Nautilus coil rebuild anyone?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Keeferes

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 21, 2013
794
664
Belton; Upstate SC
www.facebook.com
Has anyone tried this yet?

I am finally catching up on my YouTube reviews, tutorials, and what not's. I am starting to rebuild Kanger PT2/EVOD heads. I am waiting for one of the Nautilus tanks, and a five pack of replacement heads to get here next week sometime. He claims the rebuild is better performing over a dual coil stock setup.

Let me say, to date I have only tried one other dual coil, and it was an iClear 30s. Not sure if it was the dual coil, or the fact it's also a top coil, or what exactly, but I didn't enjoy the experience as much as my Davide and Protank 2 with an Aerobase. Anywho, gonna try the Nautilus and see what the hype is about. If it is an actual option if I am not happy with the stock performance, or even just something worth giving a try I am all for it.

The coils are rather on the expensive side, at around $16 a five pack, so my question is has anyone tried this, and if so what was your experience with it? The video shows it is definitely a delicate procedure, and I'm cool with that. I'm just trying to see if this is one of those "cool to watch, but better left to just that" kind of videos?

Thanks in advance for anyone's input.
 

Coelli

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jan 5, 2014
1,389
3,077
Los Angeles, CA
We have two Nautiluses on the way and I didn't buy extra coils - after watching Rip Tripper's video, I'm confident I'll be able to do it. The only thing that makes me a little nervous is that lining around the inside (how many rebuilds will that hold up to?) but overall it looks fairly straightforward. :)
 

heateris

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Sep 18, 2012
762
411
SEPA
We have two Nautiluses on the way and I didn't buy extra coils - after watching Rip Tripper's video, I'm confident I'll be able to do it. The only thing that makes me a little nervous is that lining around the inside (how many rebuilds will that hold up to?) but overall it looks fairly straightforward. :)

The life span of the lining is a concern. I'm also curious how long it will hold up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Jazzman

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 24, 2013
947
2,115
High Desert, CA
Has anyone tried this yet?

I am finally catching up on my YouTube reviews, tutorials, and what not's. I am starting to rebuild Kanger PT2/EVOD heads. I am waiting for one of the Nautilus tanks, and a five pack of replacement heads to get here next week sometime. He claims the rebuild is better performing over a dual coil stock setup.

Let me say, to date I have only tried one other dual coil, and it was an iClear 30s. Not sure if it was the dual coil, or the fact it's also a top coil, or what exactly, but I didn't enjoy the experience as much as my Davide and Protank 2 with an Aerobase. Anywho, gonna try the Nautilus and see what the hype is about. If it is an actual option if I am not happy with the stock performance, or even just something worth giving a try I am all for it.

The coils are rather on the expensive side, at around $16 a five pack, so my question is has anyone tried this, and if so what was your experience with it? The video shows it is definitely a delicate procedure, and I'm cool with that. I'm just trying to see if this is one of those "cool to watch, but better left to just that" kind of videos?

Thanks in advance for anyone's input.

I did this rebuild after watching the Rip Trippers video (3 times) and it was very, very easy. It took 15 minutes from start to vaping. I am not an experienced builder. I had just received my Trident clone RDA and a roll of 28ga kanthal that day and this was my second build ever (the Trident was my first). It wasn't near as fiddly as I thought it would be and the hardest part to me was removing the old coils since I didn't have a tweezers small enough to grab the coil. So I used a small screwdriver to push them out from the bottom and they came out easily, but straighten the legs coming out the bottom of the old coils first so you don't take a chance of snagging any of the inside filler material on the way out (or just snip off the little bends at the ends of the legs). Also, before pushing in the rubber isolator (after inserting the new coil) bend one leg over the side so it holds the coil in position and the coil can't slip while pushing in the rubber. And don't worry about some cotton covering the top of the coil (you'll see in the Rip Trippers video it's the same way), it works fine that way and isn't an issue. Might even help with the flavor, don't really know, but not an issue. All in all a very easy recoil.

The performance after the build is excellent. The draw was identical to the original head, but the flavor is improved. Something about cotton just seems to have more flavor. I'm on my 3rd tank through my rebuild now, my GF and I have been vaping this constantly since the build. The cotton and head look great and the flavor is still excellent. I have 2 Nautilus tanks and have been comparing both and they vape identical, but the recoil has better flavor.

After seeing the inside with the coils remove I'm pretty sure the polyfill around the outside of the coil is going to last through many rebuilds. It isn't just loose material around the outside of the coil like a carto, it seems to be sheet polyfill that holds it's shape and looks pretty robust. About the only way it seems this polyfill will get damaged is by burning or physically damaged by not straightening the legs before pulling the old coils. Time will tell I guess.

Anyway, give it a try. You'll like the results. Hope this helps and let us know how it goes for you.
 

john333

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Mar 20, 2011
1,658
1,129
Indiana
So far I have all bad heads. They produce poor thin vapor and the flavor is way off. I've used the two original plus two from the blister pack. Three heads to go but not looking good for the home team. Rebuilding these is going to be a must for me. I may even try taking them apart and seeing if I need to adjust the wires before using them, the remaining three I mean. Apparently, when they work right its a very good vape.
 

Keeferes

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 21, 2013
794
664
Belton; Upstate SC
www.facebook.com
john333:12086233 said:
So far I have all bad heads. They produce poor thin vapor and the flavor is way off. I've used the two original plus two from the blister pack. Three heads to go but not looking good for the home team. Rebuilding these is going to be a must for me. I may even try taking them apart and seeing if I need to adjust the wires before using them, the remaining three I mean. Apparently, when they work right its a very good vape.

I'm in the same boat. I'm really not happy with this thing at all. Constant gurgles or no vapor production. Doesn't matter if it's closed down or wide open. If I do manage to get a good draw, chain vaping three drags, just floods and gurgles again. If I turn it to 10 watts, wide open I can get a good draw, but the flavor is burnt if I fire longer then 3 seconds. Turn it back down, and the process just repeats itself. I will give this thing a few more tries, and maybe give it a shot rebuilding a head, but I think this will end up in my pay it forward bin and leave the headache to someone else.
 

Jazzman

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 24, 2013
947
2,115
High Desert, CA
I'm in the same boat. I'm really not happy with this thing at all. Constant gurgles or no vapor production. Doesn't matter if it's closed down or wide open. If I do manage to get a good draw, chain vaping three drags, just floods and gurgles again. If I turn it to 10 watts, wide open I can get a good draw, but the flavor is burnt if I fire longer then 3 seconds. Turn it back down, and the process just repeats itself. I will give this thing a few more tries, and maybe give it a shot rebuilding a head, but I think this will end up in my pay it forward bin and leave the headache to someone else.

At 10watts you are sure to get a burnt taste. Run at around 7 watts (maybe 8 watts, but that would pretty much be the limit) to get a clean flavor. 10 is way to high for these coils and will burn them. I run mine on a Provari at 3.4v (that's about 7watts) and it performs great.

If it gurgles, you need to clear it, it won't clear itself. Hold your mod on the largest air hole setting pointed toward the ground and your device level to the ground (pointed straight out from your face) or at a slightly up angle to make sure more juice isn't going in to the hole of the head that juice flows through if the tank is fairly full. Then with a paper towel under the air hole to catch the gurgling juice that will come out of the air hole, blow hard for about 10 seconds. You will need to do this a few times. If you clean a tank before putting in new juice or head, do this to get rid of any trapped water, otherwise you will get a very diluted flavor and maybe some gurgling from not clearing out excess water from the cleaning. It is surprising how much water can still be in there even after using a paper towel to dry it out. Getting rid of any gurgle is easy if done this way and only takes a minute.

While you have it apart for cleaning, look at the coils in the head. If it looks burned... it is. There is no saving a burned head. Either put in a new head or re-coil/re-wick yourself. Not hard to do. And just to be accurate, the guy who said that Rip Trippers said there is a 40% failure rate is misinformed. That was the Aspire BDC, a whole different tank and head... doesn't apply to this one.

I have worked with more than a dozen of these tanks with great results, 2 are mine and the others are from folks I know at the local vape shop. Too high voltage/wattage and not being able to clear the gurgle are the biggest mistakes I have seen. Once these are addressed these are great tanks with really good flavor, decent vapor production, and trouble free with no leaks. Rip Trippers is right, these are the best clearo tanks on the market (watch his review of the Aerotank to see his comparison).

Hope this helps, once you figure this tank out you will really enjoy it.
 

Keeferes

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 21, 2013
794
664
Belton; Upstate SC
www.facebook.com
At 10watts you are sure to get a burnt taste. Run at around 7 watts (maybe 8 watts, but that would pretty much be the limit) to get a clean flavor. 10 is way to high for these coils and will burn them. I run mine on a Provari at 3.4v (that's about 7watts) and it performs great.

If it gurgles, you need to clear it, it won't clear itself. Hold your mod on the largest air hole setting pointed toward the ground and your device level to the ground (pointed straight out from your face) or at a slightly up angle to make sure more juice isn't going in to the hole of the head that juice flows through if the tank is fairly full. Then with a paper towel under the air hole to catch the gurgling juice that will come out of the air hole, blow hard for about 10 seconds. You will need to do this a few times. If you clean a tank before putting in new juice or head, do this to get rid of any trapped water, otherwise you will get a very diluted flavor and maybe some gurgling from not clearing out excess water from the cleaning. It is surprising how much water can still be in there even after using a paper towel to dry it out. Getting rid of any gurgle is easy if done this way and only takes a minute.

While you have it apart for cleaning, look at the coils in the head. If it looks burned... it is. There is no saving a burned head. Either put in a new head or re-coil/re-wick yourself. Not hard to do. And just to be accurate, the guy who said that Rip Trippers said there is a 40% failure rate is misinformed. That was the Aspire BDC, a whole different tank and head... doesn't apply to this one.

I have worked with more than a dozen of these tanks with great results, 2 are mine and the others are from folks I know at the local vape shop. Too high voltage/wattage and not being able to clear the gurgle are the biggest mistakes I have seen. Once these are addressed these are great tanks with really good flavor, decent vapor production, and trouble free with no leaks. Rip Trippers is right, these are the best clearo tanks on the market (watch his review of the Aerotank to see his comparison).

Hope this helps, once you figure this tank out you will really enjoy it.

OK... I switched my Vamo to VV instead of VW. I set it to 3.6v. Nautilus seems best with the 1.4mm airhole. Flavor seemed to increase somewhat, and vapor production seems to have become thicker, more saturated, but volume of vapor is still kind of low when compared to the clouds I make with my PT2 with an Aerobase. I haven't flooded in about 2ml so far. I am using, and have only been using a Strawberry flavor from JJvapes in the Nautilus. It's my tank tester flavor. It is 50/50, 24nic, 1 extra flavor shot. It's a fabulous flavor in my PT2 and Davide, but just kind of so so in the Nautilus. I also tried the Nautilus on my EGO, and my VTR. EGO was a joke, which I had anticipated. VTR seemed to work well, again in vv, but not so much in vw. It's just really goofy looking sitting on top of the VTR. lol. My SVD should be here later today, so I will give it a shot on that when it comes in.

My question is... Is it possible for a tank to not like wattage? Essentially voltage and wattage are just different paths to the same destination, but then if that really was the case, then why would switching modes make a difference?

I understand that more air in=more cloud/lesser flavor out, and less air in=more flavor/lesser cloud out. At this point I am just trying to match output to my PT2 output. Additionally, I am making all my comparisons based upon stock coils in each, difference being a 1.6 ohm duel coil in the Nautilus, and a 2.6 ohm single coil Kanger head in the PT2. With the PT2 6 watts gives me the best flavor/cloud when using the same juice.

I have cleared the gurgle. Multiple times in fact. Every third hit or so actually. It will only not gurgle on me for about 2ml of consumption. This is between 5ml-3ml in tank fluid level. I know the force of suction while taking a draw is a HUGE factor in causing flooding. I am not overly sucking it. What i mean is I am hitting it like a nice light draw of a Mcdonalds sweet tea, rather then trying to get a Dairy queen Blizzard through a coffee stir stick.
 

Keeferes

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Dec 21, 2013
794
664
Belton; Upstate SC
www.facebook.com
I posted this in another thread, but figured I would update this one to for those not following the other one. I have not killed any heads yet, so I haven't rebuilt any. I will when I get 2 or 3 heads gunked, trashed, burnt, or otherwise wore out. Here is the info I posted on the other thread though...

UPDATE to my adventures with the Nautilus. Seems that two full tanks through this have fixed all issues. Maybe it required a "break in" period? I dunno. At approximately 3ml of liquid in the tank, I put it on an iTazte SVD. Again all issues fixed. Maybe it wasn't happy on the Vamo V5, or the iTazte VTR, and simply wanted to be mounted to something different? I dunno. The SVD is using an Efest 18350 battery, vs the V5 and VTR using an Efest 18650 battery. Was this the reason for the different experience? I dunno. I changed my vape style to give a small little blow right before taking a drag, and never noticed any more gurgles. Maybe it needed that to regulate the pressure for the proper vacuum? I dunno.

Now, since I rinse all my tanks after two fills, I'm going to change the head, while the first one dries out after rinsing, and drop another flavor in. Will this cause my issues to start all over again? I dunno. Hopefully it doesn't, cause when the Nautilus works right, it works really really well. However, when the Nautilus doesn't work right, it really really doesn't work right. Doesn't seem to have an in between to it.

On a side note, I have tested on each airhole setting, and can report all is good. Again... why? I dunno.

I wish I could tell you what exactly it was that made my experience do a 180, but alas... I dunno. What I do know is, I have posted all the info I have concerning what I have done to get it working super duper all spiffy and stuff. Hope it may help some of you out.
 

DejayRezme

Super Member
ECF Veteran
  • Mar 22, 2014
    910
    523
    Europe
    The performance after the build is excellent. The draw was identical to the original head, but the flavor is improved. Something about cotton just seems to have more flavor. I'm on my 3rd tank through my rebuild now, my GF and I have been vaping this constantly since the build. The cotton and head look great and the flavor is still excellent. I have 2 Nautilus tanks and have been comparing both and they vape identical, but the recoil has better flavor.

    Thanks for the info, but I'm curious about WHY a single coil is so similar or even better to a dual coil?
    Is it just that stock coils are always shoddy and the wicking is cheap?
    Is there any advantage to dual coil even? I thought it should provide more surface area to create more vapor.
     

    catalyst

    Senior Member
    ECF Veteran
    Feb 19, 2012
    123
    185
    Sweet Home Alabama
    I have had great vapor from my nautilus on the stock dual coils. I had the same problem some in the thread complained about, i.e. the gurgling and it taking a few tanks to "break in." After I read on here how to fix the gurgling, I've had no problems (other than breaking the glass 3 times so far.)

    I have been rebuilding my heads using riptripper's instructions. I don't think the vapor production is as good as the dual coil stock but the flavor is much better with the cotton.

    I am testing it now to see how it performs with the inside filler removed (also the inner sleeve removed.) I was expecting it to gurgle more often and flood, but I am two milliliters in so far with no gurgling. I used more cotton and tried to make it cover all the intake holes.

    Has anyone else tried a rebuild with all of the inner workings removed first?
     
    Status
    Not open for further replies.

    Users who are viewing this thread