KFL+...Sloth's Vapourney Continues

[distortoblotto]

Hmm whoa this is all over my head

My problem is...I'm using a drill bit set from the workshop and it's unlabeled. I can ask tomorrow of maintenance knows which one is 1/8 but they may or may not know without the chart. The only one I know for certain is the 1/16, the smallest one. I think the next biggest is 5/64. No idea which is 1/8 or how to measure and see.

On my next build I'd kinda like slightly lower ohms - like 1.3-1.5, preferably right at 1.4. By this reasoning, bumping up the size and doing lower ohms would be less wraps = even less flow restriction?

The thing that plagues me is how well this thing vaped on my first build and tank and then also one other wick and tank - come to think of it actually I had 3 working wicks overall...I keep forgetting that middle one because it was a leak that caused me to re-wick (the leak was due to not having everything snug, and i decided to change flavors so i re-wicked). Particularly that third working wick, the greatest vape of my life to date. Smooth, tons of vapor, and Wakonda tasted like heaven itself if coffee and tobacco are allowed in heaven would a problem of juice restriction due to that long of a coil still allow for such a heavenly vape for the first few tanks?

You are in luck. A 1.4 ohm coil with 28g and your bit should be a 8/7 wrap and yes, when the coil starts to gunk up and with that long of a coil, you could very well get a wee run of great flavor before it takes a dump.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

You are in luck. A 1.4 ohm coil with 28g and your bit should be a 8/7 wrap and yes if the coil starts to gunk up and with that long of a coil, you could very well get a wee run of great flavor before it takes a dump.

oh *REALLY*? man, this might be it then! See, my PT heads are *mostly* built to 1.3 or 1.4 ohms. Most of them have 8 wraps around a 5/64 or 5/32 or whatever the step up from 1/16 is. I think one has 9 and somehow landed at 1.7... it continues to do well but could just be a PT thing or something...actually, I may have retired that one already, I'd have to re-check the ohms of my current PT builds. I was using a 1.7 ohm coil in one PT and a 1.2 in the other...both started doing THIS. I replaced both coils and immediately ran into the same problem, then flipped rubber cup, loosened base and vapetastic ever since. Thus blamed it entirely on that and not the coils. Maybe the higher ohm coil was problematic because of the length.

Oh I'm definitely building a new coil tonight. I mean even if it isn't my problem I'd still like lower ohms than 1.7. I'll eventually get this right, may as well get it right with preferred ohms.

If that's the main problem here I'll just redo my coil tonight with 8 wraps around that same drill bit.

Now one other thing for clarity here, and I'll post a pic of it later. One of my end wraps is slightly warped--in that it isn't even with the rest. it's touching but not even. it's top comes up higher than all the other even wraps. I've been assuming this doesn't matter because one of my PT coils has the same problem yet vapes fine every new wick job. The coil wasn't like this at first, only after a few tanks--but this dry hit problem began the tank before the deformity. I tend to think they're not related, but relaying this info in case it is important.

 

[motabrownie]

Right back at ya. I am a rather big boy. When I would get on a roll, I could put it down by the gallon. Put a good steak and spud dinner in front of me and the possibility's could be endless. Thank God I was always able to hold my mud though.

I rarely prayed to the porcelain god. I pretty much have an iron stomach. A couple of times were at a annual xmas party for the bar I worked at but besides that I was solid. Go and pray, go back for more. That was the night we spent all year training for lol. It was a competition lol. Free premium liquor til the sun came up. Ouch. Friends fighting friends, then hugging it out lol. Ya know, typical male bonding. Good times.

 

[granolaboy]

I was in the DJ/Rave circuit for over 10 years solid...needless to say I did WAY more than my fair share of indulging. But despite everything crazy I did, the worst for me was always the booze and the tobacco. To me now, a drink is just a ticket to feeling gross and screwing up my life...I don't miss it at all.

And now I'm over 2 months off the smokes, I'm just delighted!!

But back to the topic...seriously...plastic tanks? I would expect plastic parts on a crummy CE4 clearo or a kanger T3S, but a Kayfun?! Hell, even cheap protanks have pyrex tanks. It's really quite the oversight if you think about it...

But hey...quartz kits save the day I guess.

That plastic middle section hit the garbage as soon as it came out of the box.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

Gross is a good word for the feeling alcohol gives me, even one beer. And hangovers, oh man. I rarely got them but heck even without a full on hangover I always felt weird the next morning. There are more benign substances for sure NT juice no exception haha

 

[distortoblotto]

oh *REALLY*? man, this might be it then! See, my PT heads are *mostly* built to 1.3 or 1.4 ohms. Most of them have 8 wraps around a 5/64 or 5/32 or whatever the step up from 1/16 is. I think one has 9 and somehow landed at 1.7... it continues to do well but could just be a PT thing or something...actually, I may have retired that one already, I'd have to re-check the ohms of my current PT builds. I was using a 1.7 ohm coil in one PT and a 1.2 in the other...both started doing THIS. I replaced both coils and immediately ran into the same problem, then flipped rubber cup, loosened base and vapetastic ever since. Thus blamed it entirely on that and not the coils. Maybe the higher ohm coil was problematic because of the length.

Oh I'm definitely building a new coil tonight. I mean even if it isn't my problem I'd still like lower ohms than 1.7. I'll eventually get this right, may as well get it right with preferred ohms.

If that's the main problem here I'll just redo my coil tonight with 8 wraps around that same drill bit.

Now one other thing for clarity here, and I'll post a pic of it later. One of my end wraps is slightly warped--in that it isn't even with the rest. it's touching but not even. it's top comes up higher than all the other even wraps. I've been assuming this doesn't matter because one of my PT coils has the same problem yet vapes fine every new wick job. The coil wasn't like this at first, only after a few tanks--but this dry hit problem began the tank before the deformity. I tend to think they're not related, but relaying this info in case it is important.

Just to clarify, an 8/7 wrap is 7 coils on top with the legs pointing out at the bottom.. As far as the loose coil end goes, once the coil is built and still on the bit, take a pair of pliers and WHILE HOLDING THE COIL on the bit pull the ends of the legs tight. This will insure a nice tight coil. Another very important part of this is to leave the lags long enough while wrapping to be able to cut away any part of the wire that gets marred by the pliers while still leaving plenty to be able to wrap around the posts. failure to do so will result is your coil melting in two.

Pro Tanks? Don't get me started with PT's. We could go on for weeks about that one!

 

[distortoblotto]

I rarely prayed to the porcelain god. I pretty much have an iron stomach. A couple of times were at a annual xmas party for the bar I worked at but besides that I was solid. Go and pray, go back for more. That was the night we spent all year training for lol. It was a competition lol. Free premium liquor til the sun came up. Ouch. Friends fighting friends, then hugging it out lol. Ya know, typical male bonding. Good times.

Oh yeah, no porcelain gods for this boy and in fact, I can count one hand the amount of times I awoke the following day trying to figure out what happened the night before but, the fighting, that's another story. There always seems to be that one Kat in the crowd who has the liquid gonads. I never went looking for it but then, I wouldn't walk away from it either. This often resulted with me being the one that ended up in trouble. I lost a few but won more than my fair share. I stopped going to bars because of it. This is also how I got tagged as Distortoblotto but that's yet another long story.

Looking back at it now, I realize how stupid all of that crap really was. Today, I am just a peaceful fun loving guy but, there are a few things that will bring out the old distorto. Mainly anyone who hurts women, children, old folks or animals. That and thieves I have absolutely no tolerance for.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

Just to clarify, an 8/7 wrap is 7 coils on top with the legs pointing out at the bottom.. As far as the loose coil end goes, once the coil is built and still on the bit, take a pair of pliers and WHILE HOLDING THE COIL on the bit pull the ends of the legs tight. This will insure a nice tight coil. Another very important part of this is to leave the lags long enough while wrapping to be able to cut away any part of the wire that gets marred by the pliers while still leaving plenty to be able to wrap around the posts. failure to do so will result is your coil melting in two.

Pro Tanks? Don't get me started with PT's. We could go on for weeks about that one!

ok so basically aim for 7 wraps, and the legs pointing out in opposite directions at the bottom. got it. will do

I have NOT done that with pulling the legs out using pliers...will try although now I'm scared of melting x.x I always try to use way more wire than I'll need, wind up cutting a lot of excess which is wasteful I know but it seems to help me get it right. I also tend to run a lighter along the wire before wrapping to help make it easier to wrap.

I love rebuilt PTs - the flavor and vapor aren't as good as the KFL but they're so easy to rewick, no need to dump the juice, and since I "got it" I haven't had a faulty wick or coil since. A rebuilt PT is leagues beyond stock PTs, which are terrible and burn everything under Clark's golden sun! I never have leaking or dry hits when I rebuild them. I'm hoping once I "get it" with the KFL, this will be the case too, because when it works it's much better than a rebuilt PT!

 

[penguiness]

ok so basically aim for 7 wraps, and the legs pointing out in opposite directions at the bottom. got it. will do

I have NOT done that with pulling the legs out using pliers...will try although now I'm scared of melting x.x I always try to use way more wire than I'll need, wind up cutting a lot of excess which is wasteful I know but it seems to help me get it right. I also tend to run a lighter along the wire before wrapping to help make it easier to wrap.

I love rebuilt PTs - the flavor and vapor aren't as good as the KFL but they're so easy to rewick, no need to dump the juice, and since I "got it" I haven't had a faulty wick or coil since. A rebuilt PT is leagues beyond stock PTs, which are terrible and burn everything under Clark's golden sun! I never have leaking or dry hits when I rebuild them. I'm hoping once I "get it" with the KFL, this will be the case too, because when it works it's much better than a rebuilt PT!

Larger diameter coil, more wick, more juice, more flavor. Smaller length, more room for air.

Dumping juice is one reason some people prefer Taifun GT's. The flavor from them is fantastic. I put my juices that tend to gunk coils most (like GCD) in the Taifun's so I can dry burn without emptying. I still love my Kayfun's, bought my first one in 2012. They are perfect for juice that likes a higher wattage.

Think of this "practice" with coils and wicks as prepping you for your next hardware choice.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

Larger diameter coil, more wick, more juice, more flavor. Smaller length, more room for air.

Dumping juice is one reason some people prefer Taifun GT's. The flavor from them is fantastic. I put my juices that tend to gunk coils most (like GCD) in the Taifun's so I can dry burn without emptying. I still love my Kayfun's, bought my first one in 2012. They are perfect for juice that likes a higher wattage.

Think of this "practice" with coils and wicks as prepping you for your next hardware choice.

I heard about the Taifuns - seems like a better design. I do think of this as practice for sure, it's only good for me. I'm still planning on a REO - may not order tomorrow, as I'm still unclear as to what atomizer to get (people say LP Reomizer 2 but there's none listed online, only LP Reomizer or Reomizer 2 no mention of LP), what battery charger etc. Doubt I'll get any more tanks as I think the REO will probably suit my vape style more than anything else, anyway

I may try a larger diameter coil in addition to lower ohms...more juice and flavor sounds nice! didn't realize the diameter affected that but it totally makes sense though

 

[penguiness]

I heard about the Taifuns - seems like a better design. I do think of this as practice for sure, it's only good for me. I'm still planning on a REO - may not order tomorrow, as I'm still unclear as to what atomizer to get (people say LP Reomizer 2 but there's none listed online, only LP Reomizer or Reomizer 2 no mention of LP), what battery charger etc. Doubt I'll get any more tanks as I think the REO will probably suit my vape style more than anything else, anyway

I may try a larger diameter coil in addition to lower ohms...more juice and flavor sounds nice! didn't realize the diameter affected that but it totally makes sense though

Do try the toothpicks! Someone suggested them to me when I first started building and it really made things easier. I kept messing up my coils moving them up, then down and back again trying to get the right height. When I would put them in the juice channels, before I took them out I would slide them back towards the center to make sure I had them clear. There are lots of people on here who know all kinds of simple tricks that can take some of the frustration out for you.

Just keep in mind that if you get too many dry hits in a row, you have probably burned your wick in two and won't get juice into the coil anymore.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

oh man made a ritual of this to summon the power of the vape gods...

went down to the boathouse. 44 degrees outside. Lit a fire in the wood stove. got the boathouse nice and toasty. took off my old coil, made a new one. looked beautiful untl I mounted it incorrectly made another. registered 1.4 ohms--perfect. I was using a bigger diameter drill bit (not sure what size) and 7 wraps of 28ga kanthal a-1. sweet.

I noticed how much better my wick looked in this bigger diameter coil - much more resembling wicks I see photos of on this thread than my previous wicks. I took extra care with the glueing etc. still haven't tried the method Mota and Penguiness use again yet - I think I psychologically link that method (less the toothpick) to the beginning of my dry hit marathon so I wanted to give the new coil a shot just like my original working wicks. It looked good to me. Loaded the tank up...

...aaaaaaand dry hits! after a few mediocre tasting hits that weren't dry.

I'm too tired to take it apart and post pics but I will in the morning. Gonna switch back to PTs for my last vape of the night and go to bed

 

[motabrownie]

Top o' the mornin! Time to get back on the horsey lol. Try it the way Penngiuness suggested, with the toothpick. Watch that video again too. That method works for me almost every time.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

Top o' the mornin! Time to get back on the horsey lol. Try it the way Penngiuness suggested, with the toothpick. Watch that video again too. That method works for me almost every time.

lol literally top, my eyes are dreary and I've gotsta get motavated first

also gonna order a REO first - wanna reiterate to everybody it is NOT a rejection of the KFL. when it boils down to it I've wanted a REO since before I wanted a KFL - and the KFL has shown me that vaping can be SO much better. It's REO time now! gonna take my time to pick one out, and find the right batteries and charger, and figure out what all I need for it. then its toothpick time LOL

 

[distortoblotto]

Rob suggests AW imr's for his Reo's. They are fine battery's and the only one that Provari recommends as well. Myself, I use both the Aw's and the Sony Vct 5's in my full size Reo's. For "Minnie" the Reo I stick to the Aw's. As Far as chargers go, I would recommend the XTAR units.

 

[distortoblotto]

On another note, I went back a read your first post and realized that your KF in an EHpro. This is the first unit I bought as well to see if this style gennie was for me before committing to the investment of the genuine unit. As posted earlier in this thread, Mine gave me the same type of issues that yours has with inconsistent builds. I knew that these style units were where I wanted to be at the time and popped for a pair of the genuines. It wasn't until I took a number drill set to the air passages that I could get a consistent build on that EHpro. I have since learned that with the clones, you can end up with a good one or a bad one. Unfortunatly, you may be dealing with the latter of the two.

 

[motabrownie]

On another note, I went back a read your first post and realized that your KF in an EHpro. This is the first unit I bought as well to see if this style gennie was for me before committing to the investment of the genuine unit. As posted earlier in this thread, Mine gave me the same type of issues that yours has with inconsistent builds. I knew that these style units were where I wanted to be at the time and popped for a pair of the genuines. It wasn't until I took a number drill set to the air passages that I could get a consistent build on that EHpro. I have since learned that with the clones, you can end up with a good one or a bad one. Unfortunatly, you may be dealing with the latter of the two.

I now have 8 EhPro KFL+'s. I had the same problems as Sloth on a few of them. They all now work flawlessly. Every problem I had was due to wicking. I was having more problems doing it the Rip Trippers way, with gluing the wicks to the side of the base. Maybe the air channels arent big enough to get juice to the coils when they're that far away from the channels? Only problem Ive had that I couldnt fix, as I stated earlier, was on a 3.1. Still cant get that thing to work good consistently. I want to see pics of his coils and wicks before we chalk it up to a bad KFL+ and we both hop on a flight to upstate NY lol. I want to see pics of the wick before and after he puts juice on it too

 

[Sloth Tonight]

Thanks - all done on the REO front, got a REO Grand LP, LP Reomizer, some back up stuff including repair kit, 3 AW IMR 18650 batteries, and i actually went with a nitecore intellicharger i4 with a car adapter. Pretty freakin' stoked about it. I'm expecting a long delivery time and that's totally fine

It may be - I've thought about trying to drill the air passages a bit, but I'm terrified of it lol

 

[distortoblotto]

Congratulations Fair! You are on the road to Flavorville for sure! The Nitecore is a very fine unit as well. You may or may not find you will need to open up the intakes on the RM2 (dual 5/64's on mine) but this is an easy task for sure. If you have any questions what so ever, don't hesitate.

Very happy for you my brother!

 

[Sloth Tonight]

Yeah thanks it's exciting I've spent a lot of money fast but I'm set for a long time. Having a REO, a high end tank like the KFL, and a few rebuilt PTs has been the ultimate goal. Only thing left is probably a lifetime supply of Wakonda, Virus, BG, uhhh so on...coolcucumber mint...(thanks so much NT for the loyalty bottle of CCM on my last order!! that made me smile!)...Strawnilla...uhmmm...

Pics are coming at ya Mota, though they're gonna be crappy cause all I've got is my phone. I'm gonna strip this baby down momentarily