Hcigar Kayfun 3.1 problem

Status
Not open for further replies.

knotin1

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Mar 6, 2011
398
1,106
52
here
I had the same issue with mine after a solid month of using mine. Couldn't figure it out. Tried everything.


Took it all apart for the millionth time. Used my kitchen faucet and forced water in the outside air intake. A glob of juice or something came out the top where the coil goes.

been working fine since.
 
Last edited:

betterthanyou

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
May 10, 2013
225
53
37
southern california
Hmm, I was going to start a thread but did a search and lucked out and found this thread. The exact same thing happened to me, I've been vaping on my 3.1 for a few months now without the slightest issue, microcoil & cotton. Also have a rocket kayfun which is virtually the same thing. Suddenly over the last ~week, after months of perfection, it's giving me dry hits. And it's the most f'ed up "voodoo" magic going on, I've cleaned it, I've rebuild the coil over 15 times now, raised the coil higher, lower, more cotton less cotton, thicker, thinner, longer shorter, whatever the hell is going on, it will NOT go away. I can flood the chamber and still wont wick correctly. Doesn't matter if I block the juice channel or not.

The frustrating part, is the rocket is vaping like a champ still. Thinking maybe I suffered brain damage from vaping, I rebuilt the coil & wick several times, and even made some intentionally "bad" wicks, and it's performing just fine. Something is suddenly wrong with my 3.1 es, and I have absolutely no idea what could possibly be wrong.

My original setup involved threading the cotton, inserting the chimney, snipping the cotton about a centimeter above the chimney and pushing the wicks in so they rested across each deck with a gap between the wall to expose the juice channels. Mind you, even with them covered it worked flawlessly and I had never been able to get a "plugged juice channel" I've read about, it just worked no matter what I did. Later evolved into snipping the wicks shorter, maybe two millimeters in length above the chimney as that's as short as I can get them with my scissors, which made them about long enough to make the ends contact the base which seemed to wick even better (capillary action?). Also done wicks where I snip them short with the chimney off, position them and secure them with e-juice, then assemble which worked just as well only more time and labor intensive (takes only seconds with the chimney on to push the wicks in, expose the juice channels, and apply a couple drops around the coil).

Feels like I've been dreaming with how bizzare this thing suddenly performs, on a rewick it performs fine for awhile, but as the tank level gets lower it always seems to rewrite the laws of physics and defy the design of the kayfun. Last night I build a fresh wick, filled it up, vaped for awhile then went to sleep. 11 hours later wake up, and instantly dry hit and you can hear the coil still hissing after I let the button go for several seconds (happens with a wick drying out, not enough juice to cool it down).

I found a replacement 3.1 base I had received in the mail sometime ago (had a faulty fill valve, which I plugged with silicon tape and hadn't touched the replacement) so I'm going to just give in and try that and see what happens. I really can't find any proof it's my build, so something else is going on.
If I am understanding correctly you are threading your cotton wick through the coil and pulling each end of the wick upwards into the chimney, then pressing each end of the wick down towards the channels. I think a better method would be to thread the cotton through the coil (and make absolutely sure it is not too thick on the inside of the coil, or you can start getting dry hits), keep the chimney off, get the cotton wick a little moist with juice, then press each end of the cotton down the deck until it reaches the base of each channel. Move each end of the cotton slightly to the side of the channels, keep it firmly pressed and in position, and then screw the center cone on. Much more accurate method
 

Necrosis

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Aug 19, 2013
118
145
Arizona
Humm, unhappy to report the same hcigar kayfun decided to act up again towards the end of my second tank fill of the day and has refused to function after a few cleanings and rewickings. So much for the air flow theory. O-rings look in good shape, everything seems to be is sealing as it should be. I just don't get what is going on with this specific kayfun suddenly, it's just cursed and begging to be thrown in the trash.
 

Kilzon

Full Member
Oct 8, 2013
16
8
Baton Rouge, LA
I am having a similar issue with mine. I'm on my 2nd one, since the first one got torched due to an arcing incident with A Nemesis and it's loosening fire button issue.
This one was working fine for about 2-3 weeks, then all of a sudden I started getting dry hits after refilling the tank the first time. I'm rewicking up to twice a day now. I thought it was when I started dropping my resistance down in the .6 range from the .85-1.0 range. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm running a 1.05 nano coil now and the dry hits started 510 puffs into the 2nd tank. I've been making sure not to over stuff the coil with cotton, and keeping the juice channels clear. I dunno. It's just frustrating.

Only thing odd about this one is it appears that the fill port isn't working. I tried to use it initially, but didn't want to force it once I noticed it wasn't filling up. And the first one I had started leaking a little from the port once I actually filled it that way.
 

Claviger

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Feb 21, 2014
85
48
Honolulu, HI
HCIGAR Kayfun clones have shallow vertical juice channels, at least the 3 I have handled/owned have all been very shallow. Taking a 1/16th drill bit and making them deeper has resolved the issue for me 3/3 times.

If you want a kayfun style atty that works right, and does so better than an authentic Kayfun, go buy an expromizer and thank me later....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread