DIY Wick / Coil questions: Nova MIni

[tater_salad]

I've grown tired of spending $5 every week or so for heads so I've decided to try my hand at making my own wicks/coils for the many dead nova heads I have sitting in a box. especially when $3 gets me materials to do 20 heads or so.

A few questions.
My local B&M has 1MM wick only, can I stack 2-3 together and wrap the coil around? I tried unbraiding and re-braiding but that lead to a lot of stray stands and I"m not sure I want stray sillica around.

Should I fluff/ unwrap the ends of the wick that are in the tank,or just let them be as is?

 

[locke2121]

Sure! You can stack wicks no problem. I use 2mm wick and stack two together. The best way I've found it to hold the two wicks together on a paperclip or pin and wrap the coil around the wicks. Be sure you clip the tags ends CLOSE, or else you'll get a short. ALWAYS test the coil with a meter to make sure your not shorting out before you put in on your device. And no, i don't fluff my wick ends up and get great wicking anyway.

 

[AttyPops]

Like said above...Sure!

Also, look up Stainless Steel wicks...SS wicks...if you've a mind to. The SS mesh is #400 or #500 and works great for wicks without ...vanishing silica shards issues. A debatable topic to be sure. However, it's worth mentioning since you've asked. Another material often used is cotton fiber.

I'd check the tank sub-forum. There's youtube vids too.
Tanks

 

[tater_salad]

I've used cotton.. (Organic unbleadhed fiber in 2 different styles) the ones I tried tasted not so nice.. I didn't burn em either.... Dragons Blood had a terrible sock aftertaste.. and the butterscotch I tried seemed to taste like peanutbutter and armpits... I tried to vape off of em to "burn them in / season them" a bit but coulnd't get over the flavor.. maybe I'll give another try

From what I understand, Nova's and Ego twists don't like mesh.

Locke
Be sure you clip the tags ends CLOSE, or else you'll get a short.
Not sure what you mean here..
do you mean clip the wire close to the end when it's in the head?.. I usually do this then tuck it under the rubber or metal insert to make sure it doesn't short out on the tube.

Yes I do test the head on the meter before using.. My meter doesn't like the small when using the leads.. I can't get a consistent reading, but can if it's in the head, but I test before using.. it's just a pain if there's a short.. I need to take it apart but no biggie.

 

[tater_salad]

Doublepost :frownyface:

 

[DontBurnIt]

Some people in the DIY liquid forum were working on an onion/armpit flavor trying to make their fortunes.

 

[AttyPops]

I gave up on cotton too...for similar reasons...taste.

I use SS mesh and/or silicon thread in my V.N. wicks. I've gotten SS to work just fine. Using SS isn't really a function of the device per se...although I could see where some V.N. setups (particularly clone stuff) could clamp the wick too tightly and short the metal wick against the head's wick notch. You have to carbon coat the SS wick REAL well and not roll it too thick. More art than science.

 

[SeanMoore]

Save your scraps of wire and you can use them to temporarily tie stacked wicks together while you coil.

 

[tater_salad]

Oh.. 1 other question..
Do you pre-burn your coil wire.. I've seen it in a video or two.. I haven't does it matter?

I know someone who makes good SSmesh wicks.. maybe I'll pick some up.. I've avoided becuse the chatroom folks have always said that Novas + mesh don't play nice.

 

[cedric212]

Oh.. 1 other question..
Do you pre-burn your coil wire.. I've seen it in a video or two.. I haven't does it matter?

I know someone who makes good SSmesh wicks.. maybe I'll pick some up.. I've avoided becuse the chatroom folks have always said that Novas + mesh don't play nice.

Pre-burn coil to remove any manufacturer oil resides as will as stiffen up the wire for easier management, but I only do it when I want a higher resistance head and need to do a 7/8 tightly spaced coils (~2.7-2.8 ohm).

Personally I would avoid doing SS mesh on VVN especially if you use a EgoTwist (don't count on the circuit protection), but if you want to experiment just make sure you check the heads with the DMM before firing it up.

 

[tater_salad]

Yeah I was thinking I'd keep the SS for if/when I get a vamo.

 

[klynnn]

I followed Pbusardo's video and my first one came out at about 2.2 ohms. I was so proud of myself. I do all of them now, love being as self sufficient as possible.

 

[tater_salad]

At first I was buying heads with the plan of using the burnt up ones for re-wicking myself.. Now that I have 10+ once My experimentation period is done I plan on banging out a bunch at one time..
The biggest pain is getting the tiny little wires through the hole in the bottom of the nova because of the ridge.. I can wrap a wick pretty quick.

Once you have the hardware the cost of 1 head can get you about 15 wicks and coils

 

[locke2121]

Yes...the tag ends that stick out, just clip them real close.

Personally I prefer silica to SS, it wicks faster, when SS heats up and the juice vaporizes, the SS takes a while to cool down enough for the juice to wick back up. BUT...with that being said, I have started to play around with a silica core wrapped in SS! It keeps the silica particles from getting out, and the core seems to keep the SS cool enough that it starts to wick faster.

 

[cedric212]

Too bad you don't like the flavor from cotton wicks since they are the easiest to deal with. Not sure if this'll help, but here's how I rebuild the head with cotton in ~30 sec., maybe you want to try using a string wrap in the middle of a piece of silica wick and pull it through the coil and see if that saves you time and give good results.

1. Coil wire around a 2mm screwdriver

2. Insert coil with screwdriver still in it into wire slits to keep it in place

3. Flip and insert grommet/pin and chop off excess wire

4. Remove the slide out the screwdriver and slide in cotton

 

[tater_salad]

I just stick in a thin paperclip to stiffen the sillica.

 

[Unforeseen]

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