Kanthal popping

[loringfamily]

Rebuilding kanger evods with ss. I bought 400 ss and 28 and 34 gauge kanthal. I have watched every video online and read all posts. These are my first rebuild. I am using the itaste vv v3. I have built a few with the 34 gauge test with multimeter 2.2 ohm @ 4 wraps 3 ohm @5. Every time I check for hotspot I pop positive leg. Why?
Also the 28 gauge comes out below 1.2 every time no matter how many wraps so this is no good for regulated device?

 

[EmeraldLeo1982]

It's probably an issue with the SS mesh touching the surrounding metal and causing a short. Have you tried measuring the resistance at the head after you've installed the new SS/coil?

 

[loringfamily]

Yes that's the to ohms above

 

[suspectK]

Make sure electrical contacts are as tight as you can get them. Get coils as symmetrically spaced as possible. Other than that I would go with what emerald said.^

 

[loringfamily]

What do you mean about surrounding metal. Are you meaning underneath the wick.

 

[SilverZero]

What do you mean about surrounding metal. Are you meaning underneath the wick.

If any part of the coil is touching the surrounding metal you'll short out. That's including the ends of the wire leads at the base of the head.

Make sure the coil is centered in the head and is not touching the sides. Also make sure the leads that go down through the center of the head are not touching each other, and that the ends of the leads are cut as short as possible.

 

[Kellycat]

I actually had a similar issue with my first Evod rebuild as well, didn't pop the coil but I blew out a battery..coil ohmed fine at 2ohm, no shorts, installed, fired, the coil worked..so I figured I was good to go, popped flavor wick on, put a tank of juice on it, hit the button and the entire bottom of the Evod glowed orange through the window for a split second before it went dead. Pulled the head, ohmed, still 2ohms and no visible shorts. Finally figured out something about screwing the base down had moved the coil slightly and it was shorting on the base only when screwed in.. Re-wrapped with one less wrap, got maybe 1.7-1.8ohm, worked perfectly fine on a new battery.

I'd personally screw it down to a device and check ohms with the device itself if at all possible, make sure nothing funny like that is going on, if it still ohms okay, go back over both the kanthal and SS mesh with a torch and make absolutely sure it's oxidized completely. The above rebuild was with 3mm silica and another 3mm flavor wick, so I had no issues with the wick itself causing a short, but it's possible the pressure from screwing the head down can move the coil just enough (remember, the wire is pinned against the center metal pin that makes the positive connection, so there will be pressure on it when installed) and shorted it out only when it was installed.

 

[loringfamily]

Well I have to wait for my wife to get home but will go give it another shot and get back to you all a bit later. Thanks for the help and your time

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Evods should be rebuilt using silica or cotton.

Only.

 

[loringfamily]

So I rebuilt another one with the same result. I started with a piece of ss, I heated until red and wrapped it up. I then heated until red and then in water x3 then little bit of juice on wick and burned it off x3. I then heated up kanthal till red up and down the wire 3 times each way. I wrap my coil tightly around wick and insert into head. One wire between head and rubber gromet, one through rubber piece. Then insert metal (+) pin. I tested on my device once all done 1.9 ohms. Tested and it popped, the hot spot was right where the wire contacts the gromet and inside of head. Any more advice anyone can offer

 

[AttyPops]

Try the silica like IBCR said. It won't short.

If it's a shorting problem, the new coil will work. If it isn't a short...it will still pop.

What voltage did you say you were using?

BTW....and this is why I have a bit of an aversion to mesh...voltage causes shorts. The multimeter isn't putting out much current/voltage at all to test ohms. However, the e-cig has some "oomph". So I'm wonder if: the multimeter shows 1.9 or whatever ohms...but it's really shorted when high voltage lots-of-amps-available situation.

Or...

You're doing it wrong (too high of voltage for the ohms).

 

[loringfamily]

IM using 3.3 v my batteries max amp is 3.5. I have wrapped a couple now that didn't pop but only the first coil or the first two coils will glow red. IM kinda thinking the kanthal might not be staying tight on the wick. No matter how much I pull the leads I can't get the middle coil to stay tight. I think my next step is to get some 30-32 gauge as well as some ribbon kanthal. Lot of people having success with those two maybe I will have better luck. I am really wanting to trying ss wick

 

[AttyPops]

The fact that only a couple coils glow means a short.

Think of it this way: Electricity flows into the wire from the positive post, flows through the 1st couple of loops and then exits out the wick (or some of it does) and thus the later coils never glow.

This over-heats the wire due to the low resistance of the wick and the wire melts. If the resistance was the resistance of the whole wire, rather than just the 1st coil or so, it would slow down the flow properly.

 

[loringfamily]

So does this mean I am not oxidizing my wick enough? Or could it do with the wire being heated to much/ not enough? Thank you for your help really want to figure this out.

 

[AttyPops]

Oxidizing...wire or wick. Also try not to wrap it too tightly. Also, trim off any stray "hairs" form the edge of the wick before you roll it and/or fold the edge over.

Possible wild-if-all-else-fails-solution:
When oxidizing the wick, try a bit of sugar water. Dunk it in the sugar solution, flame it, dunk, flame, dunk, flame. Also put e-juice on after this and burn it.

All in a well ventilated area.

Anyway....the logic is that if "dark sugary e-juice" gunks wicks, then it should help insulate.

Over-burning the wick in a flame can also ...burn off the gunk (I think). I'm not a SS mech expert and I hope others pop in here....

Although you'd think carbon can't burn off, but who knows.

 

[DrillRX]

So I rebuilt another one with the same result. I started with a piece of ss, I heated until red and wrapped it up. I then heated until red and then in water x3 then little bit of juice on wick and burned it off x3. I then heated up kanthal till red up and down the wire 3 times each way. I wrap my coil tightly around wick and insert into head. One wire between head and rubber gromet, one through rubber piece. Then insert metal (+) pin. I tested on my device once all done 1.9 ohms. Tested and it popped, the hot spot was right where the wire contacts the gromet and inside of head. Any more advice anyone can offer

My best advice would be, gather all the ss mesh attys you have and throw them in the trash. All kidding aside, I had big problems with building rba's with ss mesh. Then I ordered a Odysseus clone "Terminator". All my pain went away!!. Build on the terminator atty was successful the very first time and have never had a coil "pop" or short out or whatever.

If you really want to rebuild, the terminator or Ody or whatever the other clones are, are a great alternative. Fluid control, Flow control, easily rebuildable, don't leak, use any "harsh" juice you want, and have options for size of tank, i.e. 1.5ml, 2.5ml, 5ml, 6ml.

I don't mean to Flame, but I really HATE!! ss mesh atty's.

 

[EmeraldLeo1982]

I saw something on youtube somewhere and the guy wrapped a ss mesh wick and then took it and brushed it against some cotton very lightly, this covered the whole wick in a very thin layer of cotton which prevents any of the little jaggies from hitting anything metal. It will also increase wicking and flavor.

But yeah if you're dead set on rebuilding coils and wicks, get something meant for it like a decent RBA, otherwise you'll just be throwing your wick and wire away in the EVOD. Ribbon wire is more springy then regular btw, It's a pain for me to get it to hold it's initial shape off the drill bit. End up having to anneal and tighten and repeat multiple times. Generally I get it installed into my RDA then insert the wick and use that as a base to pull upward on to tighten all the coils up.

 

[**Rubina**]

Hey, fill me in on why this is so? I have rebuilt with hemp and it does fine.

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

I actually had a similar issue with my first Evod rebuild as well, didn't pop the coil but I blew out a battery..coil ohmed fine at 2ohm, no shorts, installed, fired, the coil worked..so I figured I was good to go, popped flavor wick on, put a tank of juice on it, hit the button and the entire bottom of the Evod glowed orange through the window for a split second before it went dead. Pulled the head, ohmed, still 2ohms and no visible shorts. Finally figured out something about screwing the base down had moved the coil slightly and it was shorting on the base only when screwed in.. Re-wrapped with one less wrap, got maybe 1.7-1.8ohm, worked perfectly fine on a new battery.

I'd personally screw it down to a device and check ohms with the device itself if at all possible, make sure nothing funny like that is going on, if it still ohms okay, go back over both the kanthal and SS mesh with a torch and make absolutely sure it's oxidized completely. The above rebuild was with 3mm silica and another 3mm flavor wick, so I had no issues with the wick itself causing a short, but it's possible the pressure from screwing the head down can move the coil just enough (remember, the wire is pinned against the center metal pin that makes the positive connection, so there will be pressure on it when installed) and shorted it out only when it was installed.

Nice call and explanation. Clearly, there's a short. Haven't rewicked with mesh, but have done 100 with cotton, ekowool and silica with no issues. Might be hard to avoid a short in this configuration. Tricky for sure, but I've heard about plenty that have done it successfully. Good luck!