Inhaling sandpaper is getting old..

[Cr0tchF4i]

I hope this is the right forum but here is my situation.

I'm using a Noble 1 Hybrid with 500#ss Mesh and 5 wrap Ribbon around 1.3ohm's with HDV 80vg/20pg Cinnamon Danish juice and have been having terrible wicking problems. The only good vape I can get is when I pop the cap off and coat the wick in juice. I have tilted it horizontal so the fluid is rushing to the wick opening but I still get dry hits.

The mesh is wrapped pretty loose and it's firing perfect (glowing from the inside out, no hot legs)

I think it may be getting vapor lock in the tank itself- anyone have any tips/tricks/hints?

Any help is appreciated!

 

[calisun]

I had similar issue as you. Maybe my setup was not good. I also tasted little metal. I went with cotton wick and never look back.

 

[Krazirob]

did you oxidize the mesh and burn the inside out while preparing......??

Check this out in case you didn't

 

[Cr0tchF4i]

did you oxidize the mesh and burn the inside out while preparing......??

Check this out in case you didn't

I've been going with an unoxidized wick and using the pulse method to build up oxidation around the coil itself. Never have any shorts or issues. I would imagine it would carry the juice the same regardless of being oxidized or not correct?

 

[Krazirob]

well check the end of his video out.....when he drips some juice on the mesh and then lights it with a lighter......it will oxidize the inside of the mesh through the chamber inside the roll....this helps in the wicking once its installed

 

[dr g]

how's your airflow? maybe need to drill out holes.

 

[Krazirob]

how's your airflow? maybe need to drill out holes.

oh yeah forgot about that.....Ive seen where people have drilled out their air hole to be a little bigger to get more airflow in there......but if it isnt wicking then I would doubt this is the issue.....

 

[War Mouse]

Are you using a solid or hollow core wick? I can't get a solid one to wick to save my life. Hollow core and I can vert vape my RSST with the fill plug in.

 

[Vince228]

SS rope sleeved in 2mm hollow ekowool is the ticket!

 

[Ryedan]

I'm using a Noble 1 Hybrid with 500#ss Mesh and 5 wrap Ribbon around 1.3ohm's with HDV 80vg/20pg Cinnamon Danish juice and have been having terrible wicking problems. The only good vape I can get is when I pop the cap off and coat the wick in juice. I have tilted it horizontal so the fluid is rushing to the wick opening but I still get dry hits.

The mesh is wrapped pretty loose and it's firing perfect (glowing from the inside out, no hot legs)

I think it may be getting vapor lock in the tank itself- anyone have any tips/tricks/hints?

I vape 50/50 and use 400 or 500 mesh wrapped as tight as I can get it and as solid as I can get it. The hole is 1/8" and I pretty much fill that. I have to leave the fill hole open and I tilt about 20 degrees past horizontal, but doing that I never get a burnt hit, even if I chain vape.

 

[dr g]

oh yeah forgot about that.....Ive seen where people have drilled out their air hole to be a little bigger to get more airflow in there......but if it isnt wicking then I would doubt this is the issue.....

You might be surprised. Coil overheat can appear as a wicking failure. But I dunno, I guess with vertical wick it could be other complications.

 

[MattyB1503]

I vape 50/50 and use 400 or 500 mesh wrapped as tight as I can get it and as solid as I can get it. The hole is 1/8" and I pretty much fill that. I have to leave the fill hole open and I tilt about 20 degrees past horizontal, but doing that I never get a burnt hit, even if I chain vape.

I use solid 500 mesh wicks as well. Usually on larger size wick holes like my DIDs (3.5mm); but the general idea is that a more solid wick will hold the juice up at top where your coils are at. They will also save your juice from backwash or darkening. For a lower ohm build or for chain vaping sometimes I'll used solid mesh around AG's getto kanthal cable.

I have used cotton and touching coils with good results also, certain natural fruit flavors just taste better to me on mesh. Maybe it's just because I have been using mesh for so long.

It could be a number of factors. Don't give up, it is defiantly one of those things that you will have to tinker with.

 

[crxess]

All I use is 50/50

Tilt the unit, wick down, cap off and fire.
Is it wicking and does it start Vaporizing after a second or two?
Will it do the spit and sputter thing?
If yes, the wick is working.
You need to know the size of your air hole. Most RBA's come with a puny 1mm hole and just don't work well until opened up.

You need to be cautious in drilling out, not to over do it or you will hate the draw. I use an alpha drill set and open up a bit size at a time. Checking Draw and function at each step.
Some just jump to 1/16" but that is a bit loose for my liking.

 

[MattyB1503]

As far as checking for hot spots, you want to check twice. Once with a completely dry wick and empty tank and then again with a full tank or at least 10 to 15 drops dripped onto the wick. If you are not getting any hot spots on a saturated wick drill out the air flow will not make the problem worse. Actually it will decease throat hit and flavor but increase vapor production. If you are going to drill on the top cap, just go slow, used a new drill bit and keep in mind that even 0.1mm will permanently change the way an atty vapes.

 

[Cr0tchF4i]

well check the end of his video out.....when he drips some juice on the mesh and then lights it with a lighter......it will oxidize the inside of the mesh through the chamber inside the roll....this helps in the wicking once its installed

My wick is fully oxidized at this point- the wick hole is pretty tight on the noble so it doesn't take much to get the wick dark around the coil area.

how's your airflow? maybe need to drill out holes.

It's the stock noble airhole on the cap and on the platform is has 2 holes- 1 for air and one to fill.

Are you using a solid or hollow core wick? I can't get a solid one to wick to save my life. Hollow core and I can vert vape my RSST with the fill plug in.

This one is basically hollow in the center, not by much though. Hand rolled but didn't make it super tight.

SS rope sleeved in 2mm hollow ekowool is the ticket!

Man, that's what i've been thinking. Seems so much easier.

 

[Cr0tchF4i]

I use solid 500 mesh wicks as well. Usually on larger size wick holes like my DIDs (3.5mm); but the general idea is that a more solid wick will hold the juice up at top where your coils are at. They will also save your juice from backwash or darkening. For a lower ohm build or for chain vaping sometimes I'll used solid mesh around AG's getto kanthal cable.

I have used cotton and touching coils with good results also, certain natural fruit flavors just taste better to me on mesh. Maybe it's just because I have been using mesh for so long.

It could be a number of factors. Don't give up, it is defiantly one of those things that you will have to tinker with.

First coil I ever built on this thing when I got it was like heaven... just a 4 wrap and the vape was so warm and tons of flavor.. seems like either i'm spoiled or i've gotten worse at doing this!

All I use is 50/50

Tilt the unit, wick down, cap off and fire.
Is it wicking and does it start Vaporizing after a second or two?
Will it do the spit and sputter thing?
If yes, the wick is working.
You need to know the size of your air hole. Most RBA's come with a puny 1mm hole and just don't work well until opened up.

You need to be cautious in drilling out, not to over do it or you will hate the draw. I use an alpha drill set and open up a bit size at a time. Checking Draw and function at each step.
Some just jump to 1/16" but that is a bit loose for my liking.

Ok it sputtered hard for about 2 seconds kicking and popping juice... but then I saw the coils turn red. Sooo not getting enough juice?

As far as checking for hot spots, you want to check twice. Once with a completely dry wick and empty tank and then again with a full tank or at least 10 to 15 drops dripped onto the wick. If you are not getting any hot spots on a saturated wick drill out the air flow will not make the problem worse. Actually it will decease throat hit and flavor but increase vapor production. If you are going to drill on the top cap, just go slow, used a new drill bit and keep in mind that even 0.1mm will permanently change the way an atty vapes.

I left my drill bits at home

 

[TSRodes]

Ok it sputtered hard for about 2 seconds kicking and popping juice... but then I saw the coils turn red. Sooo not getting enough juice?

definitely sounds like you have a hot spot. i was in your exact shoes, man. i would work those coils just right and finally lose the hot spots, then vaped and definitely had an insane number of micro shorts. i've found that how well the coil is built in the first place is just as important to the vape as your later poking and prodding. microcoils and ribbon wire both stay in place pretty well for me now, and if i get them in contact with the wick, but in no way constricting it. i used to think about it as how evenly spaced and pretty the coil was, but i now hypothesize that the tightness being uniform is more important than the actual appearance and evenness of the coil. feel free to set me straight on that.

anyway, let me get back on topic. make sure your wire is not too tight or too loose; on the wick, but not restricting it. try considering the uniform tension of the assembly more than its handsomeness. even after getting all of this down pat, i found that mesh wasn't really "rocking my world" anymore and also went to cable. i strongly recommend it.

it's kind of weird because sometimes i think i might have gotten a microshort with it, but can't even tell because it stays so wet. it really is bizarre how well this stuff performs. i recommend wrapping a layer of mesh over a cable, then brushing a cotton ball with the mesh-wrapped cable wick so that metal will never touch the wire-- this (pretty much) eliminates risk of hot spots throughout the entire process.

 

[MattyB1503]

First coil I ever built on this thing when I got it was like heaven... just a 4 wrap and the vape was so warm and tons of flavor.. seems like either i'm spoiled or i've gotten worse at doing this!

Ok it sputtered hard for about 2 seconds kicking and popping juice... but then I saw the coils turn red. Sooo not getting enough juice?

I left my drill bits at home

I'd say hot spot or underwicking, sounds like you don't need to drill the top cap, well not until you get the build down pat and think that you might need more vapor and less flavor.

Try this, grab like 8 - 10 1' lengths of 28GA kanthal and chuck them up in a hand drill, then hold the other ends in a vice. Twist the kanthal into cable, cut a piece to length for your atty and warp mesh around it. Should help a lot with wicking, if you still have a issue then it's definitely hot spots.

 

[Cr0tchF4i]

definitely sounds like you have a hot spot. i was in your exact shoes, man. i would work those coils just right and finally lose the hot spots, then vaped and definitely had an insane number of micro shorts. i've found that how well the coil is built in the first place is just as important to the vape as your later poking and prodding. microcoils and ribbon wire both stay in place pretty well for me now, and if i get them in contact with the wick, but in no way constricting it. i used to think about it as how evenly spaced and pretty the coil was, but i now hypothesize that the tightness being uniform is more important than the actual appearance and evenness of the coil. feel free to set me straight on that.

anyway, let me get back on topic. make sure your wire is not too tight or too loose; on the wick, but not restricting it. try considering the uniform tension of the assembly more than its handsomeness. even after getting all of this down pat, i found that mesh wasn't really "rocking my world" anymore and also went to cable. i strongly recommend it.

it's kind of weird because sometimes i think i might have gotten a microshort with it, but can't even tell because it stays so wet. it really is bizarre how well this stuff performs. i recommend wrapping a layer of mesh over a cable, then brushing a cotton ball with the mesh-wrapped cable wick so that metal will never touch the wire-- this (pretty much) eliminates risk of hot spots throughout the entire process.

I think I may drill out the wick hole- the noble wick is TINY and with the slanted cap the wick has to be pretty short too. I am not big into how the wick/coil looks, more the performance of it. I'll try and snag a pic (I'm at work so can't be obvious) but everything heats up evenly and with similar heat signs. What I found weird about this one was the cool down, it stays hot for a few seconds even after a short burst. I'm thinking the wick may be shot at this point?

The cable, mesh and cotton sounds like the ultimate setup. hmmm....

 

[Cr0tchF4i]

I'd say hot spot or underwicking, sounds like you don't need to drill the top cap, well not until you get the build down pat and think that you might need more vapor and less flavor.

Try this, grab like 8 - 10 1' lengths of 28GA kanthal and chuck them up in a hand drill, then hold the other ends in a vice. Twist the kanthal into cable, cut a piece to length for your atty and warp mesh around it. Should help a lot with wicking, if you still have a issue then it's definitely hot spots.

I live in Mission Bay and I think there's a Marine Supply store down the street. I'll see if I can get some SS rope.