First rebuildable; Need guidance =)

[jonjay]

I purchased a cheap hebel v3 rba the other day and finally received in the mail all my wicking materials and kanthal. For the record I have silica and 32 and 34 awg kanthal a1

Anyways, when I received the atomizer, it came prewrapped and coiled with at 3.0ohm. It sucked so I figured it was just built improperly and figured i'd wait until I got the materials to build my own.

Well that day came today and I am having no luck with this thing. I've built a few coils that work correctly, 100% but the vapor just isnt there!

It's horrible. I need to know what the problems could be, and/or is this just a ....ty rba and I should throw it out and swallow my losses?

I'm real frustrated. Right now I have a 2.5ohm coil built, and I have tried to vape it at different volts and watts and its just horrendous. I get a bunch of vapor when it's at 11watts on my vamo, but that shouldn't be the case.

-Frustrated!-

HELP

-Jon

 

[supertrunker]

i don't use that particular atty - but i do use a similar one with the 2 posts etc. What i use is about 4 wraps of 32 AWG kanthal and that gives me a coil of about 2.2.

I fit it all and add a few drops to the coil and then pulse it = on and off and so on a few times, to see if there are any really horrible bits with it - hotspots - shorts etc are apparent really quickly. A badly made coil will make it taste nasty and unpleasant. So that's your first step. Also - some people like to heat the coil either with a lighter or blowtorch before they wrap it - to get any machine oil off it from manufacture of the wire - that too tastes pretty nasty!

If you reckon you have a decent coil - then use it for a while and see if the burnt taste gets better - just don't inhale to start. Some perfectly good coils can taste like old dog's ears to start!

Don't give in - just keep practicising

T

 

[Dj Xy]

I lightly torch the silica till it glows white (silica wont burn very easily) that get rid of any nasty chemicals.
I then wrap my coil, attach, add juice and

I was once told, "There is no bad RBA, only some that require more love to get working" , just wish I could remember who told me that.

 

[LongDraw]

Some may say this is overkill, but I don't mind the few extra steps.

One poster had suggested boiling your silica. So I first cut 10 or so wicks, boil for 10 minutes then dump the water and boil again for 10. Then i just let them air dry and keep them in a separate bag. When I am ready to build a coil I then also torch the silica first, and I use a lighter to heat the kanthal. I think this works very well, pretty much no break in period.

I was doing the above without the boiling, but the wick would still take just a little to break in.

Again, all above is personal preference.

Edit: Sorry no suggestions for that RBA.

 

[StaircaseWit]

That's just a dripper, right?

Silica is *very* forgiving of crappy coils. I just torch the silica briefly at the spot where the coil will go, and wrap. I've had tight coils that vape fine, loose coils that vape fine, etc.

Are you lining up the airhole? Honestly, silica is about the easiest thing to coil. You generally don't have to worry about hotspots, and there's no real chance of a short unless you do something crazy.

Keep it nice and wet until it breaks in a bit, and dry burn a few times if it's nasty tasting. That's about all the advice I can give on silica.

 

[04stinugget]

did you add juice? just kidding. I personally hate the taste of silica wicking material weather the device is running or not. everyone has different taste buds and something about the silica just tastes gross to me. As mentioned before make sure the air hole is aligned with the wick or you will get very little flavor and probably choked yourself out with a very hard throat hit and possible burnt hits due to the coil getting to hot and roasting the wick. don't throw it away!! trust me I had the same thought at least 5 times with my aga but once you get them running right it is worth the hype 100%. have some patience and it will work out. good luck.