My RBA Mods & Other Reo Related Mods

[darkzero]

Hello REOholics!

I have only been vaping for about 2 weeks now & as I mentioned I choose Reos from the start. Only other thing I tried was an eGo just last night & it doesn't even come close to a Reo so I'm glad I went with Reo.

New to vaping but not new to modding, been doing it for as long as I can remember & I can't ever leave well enough alone. But I will say that the Reo itself I have no desire to do anything to it, it simply doesn't need to be touched. Robert really did a fine job with these!



This is my first RBA mod, a Phoenix V4 (rda clone). Well not actually, my first RBA was an A7 which I planed on shortening the top cap but the way it was machined there's not enough meat left to shorten & rethread but I may come back to that later. The mods I did do to it are minor & not worth mentioning.

This attempt was to make it a bottom feeder as well as air from the bottom like a regular atty. I didn't want to post this in the bottom feed Phoenix thread as what I did may not be easy to most.



First I pressed the center post out with an arbor press.

Then I center drilled & drilled all the way through the center post for bottom feeding. Post is way to small to fit my chuck so I used a collet to hold it.

Then I drilled two holes adjacent to each other for the juice to flow out.

Next I drilled two holes on the body for air, again adjecent to each other.

Then I cleaned up the groove.

Then I made a juice well. The juice holes I drilled on the center post lines up with this juice well.

Then using a mini slitting saw I cut two channels on the insulator for air draw.

Here are the finished parts.

First I used a single 1.5Ω coil but it didn't perform that great because of the two air channels I made. Because the coil is off to the side, unlike the A7 which is in the middle, the air channel on the other side caused too much air flow & not sufficent vapor production. So I tried a dual coil setup. The dual coils came out to 0.9Ω & I'm amazed how much more throat hit there is compared to my Cisco atties vaping the same juice. My Kanthal & SS mesh won't be here till next week so I can't wait to try this again with new coils & better wicking.

Can't tell from the pic but I sealed the air hole with epoxy. Once I get a better coil & wick setup on this I will make a new cap for it.

I have plenty more of these RDA clones so the next one I will shoot for a single coil setup. Thanks for looking & more to come as I get time do to them.

 

[pianoguy]

Great work!!

 

[redeyedancer]

Yes nice work I modded a couple of these great little atomizers . Do you prefer the air inlet from the bottom of the atty ?

 

[super_X_drifter]

Hell yeah bro. Nice work. There are some skilled homies among us

 

[Gioajack]

I don't have a problem with going to MIT to get a mechanical engineering degree or even spending nine-thousand dollars on a lathe but shelling out four-dollars on yet another atty is pretty much the straw that breaks the camel's back.


Jack

 

[darkzero]

Thanks!

Yes nice work I modded a couple of these great little atomizers . Do you prefer the air inlet from the bottom of the atty ?

I can't really say right now as the only other RBA I have used is an A7 which works pretty well. A bit too airy for me which I can take care of but it's way too long for my liking. Not enough TH, great taste, good vapor, & holds a lot of juice.

I have a couple of these RDA clones with the black anodized caps & thumbscrew posts. Next I'll mod one of them for bottom feed & use the side air hole to compare. After I do so & make a better coil setup on this first RDA clone I'll report back with my opinion. I think the wire I have is a bit too thick for a dual coil setup, it doesn't heat up quick enough. So far I keep going back to my Ciscos as they vape very nice, hope that will change.

My concern with a side hole is leaking since I pocket carry. But as I think about it, as long as the RBA is not flooded I don't think it's possible for juice to leak out the side hole. What are your guys & gals experience?

I can adjust the air flow on my first RDA clone by turning the insulator to close up the air holes but that requires pressing it out & pressing back in. Very easy with the arbor press but it's time consuming having to recoil/rewick to test each time. As long as there's no leaking out the side hole, I have a feeling side air might be better, & less work for me.

 

[darkzero]

I don't have a problem with going to MIT to get a mechanical engineering degree or even spending nine-thousand dollars on a lathe but shelling out four-dollars on yet another atty is pretty much the straw that breaks the camel's back.


Jack

I hear ya Jack but it's not about the money, it's the hobby, it's what I enjoy doing. I'll probably get me a Reomizer someday & even if I find that perfect RBA one day, I'm sure it won't end there. There will be more that I will get & many more to come I'm sure that not only I will try.

No engineering degree here, not even close. Of course I didn't buy machines just to mod RBAs but hey, they're only a few steps away in my garage whenever I need them. Although they did cost a bit more than that, it's been a long journey, & that hobby never ends burning a hole in my wallet but I.love it!

 

[Commie]

Wow. I love that idea. I miss my blind squonking!

You should mod and sell them

 

[Commie]

Quick question -- wouldn't cutting channels into the plastic insulator take care of both air and juice intake? What is the purpose of drilling the vrtical hole in the positive pin?

 

[darkzero]

Quick question -- wouldn't cutting channels into the plastic insulator take care of both air and juice intake? What is the purpose of drilling the vrtical hole in the positive pin?

It was just an experiment, luckily one that didn't fail. My intention was to make the feed for the juice & the vents for the air seperate like on a regular 510 atty. Unlike the mod where people are cutting the groove in the insulator, the channels I made on the insulator don't go all the way to the bottom. Where the channels end is where it meets up with the air holes just above the 510 threads.

On the A7, there are two air holes above the 510 threads just like a regular atty, but the air travels through the channel on the center connection then up through the same hole as the juice would feed. My A7 works great but I noticed when I squonk I have to draw air to clear the juice from the center tube. Not a big deal at all but I just wanted to see what happens if I made them seperate. Doing so maked it quieter, no gurgling sound like the A7 on initial draw.

 

[Commie]

Ah, I see.

I'm actually a fan of drawing air to clear the juice. That is normally referred to as "blind squonking". Once you get the hang of it, it allows you to kind of measure the amount of juice you're pulling to the wick by amount of gurgle, regardless of how full your juice bottle is. When there's a slight gurgle, that means your wick is now wet.

Your setup still does have an advantage of sealed side air hole, i.e. no leaking in the pocket.

 

[darkzero]

Ah, I see.

I'm actually a fan of drawing air to clear the juice. That is normally referred to as "blind squonking". Once you get the hang of it, it allows you to kind of measure the amount of juice you're pulling to the wick by amount of gurgle, regardless of how full your juice bottle is. When there's a slight gurgle, that means your wick is now wet.

Your setup still does have an advantage of sealed side air hole, i.e. no leaking in the pocket.

That makes sense. I guess I thought of blind squonking a bit differently. I read that people squonk until they see juice overflow into the well on the Reo, I don't like to do that. I figured that if I did quonk too much & possibly flooding, drawing air would bring up even more juice that was in the center tube which is not very much anyway. With the A7 it seems like there's no way I can overflood it unless I just kept squonking like a mad man.

I figured making the air channel seperate would avoid this & it does as what ever juice is left in the center tube won't get drawn up when drawing air after squonking. But I guess it would make it easier to draw up juice as the bottle gets empty with air drawing up the center too. Thanks for pointing that out. I might try making the air vent through the bottom of the insulator up through the center post on the next one to see how it works.

 

[redeyedancer]

I think you will end up with a side air intake . I have tried both methods as many of us have 99% of us end up with the side air method . Looks like you have all the tools to make anything you want . Thanks for sharing nice looking lath

 

[Commie]

I think you will end up with a side air intake . I have tried both methods as many of us have 99% of us end up with the side air method . Looks like you have all the tools to make anything you want . Thanks for sharing nice looking lath

It's possible that he will. But, having a look at his shop, something tells me that he has to try all kinds of things Just like me and Russ, being perfectly happy with the setups we have, had to try to ridiculous wickless microcoil...

In this case though, it might not be ridiculous. I think if there was a blind squonkable ERA clone, it would probably be my main vape.

 

[darkzero]

I think you will end up with a side air intake . I have tried both methods as many of us have 99% of us end up with the side air method . Looks like you have all the tools to make anything you want . Thanks for sharing nice looking lath

Thanks Robert.

something tells me that he has to try all kinds of things

Most definitely! But I'm happy to hear I am not alone.

 

[bzmotoninja83]

Hmmmm..... now that a friend of mine that works at a machine shop has finally taken on Vaping.......... hmmmmmmm

Thanks for the pics and thought processes. Looks really good.

 

[_nderscore]

I'm really loving that drip well. Wish I had the tools for this

 

[darkzero]

I think you will end up with a side air intake.

Robert, I have to agree so far.....

I modded a BR/AL version for bottom feed, again through the center post. I also shortened the insulator a bit so that the center post doesn't stick out so far. I don't like how far they stick out, forgot to mention that I did this to the previous RDA clone as well.

This time I only drilled one hole on the post for juice to exit. I positioned the hole so that it flows out where the ends of the wick would sit & would be pointing down when I hit the REO. Hole would be pointing up right over the coil. No juice well this time and honestly I don't think it's necessary. When I squonk, juice flows directly on to the wick, then the excess gets sucked right back down. The o-rings are pretty loose for my preference on the AL/BR version so those got replaced.

Got my Kanthan & made a single 1.5Ω coil. Left the stock air hole, man does this thing vape nice! More vapor than my Cisco atties but not as much throat hit. What are the things that increase & decrease TH?

For the first SS RDA clone, I made new coils with Kanthal but this time I positioned them so they sat more close to the center & over the two air holes. This one vapes pretty nice too but not as consistent, again the dual coils take time to heat up, I used 32 AWG. Once they get heat in em' it's vapes nice with good TH but it sucks up the juice fast & it seems like it could benefit from a bigger juice well. I'll try SS mesh with cotton wick as soon as my mesh shows up.

I'm pretty happy with these so far. I'll still try one more with bottom air feeding up through the center post like Commie mentioned earlier. But other than that I'll be using these for a while I think. I have another very "familiar" RBA that I actually got before these RDA clones, I'll play with that one next.

 

[redeyedancer]

Try moving your air hole so its off center a little this will increase the throat hit . Raising the air inlet above the coil will do the same thing . Move it to far and it will give you to much throat hit .

These atomizer are sweet for modding

Thanks for sharing

 

[Commie]

Well, some of them are sweet. It's a bit of hit and miss. The one I had was great, until the negative post got wobbly and fell off

Hey, Darkzero, where did you buy yours?