Kayfuns and bad advice

[dherrington]

About two weeks ago, I bought a kayfun hcigar clone and have had nothing but trouble with it. Flooding. Trouble attaching the coils to the deck. You name it. I put it away a couple of days ago, and went back to my Protank 3.

Out of curiosity, I watched Phil Brusardo's video on how to build a Russian and discovered that half of what I have been told - even by people who use Kayfuns at Brick and Mortar shops - is wrong. They told me to place the coil facing the wrong direction. They told me not to use much wick. They told me not to get the wick in the juice channels when I packed it into the chimney.

From what I have seen from Phil's video is that is ALL WRONG. Did they watch the video? I am eager to go home and try building it again. Maybe I can start to enjoy the thing I spent so much money on.

My point? Don't always assume that other kayfun users know what they are doing? I will probably still have some problems learning how to do this but at least Brusardo's video shows how to do it RIGHT.

Doug

 

[Borophyll]

I use the diagonal coil method for my kayfun roughly 1-2mm off the deck. I use just enough cotton so that it can touch the base of the deck without blocking the juice channels. Usually pressed against the deck to avoid it from blocking them and it everything works great.

Right now I'm using a 1.1 ohm coil and it seems to do the trick. I felt that any lower my cotton couldn't wick fast enough, which led me to get dry hits quite often. Everyone is different though.

 

[JustB'nMe]

Sorry you got bad advice. I personally just don't deal with B&M's. There are a lot of sources out there and not all are good. I have found Busardo is a good reference to learn the ins and outs of a device. Rip Trippers is an ace with coil building and wicking (although annoying at times).

I found that too much wicking material in the chimney and top filling caused leaking in my case. So, I use the diagonal method with cotton (just enough to touch the deck) making sure it's not too dense. I bottom fill only because top filling creates too much pressure that can lead to leakage. I hope some of this helps and good luck!

Sent from my KFHD via Tapatalk

 

[Rangertrix]

When you say diagonal method, do you mean pushing the ends of the wick to the sides of the juice channels?

 

[Borophyll]

When you say diagonal method, do you mean pushing the ends of the wick to the sides of the juice channels?

The coil itself is in a diagonal orientation if you look at the base from a top down view. Makes it easier to have shorter legs to the post to avoid possible hot spots. At least in my case it works.

 

[CloudZ]

I got my $14 kfl from ft last week. Don't get me wrong, it is of questionable quality but it seems to work for now. I started off running minimal cotton, so it just barely reached down to the channels. This made it flood when the tank was full, dry hit when it started getting low. A couple days ago I decided to leave the tails longer so I had to stuff them in and fill the entire "slots" between the containment ring and the coil block. Now it is just amazing from full to empty.

 

[Elendil]

They told me not to get the wick in the juice channels when I packed it into the chimney.



Doug

I have read countless posts and watch lots of videos in preparation for the arrival of my KFL. This is the one piece of advice that seems to consistently be mentioned by everyone one. No wick in the juice channel, ever.

 

[garpt01]

There are different builds that work well. I've had the most luck with a modest amount of cotton, feed both ends up through the "chimney", then lightly tap down in place on the same sides of the juice channels- just laying above them. I have also used the "squish" the cotton ends against the side of the deck method, and it works also. For me, the first method works better. Be sure to fill it upside down if you have the fill screw,(KFL) on models that don't (Kayfun 3.1) block airhole, fill upright, fit top piece loosely, turn upside down, release finger from air hole, and tighten top.

 

[suspectK]

I have read countless posts and watch lots of videos in preparation for the arrival of my KFL. This is the one piece of advice that seems to consistently be mentioned by everyone one. No wick in the juice channel, ever.

I place my wicks over my juice wells. I don't pack the wick in there. I move the tails side to side after evaporation chamber is on to make sure they're not stuck in them, but I get dry hits if I just place wicks on deck by juice wells.

 

[Alchemy]

I have read countless posts and watch lots of videos in preparation for the arrival of my KFL. This is the one piece of advice that seems to consistently be mentioned by everyone one. No wick in the juice channel, ever.

You can put the wick on the channel just don't pack it in cutting off the flow of the juice.
Looks like suspectk beat me to it

 

[logun]

I've tried many different builds for my KFLs all work fine except one when I make strands of my coil loose.

 

[Nibiru2012]

All of my Kayfun coil builds have been successful so far. I am standardizing my builds using a 1.8mm micro screwdriver shank and doing a 9/10 wrap of 28ga. Kanthal wire with cotton wick. I attach my coils squared to the connection posts and have had no hot legs at all and all coils glow from the center out.

I use cotton wicks and just snug enough to have a slight resistance inside the coil. I then attach the chimney base and trim the wick to be even with the top of the base and then use a small flat screwdriver to push down the wicks and slightly flare them out toward the base. No leaks, no dry hits and great vapes!

 

[YuckMan]

In my experience flooding is usually be caused by one of three things, improper filling, bad o-ring seal, or too much wick touching the top of the deck. If you overfill it, or fill it too fast, liquid will go into the channels and evaporation chamber instead of the tank and run out of the top while filling and leak out the air hole for a good while after filling. If your o-rings aren't sealing, it won't hold any pressure and leak pretty badly. If your wick is touching the top of the deck by the air hole or even touching too much of the screws, it will wick liquid right into the air hole.

I never cover my liquid channels and never get any leaks.

Keep wick off the top of the deck.

Edit: In one of my clones the center post wasn't very tight and it ended up being recessed into the deck a bit and caused flooding. You can try tightening the center post a bit so it protrudes out from the top of the deck a little.

 

[SkvLTD]

Sorry you got bad advice. I personally just don't deal with B&M's. There are a lot of sources out there and not all are good. I have found Busardo is a good reference to learn the ins and outs of a device. Rip Trippers is an ace with coil building and wicking (although annoying at times).

I found that too much wicking material in the chimney and top filling caused leaking in my case. So, I use the diagonal method with cotton (just enough to touch the deck) making sure it's not too dense. I bottom fill only because top filling creates too much pressure that can lead to leakage. I hope some of this helps and good luck!

Sent from my KFHD via Tapatalk

Just so I'm understanding this correctly- the design uses the air pressure throughout the chimney to keep the juices from overflowing inside the chimney when they are pushed down in the upright position. So, if you were to break that seal by opening the top to fill it, you're essentially compromising the design and allowing it to flood past the intended point thus leaking through the air hole. Right?

In turn, if filling from the top works, then you simply have that/too much wicking material blocking the channels enough to prevent excessive overflow while filling.

 

[Wow1420]

About two weeks ago, I bought a kayfun HCigar clone and have had nothing but trouble with it. Flooding. Trouble attaching the coils to the deck. You name it. I put it away a couple of days ago, and went back to my Protank 3.

Out of curiosity, I watched Phil Brusardo's video on how to build a Russian and discovered that half of what I have been told - even by people who use Kayfuns at Brick and Mortar shops - is wrong. They told me to place the coil facing the wrong direction. They told me not to use much wick. They told me not to get the wick in the juice channels when I packed it into the chimney.

From what I have seen from Phil's video is that is ALL WRONG. Did they watch the video? I am eager to go home and try building it again. Maybe I can start to enjoy the thing I spent so much money on.

My point? Don't always assume that other kayfun users know what they are doing? I will probably still have some problems learning how to do this but at least Brusardo's video shows how to do it RIGHT.

Doug

Thumbs up for the method Phil uses in that video. It's easy and it works. I've no interest in turning coil building into a hobby.

 

[GratefulVaper]

Just for an idea that had not been presented here. ..I have had amazing luck with the NAVY NEST build using 28g and 30g kanthal and xc116 wick. No flooding, no dry hits, and flavor as pure as stainless in a genny... (I dont know how to provide links, but search navy nest in this forum or google and you'll see...)

 

[SkvLTD]

Just for an idea that had not been presented here. ..I have had amazing luck with the NAVY NEST build using 28g and 30g kanthal and xc116 wick. No flooding, no dry hits, and flavor as pure as stainless in a genny... (I dont know how to provide links, but search navy nest in this forum or google and you'll see...)

Well, why not SS in a Kayfun?

 

[JustB'nMe]

Just so I'm understanding this correctly- the design uses the air pressure throughout the chimney to keep the juices from overflowing inside the chimney when they are pushed down in the upright position. So, if you were to break that seal by opening the top to fill it, you're essentially compromising the design and allowing it to flood past the intended point thus leaking through the air hole. Right?

In turn, if filling from the top works, then you simply have that/too much wicking material blocking the channels enough to prevent excessive overflow while filling.

Well, I'm no expert but my understanding is that the pressure is generated when the top cap is screwed on the tank. That pushes the liquid up the feed channels leading to the deck. So yes, removing the top cap releases that pressure.

Now, because of the issues I had this is my theory of what's going on with a top fill. When the top cap is placed on the tank pressure builds forcing juice up the channels into the chimney. If the wick material cannot absorb the liquid fast enough, it floods the deck, travels through the center hole and out of the airflow hole at the bottom. I've watched YT videos showing ways to prevent that from happening but it never worked for me. Plus, it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through when the tank has a fill hole.

Frankly, there are so many different methods out there that you may have to try more than one to find what works best for you.

Sent from my KFHD via Tapatalk

 

[Ryedan]

About two weeks ago, I bought a kayfun HCigar clone and have had nothing but trouble with it. Flooding. Trouble attaching the coils to the deck. You name it. I put it away a couple of days ago, and went back to my Protank 3.

Out of curiosity, I watched Phil Brusardo's video on how to build a Russian and discovered that half of what I have been told - even by people who use Kayfuns at Brick and Mortar shops - is wrong. They told me to place the coil facing the wrong direction. They told me not to use much wick. They told me not to get the wick in the juice channels when I packed it into the chimney.

From what I have seen from Phil's video is that is ALL WRONG. Did they watch the video? I am eager to go home and try building it again. Maybe I can start to enjoy the thing I spent so much money on.

My point? Don't always assume that other kayfun users know what they are doing? I will probably still have some problems learning how to do this but at least Brusardo's video shows how to do it RIGHT.

Doug

Well, thanks for nothing.

You said what you were told to do with it was wrong, but you didn't say what that was. You said that Phil got it right, but you didn't say what he got right.

So I know no more about the Kayfun than I did before I read this thread.

Except that my Kayfun clone works very well and that a few people I helped along the way with theirs are very happy.


So what was your point again?

 

[IceCreamMan]

LOL. Been doing rip's build on a russian91 and KFLs and they work perfect everyime all the time. Micro coil w/cotton ...! Gotta be the easiest platform to do a good performing build on.