Is rebuilding for us?

[nswood66]

Ok, so in an effort to explore new things and possibly save some money, my wife and I have purchased Stingray mods and Orchid v3 RTAs. Yes, I've read up on battery safety and Ohm's law, all the rebuilding threads, I'm an electrician, so I'm mechanically inclined, yet I'm pulling my hair out here, well, I would if my head wasn't already shaved, lol. Anyway, here are the 2 problems I consistently have.

1, Consistent leaking. I've tried everything. It only seems to be my wifes tank on a consistent basis, I've compared the 2 and they look the same, I just don't know what else to do.

2, Inconsistent coils. Right now I have 32g Kanthal, 4 wraps around silica on hers, and it seems super hot and tastes awful. Mine is 26g 7 Wraps around a 1/8" Allen with a cotton wick. Seems ok, but I can never get more than half a tank at best when I fill it.

Man I'm getting frustrated, any ideas out there?????

 

[edyle]

Ok, so in an effort to explore new things and possibly save some money, my wife and I have purchased Stingray mods and Orchid v3 RTAs. Yes, I've read up on battery safety and Ohm's law, all the rebuilding threads, I'm an electrician, so I'm mechanically inclined, yet I'm pulling my hair out here, well, I would if my head wasn't already shaved, lol. Anyway, here are the 2 problems I consistently have.

1, Consistent leaking. I've tried everything. It only seems to be my wifes tank on a consistent basis, I've compared the 2 and they look the same, I just don't know what else to do.

2, Inconsistent coils. Right now I have 32g Kanthal, 4 wraps around silica on hers, and it seems super hot and tastes awful. Mine is 26g 7 Wraps around a 1/8" Allen with a cotton wick. Seems ok, but I can never get more than half a tank at best when I fill it.

Man I'm getting frustrated, any ideas out there?????

1: Stingray mod and Orchid v3:
Well first, the stingray mod is a mechanical mod, so you have to make a coil to match it;
It's better to first use a regulated mod when you start rebuilding.
Then you can adjust the voltage to match the coil.
Standard battery voltage is 3.7 volts, so if your coil works at 4.5 volts, then next time you make a smaller coil, and similarly if your coil works at 3.2 volts then next time you make a bigger coil;
When you get to the point where you got a coil working at 3.7 volts, you stick it on your mech.

2: 32gauge kanthal 4 wraps on a silica wick - yeah, that would get hot and taste awful; (heck somebody might think you're trying to bumb off the wife!) lol

26 and 32 gauge: that's a pretty big difference; do you have any 30 gauge? That's an all round utility gauge; works on both rebuildables and recoiled stock coils, and won't have extreme power requirements.

Also the Orchid is really a dual coil design so you have an additional consideration; a single coil setup is easy to learn on.


A dripper is a good way to develop your coil build.

Ever since I got my 2 30mm drippers I haven't touched my tanks; if I want to adjust the coil position or the wick I just open it up and it's all there in front of me. Can't do that with my kayfun- like the orchid, I'd have to drain the liquid out first, plus everything inside there is so much smaller than a 30mm diameter rda.

If I'm not so liking the taste in my rda, I can add a little of something else to spice it up, and I taste the difference immediately; can't do that with a tank.

Once I settle in eventually to a particular coil build that I'm happy with and diy mix that I'm happy with, then I'll probably start using the tanks again.

 

[Verb]

There is some trial and error learning and frustration, but it goes by very fast and is totally worth it in the end. I recommend getting a single coil dripper and learn how to build coils on something that is easier to observe and tear down.

After coils, wicking would be the next. What are you using for wicking material? Too tight or too loose will produces harsh hits. Once you get it, you get it. But before can be painful.

Last would be coil placement. So important and often neglected. Location of the coil in relation to the air hole has a drastic effect on flavor.

 

[roxynoodle]

I would either watch several build videos on the Orchid or...

Set those aside for now and start with a single coil tank like a kayfun and master those first. For running on your stingrays, try a 1.0-1.4 ohm coil

 

[DoubleEwe]

Pictures of your builds please...

As Edyle says, that build with 32AWG is going to be awful, far too much power for that coil. If you want to use 32AWG you need to use more wraps (8 - 10 per coil probably).

What is your wicking like, the wick should not be in the juice channels.
Here is a build of mine on the orchid (wick colour difference is from one fresh cotton VS one old). 26AWG around 0.35ohms total:

 

[nswood66]

So what I have now is 32g Kanthal, 7 wraps, about 1.8 ohms. They're both working right now so I would rather not take them apart for pictures lol. I managed to get them filled with minimal leaking so I'm pretty happy about that, we'll see how it goes from here on out.

 

[edyle]

So what I have now is 32g Kanthal, 7 wraps, about 1.8 ohms. They're both working right now so I would rather not take them apart for pictures lol. I managed to get them filled with minimal leaking so I'm pretty happy about that, we'll see how it goes from here on out.

Yup sounds about right.

For 4 volts (mech mod):
32 gauge - about 2 ohm per coil
30 gauge - about 1.5 ohm per coil
28 gauge - about 1 ohm per coil
26 gauge - about 0.5 ohm per coil

 

[crxess]

If she prefers a bit cooler Vape:

28g - 2.3mm tool - 8 wraps per coil = .6ohm
With the Air flow it will deliver a nice but cooler vape.

26g 7 wraps Dual and I hit 3.8ohms - Nice Warm flavorful vape.

If here starts flooding, lightly blow it out and try it yourself. My Wife drives me nuts flooding everything I hand her, and it is all gear I use on a daily basis.
I have not gotten her to stop thinking it is a Straw in a Drink.
Maybe it is the Liquid in the tanks, I just don't know.

 

[edyle]

If she prefers a bit cooler Vape:

28g - 2.3mm tool - 8 wraps per coil = .6ohm
With the Air flow it will deliver a nice but cooler vape.

26g 7 wraps Dual and I hit 3.8ohms - Nice Warm flavorful vape.

If here starts flooding, lightly blow it out and try it yourself. My Wife drives me nuts flooding everything I hand her, and it is all gear I use on a daily basis.
I have not gotten her to stop thinking it is a Straw in a Drink.
Maybe it is the Liquid in the tanks, I just don't know.

28g - 2.3mm tool - 8 wraps per coil = .6ohm

That's gotta be dual coil.

26g 7 wraps Dual and I hit 3.8ohms

That's gotta be 0.38 ohms.

 

[rondasherrill]

I found that I was able to stop the leaking 2 on my Orchid 2 ways...

1) Puffy wicks that come down over the liquid channels, but with just a small short tail in the liquid channel.
2) Bottom filling is an endless PITA with the Orchid because of how tight the space is between the tank wall and inner chamber. I have MUCH better luck by covering the air holes on the sides, taking off the top cap, filling, then sit the top cap in place and spin backwards till the threads line up, and then flip it upside down and tighten it up.

 

[FFPetz]

I found that I was able to stop the leaking 2 on my Orchid 2 ways...

1) Puffy wicks that come down over the liquid channels, but with just a small short tail in the liquid channel.
2) Bottom filling is an endless PITA with the Orchid because of how tight the space is between the tank wall and inner chamber. I have MUCH better luck by covering the air holes on the sides, taking off the top cap, filling, then sit the top cap in place and spin backwards till the threads line up, and then flip it upside down and tighten it up.

I second that, that's was the best way to fill my kayfun 3.1 with the side valve that either never worked, or when I was to lazy to put the juice in a smaller bottle. There's something about creating that vacuum within these tanks that seems to make all the difference. I've even found when bottom filling my orchids I still have to "burp" it to get proper wicking and prevent leaking (those 2 seem to go hand in hand sometimes too.)

 

[Fir3b1rd]

Ok, so in an effort to explore new things and possibly save some money, my wife and I have purchased Stingray mods and Orchid v3 RTAs. Yes, I've read up on battery safety and Ohm's law, all the rebuilding threads, I'm an electrician, so I'm mechanically inclined, yet I'm pulling my hair out here, well, I would if my head wasn't already shaved, lol. Anyway, here are the 2 problems I consistently have.

1, Consistent leaking. I've tried everything. It only seems to be my wifes tank on a consistent basis, I've compared the 2 and they look the same, I just don't know what else to do.

2, Inconsistent coils. Right now I have 32g Kanthal, 4 wraps around silica on hers, and it seems super hot and tastes awful. Mine is 26g 7 Wraps around a 1/8" Allen with a cotton wick. Seems ok, but I can never get more than half a tank at best when I fill it.

Man I'm getting frustrated, any ideas out there?????

I'm an electrical engineer, I build robots so I know how you feel. I started with rbas about a year ago and the orchid can be tricky with spacing the coil away from the posts but still not hit the chimney. I never use anything smaller than 28g unless it's twisted or braided. The orchid can also be tricky to wick.
I center the coil over the airhole, wick with cotton Or rayon then play bonsai tree trimmer(trim the wick) to have just a few strands in the channels.
The dual coil and airflow provides a stellar vape but the drawback is it drinks juice like a frat kid drinks beer..unfortunately the tank only holds so much liquid, like that frat kids bladder.
Personally as much as I liked the orchid I swapped to the erlkonigin for that reason. It's single coil tricky to wick but the vape is less dense and more flavorful to me. and it doesn't rip through juice as quick.
The wicking down the channels and placement of coil should solve the leaking.. thick up top and thin in the middle
Put the coil directly over the airholes on the deck
Thicker across the deck then trim it down, get it wet and slide the strands in the channel..

Just stick with it rebuilding is a learning curve but you'll get there.

 

[lexalove]

^^ Predictive text is a bi*ch isn't it? LOL

Sent from my Galaxy Note4 using Tapatalk

 

[Fir3b1rd]

^^ Predictive text is a bi*ch isn't it? LOL

Sent from my Galaxy Note4 using Tapatalk

Hate my dammed phone

 

[duc916]

The Orchid has a steep learning curve. Get the wicking wrong and you're most likely vaping burnt cotton. You should be learning on a dripper to figure out your kanthal gauge/# of wraps/juice-type sweet spot before you venture in a dual coil tank system that requires perfect wicking. But, if you're determined to jump straight onto a finicky Ducati 1198 (because we electromechanical types are just built that way), I'll tell you my 7 wraps of 24ga A1 kanthal dual coils @ 0.4Ω on Koh Gen Do cotton is my sweet spot.