Curing the Burnt Vivi Taste- A vivi nova rebuild photo tutorial

[Scott_Simpson]

I got my 30 gauge .999 dead soft round silver wire at Rio Grande ... 100' for 20.08 (about $25 including tax and shipping).

 

[j4mmin42]

It's not important that the two wires I send down the middle aren't touching the sides is it? I know the wrapped part you don't want to touch the sides, but seems like the two wires down the middle are going to touch regardless of what I do, and in fact are bent against it. So it obviously has to touch, right?

OK, how do these look?
Kanthal A-1 Wire, 32 Gauge .0080 Resistance heating wire | eBay

3mm silica wick | eBay

Looks like basically what you got. Thanks, really appreciate the insight and help.

The positive lead, which contacts the center post, can't touch the sides; the negative lead *shouldn't*, but if it does, it has a chance of functioning. If the positive lead touches, it will cause a short.

And yes, those look great- exactly what I have.

 

[cedric212]

It's not important that the two wires I send down the middle aren't touching the sides is it? I know the wrapped part you don't want to touch the sides, but seems like the two wires down the middle are going to touch regardless of what I do, and in fact are bent against it. So it obviously has to touch, right?

OK, how do these look?
Kanthal A-1 Wire, 32 Gauge .0080 Resistance heating wire | eBay

3mm silica wick | eBay

Looks like basically what you got. Thanks, really appreciate the insight and help.

For better price on the Kanthal A1 on Ebay, here's the seller where I purchase mine (purchased 200ft for ~$14 back in Aug, but now it's 100ft for $10).

A-1 32 awg resistance heating wire 100 ft, | eBay

An alternative to Silica is cotton, safer has better wicking capabilities, but the downside is it's easier to get it burnt if not getting enough wicking. Personally, I experienced little to no burnt taste if I make sure the tank is at least 1/3 full and hold the device horizontally to allow the eliquid to flow faster to the wick when I chain vape. Just something you might want to experiment once you receives your kanthal wire.

Square Braided 100% Cotton wick 6/0, 4/0, 2/0, 1/0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 | eBay

For cotton wick, you can also use untreated 1000% cotton gauze or cotton ball as well. More discussion on the topic of silica/cotton/bamboo/SS/hybrid wicks can be found here

If you're getting into modding/rebuilding and your APV doesn't have a resistance check feature then you might want to consider investing in an inexpensive multimeter so you can check the resistance as well as help you prevent getting shorts and ruin the batteries. Something like this will suffice.

i just started with the ss mesh/coils on the nova my problem is getting enough ohms , they work fine but they start at .9ohm-1.2ohm and ive done 4 and 5 wraps with 32 A-1 kanthal ,my provari is a v2 so it will work while my sweety has av1 it dosent work i have to use it for about a day it will get up to 1.3ohm, my other problem is age...my freakin eyes ... you should see me with my drugstore specs looking under not 1 but 2 magnafying glasses its quite a spectacle haha..cheers to gettin old

A fellow vaper recommended this tool (~$5 shipped with prime) saying it comes in handy when rebuilding heads. Haven't tried it myself, but perhaps is something you might want to look into.

Amazon.com: SE MZ101B Helping Hands with Magnifying Glass: Home Improvement

There are so many tutorials out already on oxidizing your stainless mesh, but I've had so much success with my method (which is just a bit different than most people), that I might do two separate posts- one on proper oxidation without destroying your mesh, and another on the Vivi SS build. We shall see.

Looking forward on your tutorial on Vivi SS build as well. I had some issues with muted flavors using 400 mesh to make a U shaped wick and would love to hear what kinds of results your getting.

 

[lrage]

The positive lead, which contacts the center post, can't touch the sides; the negative lead *shouldn't*, but if it does, it has a chance of functioning. If the positive lead touches, it will cause a short.

And yes, those look great- exactly what I have.

OK, that makes sense. I mean it's wire and not cloth and it's taught so if I pull it tight and bend it over the silicone and under the center post it shouldn't touch the sides.

Thanks a bunch. I have like 8 heads but seems like I can rebuild them for like 10 cents a pop with this method AND get a better vape.

 

[lrage]

For better price on the Kanthal A1 on Ebay, here's the seller where I purchase mine (purchased 200ft for ~$14 back in Aug, but now it's 100ft for $10).

A-1 32 awg resistance heating wire 100 ft, | eBay

An alternative to Silica is cotton, safer has better wicking capabilities, but the downside is it's easier to get it burnt if not getting enough wicking.

That makes it sound pretty unsafe. Easily burning sounds just like the stuff we all gave up to get here. If the cotton burns I'm getting "smoke" into my lungs, right? What am I missing there?

Also, that thread scares me on silica too.

 

[j4mmin42]

Tomorrow I'll be posting part 3 with my adventures in SS mesh wicks- At the moment, I really think that the SS works as well in the Nova as it does in vertical-coil setups...but more on that soon