Cthulhu mesh RDA with squonk pin: a Taifun BT without the tank

[TheWestPole]

Good info, @TheWestPole. I got my Ceto in today as well, and thought I'd add my 2-cents after a day of playing with it:

Build quality is very nice with the exception of the o-rings. Way too tight even lubed up. I didn’t want to spend the time trying to find thinner ones, so I just removed one o-ring from the AFC and one from the base. No leaking so far and it’s much easier to adjust airflow and pop the cap off.

Keeping the mesh tight and even is critical. Since I’m arthritic (not that I was all that great with detail work when my hands were good) I use a spacer. I insert the mesh strip into one post, pull it tight against the spacer, feed the strip through the second pole, tighten down the screws and closely trim the excess. The spacer ensures the mesh remains crimp and dent-free. Any round item with a smooth surface can be used as a spacer. I’m using an old Kanger head which is 11mm in diameter.

Pack the wick so there’s full, tight contact all around the mesh, especially where it connects to the posts. Loose wick = hot spots = very harsh vape. After it’s juiced up, fire it in dim light to see if there are any hot spots and adjust the wick accordingly. Hot spots most commonly occur near the posts.

Prime, prime, prime. When you think it’s fully primed, add more juice.

One design element that is lacking is a registration pin or tab to ensure the top cap is properly positioned with the airflow centered on the mesh.

Using the mesh it came with (304SS) my build came to 0.2 ohms. I started at 50w. Had to check the mod to make sure it was firing since the vape was so weak. Got workable at 70w. Nice at 85w. Rowdy but still enjoyable at 100w. Too hot for me at 130 but not burnt.

Get ready to use up some juice. juice vendors should give these out for free with orders much like a bartender putting out bowls of salty nuts. You can drip right on the top of the cotton wad, but it’s a lot faster to pull the cap and hose it down from the top and all around the mesh. Pulling the cap also allows you to fill up the juice well, which is pretty deep.

No spit back even at high wattages. The top does get hot if you chain vape making it uncomfortable to use the short tip it comes with. I prefer using the 510 adapter and a longer tip.

I was surprised that even with the clouds, there is a decent amount of flavor. In fact, I’m getting more and better flavor from this than I am with the Taifun BT. This is definitely more of a cloud maker than a flavor atty, but the flavor is there.

Have not used the squonk pin yet so I can’t speak to how well that works. I wanted to get a few builds in before introducing another variable to the mix. Also want to try out some other mesh that I have to see how that works.

Some pics below. All are out of focus (sorry! Camera is being a pain in the rump today). First shows the mesh pulled against the spacer. The second shows it wicked. Third is the assembled atty.
View attachment 671715 View attachment 671717 View attachment 671719

Good review and tips.

 

[moldyEjuice]

Thanks for the info hazozita

 

[bsidb]

thinking about spacer, mine is "out for delivery"

 

[TheWestPole]

Second Build

Reduced the mesh strip to 7 mm and the diameter to 14 mm. More mech friendly now, using a 30A battery. Ramps up quickly enough and, as @Shawn Hoefer commented elsewhere, provides a cooler vape. The flavor is all there though, and I like that the cap doesn't get as hot.

I do not recommend positioning the mesh to the top of the clamp as I did here. It threw the metering off and is creating uneven heating top to bottom. I'll be shifting this build down to the middle of the clamp when I rewick.

BTW, the burnt looking dark colors are because I'm vaping NET, which does that no matter what coil/wick you're using.

 

[hazozita]

Second Build

Reduced the mesh strip to 7 mm and the diameter to 14 mm. More mech friendly now, using a 30A battery. Ramps up quickly enough and, as @Shawn Hoefer commented elsewhere, provides a cooler vape. The flavor is all there though, and I like that the cap doesn't get as hot.

I do not recommend positioning the mesh to the top of the clamp as I did here. It threw the metering off and is creating uneven heating top to bottom. I'll be shifting this build down to the middle of the clamp when I rewick.

BTW, the burnt looking dark colors are because I'm vaping NET, which does that no matter what coil/wick you're using.


View attachment 671887

Are you still using the mesh that came with the Ceto or have you tried other meshs? That's next on my list to try with this.

By the way, tried wicking with rayon given the good results you reported. I was hesitant to try it since I was not at all happy with the performance of rayon with the Taifun BT.

But in the Ceto, it’s performing very well – better than cotton since it pulls in the juice faster when dripping on the top of the wick (although mound seems to be a better descriptor than wick) even when packed down. Plus, the rope nature of rayon makes it a natural for this type of build. Given the amount needed per build, I might actually put a dent in the huge box o' rayon under the desk.

 

[bsidb]

Ceto has landed, wicked with Rayon, bought a Dripbox 160 just for the Ceto figured id need the power ,they make a nice pair , I fit a super soft bottle in the 160 and it took 3/4 if it to prime the Ceto, I used the outside of a 10mm nut drive,14mm , as a spacer but ended up just free handing it around a full cord of Rayon which wasn't all I stuffed in there from the top,i usually use high air flow toppers closed down but this being so wide an area producing vapor I went with 3 air holes and still got the flavor I likeoh .14 at82 watts not so much power as I thought, but its my first regulated BF so about time A

 

[bsidb]

 

[TheWestPole]

Are you still using the mesh that came with the Ceto or have you tried other meshs? That's next on my list to try with this.

Still the same. I figure they must have done their own testing before including the #300.

By the way, tried wicking with rayon given the good results you reported. I was hesitant to try it since I was not at all happy with the performance of rayon with the Taifun BT.

But in the Ceto, it’s performing very well – better than cotton since it pulls in the juice faster when dripping on the top of the wick (although mound seems to be a better descriptor than wick) even when packed down. Plus, the rope nature of rayon makes it a natural for this type of build. Given the amount needed per build, I might actually put a dent in the huge box o' rayon under the desk.

Because the builds require tight packing of the wick I assumed Rayon would be better. Yes, turns out the bigger rope is more suitable too.

 

[TheWestPole]

Second Build

Reduced the mesh strip to 7 mm and the diameter to 14 mm. More mech friendly now, using a 30A battery. Ramps up quickly enough and, as @Shawn Hoefer commented elsewhere, provides a cooler vape. The flavor is all there though, and I like that the cap doesn't get as hot.

I do not recommend positioning the mesh to the top of the clamp as I did here. It threw the metering off and is creating uneven heating top to bottom. I'll be shifting this build down to the middle of the clamp when I rewick.

BTW, the burnt looking dark colors are because I'm vaping NET, which does that no matter what coil/wick you're using.


View attachment 671887

Okay, I did a few things and am now getting the mech build close to just right for me.

• Same 7mm strip and 14mm diameter, now centered in the clamp.
• When I took the last build off I could tell by dark spots on the clamp that it wasn't touching the mesh evenly. Turns out the outside clamp surfaces were not quite flat. I lapped those surfaces with 220 sandpaper until they were.
• To further help with the contact I folded the mesh back under the clamp so it was double thick.

Totally even and more effective heating now with the same size build. Not sure which of those things did it. The vape has warmed up as well to right where I like it, and ramping is good. Now I can settle in and just enjoy the vape for awhile.

Great squonking atty with exceptional vapor qualities!

 

[bullhcr]

Just got this and it is working very well. Cut a strip of mesh and ended up at 0.35 which happened to be exactly what I wanted. Crisp and cool taste like it should be. I like mesh but tanks are history and fiddling with hot spots became a nuisance after a while. Mesh as a coil in a dripper/squonk setup is just great!

People wanting clouds should try this. Personally I would prefer another version, smaller, 510 drip tip as standard and less air so I could have a restricted DL hit.

 

[hazozita]

Looks like Vandy Vape is also going to be entering the mesh RDA market. Going to be interesting to see how a postless design would work with mesh -- seems like maintaining good contact across the full strip of mesh would be difficult.

Also going to be releasing mesh in various materials, which will be interesting to play with.

 

[stephenwhat]

Looks like Vandy Vape is also going to be entering the mesh RDA market. Going to be interesting to see how a postless design would work with mesh -- seems like maintaining good contact across the full strip of mesh would be difficult.

Also going to be releasing mesh in various materials, which will be interesting to play with.

View attachment 675823

I might check this one out.It can be used with regular coils also,either dual or single,so if I don't like it with mesh it's still usable.

 

[sonicbomb]

Came across this product via a review by GG. Very interesting though the noisy airflow might be a deal breaker for me. FT has them for $24.