My first genesis was the AGA T2 and I guess I had beginner's luck because my first wick was a 1.3 ohm coil of 30 Ga Kanthal on wire rope/mesh and I got it to work. I ended up taking it apart to try using 28 instead thinking that more surface area=better. After a couple failures I re-oxidized my wick and successfully wrapped 10-11 times to get 1.2-1.3. It worked, but it was slow to respond on my vamo and produced disappointingly thin vapor. Ripped that apart again and re did the coil with 30 Ga, got it to work eventually. Again, the vapor production wasn't great and the taste was somewhat muted compared to my Igo-W.
Since getting a mech mod I have taken to trying to use the AGA-T2 to make it vape like my dripper with a tank. First I tried a 3 wrap of .8 x .1 ribbon wire. That setup had a top hot spot like herpes: It might go away for a while, but it will be back. I pulsed it like no other and ran down a whole lot of battery trying to do so. I moved the coil around in every way I could think of...not good enough. I bought a few small washers and added a spring from a pen to the positive post...still no relief. I messed with that for a few days before giving up on it.
Next I went back to 28 Ga and tried a 3 wrap. Same story as the ribbon wire, eventually the hot spot would come back on the top. I played with that for a couple days to no avail. I ended up boring out my airhole from around 1/16 to 3/32 and the flavor was almost completely gone and the vapor was still not good. I thought I had ruined my AGA T2 and would have to buy liquid weld or melt candle wax into the hole and drill a new one leaving poor AGAtha with a scar from her surgery. Yesterday I bought an RSST, drilled the hole to 1/16, and made a wire rope/mesh wick for it, tried a 3 wrap of 28 Ga and..........nit! Hot spot on the top, I thought this one was supposed to be easy. After a bunch of poking and prodding I got ......, but got an idea too.
I had tried ekowool and cotton as insulation in the past and..ugh not for me. Nothing worse in a vape session than a burnt cotton dry hit and an ekowool dry hit isn't too pleasant either. I ended up taking all the mesh off the wire rope and squeezing the top of the rope through some XC 116. I popped the wick back in, primed it with some juice, and wrapped a new coil with 4 wraps of 28. Full flavor with no muting, dense clouds, and no .......n herpes hot spots! I was really happy with my new RSST and vaped through a full tank in a couple hrs and another half tank before I went to bed.
With that success yesterday I got curious today. Maybe there is some hope for my AGA T2 with that 3/32 air hole now. At first I tried ribbon wire and its springiness kept pushing the XC 116 up and making bare contact with the wire rope causing a bottom hot spot. It vaped great up until the coil started glowing red. I only had limited time before I had to leave the house and I was determined to make it work before then, so I broke out the 28 Ga again. 3 rushed and uneven wraps and WOW. My AGA T2 went from the might never see the light of day again pile, to my favorite atty. Again, full flavor but even more vapor than my RSST. When the coil goes bad I shall try ribbon wire again, but I'm content with it as is.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some pointers:
Torch the wire rope really good, I completely forgot to do so at first with the AGA and the wicking sucked. I kept having to tilt it and was getting a bitter flavor. I looked in my tank to see the silvery rope...mmm machine oil. After the torching it works and tastes just fine.
I use SnG kiln treated XC 116 and 2mm 7x7 SS wire rope with no nylon core. You have to push the XC-116 together to get it wider and then gently twist the wire rope inside it. Once I have it covering the top of the wire rope I cut it and then torch the ceramic head for a bit to make it stiffer and fray less.
Before you wrap, very lightly compress the ceramic against the atomizer deck.
When you wrap it, don't make it overly tight, just use enough tension to make the coil hug into the ceramic a little bit and keep it from being loose on the wire rope.
Be gentle! this stuff likes to unravel at the ends if your not careful and before you know it you have a bunch of strands loosely surrounding your wire rope. At 7 dollars a foot that can get irritating when it happens to you a couple times in a row..damn springy ribbon wire. I just kept all the threads, maybe I'll make some nano coils for my dripper and put some of the fibers through as a wick. Or I can bury the nano coil in a mess of loose ceramic fiber threads and call it the angry bird instead of the nano dragon
.
------------------------------------------------------------------
TL;DR:
1.Take that mesh off your wire rope
2.Use a heat treated XC 116 ceramic condom for your wire rope so things flow like they should instead of burning later on
3.enjoy fat clouds, the flavor a genny should have, no more using half an 18650 trying to pulse your wrap to life, no more poking and prodding your coils for hours, and no more awful dry hits.
Since getting a mech mod I have taken to trying to use the AGA-T2 to make it vape like my dripper with a tank. First I tried a 3 wrap of .8 x .1 ribbon wire. That setup had a top hot spot like herpes: It might go away for a while, but it will be back. I pulsed it like no other and ran down a whole lot of battery trying to do so. I moved the coil around in every way I could think of...not good enough. I bought a few small washers and added a spring from a pen to the positive post...still no relief. I messed with that for a few days before giving up on it.
Next I went back to 28 Ga and tried a 3 wrap. Same story as the ribbon wire, eventually the hot spot would come back on the top. I played with that for a couple days to no avail. I ended up boring out my airhole from around 1/16 to 3/32 and the flavor was almost completely gone and the vapor was still not good. I thought I had ruined my AGA T2 and would have to buy liquid weld or melt candle wax into the hole and drill a new one leaving poor AGAtha with a scar from her surgery. Yesterday I bought an RSST, drilled the hole to 1/16, and made a wire rope/mesh wick for it, tried a 3 wrap of 28 Ga and..........nit! Hot spot on the top, I thought this one was supposed to be easy. After a bunch of poking and prodding I got ......, but got an idea too.
I had tried ekowool and cotton as insulation in the past and..ugh not for me. Nothing worse in a vape session than a burnt cotton dry hit and an ekowool dry hit isn't too pleasant either. I ended up taking all the mesh off the wire rope and squeezing the top of the rope through some XC 116. I popped the wick back in, primed it with some juice, and wrapped a new coil with 4 wraps of 28. Full flavor with no muting, dense clouds, and no .......n herpes hot spots! I was really happy with my new RSST and vaped through a full tank in a couple hrs and another half tank before I went to bed.
With that success yesterday I got curious today. Maybe there is some hope for my AGA T2 with that 3/32 air hole now. At first I tried ribbon wire and its springiness kept pushing the XC 116 up and making bare contact with the wire rope causing a bottom hot spot. It vaped great up until the coil started glowing red. I only had limited time before I had to leave the house and I was determined to make it work before then, so I broke out the 28 Ga again. 3 rushed and uneven wraps and WOW. My AGA T2 went from the might never see the light of day again pile, to my favorite atty. Again, full flavor but even more vapor than my RSST. When the coil goes bad I shall try ribbon wire again, but I'm content with it as is.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some pointers:
Torch the wire rope really good, I completely forgot to do so at first with the AGA and the wicking sucked. I kept having to tilt it and was getting a bitter flavor. I looked in my tank to see the silvery rope...mmm machine oil. After the torching it works and tastes just fine.
I use SnG kiln treated XC 116 and 2mm 7x7 SS wire rope with no nylon core. You have to push the XC-116 together to get it wider and then gently twist the wire rope inside it. Once I have it covering the top of the wire rope I cut it and then torch the ceramic head for a bit to make it stiffer and fray less.
Before you wrap, very lightly compress the ceramic against the atomizer deck.
When you wrap it, don't make it overly tight, just use enough tension to make the coil hug into the ceramic a little bit and keep it from being loose on the wire rope.
Be gentle! this stuff likes to unravel at the ends if your not careful and before you know it you have a bunch of strands loosely surrounding your wire rope. At 7 dollars a foot that can get irritating when it happens to you a couple times in a row..damn springy ribbon wire. I just kept all the threads, maybe I'll make some nano coils for my dripper and put some of the fibers through as a wick. Or I can bury the nano coil in a mess of loose ceramic fiber threads and call it the angry bird instead of the nano dragon
. ------------------------------------------------------------------
TL;DR:
1.Take that mesh off your wire rope
2.Use a heat treated XC 116 ceramic condom for your wire rope so things flow like they should instead of burning later on
3.enjoy fat clouds, the flavor a genny should have, no more using half an 18650 trying to pulse your wrap to life, no more poking and prodding your coils for hours, and no more awful dry hits.
Last edited:
