I have noticed the Kanger heads seem to have grommets made of two different materials, and it's luck of the draw which one is on any particular head. One is whiter and looks like it's rubber. I always have hot legs on these, and almost always get a nasty burnt rubber taste. I don't use them anymore. The other is clearer and looks like it's made of silicone. I have never had a hot leg or burnt rubber taste from these, though they do seem to be more delicate and likely to break apart when removing.
How to Prevent Hot Legs
- Thread starter STiZzle2010
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You're right on with your observations Tim, good eye. The clearer milky white ones are silicone. Introduced since the Protank 2 was released. I'm evaluating the Kanger line and have purchased a lot of heads but have as yet not encountered the newest silicone grommets.
I believe earlier grommets and substitutes offered by others may be silicone composites. All the earlier varieties are somewhat more difficult to manage. But they're rigid and terminate firmly. And let's face it they're insulators. They're supposed to scorch. The sacrificial lamb to thwart the overt short. And yes, they smell when you do. What's the alternative? You have little clue that you have a possible short situation. No alarm bell if you will.
I think at one point some months ago Kanger came out with an newer grommet with a greater silicone content. I've purchased quite a number of these and compared them with previous versions in use (3rd party ver. pictured for comparison). They seem to slip more with moisture. Silicone repels moisture but to a point. So I'm really curious just how efficiently they will serve to be a reliable fixture for termination. Or, that what we end up with is more shorts which of course may require, more grommets. Because even silicone may scorch eventually.
Just sayin'.
Good info! I'll be curious to see how well my rebuilds hold up over time using the grommets with higher silicone content. My problem was that every single build I did with rubber grommets burnt the rubber. I'm not convinced that I always had an impending short, though it is possible. Now, every single build I do with the higher-silicone grommets comes out perfectly.
Tim, excellent! Your just a couple of months behind me. It's not just the grommets keepin' ya outta trouble. Think I might have a wee of an edge on ya in having done over 350 builds on primarily Kanger clearo's for a consumer study. But it's clear you know what a damned burny grommet is though. LOL
No seriously. Have you tried to tension a micro yet? If you haven't I finally rounded up 6 months of research and effort on this forum here...Contact (Micro) Coil Rebuilding Tutorials
Give it a try. Post, let us know how you make out. Help me build the resistance road map for newcomers.
Thanks for your come back.
Good luck.
No seriously. Have you tried to tension a micro yet? If you haven't I finally rounded up 6 months of research and effort on this forum here...Contact (Micro) Coil Rebuilding Tutorials
Give it a try. Post, let us know how you make out. Help me build the resistance road map for newcomers.
Thanks for your come back.
Good luck.
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I have not tried that yet, but I read (most) of your posts on the thread, watched the videos, and will build one tonight and report back. Looks very interesting, especially the method of eliminating hot legs.
I'm also intrigued because I'm waiting on my first rda, and the amount of vapor being produced in the third video was insane. I'm not trying to get massive clouds, but I would like slightly more vapor output than I'm currently getting on my Aerotank.
I'm also intrigued because I'm waiting on my first rda, and the amount of vapor being produced in the third video was insane. I'm not trying to get massive clouds, but I would like slightly more vapor output than I'm currently getting on my Aerotank.
Okay, so I tried that method. I used 32ga Kanthal. Taking it directly off the spool like that meant that I couldn't anneal it first, so when I cut the wire after getting approximately the number of wraps I wanted, the tension in the wire caused it to partially unwind from the screwdriver. Not much, maybe one wrap's worth, but it also decreased the overall tightness of my coil. I think I honestly get tighter coils from cutting the wire, annealing it, and hand-wrapping it. My coils touch all the way around when I use that method, so I don't know that I could really improve them. I did use the technique to eliminate hot legs, and wow, it worked like an absolute charm. That's going into my bag of tricks for sure.
Tim, the point is if you wind with tension they do not unwind. The tension is like that in a torsion screen door spring. If your coil unwrapped (except for your starting turn) when you released tension you did not reach the point of natural adhesion. Not enough tension was applied. The coil will at best underperform. Properly tensioned you can forego annealing and do so on your mod as you pulse the batt and compress the coil lightly to clear any hotspots, usually none. That more uniformly anneals the wire than manually torching it. It takes a bit of practice to get the muscle memory right a few times usually. To find the sweet spot where the wires won't get any closer, but any separate either. Then you will save a great deal of time and the hazards like minute high turns or open turns you can't really see…that will mess you up bro. Just because they seem to touch doesn't mean they do until you have adhesion. The fact that they don't is one of the main reasons the microcoils may contribute even more gurgling and flooding than a loose hand wind. They can increase the efficiency of power delivery but if it's uneven for such reasons as I mentioned you end up with a lot of unvaporized juice. So, huh!, for the microcoil. But it's got to be done right. And when it is, you'll get the video result.
Once you achieve uniform adhesion physics dictates that you will see the maximum and uniform distribution of energy across the coil. That's the best that such a wrap could possibly do given the laws of nature. And it's doable. Fact is I've watched many people actually do it without realizing that they were achieving it.
I'd say relax and don't push the work. Observe. It'll start talkin' at ya showing you what needs to be done. Once the body mechanics start getting recorded for the repetitive motions, the tensions needed here and there and the delicate moves it will seem like second nature. You'll have dozens strewn in your drawer and everywhere waiting to be recycled…someday. But you'll only want to do more. Because you can, in minutes. Funny thing.
In your case I would suggest trying 30AWG. It will give you something more substantial to work with and even more capable of wind memory. The thinner gauges are more fickle because the vaporization itself is really quite violent at that size and 32 gauge is thin. The energy stored in the wire preserving its shape can be easily overcome. So 32 AWG will not be as durable, or re-wickable as the thicker.
Now about the hot legs thing. Reinserting the mandrel, drill bit, whatever shouldn't even ever happen. The method I've been explaining on the http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/clearomizers/486794-protank-microcoil-discussion-65.html thread and others is a tension wind. That coil stays in a tensioned state until it is terminated. Period. Then, the bit is withdrawn and the intact perfected coil, pulsed and threaded.
Not much point in making a coil perfect and then to put it through gyrations each one of which can and will distort it. You just won't see it. The method I've described is simple, takes far fewer steps and has a predictable repeatable result. Less fiddle, more vapor.
If some believe they can improve on the physical limits of mass proximity by adding process, who am I to say no. I ain't lyin'. Just reporting the facts. The physics are incontrovertible. But we once believed the world was flat too. We all gotta find our own way.
Now can I promise you a perfect build? Hell no Tim. I make mistakes all the time. And skew and misalign and introduce distorted turns. The huge difference is now I don't give a fudge. I didn't work 20 minutes to create a perfect coil. I drop a nickels worth of wire on the screwdriver and do a good one. Next! Just sayin' Tim.
It's not rocket science, true. Just good science.
Good luck Tim. I know you'll be able to do it. I did and I'm a spaz.
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Good call, thanks for the tips. I'll order some 30AWG and try again. The more I work with 32 the more I realize it us indeed too thin.
Guys. I'm doing an experiment, and need some advice.
Scenario:
-Using a 3/32 drill bit for a Minicoil.
-Kanthal 29g wire
-Kanthal 30g wire
With 29g - I do 10 wraps for 2.0hm.
With 30g - I do 8 wraps for 2.0hm.
Question:
Will 29g use more battery power because of the girth size? I'm thinking it will because it's bigger in girth, and requires 2 more wraps to equal the same resistance that 30g gives with 8 wraps.
Scenario:
-Using a 3/32 drill bit for a Minicoil.
-Kanthal 29g wire
-Kanthal 30g wire
With 29g - I do 10 wraps for 2.0hm.
With 30g - I do 8 wraps for 2.0hm.
Question:
Will 29g use more battery power because of the girth size? I'm thinking it will because it's bigger in girth, and requires 2 more wraps to equal the same resistance that 30g gives with 8 wraps.
No, wrap length has nothing to do with it. The same amount of current will flow provided the voltage and resistance are the same.
Are you for certain? The 30g gives faster response. The overall vape is the same.
Best of luck to you guys hanging with the Protank (1,2,& 3 models). I canned my Protank 1 after getting some bad replacement heads when testing $80 worth of 10 different juices. Nothing like a machine oil taste. The juice tasted so bad that I almost called the vender to ask what the hell they sent me! Soon discovered it was indeed the 5 pck of heads that were bad. If you're going to use the Protank, then you're just better off rebuilding the heads. But however, IF you're going to do that - you might as well get into RBA's.
That night, I tossed the Protanks aside and learned to build the AGA-T2. The juices tasted so much better. I have 2 Protanks collecting dust now.
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Response time could very well be different, however, overall current will be the same.
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