I DID try (frustrated newbie)

[arbogast]

I kmow you've said you tried many methods, but on your last wick what was your complete oxidation process from beginning to end? Second, how did you roll it? Please tell me every little detail so I can try to help.

Ok:

rolling:
1. folded outer edge.
2. rolled wick around wooden stick.
3. carefully bent the outer edge inwards
4. finished rolling without stick
5. checked if edge was good (looking and feeling w fingertips)

oxydation:
1. torched wick until brownish
2. VG burn 4 times

question.... are the shorts happening at the edge of the mesh.
when you role the mesh do you fold over the edge, so that the frayed ends don't cause a short?

No, they're not. With some of the early attempts i noticed that the shorts 'moved with the edge' when I rotated the wick. Haven't had this issue since I began to bend the edge inwards - progress

Didn't read it all, but have to add that my first coil was made with the cotton method, and worked like a charm. I don't use it anymore, but to start out it sure did help!

If someone didn't explain it yet, you take your wick and a cotton ball or qtip and brush the wick across the cotton with a few little strands going around the wick before you coil it. You can't dry burn it, but it stops all shorts.

This I haven't tried. I might give it a shot. Thank you!
I do so want to be able to do a setup like you pros do, though.

 

[MrKV]

What problems are you still having?

 

[arbogast]

Thanks for asking.

I'm getting shorts and can't get rid of them. fiddling with the coil doesn't seem to help.
I'll try the cotton method next.

 

[MrKV]

Another tip that could help if you didn't already do it. When you wrap your coil make sure you wrap in the same direction and not against your wick.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Kemo look at you all stainless steeled out!!!

View attachment 152555

Here's a photo of my coil. It keeps shorting out, then coming back to life out of nowhere, without me touching anything.
When it does decide to work, the vapor is wispy. The flavor is ok most of the time, other times it tastes burnt. Any help would be outstanding.

 

[Kemosabe]

Kemo look at you all stainless steeled out!!!

thats right buddy! thanks. my device is spiffy if i do say so myself. now if i could just get the darn rba to work...
im taking a much needed sanity break. i will be back at it soon, but i damn near went bat crap crazy there for a minute. these rbas should come with a warning
...oh wait, they do

 

[Cyrus Vap]

If you want to get on skype with me and have me walk you through it let me know, its a frustration like no other. Never try to set up a genesis without a high mg juice in your mouth, its analogous to grocery shopping while you're starving lol

 

[arbogast]

thats right buddy! thanks. my device is spiffy if i do say so myself. now if i could just get the darn rba to work...
im taking a much needed sanity break. i will be back at it soon, but i damn near went bat crap crazy there for a minute. these rbas should come with a warning
...oh wait, they do

Glad you're here! Better than suffering alone, no?
How long've you been at it (RBAs)?

 

[Plumes.91]

I'm dying over here too but I think its from lack of knowledge. I need to do more research. I'm getting huge hot spots where the coil bridges from the SS wick to the center post. Idk how to fix it at all. I spent 4 hours last night fiddling. Getting ohms all over the place the more I fiddle but the main 2 are 1.8 and 2.5... lol. I'm using my provari to check ohms + test fire.

 

[j4mmin42]

View attachment 152555

Here's a photo of my coil. It keeps shorting out, then coming back to life out of nowhere, without me touching anything.
When it does decide to work, the vapor is wispy. The flavor is ok most of the time, other times it tastes burnt. Any help would be outstanding.

That's not a bad-looking coil! Try putting a kink in the positive lead between the coil and battery, and make sure the center post nuts are all tight-the top one looks too loose.

If it looks like the juice is boiling on the surface of your coil, turn up the voltage a bit. Sometimes that will help the juice vaporize better.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

Plumes like V ninja said the kink at the top coil can help a lot... Looks like a pirates hook if you get it right

If the coils are all evenly spacecd and not loose or tight, only variable left to play with is oxidation. You can try re oxidizing the mesh.

 

[Plumes.91]

I oxidized using a Bic lighter. Is that OK?

 

[Cyrus Vap]

I oxidized using a Bic lighter. Is that OK?

I think we found your problem!

You can use a bic lighter, but its harder and takes much longer. Once you get the hang of things you can try the bic lighter, but I wouldn't recommend it for learning the ropes.

Do you have access to a torch? The burner on the stove is a decent compromise.

You have to hit the mesh until it glows bright red for a decent amount of time. Too long it'll become brittle. Too little you won't have a good oxide layer. Some people like to dunk in water between torches or at the end (not sure if you're using that method, i don't always).

Make sure your coils are even and gently touching the wick all around. Besides giving a better vape this way you can wiggle the wick out of its acting up and blast the hell out of it again, wiggle back in, try it again, etc.

EDIT: I also like the torch vs. the lighter because the lighter flame will give you a layer of soot, which may help in shielding the wick from the coils but in my experience creates a taste I don't care for. Even when I burn my wick with juice, I'll blast it with the torch again to get rid of that layer of crap. Its how I clean as well.

 

[Sweeperdk]

I can't stress the importance of the oxidizing phase enough.

A lighter is a tad difficult to do it with.. I'd argue at least three full torch&quench are needed for a mesh. It is a LOT easier with a torch as compared to doing it with a lighter. 99% of the times I have had issues with my DID, it has been because of the wick not being oxidized enough.

Regarding the coil, make absolutely sure that it is grounded all the way to the wick, before you start the climb. Keep the coil touching the base until the wick.

Keep the wick tight, but not too tight. Best tip here is to use the so-called cigarette paper method.

Once your coil is in place (I found that a 3/4 wrap works best for me), do some pulsing burns without any juice to check for hotspots. If there's a hotspot, first ensure that the wick isn't touching the bottom of the tank. Then ensure that the coil is grounded to the base. Finally, try fiddling with the top part of the coil, I find that this is usually a bit too loose, and a quick fiddle will fix this. Oh, attempt to keep the coil evenly spaced when doing the climb up the wick.

If you do the cigarette paper method, pulse burn the paper off... This will provide a layer just under the coil that helps in removing problems if your wick isn't oxidized well enough.

Hope some of this helps.

Oh, and I second Cyrus' point about torch vs. lighter... Avoid the lighter soot if you can

 

[Plumes.91]

sweet thanks guys. I finally got it working SEMI well. Its not as good as a cartomizer at this point, but it works. I just had to double up the top of my wire before going around the post to prevent the bridge hot spot, and then I had to horizontally vape. I must have made the wick too tight or it could be the oxidization, the juice isn't traveling up the wick well. So, next time, I'll try to use a torch or my grill to get it oxidized completely and I'll come back to this thread.

Thank you everyone. its working good now so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead and try again when this one dies out. I'm loving this whole "vaping" thing now lol. I can't believe I'm vaping off a coil I wrapped myself. With every single coil I did, I got better and better.. For a moment I was feeling more and more discouraged but I came here to ECF and now I'm loving my set ups

Update: Its definitely outperforming cartomizers now lol. WOW. WOW. I want to speak to someone thats used these before guys... I JUST WANT TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE WHOS USED THESE BEFORE OKAY??? ........what if I don't come down????

 

[Kemosabe]

Glad you're here! Better than suffering alone, no?
How long've you been at it (RBAs)?

totally agree. when i saw this thread, i was like YES thats me. but youve been at it longer than me, which is daunting. ive only had mine for two weeks. and i took a week break because i was about to go insane. i'll be back at it soon, rebuilding with silica to see if its my coil or my ss wick thats giving me problems. at first i thoght it was the coil, then i thought it was the center post, now i think its the wick causing the OP error. if im able to rebuild it successfully with silica, then i know its the wick, if not, it must be the coil. because ive bumped out the center post a good deal.
in the back of my head i think its the wick (i just learned to tuck the edge and i havent yet done that yet,, so im hoping). but i do get hotspots, so it may be my coil too. then again im not even sure if hot spots are a result of bad coil or bad wick. so needless to say ive got a lot more learning and experimentting to do.

 

[Plumes.91]

I just burnt a square of mesh, rolled it around a pin, slid the pin out, rolled it like a... cigarette... burnt it again holding it with tweezers, lined it up with the pin, got the center of a 2.5-3inch long piece of wire, wrapped 5-6 coils, made a loop on the top wire, put the bottom wire through the ground, put the top loop around the post, soaked it in juice, filled the tank, and it works. I did find that if I don't tip my mod toward the wick a lot, it doesn't suck up the juice. So I vape horizontally. WIN. Hope this helps some1.

It is losing ohm each time i check lol, idk why, but, whatever. I have it at 4.8 volts. It started at 3.2ohms, it went down to 2.0ohms, and now its at 1.8ohms.. I haven't changed the voltage yet. Hits like a charm. If it drops a lot I'll just fiddle with the coils till its back up. Hope it stays functional.

 

[MrKV]

You probably have shorts or the coil is too loose. Fire it dry while looking at the coil, it should maintain ohms or be a +/- .1.

 

[Plumes.91]

are you talking to me MrKV? if so, your probably right about the coil being too loose for mine. but I dont really have a problem with it. its working great. I think the coil actually moves UP and bunches together as I use it? Is that normal? It bunches up as I use it and then I just pull each level down a bit and its right back at 2.2 +/- and I'm good to go. Or I just lower my voltage.

 

[MrKV]

It's normal for it to move a little bit. I've had coils shift on me quite a bit. But with the problem you were experiencing, I've been through that and have noticed that I was getting tiny shorts in some places. I eventually re-oxidized my wick and wrapped a new coil.