When we left off, I was enjoying some Heavenly 7 in my MOV Rebuildable Atty. I chose Heavenly 7 because I wanted to check out a complex flavor, and the atty did a fabulous job in bringing out its complex blend. Now it is time to try and change the flavor to a more subtle one, Blue Ridge.
I figure I will start with the easiest way to change flavors. I vaped the H7 until it is almost gone, then I added a couple drops of Blue Ridge. This would probably work if the two flavors would compliment each other, but I get a strong background of H7. The H& and BR fight each other for dominance.
So I take the cap off and hold the coil under running water for about 15 seconds. I can tell right away that the wick is clean and white. I blow out the excess water, holding the coil housing at a slight angle so I don't get a face full of backsplash. Then I do a little dry burn to get rid of the last of the water.
Now back to dripping my Blue Ridge. A couple drops on the coil and replace the top cover. The first few hits are muted. By the second fill, I have clean good hits of BR. No trace of the Heavenly 7 remain after my brief faucet rinse. Good vapor production and good taste.
This time I move to a more compatible flavor. I soon find I can switch fruits and menthols and certain tobaccos without cleaning the atomizer. When I drastically change flavors, all it takes is a rinse. The water mutes the flavor only for a short time (one fill). If I don't want to have the weak flavor, I can set the atty base on top of my computer monitor for about an hour. That fully dries the wick. But who wants to wait an hour?
This atty is perfect for testing flavors and for everyday dripping. It really is easy to rinse out the old flavor. Just plain tap water.
Next step: rebuilding the coil. I don't really want to try this. The coil looks so tiny. But I will never learn how until I do it. I might try to wrap a higher ohm coil, but I will probably be lucky to get anything that works.
I spent the last 3 or 4 days rebuilding it and rebuilding it. I could get coils that worked.. .almost every time in fact, they just didn't look pretty.
Tonight was my first 'pretty' build, and it's worth it, because it's hitting better than it ever has. (the 4amp limit on the gripper may be helping too.)
I will tell you how I did it.
Tools:
Plyers (to rotate the posts so the holes are facing int he same direction)
Tweezers (sometimes, it's just easier to feed the coil through the whole with a pair of these)
Paper Clip (we'll get to this part)
Thin strand of wick (I say thin, because it has to be fed through a looped coil not much wider than a paper clip. Trust me, you want it thin) I use a longer strand of wick (about 6 inches) then snip it down to about an inch and a half when it's finished.
First, use the plyers to get the posts lined up so that the holes are both facing the same way (mine had one post where the hole was facing towards center, and the other posts was running perpendicular to the atty. Be careful not to damage the post while doing this, I had a bit of a mishap when i tried to use a pair of clippers instead of a pair of plyers and I squeezed a mite bit too hard.) You should only ever have to do this once.
Next...
Take the paper clip and unfold it so that it's straight. Start with about 3 inches of wire, you're going to be snipping an inch off when you're done. Start winding tight coils, leaving about 1/2 - 1 inch of coil loose on each end for inserting into the post and snipping off the excess. This is the easy part with the paper clip this will not take you long to make a nice clean well coiled 'tube' for the wick to be insert into.
Wind the wick tightly so it's nice and small. and start to push your wound coil off the paper clip with one hand as you twist the wick in to meet it with the other hand. the wick should twist inside the wrapped coil, continue to push the coil off the paper click and twist the wick in. when the wick is through to the other side (your could should be about 1/2 inch of winding) the coil will be completely off the paper clip, tug the wick through and slide the coil to the center.
Woo. Hard part is done.
Now, for the second challenging part (it helps if you watch the video on our website). You have to angle the wick/coil sort of diagonally in between the posts. You should have your straight 1/2inch-1inch of coil on each side for inserting into the posts. Start with one side, get the coil well and through, and then do the other side, when they are both through pull them at the same time.
Tighten the screws to secure the coil in the post.
Clip the excess wick (you don't need a lot, the atty is small). What you do have left to either side of the coil should be stuffed down inside (underneath the coil).
Lean back and marvel at your creation... then see if it fires.
More or less they always seem to fire unless I have a short some where (wick touching the outer body, or scrunched up on itself.)
You'll probably have something around 1.6-1.7ohm at this point. Making 2.2ohm is a little more difficult because you do have to use more coil, or perhaps some gauge of coil I am not currently carrying. I have successfully made a couple of 2.4ohm builds so far, but they were not pretty.
Hope this helps!
