Hercules Rebuildable Atomizer (Ithaka Clone)

[Innocuous]

I find the "auto-feed" slots to be vastly more trouble than they are worth: I often end up vaping well, set it down, and then suddenly I am using a drinking straw and spitting ejuice.. tank empties rapidly from that point.

Somtimes, I can get away from that with twisting the slots to face threads-only.. But, it's iffy. About the only "features" I like are the airflow and the multi-section tanks. The adjustable pin is also nice.

That's why I've sidelined the Hercules/Ithaka (RH), and am awaiting the Naughtyfun cores: I will resolve that Ithaka as a Kayfun-like and leave the Term-c as my experimental unit. (The term-c v2 is vastly easier and more reliable. It's only the clear tank that irked me there)

 

[Scope666]

I find the "auto-feed" slots to be vastly more trouble than they are worth: I often end up vaping well, set it down, and then suddenly I am using a drinking straw and spitting ejuice.. Tank empties rapidly from that point.

Somtimes, I can get away from that with twisting the slots to face threads-only.. But, it's iffy. About the only "features" I like are the airflow and the multi-section tanks. The adjustable pin is also nice.

That's why I've sidelined the Hercules/Ithaka (RH), and am awaiting the Naughtyfun cores: I will resolve that Ithaka as a Kayfun-like and leave the Term-c as my experimental unit. (The term-c v2 is vastly easier and more reliable. It's only the clear tank that irked me there)

What's the Nautyfun core? Tried googling but didn't find much.

 

[Innocuous]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/rebuildable-atomizer-systems/444922-kayfun-conversion-kit-terminator-nautilus.html

I'd link to the apropos place, but I seem to recall being spanked for linking to Other Forums That Do Not Exist In The ECF Universe.

 

[dwcraig1]

It might sound odd me saying this but way back when I got my Ithaka I did an "X" dual coil build and didn't do another one..........until today, thought I'd follow some of my own advise and it worked really well..... time will tell though as I'm always liking a fresh build. Vapor production seems considerably better, it will be a little while till I know what to say about flavor as the build is still "fresh"

 

[JuniorNA]

Come on dw u can't keep us in the dark - what did u do different ? I popped a coil and need to rebuild and would rather hear some of your pointers before I build the coils

 

[dwcraig1]

Come on dw u can't keep us in the dark - what did u do different ? I popped a coil and need to rebuild and would rather hear some of your pointers before I build the coils

I put the dual coils in the "X" instead of my usual parallel, it's only the second time I've done it, the first time it was my first dual coil on Ithaka and I guess it didn't turn out too good. But this one's good. Mainlly just more vapor, flavor seems about the same or maybe just slightly less.
Also it's with a single piece of 3 mm silica with no extra short piece in the coil ( each coil ). Two strands removed from each wick in the channels.
0.75 Ω
I bought 200 of the longer 3 Ω ready wires from Stormy's , I don't think she still carries them.
The idea was to use two wires per coil since the ready wires seem to use all the same gauge resister wire.
I wasn't getting enough wraps with the 1.5 Ω wires but with these I do, four wires per build, that's why I bought 200 of them, works nicely.

 

[Scope666]

I put the dual coils in the "X" instead of my usual parallel, it's only the second time I've done it, the first time it was my first dual coil on Ithaka and I guess it didn't turn out too good. But this one's good. Mainlly just more vapor, flavor seems about the same or maybe just slightly less.
Also it's with a single piece of 3 mm silica with no extra short piece in the coil ( each coil ). Two strands removed from each wick in the channels.
0.75 Ω
I bought 200 of the longer 3 Ω ready wires from Stormy's , I don't think she still carries them.
The idea was to use two wires per coil since the ready wires seem to use all the same gauge resister wire.
I wasn't getting enough wraps with the 1.5 Ω wires but with these I do, four wires per build, that's why I bought 200 of them, works nicely.

I did a very similar build yesterday (thanks to DW) and I'm really liking it so far. Same x-coil config, no silica between the coils (I felt like the top coil sat up too high when I tried that, and oxidation takes care of the shorting pretty quickly)

I used 2 pieces of 34g, and used my ohm meter to "measure" out the pieces so they were 3 ohms each, leaving me with 1.5. I then pulled out my home made zapper and fused on some Nickel wire. 1.5 ohms is a nice place to be at because I can use the device on a mech or VV/VW and get a great vape out of it. (disclaimer: I don't like overly warm vapor, but I LOVE a LOT of flavor)

 

[Innocuous]

oh, I see now. Yeah, did that a week or two back. basically two wick and coils crossing in the X w/o extra junk screwing up the tiny volume to work within.

Tasted great, worked well.. Ithaka still likes to spring a leak w/o warning on occasion. I am guessing it's an oring-issue, but I'll turn this sucker into a Kayfun-like and move on.

 

[JuniorNA]

@dw did you leave auto feed turned on at the channels or off ?
When u say two wires per coil - do you mean those highlander coils ? So it's 2 pieces of resistance wire connected to 1 piece of NR - on each side ?

So NR - R - R - NR and then u wrap the coils and make sure the wires aren't touching at the coils ?
So that's a quad coil build ?

Or am I wrong ?

 

[dwcraig1]

@dw did you leave auto feed turned on at the channels or off ?
When u say two wires per coil - do you mean those highlander coils ? So it's 2 pieces of resistance wire connected to 1 piece of NR - on each side ?

So NR - R - R - NR and then u wrap the coils and make sure the wires aren't touching at the coils ?
So that's a quad coil build ?

Or am I wrong ?

I simply use two ready wires as one wire holding them together wrapping them as one in the typical X dual coil setup

 

[JuniorNA]

What's the difference between running 4 wires - 3.0 ohm each at 1.5 ohm a coil / 2 to make .75 oh

Vs just running 2 coils at 1.5 each to get .75 ?

More surface area on the wick?
I feel like that would drain more battery to fire up 4 wires instead of 2 .
Maybe more coverage for more flavor ?

I understand twisted coils since it has more books and crannies to cook the juice - but not the 4 wire approach

 

[dwcraig1]

With one 1.5 Ω ready wire I can almost get three wraps with it which isn't enough to suit me. I am not twisting the wires together just putting the two longer 3 Ω ready wire together side by side to get 1.5 Ω per coil and towards six wraps.

 

[JuniorNA]

With one 1.5 Ω ready wire I can almost get three wraps with it which isn't enough to suit me. I am not twisting the wires together just putting the two longer 3 Ω ready wire together side by side to get 1.5 Ω per coil and towards six wraps.

I see so I guess that's a highlander coil from bishop heals - he's always doing that in his videos .
So literally you are running quad coils -4 wires.
You get 6 wraps per coil because 2 different pieces of R are wrapping around the wick

I gotcha

 

[dwcraig1]

Not highlander, typical X'd dual
Don't think about the four wires part as I'm using each two as one.

You can hardly see the one one the under side but it looks pretty much the same.

Highlander dual coils are for Oddy/Terminator, a coil stacked upon another coil but I believe only one coils wicks are in the channel and the other "wick legs" are snipped off.

 

[JuniorNA]

Ok now I see - makes sense - but even though you want me to think of it as a single coil - it's mathematically calculating as a quad coil build

3ohm x 2 for each wick - 1.5/2 = .75
What I'm saying is to get more wraps you just use 30 gauge to get 5-6 wrap and keep the resistance at 1.5 so you don't have to worry about coils touching

Unless of course you want to make use of the ready wires and not have to join your own

I thought highland meant NR <=> NR

Where the -= is means resistance wire .

When people used to build coils for RDAs with one air hole they would wrap the coil with this 2 R wires and called It dual coil -

Anyway I'm blabbering

I did a build today and I'm not comfortable with the x setup - it felt messy and I had to push down That coil and it felt too bunched up so I went back to parallel coils - double wick each coil

This time autofeed is on - nut in ceramic is closed position and I'm using DIY unflavored with some arctic wolf menthol (jesus that's some great juice) comes out to 80/20 pg to test autofeed and no flooding or gurgling or any leaks In the last 6 hours

Might not be the best build out there but tons of vapor and great taste

 

[JuniorNA]

I forgot to add - with the ceramic nut closed all overflow was not able to drain and I was getting spitback in my mouth when vaping since that extra juice had nowhere to go . I could literally turn the herc upside down and juice would drip out of the mouth piece . I then changed the nut to open the slots in the ceramic and that solved that problem - so any overflow at the coils will now drain back into the tank /

Still don't know why anyone would .... them ? Maybe I'll ask in the ithaka forum if you guys don't know . Pbusardo gave a brief explanation in his video but he didn't explain why someone would want it closed - maybe he didn't know either

So now I'm back with 1.1 ohm dual coil -
Auto feed on - slots closed and it's chugging out vapor and flavor like crazy.

Only think I don't like is the mouth piece is like the Penelope - my OCD kicks in from time to time and I like to fire the coils and look down the mouth piece to check for any glowing coils - which means i need to readjust or reposition - it was a lot easier on the ody/term - with the thin MP I can't see squat when looking down there but so far I haven't tasted any dry hits or metallic

I use the term MP when using short mode on the herc and that helps me deal with my OCD while checking out the coils

Anyone going to get the new telescopic mouth piece from imeo? (If it's not already sold out every where and if there isn't a 6 month wait list )

I do think his videos are informative but man I have never seen so many fan boys on that GG sub forum - worse than iPhone fan boys

But then again the sub forum is for all things GG so what can I expect anyway ?

But if you mention a change or request something different on his next version - you get shot in the knee caps before anyone even can start a dialogue about your suggestion

 

[Hectus]

Hi folks

I got my fasttech clone today, thought i had to set it up, but then i found out it came ready to vape and i figured out to just give it a try.
Works fine, cept its overwicking, not flooding, but the vape is very very saturated.

I know this been talked about before, but just a quick question; since its overwicking a bit with the mouthpiece channels closed, i assume i should just close the autofeed and adjust via mouthpiece? the nut ur talking about, should i mess with this? im not doing sub-ohm and not really planning to either if that matters.

Also i find the air/draw a bit tight for my liking, but if i remember right from reading thru this thread before, theres no easy solution for this?

Thanks for ur help

 

[dwcraig1]

Hi folks

I got my fasttech clone today, thought i had to set it up, but then i found out it came ready to vape and i figured out to just give it a try.
Works fine, cept its overwicking, not flooding, but the vape is very very saturated.

I know this been talked about before, but just a quick question; since its overwicking a bit with the mouthpiece channels closed, i assume i should just close the autofeed and adjust via mouthpiece? the nut ur talking about, should i mess with this? im not doing sub-ohm and not really planning to either if that matters.

Also i find the air/draw a bit tight for my liking, but if i remember right from reading thru this thread before, theres no easy solution for this?

Thanks for ur help

It needs to be cleaned, mine was fairly clean as far as machining oil go but inside the mouthpiece stem was some real crud possibly buffing compound. Had to run a Q-tip with alcohol through it numerous times and could hardly believe what came out. The coil build that comes in it is quite poor. Watch you don't lose your parts down the drain. As far as the air draw, check that the nickel plating on the positive post/air stem isn't blocking the end of the tube some.

Glad to hear at least something is moving through HK Post

 

[Hectus]

Thanks for ur answer.

I cleaned it good and it tastes ok so i think im good on that part, im not using the mouthpiece that came with, im using a herc adapter for driptips, but cleaned that one out too just to be sure.

Ok, now i had the clony sitting on my desk, and it leaked thru the 510 connecter, flooded rather. Closed the autofeed but not getting the action i want.

Im gonna recoil it with a single 1.8ohm readywire, i think i will feed 2 wicks thru that coil. Any suggestions on how thick silica i should use for that setup? i have everything from 1mm to 4mm. 2 lines of 2mm, or maybe 2 lines of 3mm? not sure where to start.

Also where is it u guys add another oring on the 510 connector to avoid gurgling or leaks?

Hk post, yes funny thing tho. my clone was shipped just a few days ago and came to me really fast, but other stuff i ordered weeks ago and wich was supposedly shipped weeks ago, still havent arrived.

 

[dwcraig1]

Thanks for ur answer.

I cleaned it good and it tastes ok so i think im good on that part, im not using the mouthpiece that came with, im using a herc adapter for driptips, but cleaned that one out too just to be sure.

Ok, now i had the clony sitting on my desk, and it leaked thru the 510 connecter, flooded rather. Closed the autofeed but not getting the action i want.

Im gonna recoil it with a single 1.8ohm readywire, i think i will feed 2 wicks thru that coil. Any suggestions on how thick silica i should use for that setup? i have everything from 1mm to 4mm. 2 lines of 2mm, or maybe 2 lines of 3mm? not sure where to start.

Also where is it u guys add another oring on the 510 connector to avoid gurgling or leaks?

Hk post, yes funny thing tho. my clone was shipped just a few days ago and came to me really fast, but other stuff i ordered weeks ago and wich was supposedly shipped weeks ago, still havent arrived.

3 mm wick across the top and the snip 2 strands from each wick going down the channels. A good setup to start with and go from there.
I use a small plastic washer right above the o-ring that secures the positive wire(s) so the wires don't poke through the o-ring. I read something about putting an o-ring inside the ceramic under the nut but I see no value to it.