Horrible taste from SS mesh on Vivi Nova

[Hillkitler]

I have built maybe 15 heads now using SS mesh (#400 with 32g type D kanthal; I don't have any A1 available) and cannot seem to get rid of this awful, burning metallic taste. I have tried every method that I could find, either on here or in various videos, and nothing remedies my issue (torching wick and wire, twisting positive leg, burning juice on wick, rolling paper on wick, etc).

I have tried substituting nichrome for kanthal, as well as trying hybrid wicks using silica or cotton. I'm not getting any obvious hot spots and it doesn't look like the silicone grommet is burning. I have boiled the mesh and wire, along with all of the various parts in the head itself. I also widened the wick channels in the head to avoid shorts. I have had one or two of the coils that I was confident actually putting in a tank, but the burning taste appears if I go anywhere above 5 watts, which doesn't give me much flavor or vapor production and ultimately just ended up being a waste of juice. I have tried these few working heads with 50/50, 80/20 and 100% VG juices, all with the same results. Flavor has been muted and vapor production is almost nil.

Everything APPEARS normal, save for finding broken off chunks of the legs when I have tried doing twisted legs and consistently getting terrible smelling smoke whenever I dry burn.

What am I doing wrong? Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[unloaded]

You probably need NR wire for the legs instead of twisting. Any dry part of the wire heating up, even if it isn't glowing, will put out that foul taste. Some call it metallic but it reminds me of the way a wet dog smells, I can't stand it.

 

[latexyankee]

Well I've been fighting these ss nova's for quite some time. the legs for me are hit and miss, I have to twist them or I'm doomed on the positive leg. About the metallic, if you are positive there are no hotspots, it's most likely a wicking issue. I cut my mesh at a 45 degree angle against the grain of the sheet. this allows it to bend super easy, I don't even shape the to a U wick. Try rolling it real thin and tight so it fits really easy in head. Even after I'm done oxidizing, the wick will just bend to perfect U when I slide the post into the tank, no kinks at all. It's all in the way you cut the mesh. all that being said, they still infuriate me with the hotspots on the leg. Sometimes they work sometimes they dont, and adjusting the coils is a pain with the tiny opening you have to work with. If you have patience, it's worth it, they do hit rather nice and clean once set up and broken in. Good luck sir.

 

[michliu]

I tried stainless steel wicks but the hot legs made it unvapeable. I also tried using non-resistance silver for the legs but couldn't get the twists small enough to keep from touching the sides and shorting. I've now given up on Vivi Novas altogether, as silica or cotton in the Vivi Nova just doesn't taste as good as stainless steel in a genesis style RBA. I don't know why, but the legs are not a problem with silica or cotton wicks.

 

[Hillkitler]

You probably need NR wire for the legs instead of twisting...

I think I'll give this a try, along with cutting the mesh at an angle as latexyankee said. I think part of this may be an issue with my kanthal, as it gives off a similar metallic taste even when I'm using cotton wick. I'm considering just giving up on the SS; it's just too much of a hassle.

 

[tmanokc]

Last night I successfully did my first SS mesh mod on a mini vivi.

I used 500 SS and 32 Kanthal A1. I should have got some 34 cause my coil is 1.5 ohm and I wanted it a little higher. It took me two tries, the first one kept shorting on the wall i guess. So the second one i made sure that the one closest to the wall was pulled tight enough to not have any slack. Had a wierd taste for a few minutes then got better, to day it works and tastes great!

 

[Heavyrocker]

I have no problem doing a SS wick in a nova tank and i use all metal tanks,did you try just using a stubby wick?