Filling modification, Fogger V4

[suprtrkr]

Greetings from a n00b to the forum, and my deepest appreciation for all the good info I've gotten from lurking. I joined today as I have something to say finally.

I have recently started RBA tanks on my Itaste SVD and VTR mods, and the first one I selected was a Fogger V4. (Thanks again to the many contributors to the various V4 threads here, you guys sold me.) I still haven't figured out a good build for it, but I have solved one of the problems, which was it was hard and messy to fill. The fill hole on the V4 is in the base of the tank adjacent to the 510 connector. You remove a screw and the fill hole runs up into a saw cut in the side of the unit base, between the threads for the tanks base and the threads for the barrel base of the chimney surrounding the build deck. When filling, the juice would 'stack up' in the saw cut and prevent air from flowing out the fill hole around the fill needle (syringe or Ucan, I tried both.)

I took it apart again to today to try a new build-- still a failure on that, burning and popping today, think I went too far and didn't use enough cotton this time-- and I took my Dremel tool with a 1/8" flat end mill (too big, needed 1/16th but didn't have) and worked on the side of the saw cut closest to the build deck. That's normally the top, but you fill it upside down, so it's the bottom side in fill mode. The idea is to work an angle into the cut sidewall to let the juice flow down into the tank and the air go up above it and around the needle and out. Take very great care not to polish it so deep you remove the shelf/seal below the build deck where the barrel mates or the chamber will flood. Do not work the other side of the saw cut as that is the area for the o-ring seal below the glass. I worked the mill in the cut as deep as it would go without touching the other side wall, and then finished the job using the side of a cut-off wheel. While you're in there, you might as well polish off the burr left by drilling the fill hole into the saw cut, which the manufacturer didn't get around to. No real need for it, but you're sitting there with the Dremel in your hand... If you had a narrow diameter diamond burr, either cylindrical or conical so long as it is of less diameter than the saw cut is wide, you could do it in one pass without changing tools. In any event, it works like a dream. I put the needle in the fill hole to the bottom,pushed the plunger, and the juice slid down the glass wall of the tank without backing up and puking out of the fill hole as usual.

Now, if I could just figure out how to build it... If anybody else is having the same trouble, I think this would work for you. Hope it helps and happy vaping.

 

[kfelder]

Do you have any before and after pics?

 

[Bunnykiller]

popping sounds are normal... thats the juice evaporating/vaporizing

 

[suprtrkr]

I took pics, but they're not real clear. I was going to do a sketch...

Here's a before, I can't locate the after immediately:

 

[suprtrkr]

These are more like small explosions So much so I can feel it in my mouth, and the vapor was blowing out the air intake holes. I re-wicked with a bit more cotton and it hasn't done it since. Still don't have it right, I'm not getting the vapor production I want. I don't think I've burned this last set of wicks (yet), either. But then, I also went down on power from 15w to 12w.

 

[DejayRezme]

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try it. The next upcoming version of the Fogger V4 will probably have a better fill system again.

About the wicking, I can't help you much. I do microcoils 12 wraps of 28ga kanthal A1 on a 1.8mm coil wrapping gadget and by now I use shiseido cotton which is far easier to work with than the ekowool / silicate that I previously used. I haven't figured out what causes the big pops which are annoying, and I think it might be too much heat / hotspot and then liquid gets there and evaporates rapidly. It might be too much cotton also if the wick is strangled and doesn't wick good enough. Good luck!

 

[jstjoehere]

Ive noticed the big pops are from not enough wick inside your coil when I pull cotton through I want a bit of resistance on it to insure a tight fit against the coil. Im sure someone will give you a good build on it eventually. Micro coils are great.

 

[suprtrkr]

I went down to the local Casa de Vape, where I had been buying my wire and so forth, and had one of the vapeheads look at it. To jstjoehere, I concur. The only time I got the big pops was when I had too little cotton in the coils. Everything I read, and the advice I got from the shop was, with wicks, less is more. So I kept thinking I needed to cut back. But when I went down there, they used more cotton than I had, and brought it farther down the vertical channel than I was doing, all the way to the bottom of the cut. She's wicking much better now, no burned taste on max power (15w on an Itaste SVD) and better vapor production. I'm still not getting the vapor I want. I am now informed I need a mechanical mod to put more power on the coils. Fortunately-- if that's the word I want-- I accidentally bought one, a used Smok-tech Magneto, last night on Ebay. I wanted to follow the auction, so I entered a bid I thought would be below the closing price, and wound up with it for $19.95 (sigh). I would rather have bought a new one, but oh, well. I also ordered some Efest purple 35a 18650's and same same 10.5a 18350's to keep from blowing myself up. That turned out to be an expensive hobby as, with a mech on the way, I didn't have a dripper for it. So, at the shop, I bought one of those, too. I paid more for it than the mod-- it's a patriot clone dual coil in chrome-- but I only hated it a little bit because I was so grateful they helped me get straight on wicking; somebody has to patronize the local stores or they won't be there when I need help

I am eagerly anticipating trying some sub-ohm builds in the .5 range. To DejayRezme, the new dripper is wearing .8 ohm duals with cotton wick, built by the shop for free since I bought it there, and the Fogger is wearing a 1.1 ohm set of duals I built myself and later wicked (cotton) by the shop to make it work. The lowest my mods will drive is .8, which I figured out using a great tip I picked up on the board here, just lay a piece of wire across the posts, read the ohms, fire it, and shorten the wire with each step until it won't fire any more. Before I try half-ohm coils on a mech, however, I need to find and re-read the great post about how to figure amp loading of the batteries using Ohm's Law so I know what I'm doing.

 

[suprtrkr]

Hhhmmm... It still doesn't want to fill up more than half way, and it's still a painfully slow process. More thought is needed. Perhaps an identical fill hole on the opposite side of the tank. That way fluid can go down one and air up the other. My first thought was to put it in the top cap-- I haven't figured out yet why they didn't, there seems to be room. I'm saving that idea for last, though.

 

[mightymen]

When filling your fogger V4, open up the air flow adjustment first then fill it, I've been doing this with out no problems.

 

[suprtrkr]

Thanks, but I do. I keep it wide open anyway, all the way up until it butts the tank bottom cap. Maybe I got a bad one.

 

[suprtrkr]

When filling your fogger V4, open up the air flow adjustment first then fill it, I've been doing this with out no problems.

I'm still working on this; I am now satisfied the problem is the air in the tank can not flow out. Upon reflection, I have figured out the position of the air-flow adjuster is not material because the chimney is still connected to the drip tip, where the outflow would be unrestricted no matter what. Today, when I filled it, I stuffed juice in the hole until it puked out around the needle, as usual, and then-- with the airflow adjuster in the closed position-- I stuck the bottom of the tank in my mouth and blew. That got it, at the price of a mouthful of juice. There's a good bit of air resistance, I assume from the cotton in the wick channels being soaked with juice and filling the hole. I bought a piece of 3/8" ID vinyl tubing, which just fits snugly on the drip tip and will try filling it with a little suction as soon as I vape it down again. I further occurs to me soldering a M3 x .5 threaded section to the tip of a 18ga (or so) blunt needle would let you fill the tank under pressure from the syringe.

Query: what wicking material are you using on yours?