DIY rebuildable atom, some questions

[kosliev]

Hi everyone, I want to build a DIY atom for my VV mod, its at ~5V and 3 ohm or so would be good.
I plan to use SS400 mesh altough I never used it before, and 32-33g kanthal wire.
Luckily themeshcompany is in UK so I might be able to get the mesh without the hassle of customs (not american).

This is the general idea, I can use 510 connectors to "pre make" various atties and screw them in the 510-ego, say I want to vape 2 flavours or have spares without having to rebuild and so on, its drip only which is fine by me since I only vape at home, eventually i can solder a small piece of a 510 tube on top so I can fit drip tips.

Is there something that could go wrong? the mesh not being enough to wick, air flow (the central hole is going to be sealed in the 510-ego), can I reuse the same mesh piece and "burn" the gunk off of it, or I have to make a new one often?
thanks for you time.

 

[BJ43]

Looks good to me. You can use the rubber tip from a Mega DC as a drip tip, just pull it thru from the bottom. In the pic is one on a cone on my Cheap Line.

 

[notsmoking]

I am no expert at this but I do not see any reason that it would not work.... infact I may give this a try myself
Looks pretty good for dripping only

 

[BJ43]

I use my SS wicks for months just wash and scrub with a toothbrush

 

[asdaq]

Looks quite doable. To keep it nice and small let me recommend 18 g syringe needles with a pin to hold the kanthal in. pins cut shorter and bet slightly to give tension.

sent from my HTC genisis using Tapatalk

 

[kosliev]

Ah I just unroll the mesh and clean it? Thats handy, I can get "precut" half-inch mesh squares (the A2 ones) and stick with them instead of ordering whole sheets then.

Guess I'll order what I'm missing and play the wait game

edit.
oh yeah, to solder the posts, is lead-free solder good enough?

 

[trevor148]

find 2 small silicone pieces that wont burn in the heat and slide the needles through them before you solder them down when you re-coil you can slide the silicon pieces back up to the threaded area to hold you coil up

 

[Digital-Dragon]

I like this! Similar to what I tried in my first atty making attempts, though I used old 306s with a 510 sleeve... So cramped! I used 400 ss mesh, and 34g nichrome wire. I can get the ohms down, no problem, but the vapor production is not there... I'm considering doing the rca mod, to try and get more room to work in.

Anybody got advice/links to get me back on track with this, or should I just keep tinkering till I get it right?


EDIT: I'm fine with just dripping for now. I'll work on tank mods after I get basic coil design down...

 

[meatsneakers]

Try a larger air hole, closer to the coil. On the RCA atty, I seal up the 510 connector holes and drill a hole on the sleeve because the bottom air hole doesn't produce enough vapor.

 

[kosliev]

Alright, I *should* receive the package today, I might not make the atom I have made in the 1st post and go for meatsneakers's RCA instead, this is because I saw BJ43 "mesh donuts" method, and its probably easier to stack donuts in a RCA rather than in a cone, but we'll see.

As far as kanthal and mesh goes, I just heat the mesh red in the kitchen stoves and toss it in a bowl of tap water 3-4 times per strip? should I pass the kanthal (quickly) under the flame and then wipe it clean with alcohol?

 

[sumoman25]

First atty I built that works was incredibly easy, I'll post some pics if you're interested.

Took a ce2, cut down the center post to <1 inch. Used 2 safety pin like things (they had these little plates on them, no idea what they're called) cut the tips off, kept the coiled wire section (gave me 2 posts with holes basically, super easy to wrap the coil). Stuck them through a white silicon carto cap, soldered to the connector. Cut the ce2 case down a little bit and put it over the entire assembly. Bottom is sealed rather well, sleeve comes off easily if I want it to, coil is super easy to wrap, using the ce2 wick (don't have ss mesh) and it's working really well.

 

[cos]

very nice. post pics if you can. i know what your doing cause ive done it before but pics are great if you can. great job

 

[asdaq]

Kosliev, If you are going to flame the kanthal too, then don't wipe it afterwards. You will temper the wire AND leave a layer of deposits to aid with oxidizing. Fsors made a version like in the first post as seen here:

 

[kosliev]

sumoman25
Well at first I just wanted a easy to make atty from what I already had (never bough a carto in my life, altough I've been vaping for years), then I saw BJ's work on the A2's and meatsneakers on the RCAs, and would like to try a shot at that

cos
no promises since I might make the RCA first (and post it on the rca thread) and maybe necro the thread later if I do the cone

asdaq
ah I figured someone else might've done the very same thing, probably missed it along the way, that looks really nice, but that rubber driptip
So first I wipe the kanthal, then I quickly pass it on the flame, and then let it cool off, then wind the coil?

Also, the courier misdelivered, so they'll redeliver monday.

 

[asdaq]

Actually he did it since you posted this. For the drip tip, you could take a 510, put a thicker o-ring on it so it grips/seals the cone, and then add a groove for another oversized oring to keep it from pressing in to far. I know, but it's in a cone.

Wiping not necessary before or after.

 

[kosliev]

Alright, I'm working on this, I've had a pretty good idea, I couldn't find any very small screw+posts anywhere, and didn't want to tap tubing, found an old cheap pair of metal eyeglasses to dismantle, they had a total of 6 screws in them (2 nose pads, 2 lenses, 2 the bar joints).

They work pretty good, the problem is the glasses frame itself is colored, it looks like its "black nickel", so chrome and dark, I tried to sand a section, theres a thin layer of copper, and under it another metal that looks grey, no idea what it is.

If I heat the colored/plated section, it smokes the first time, and then nothing (could've been old grease/debris who knows?).

Not sure wether to keep them with this weird plating, sand them to the copper layer, or sand them to the metal layer, anyone who has some knowledge?

the coating looks something like this

Also sanded some small portions in the 510-ego adapter to make solder bind, its I think nickel plated brass, or at least I sanded and then theres what looks like brass.

 

[kosliev]

Well, I've spent way more time than I should on.. trying to solder a stainless steel needle to the side of the 510-ego atty..

I understand stainless is trouble to solder, so I did the copper trick winding copper wire around the needle and soldering that, no problems there, still impossible to solder to the connector, sanded the connector something fierce, the main body is made of copper, still no chance in hell to make it adhere.

I'm fairly puzzled.

 

[meatsneakers]

What kind of flux did you try? After sanding I use some of this on SS needles: No 95 Tinning Flux :: Oatey.com

It says it doesn't work for SS but it's acidic enough that if you get some solder to it quickly, it'll stick.

 

[kosliev]

What kind of flux did you try? After sanding I use some of this on SS needles: No 95 Tinning Flux :: Oatey.com

It says it doesn't work for SS but it's acidic enough that if you get some solder to it quickly, it'll stick.

Dont use standalone flux, the leadfree solder I have has a vein of flux inside, prolly not as effective but buying flux for one soldering point makes me iffy (its 15$ unless I order online, and if I do its 7$+7$ shipping..).

The SS needle is no longer a problem since I encased it in copper+solder, just need to actually bind that to the sanded portion of the 510-ego connector (its copper, perhaps I should sand it deeper though), and I think the problem is I can't quite heat it up enough. I've tried mechanical ways to fasten the needle with what I had and failed thoroughly

edit.
There is a very dirty approach (I might do tomorrow, out of desperation if leaving the soldering iron there heating the connector for 5 minutes still fails to heat it enough).

Basically run 3 strands of normal wire around the connector as tight as I can, so to form a belt, mark with a marker where to cut them, remove a section wide enough so that I can solder the "copper pocket needle" in the gap, so as to act as a buckle of sorts.

It won't slide off as long as I have a coil on, since the other end of the coil is firm under a screw.
Looks terrible and half assed though.

 

[meatsneakers]

Do you have any plumbing stores where you live? They should stock some sort of flux. The stuff inside lead free electronics solder is not active enough when you're dealing with "large" (comparatively to a normal solder joint) parts. Once you get them hot enough to solder, they oxidize and the flux in the solder isn't strong enough to eat through it.