KangerTech SUBTANK Mini

[Remko]

Hard to say rem, shoot us a picture! But it sounds wonderful.



I would hope that Kv4 with AFC+ juice control would be at least as good as a SubT. I've got a bunch of Kay's lyin' around. Have never gotten to building them! To busy workin' on Kangers! I've built a lot for others tho and gotten really productive vapes off t.m.c.'s.

Look this tank's surprised me. It's really geared towards a more diffuse vape. But if you know how to dial in density which it seems you do, with some adjustment you should be able to get it in an ST. It's a far more flexible design for airflow than I originally thought and coupled with drip tip choices, power regulation (wind selection)] and proper wicking for flow a very broad palate.

Go ahead flash a couple and we'll give it a go. That's what we've been needing here is more folks with pics. The news at 6 variety, not the wedding cake. It helps us all.

Good luck Rem.

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your answer. So, here is my coil and wick: --> (is it all good ?)

As I said Kayfun V4 performs similiar in terms of flavour and vapour mostly compared to my Subtank Mini too. So, are both tanks similiar and there isnt any significant difference ? Is it normal or it because my coil on Subtank Mini that sucks and possibly cause that ?

 

[Joey Blue]

It may depend on wick prep? A rolled wick expands. A fluffed wick collapses...It may also be that each of these rba sections are slightly different and require experimentation. I just feel bad for those who haven't been able to get their rba sections functioning correctly. They could have bought the nano and saved a few bucks...

My RBA doesn't work, but i am happy i got the Mini over the Nano because it hold 1.5 ml more juice. As it is i have to fill it a lot. -

 

[shreduhsoreus]

Oh, I should mention, don't forget to fill in the "twist pitch" tab in SE. Your 28ga twisted 9/8 wrap will turn into a 6/5 when using 25 twists per inch or 1.01 twists per mm.

As it is SE tells me my twisted 32 needs only 4 wraps to get my .95 res. It actually takes 5. Heat flux shows red zone at 360 something....I beg to differ. I don't think SE considers the cooling effect of the juice in larger ID coils or the cooling effects of spaced winds. Nothing hot about my vape at 27w.

Steam Engine actually recommends aiming for the yellow and red zone when doing RDAs and lung hit builds(assuming you lung hit with the ST) and it also says that the actual heat of your vapor will vary based on a number of things. Hover over it with you mouse and it gives you more info about the heat flux.

 

[shreduhsoreus]

Just re-wicked with a denser piece of cotton as cig suggested a few pages back and it seems to getting closer to what I'm looking for. Nothing burnt at a 4 count(unless I do them back to back to back) and I got up to 6 with a primer pull beforehand. Haven't tried going any longer. Flavor is meh but I think that's my juice because it doesn't have as strong of a smell as my last mix(and I mixed at the same exact ratios as last time, which is weird).

My phone has an awful camera so I'm not going to post pictures of it haha

 

[MacTechVpr]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your answer. So, here is my coil and wick: --> (is it all good ?)

As I said Kayfun V4 performs similiar in terms of flavour and vapour mostly compared to my Subtank Mini too. So, are both tanks similiar and there isnt any significant difference ? Is it normal or it because my coil on Subtank Mini that sucks and possibly cause that ?

Try to answer you this way…the two statements…

The build I have today is the best I've ever gotten; and,

The build I have today is the best I can get.

Are mutually exclusive (and a fallacy we often don't see in our thinking).

​Short answer: Your coil doesn't suck. But everyone can do better.

At a quick glance, I'd say your vaporization efficiency is poor and you're likely flooding.

As we start to gain experience we may believe we've hit the boundaries of what devices can deliver. It's perhaps an honest conclusion based on what we know. Truth is, we can always know more.

I think you're getting a good vape. But I don't know what a good vape is for you. So I can't know if you can have better. What I can say is you can do a lot better than an eccentric open wind on any device. That I can say with all confidence. You may be seeing a different less satisfying result from the Mini as it's built to more exacting and very different high-airflow performance standards.

Briefly, it seems you've got a lot of wick media in there for the wind you've got. If it's tight even in that wind you could be seeing some good vapor. But that's not necessarily good production. So definitely not the potential vaporization that might be possible (for a given power input). You need better symmetry for that (whether open or tension wind). Whatever coil temp you shoot for by whichever approach you take, there are better results to be had with a consistent distribution of the thermal energy. So symmetry is paramount. I know that tensioned winding is the most precise way for most of us to get it. Open winds are more art than craft for producing stable geometry. You really have to be gifted. Take a few days to a week to find symmetry with tension and you will start to see significant differences in your results.

Anyway I'm trying to avoid discussing rebuilding on this thread. Specs and design, technical comparison so far. All those considering building to baseline specs, there's already been a ton written on stable repeatable builds on the Protank MicroCoil Discussion!! A bunch of capable vets there who follow the thread to assist. And just too much information there to duplicate here.

Good luck rem. CYA there.

 

[gpjoe]

I have some great coconut juice I want to put in my subtank but its 80pg\20vg, will i have any problem using the stock coils with such thin juice? How about the rba section?

I use max VG in mine with the stock .5-ohm coils and it works fine, though sometimes on the verge of burning if I go any higher than 10-12 watts. That's relatively low, but it works well for me and i still get good vapor and flavor.

 

[g3n3r1c]

My son bought one of these, newer batch with the black o-rings and gave me the RBA.. I haven't done anything with it yet but the machining is cleaner then the one I got with mine.
Also the juice channels mic'd out to 1.5mm id, whereas mine mic'd out at 1.3mm...
I don't think .2mm will make or break the RBA, it's just odd. I will say that My RBA has never performed better than it does now, I ended up opening mine up a little more so it now has 2mm id juice channels and works very well.
I'll try building on the new RBA at some point this week and see how well it performs stock, also ordering a few more and will keep at least one of them un-touched

Like others have mentioned, it's probably a bad idea to modify your device in ways that cannot be undone, unless you have spare parts

 

[cigatron]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your answer. So, here is my coil and wick: --> (is it all good ?)

Ok, my turn. Symmetry is paramount to achieving the Best vape out of any device as Mac said. Looking at your pick there are two things you could improve on.

1. Wick a little heavier. I think you have enough wick there to get a good vape but are just short of optimal. I would want to see more bulging of the wick where it exits the end turns.

2. Symmetry. You lost symmetry when you tightened the screws because the coil legs are on the wrong side of the screw. As a result the end turns opened up (got larger in diameter). You want the legs to be drawn INTO the screw while tightening. Wind your coil the other direction (counter clockwise) so that when you tighten up the screws the legs try to pull away from the coil. Of course they can't pull away because your winding mandrel in the coil stops them from doing so. All stays in place creating a much more symmetrical and stable build.

Ps. The coil appears to be set a little low in the pic. The coil should be set so that the legs come straight off the bottom of the coil to the screw posts.

Pss. If you're winding on a right hand screw for spaced winds as I do the legs will end up on the wrong side of the screw post too. So I bend the legs around the screw on the screw post and hold them tight to keep them from moving while I tighten things up. I'll have to get some left hand screws some day I guess but dang they're expensive!

 

[MacTechVpr]

Ok, my turn. Symmetry is paramount to achieving the Best vape out of any device as Mac said. Looking at your pick there are two things you could improve on.

1. Wick a little heavier. I think you have enough wick there to get a good vape but are just short of optimal. I would want to see more bulging of the wick where it exits the end turns.
2. Symmetry. You lost symmetry when you tightened the screws because the coil legs are on the wrong side of the screw. As a result the end turns opened up (got larger in diameter). You want the legs to be drawn INTO the screw while tightening. Wind your coil the other direction (counter clockwise) so that when you tighten up the screws the legs try to pull away from the coil. Of course they can't pull away because your winding mandrel in the coil stops them from doing so. All stays in place creating a much more symmetrical and stable build.

Ps. The coil appears to be set a little low in the pic. The coil should be set so that the legs come straight off the bottom of the coil to the screw posts.

LOL, I don't do that!. But you make a good point. Def do that on my Immo's with flat wire or they migrate like mad.

Counter clockwise wind for even end-turns.

Damn ya cig, I'm gonna have to revise my winding preferences.



G'luck all.

p.s. An alternative is to clamp the coil right to the bit at the set. Ain't got no clamp, c/c/w damned good idea. But slight advantage too in maintaining even lead tension. Def edges the clamp.

 

[DP2Raja]

Ok, my turn. Symmetry is paramount to achieving the Best vape out of any device as Mac said. Looking at your pick there are two things you could improve on.

1. Wick a little heavier. I think you have enough wick there to get a good vape but are just short of optimal. I would want to see more bulging of the wick where it exits the end turns.

2. Symmetry. You lost symmetry when you tightened the screws because the coil legs are on the wrong side of the screw. As a result the end turns opened up (got larger in diameter). You want the legs to be drawn INTO the screw while tightening. Wind your coil the other direction (counter clockwise) so that when you tighten up the screws the legs try to pull away from the coil. Of course they can't pull away because your winding mandrel in the coil stops them from doing so. All stays in place creating a much more symmetrical and stable build.

Ps. The coil appears to be set a little low in the pic. The coil should be set so that the legs come straight off the bottom of the coil to the screw posts.

Pss. If you're winding on a right hand screw for spaced winds as I do the legs will end up on the wrong side of the screw post too. So I bend the legs around the screw on the screw post and hold them tight to keep them from moving while I tighten things up. I'll have to get some left hand screws some day I guess but dang they're expensive!

Mac, I have to agree with Cig on this detail. Although I am not sure I understand your suggestion of keeping the coil clamped to the bit. What kind of clamp are you doing this with. Seems nigh impossible in this small a space. Course my imagination is a little rusty this morning. Got a pic?

Edit: Or do you mean just keep it on the bit?

 

[Darryl Licht]

My son bought one of these, newer batch with the black o-rings and gave me the RBA.. I haven't done anything with it yet but the machining is cleaner then the one I got with mine.
Also the juice channels mic'd out to 1.5mm id, whereas mine mic'd out at 1.3mm...
I don't think .2mm will make or break the RBA, it's just odd. I will say that My RBA has never performed better than it does now, I ended up opening mine up a little more so it now has 2mm id juice channels and works very well.
I'll try building on the new RBA at some point this week and see how well it performs stock, also ordering a few more and will keep at least one of them un-touched

Like others have mentioned, it's probably a bad idea to modify your device in ways that cannot be undone, unless you have spare parts

Thanks for confirming what many of us were suspecting; Kanger appears to be making design changes mid-run to their RBA. I'm going to mic mine later today and compare to your findings.

Once the RBA's are in stock I'll be grabbing at least 2 more!

 

[Darryl Licht]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your answer. So, here is my coil and wick: --> (is it all good ?)

As I said Kayfun V4 performs similiar in terms of flavour and vapour mostly compared to my Subtank Mini too. So, are both tanks similiar and there isnt any significant difference ? Is it normal or it because my coil on Subtank Mini that sucks and possibly cause that ?

There is no spoon....

err umm no pic! LOL!

 

[Darryl Licht]

I use max VG in mine with the stock .5-ohm coils and it works fine, though sometimes on the verge of burning if I go any higher than 10-12 watts. That's relatively low, but it works well for me and i still get good vapor and flavor.

I have some incredible tasting juices from "The Vaping Rabbit" (The Milkman and Hatter) both are 99% VG and they work fine in my RBA! I hit both at 20W using a 0.8 res coil for avg of 3-5 sec pulls and no issues.

 

[ThunderDan]

Am I crazy or do the OCC coils work better in the STmini than the OG subtank? They seem to be keeping up wicking much better in the STmini.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[FormulaBass]

Am I crazy or do the OCC coils work better in the STmini than the OG subtank? They seem to be keeping up wicking much better in the STmini.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I don't own a subtank, but from what I have read this appears to be the consensus.

 

[MacTechVpr]

Mac, I have to agree with Cig on this detail. Although I am not sure I understand your suggestion of keeping the coil clamped to the bit. What kind of clamp are you doing this with. Seems nigh impossible in this small a space. Course my imagination is a little rusty this morning. Got a pic?

Edit: Or do you mean just keep it on the bit?

Both! Protect end turn, stabilize the length of the wind, clamp hard to a bit (flat), fix or compress ends (clamp on either side of coil), lots of purposes. It's not an art form bro…it's about gettin' to the vape and done with the stinks. No simpler way to do that than with simple tools we know work 'cause we use 'em all the time everywhere…except (for some odd reason) in vaping.

Trying to provoke some curiosity especially among new vapers so they don't get stuck in a generic hand jerk. Yet we all do (myself included) for months or years. But to me winding by hand's like tryin' to do some kinda crazy art with our hands tied behind our back and the brush between our teeth. I did it, and still do, trying to figure what if anything it brings to the table. But it's not even close to being an efficient way to get a reliable wind…except in this industry. And of course, fly fishing.

Here's a perfect example Mini Clamps with Vinyl Grips often called bull dog clamps or which resemble precision surgical Dieffenbach arterial clamps.

First simple tool I used to introduce the concept of tension, clamping, de-winding…was the forceps.

Posted on the ProtankMicro thread...The clamp Luke, the clamp! And I guess I'll be adding some details to Protank MicroCoil Discussion!! on clamps as I talk about stabilizing more advanced winds. Inexpensive surgical clamps, forceps, locking tweezers, fly fishing hackle pliers…rubber tipped, flat-tipped, serrated (as in pic)…in short a million things, many of which we have lying around the house are plentiful and cheap.

The pin vise you know. And here's another use for it along with a clamp, twisting the lead for tensioned parallels...

A search for clamps and miniature, hobby or instrument art and craft is productive. Google images is helpful.

For techniques and approaches that's where I need your help. And everyone here. I have a few. We're all bound to come up with a million more. But we will if there's more of us trying to build coherent winds.

Thanks DP, and good luck all.

 

[MacTechVpr]

Am I crazy or do the OCC coils work better in the STmini than the OG subtank? They seem to be keeping up wicking much better in the STmini.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I don't own a subtank, but from what I have read this appears to be the consensus.

No fellas, not crazy. But craz good. I thought the same thing tho. Orig ST very diffuse, hot, airy, wasteful. First Mini and it's own coils almost as productive, denser, seemed to respond better to airflow adjustment. I thought mebe the slotted ring. Fact is Kanger's been making changes in the wind from really massive initially to tighter and narrower winds (based on 3 sep supplies of OCC's). The smokestack's the same. There's not appreciably more or less air. It's in the wind methinks. But I'm likin' it.

Good luck.

 

[g3n3r1c]

Just to get this straight, the last few coils I wrapped I did under tension and they work nicely..
I put the lead wire into the spiral of the bit , put it in backwards into my drill, held the loose end of the kanthal taught and a little more while spinning the drill slowly to wrap my coil.. the coil doesn't spring back and hugs the bit nicely, very easy to do..
This would be tensioned yes

 

[puffon]

Does anybody else get a lot of painful spitback, using the RDA?
I'm running a .18 ohm Ni220 build, using 50/50 juice.
I put a thin strip of KGD skin over the coil, which has helped.

 

[vincom]

so is this a parallel coil(2 pieces of rwire) but ur twisting the leads