit back and vape your freaking face off, because you've just improved your vape, while saving boat-loads of money!

Yay!

 

[sleepyhatch]

Got a PT head going bad, will try this cotton wick method tonight! Thank you all for the input.

 

[BuddJohnson]

I have just completed my first cotton replacement on a PT coil and am amazed at the performance.