Kayfun juice channe;s not connecting, poor wicking. HELP?

[Phone Guy]

Just got a clone kayfun from FT. The juice channels on the build deck area and threads do not connect. This kayfun doesn't wick as well as my other clone KF3.1 or my authentic KFL+. Both of the other 2, those juices channels connect (horizontal & vertical).

I'm kind of screwed here right? I don't have the equipment to manually drill those channels completely to touch

 

[heateris]

I have the FT $26.70 r91% styled atty that wasn't wicking well also. I used a small dremmel cutting bit and opened up the channels some. It works likes dream now.


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[Phone Guy]

I'm debating buying a cheap drill press ($70) just for this, and drill air holes in other attys and caps. My son wants to drill out the air hole in his KFL, we saw a guy do it freehand on youtube, but with my luck that would end in a trip to the ER

Sometimes you have to know your limitations... LOL.

Read on the fasttech forums, in the R91 thread actually, someone suggested jewelers diamond files... slow going but cheap and precise.... the files might come in handy whenever I get around to building the dna30 mods I've got planned.... (one of these days)

edit: can you post pictures of your juice channels and maybe the dremel bit you used if its not too much trouble????

 

[heateris]

Theirs no real visible difference with the channels. I just cleaned them up and focused on the corners. IIRC, I used high speed cutter #191. Bought a two pack at Home Depot.


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[Sikko]

I had the same issues with my Hicigar Kayfun 3.1. I got the carving/engraving dremel kit and just cleaned the channels up and connected them. I don't have a pic of the channels (it was kinda ugly) lol. But here is the kit. I got mine at lowes.

One of the bits was just a hair larger than the width of the channels, that's the one I used. Went slow so I didn't cut them too deep.

 

[retic1959]

Just got a clone kayfun from FT. The juice channels on the build deck area and threads do not connect. This kayfun doesn't wick as well as my other clone KF3.1 or my authentic KFL+. Both of the other 2, those juices channels connect (horizontal & vertical).

I'm kind of screwed here right? I don't have the equipment to manually drill those channels completely to touch

Even if you do correct it yourself , I would take some photos and open a ticket with FT , they're pretty good about these problems , you can probably get another base from them and have an extra if you can repair the one you have .

 

[Phone Guy]

Ok, I don't have a good enough camera to capture the details - you don't realize just how small and fine those juice channels cuts are until you've tried to improve them.

My wife has this nail buffing thing, looks like a baby dremel... somewhere (I have no idea where they came from) I found some fine tip, what I'm assuming was diamond dust coated bits. WORKED GREAT. The nail dremel doesn't spin as fast so its easy to keep control. Takes a little longer, and takes a little effort on your part, but worked great -- I think so far anyways. I made the vertical channels deeper and wider the best I could and most importantly I made the horizontal and vertical cuts CONNECT - That was the choke point I think.

It doesn't look all the great, but it gets covered by the chamber anyway. Even with the low rpm nail thing, which I could stop rotating with thumb and forefinger, it still got away from me a time or two...but again, not a deal breaker. So far so good.

 

[Ca Ike]

Pretty much tobecco and yiloon are the worst KF clones out there H-Cigar is decent but hands down EH-pro makes the best one out there next to an authentic KF.I've been looking into weather eh-pro is a licensed clone or not as its the only one that uses Svomesto's logo and markings but haven't found any info on that yet. My EH-pro is flawless. Tight tolerances on fit and finish, good o-rings and 100% SS other than the positive post screw.

My tobecco/yiloon clone is now a desk ornament since its crap unknown steel. The positive block is so soft I can gouge it with my fingernail and it stripped out on the 2nd build. My h-cigar is working fine but I have to drill out the stuck/stripped airflow set screw. Carbon steel screw and SS with a bit of condensation tossed in cause the screw to rust within a couple tank fulls.

Unless I get an authentic KF I'll only buy EH-pro from now on.

 

[horton]

If anyone can post a pic of the channels, I'd really appreciate it. I'm trying to decide if I need to work on the channels on my clone, but can't visualize what would be too much to take off. Does anyone have a before and after shot or is it that subtle as to not be able to tell from a pic? I just don't want to mess mine up by taking too much off.

 

[MikeMills]

Has anyone had a stripped out deck screw?

I got a KF clone in a trade and discovered one screw completely useless, it's a beautiful thing other than that though.

Anyone have a fix?

 

[Ca Ike]

Stripped deck screws are a pain if your lucky it's the screw and not the deck. If it's the positive block coil screw you can flip the block over or use a longer screw. Negative block coil screw will have to be rethreaded or you get a new base. If you use larger than 30g wire you realy should get longer screws anyway

 

[Phone Guy]

If anyone can post a pic of the channels, I'd really appreciate it. I'm trying to decide if I need to work on the channels on my clone, but can't visualize what would be too much to take off. Does anyone have a before and after shot or is it that subtle as to not be able to tell from a pic? I just don't want to mess mine up by taking too much off.

Honestly the difference wont show up well in pictures imo. Like I said, you dont realize just how fine the cuts are until you start grinding, sanding, scraping them.... What I think my issue was, the 2 juice channels didn't connect at the 90 degree base... the vert and horz didnt actually touch, where on my genuine kfl+ they very obviously connect.

I made my vert channels against the threads of the chamber, as deep and wide as I could, trying to match the horz channels on the non-threaded juice deck. Based on how I understand the KF vacuum system to work, you really can't make them too deep per se... which is to say, you'd have to make what would be enormous cuts, which common sense will prevent you from doing.

 

[heateris]

If anyone can post a pic of the channels, I'd really appreciate it. I'm trying to decide if I need to work on the channels on my clone, but can't visualize what would be too much to take off. Does anyone have a before and after shot or is it that subtle as to not be able to tell from a pic? I just don't want to mess mine up by taking too much off.

You need to clean up the channels if your having wicking issues.


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[anumber1]

I'm debating buying a cheap drill press ($70) just for this, and drill air holes in other attys and caps. My son wants to drill out the air hole in his KFL, we saw a guy do it freehand on youtube, but with my luck that would end in a trip to the ER

Sometimes you have to know your limitations... LOL.

Read on the fasttech forums, in the R91 thread actually, someone suggested jewelers diamond files... slow going but cheap and precise.... the files might come in handy whenever I get around to building the dna30 mods I've got planned.... (one of these days)

edit: can you post pictures of your juice channels and maybe the dremel bit you used if its not too much trouble????

I went after my FT 31.ES with a small file to fix the same issue. Not that the channels didn't meet but one channel was not deep enough into the threads on the side to allow juice to flow.

Fixed it. Works good now. I did expect this however. There were plenty of threads pertaining to the issue, both @ Fasttech and here.

Took a bit with the file but I figured by the time I dug out the dremel and chucked up a bit the time would have equaled out I guess.

Or I could have bought a real one I suppose...

 

[horton]

Honestly the difference wont show up well in pictures imo. Like I said, you dont realize just how fine the cuts are until you start grinding, sanding, scraping them.... What I think my issue was, the 2 juice channels didn't connect at the 90 degree base... the vert and horz didnt actually touch, where on my genuine kfl+ they very obviously connect.

I made my vert channels against the threads of the chamber, as deep and wide as I could, trying to match the horz channels on the non-threaded juice deck. Based on how I understand the KF vacuum system to work, you really can't make them too deep per se... which is to say, you'd have to make what would be enormous cuts, which common sense will prevent you from doing.

Yeah -- I realized after I read back over the first couple of posts that pics wouldn't show anything. My devices work fine and I was only thinking about improving what's there. Best to leave well enough alone and not try to "super tune".

 

[Phone Guy]

That's up to you. I obviously had one that wasn't wicking, and owning several kayfun's and knowing how well a kayfun does wick, vape and perform, a little surgery was needed. So far, so good. I'll think she'll live to vape another day.

I tried taking pictures but you couldn't see the difference. I knew what I was looking for and couldn't see. LOL

 

[Phone Guy]

Update: I may have cut the channels too deep. I've started to get some leaking from the air intake hole in the base. The remedy is to use more cotton in the coil chamber (I think) but the fact that its flooding to the point of leaking is 1 of 2 things... either I cut too deep into the vertical channels (the channels on the threads where the chamber cylinder screws on) or I have somehow damaged my fill port and allowing air in preventing the vacuum effect from happening.

I have NOT had any dry wicking issues since the "surgery".... and I have been using a new flat cap top which prevents me from using the top fill method (well doesnt prevent me, but reduces the juice capacity if I top fill since this top cap is also the top most stainless section as well as the cap), so I've been using a syringe and the fill port for the first time ever since owning a kayfun 3.1.

I'm not sure how delicate the balance is for the juice channels? and I'm not 100% sure how to verify its one problem or the other ????