New to rta(Zeus X wicking)

[Mobc1990]

Just bought a Zeus x last week,and had wicked in over 20X but still not good at wicking it.The best wicking I got was from the help of a vape shop assiatant,he wicked very well and I totally enjoy the vape.After I broke my Zeus x glass,I replaced it with the spare 3ml glass tank,I then wicked it for the whole night which is around 20X,tested...some gave me leaking and some gave me no leaking but muted flavor as I think I overpacked the bottom of the juice tank.

Yesterday,I rewicked and tried to vape today.I find it very little air but can feel the flavor very well,I mean the air is just too little that I knew my wicking had problem...and I can feel a tiny bit of juice sometimes

I remember the vape shop Keeper told me that the top park of the wick should be full,and the bottom should be thinner a bit.After I wick thru my coil it should be totally tight which I disagree as many reviewer said the cotton on coil should be tight,but it mustn’t be so tight that should be moved forcefully.

I am at work now and I plan to rewick this way,After clearing the hotspot,I will wick the cotton to my coil tight,but not overly tight and then I will cut the bottom of the wick to fit inside the juice hole.The question is how do I know i am not getting too much cotton that I stuffed my cotton inside the hole,and what if there is cotton,but a little bit less?
If there is too much cotton,how can I comb the bottom of the cotton but not thinning the top part of the cotton?
Last question,actually the top part and higher middle doesn’t need to be combed at?Right?

 

[sonicbomb]

There are lots of Zeus X users here on the forum, some help should be along presently.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Just bought a Zeus x last week,and had wicked in over 20X but still not good at wicking it.The best wicking I got was from the help of a vape shop assiatant,he wicked very well and I totally enjoy the vape.After I broke my Zeus x glass,I replaced it with the spare 3ml glass tank,I then wicked it for the whole night which is around 20X,tested...some gave me leaking and some gave me no leaking but muted flavor as I think I overpacked the bottom of the juice tank.

Yesterday,I rewicked and tried to vape today.I find it very little air but can feel the flavor very well,I mean the air is just too little that I knew my wicking had problem...and I can feel a tiny bit of juice sometimes

I remember the vape shop Keeper told me that the top park of the wick should be full,and the bottom should be thinner a bit.After I wick thru my coil it should be totally tight which I disagree as many reviewer said the cotton on coil should be tight,but it mustn’t be so tight that should be moved forcefully.

I am at work now and I plan to rewick this way,After clearing the hotspot,I will wick the cotton to my coil tight,but not overly tight and then I will cut the bottom of the wick to fit inside the juice hole.The question is how do I know i am not getting too much cotton that I stuffed my cotton inside the hole,and what if there is cotton,but a little bit less?
If there is too much cotton,how can I comb the bottom of the cotton but not thinning the top part of the cotton?
Last question,actually the top part and higher middle doesn’t need to be combed at?Right?

Hello,
I do not comb the center of the wicking that fits into coil. After threading the cotton/rayon thru the coil I take a 18 gauge blunt needle and gently comb thru the tails, taking about 1/3 of the wicking out while fluffing it up. Don't pull on the wicking, if needed cut with scissors then I cut the bottom and put into the slots where wicking is suppose to go. It should be full but still be able to poke that 18 gauge needle into the front of that slot with no resistance. If you can't get that needle in the slot then you have too much stuffed in, so remove a little. The fuller the wicking the more dense the vapor will be.

HTH

 

[Mordacai]

Hello @Gue Ting Xuan, I'm not am X user. But you may well need to reposition your coils in the airflow as well as sort your wicking.

You got one part right with wicking though, not too tight through the coil. It'll take some trial and error as well as time to find the optimal amount / goldilocks zone.

Then the tails of the wicks, the bits that go down into the wells and collect liquid or juice need to be combed and thinned to allow the liquid or juice to flow to the coils and not choke off flow due to there being too much.

Hopefully folks will have more to add and hopefully this will give you some ideas to work with.

 

[Mobc1990]

A update,I haven’t reached home,while I try to fix the problem of weak airflow,I increase my wattage and when I vape it read previously:40W,0.55ohm,9amp,4.8 volt

Now when I increase the wattage and vape it read:55W,0.55ohm,10.7amp,5.7Volt.It solved the low airy problem and give good flavor....

There is still a little issue,when I test if my vape will leak,I turn it upside down and it defitnely leak after 50 second.Is my wicking good,or should I actually rewick as
Because it leaked after turning upside down.

Doesn’t the top of Zeus x closed everything and lock the juice inside the tank even if you turn upside down??

 

[Mobc1990]

I find that I need to increase the wattage every time I need to get another vape.So I don’t think it’s working...I increased the watts and vape well,then the next time(15min later) I tried another puff and it goes back to the low airy problem.The guy at the vape shop that build for me doesn’t have the problem for 2 days when I used it...i can get airy puff with his built in the first two hit...I didn’t test if his built will leaked...

Mine will leaked if I turn mine upside down,I think my cotton is not enough to cover the hole at the base,that’s why I get low airy problem and need to increase wattage every other time if I need a vape

 

[Dr. Seuss]

Hello

I just picked this tank up for my gf and even though I’m not all about the rta’s I really like this tank. So far you have some good advice here. You’re going to want the cotton “snug” in the coil, tight enough not to be loose but you still want it to be able to “expand” to hold juice. At the juice wells you want to gauge it just right to poke in there but not get all bunched up. The inside walls of the tank will support them so they don’t back out.

It’s really hard to explain all this just right through words, there’s a real “feel” to tuning it all up so I would recommend watching build/wicking videos on youtube. There’s different methods and tricks you’ll see other people doing that will help you along and you’ll actually be able to see how things are set up.

I would recommend starting by just looking up your tank, something like “zeus x rta build and wicking tutorial” and go through those. You can also look up any “rta wicking tutorial” etc or if you find a person you like watch rta build/wicking and just get a hang of what they’re doing and different methods and tools they use. For me that works a lot better because “tight/loose” and all these things can mean different things to different people.

One last thing, as far as “airy” hits to I’m sure you know there is an air intake adjustment on the top collar of the tank, you may need to close that off a little. 1/3 open might be a good starting place and then you can go from there if you want more or less.

But yeah man watch some videos. Even after you’ve been doing this for awhile you’ll see a random video and someone will have some method or use a tool in a way that leaves you wondering why you never thought of that.

 

[Dr. Seuss]

Oh hey, the leaking. Holding it upside down for 50 seconds sounds reasonable to me. Really I don’t think you should be laying your vape on it’s side or upside down in your pocket etc. The nature of the thing is it’s going to wick it’s way out over time. The way the tank is set up though the wells are on the bottom so if you flip it upside down the juice should be below/away from the wells and not be able to reach the cotton like in an rdta or something of that nature.

When you had it upside down was it leaking from the mouth hole or the air intakes?

 

[DeloresRose]

I have a Zeus x although I haven’t used it as much as the other Zeus I have. I do not test my atties for leaking by turning them upside down though. Some might be able to handle it. All should not leak right side up, or tipped somewhat for a short time.

The cotton should be tight enough in the coil to give a little resistance, but not so much it moves the coil.

As for how much to thin it, that depends on what ID the coil is. A larger ID will hold more cotton. I use 2.5 or 3.0 mm coils, and I don’t thin a lot on the smaller one, just enough to comb it out and straighten the fibers. I thin a bit with the 3.0, just enough that I don’t have to squish the fibers together to get them into the channel.

I trim to just touch the bottom. Think of the fibers like drinking straws. If they’re smashed or folded over on the bottom you’re not going to have much luck drinking your juice.

 

[Mobc1990]

Oh hey, the leaking. Holding it upside down for 50 seconds sounds reasonable to me. Really I don’t think you should be laying your vape on it’s side or upside down in your pocket etc. The nature of the thing is it’s going to wick it’s way out over time. The way the tank is set up though the wells are on the bottom so if you flip it upside down the juice should be below/away from the wells and not be able to reach the cotton like in an rdta or something of that nature.

When you had it upside down was it leaking from the mouth hole or the air intakes?

It’s leaking from the mouth hole.A few drops,then more and more as more time pass by.I thought this rta is “leakproof”,but I get what you mean...rta mod system is supposedly be laid straight up.I do keep my aegis solo in the pocket With the tank,it’s been close to an hour and haven’t leaked a bit....I guess I don’t need to rewick as of today,need to get some sleep,spent 7 hours from 12am-7am building this Zeus lol...I am at 55 watts,everything is very good atm in terms of vaping.

 

[Dr. Seuss]

See I use mainly rdtas and they’re notorious for being leaky so over time I’ve just gotten real good at keeping it upright. So I’m not real sure what is “acceptable” in terms of how long you can leave it on it’s side and not have a problem. Your main issue is if you don’t have enough cotton the juice will go through the wicking ports (like if you had no cotton at all) and be half in your coil chamber/half in your tank.

So I would say as long as it holds the juice out you’re good. You could then further tweak it to feed less juice (putting cotton in the ports thicker) or more juice (putting it in looser), depending on how you like. The main goal is going to be making sure it keeps the juice at that barrier mark of the port hole. It takes surprisingly little to accomplish that, and note what Delores said about the length being just long enough to hit bottom while being straight like drinking straws.

It’s going to be easier on you if you have needle nose tweezers or one of those mini flathead screw drivers to get the cotton just right in there and not bunched up. A tool like that is going to be key.

But yeah man, just call it a day for now, sit back, relax and check out some of those build videos on youtube and when you have fresh eyes take a wack at it. You’ll know when you got it right.

 

[GOMuniEsq]

I can comment. First of all, I admire your dedication to figuring this out. Some RTA users prefer to whine endlessly about their problems; you sat down and wicked yours 20 times in a row.

When I got my Zeus X I watched a lot of Youtube videos and rebuilt the thing repeatedly. I had 3mm dual coils and Cotton Bacon Prime wicking. I use a dry technique to shape my wicks. I don't moisten it until I've finished. I eventually came to disagree with some of the advice that was being dispensed by the YT reviewers.

Others have already spoken on how to figure out how much cotton to use initially. When dry, try to slide it back and forth through the coil. If it moves effortlessly you've used too little. If it requires strength you've used too much. If it holds itself in place and requires slight effort to slide, that's about right. Getting this right is crucial. This task is common to all RBAs so I won't discuss it further.

There are three points that relate to the Zeus X that you should understand in order to achieve a good build.

1st, should you comb out your tails? Maybe. The purpose of combing is to remove loose threads and to reduce the bulk that has to fit down your juice channels. I found, with dual 3mm coils, the cotton will be slightly too dense to fit properly into the juice channels. This depends on your coils, so keep reading.

2nd, how deep is the cotton supposed to go into the juice channels? The YT reviewers all said not to push it down to the bottom, but have it resting on the lip. This advice was terrible and always lead to flooding. I say push the cotton all the way down to the bottom. Chase it down the hole with your ceramic tweezers to be sure the strands are straight. When you do it right you can look through the outer gap and see the cotton poking out from the bottom.

3rd, how do you know how much cotton to put in the juice channels? After you've installed the cotton, poke the side of it with your ceramic tweezers. If it's hard and unyielding, you've used too much and you'll have flow issues—so pull it out and comb it. If it's soft and you can poke through it you've not used enough and you'll have flooding issues—so start again. It should be firm but springy.

When done according to this method, I have excellent flow with 30/70 juice and find the tank is exceptionally leak-resistant. That means I can leave it on its side overnight without any leakage, or in a jacket pocket without a wet spot. I've found even when it's completely upside down it still won't leak. The key for leak-resistance is to ensure the juice channels are completely filled, as this forms the seal that holds the juice in the tank.

 

[GOMuniEsq]

The yellow liquid would just love to fill the empty white space around your coil and flood your deck. Then you'd get horrible gurgling and leaking from the mouth hole. The wicking plug in the juice channel and the seal of the liquid reservoir are what hold it back, so be sure that the plug is dense enough.

With the reservoir seal intact and the juice channel plug intact, the liquid will wet the dry wick, and the loss of liquid will create a slight vacuum in the reservoir. The vacuum pulls an air bubble back through the wick to offset the volume and restore equilibrium, then the system remains that way. When you activate the mod the juice on the wick vaporizes, which dries the wick, so it pull in more juice from the tank and the process repeats.

This is why your deck will flood when the top cap is removed for any length of time, because the seal is no longer intact and the reservoir can get its air from outside rather than pulling it through the wick.

Edit: Wouldn't it be amazing if instruction manuals included information like this instead of a few cryptic lines of instruction? I'd rather know how something works than simply be told how to use it.

 

[Mobc1990]

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The yellow liquid would just love to fill the empty white space around your coil and flood your deck. Then you'd get horrible gurgling and leaking from the mouth hole. The wicking plug in the juice channel and the seal of the liquid reservoir are what hold it back, so be sure that the plug is dense enough.

With the reservoir seal intact and the juice channel plug intact, the liquid will wet the dry wick, and the loss of liquid will create a slight vacuum in the reservoir. The vacuum pulls an air bubble back through the wick to offset the volume and restore equilibrium, then the system remains that way. When you activate the mod the juice on the wick vaporizes, which dries the wick, so it pull in more juice from the tank and the process repeats.

This is why your deck will flood when the top cap is removed for any length of time, because the seal is no longer intact and the reservoir can get its air from outside rather than pulling it through the wick.

That’s pretty precise and I understand the system of this rta more now...sometimes I remove the top cap and went on to do something else,so next time I will always close the top cap and only open for refilling juices

 

[Beamslider]

The inner chamber on the Zeus X is the usual reason for leaking. It has an o-ring on it and unless it is solidly pushed into the outer chamber ejuice will leak thru it.

That said the juice hole on the base does need to be fully blocked or you could also have leaking.

I use this RTA with a single coil. The coil is 4 MM inner diameter and installed with legs diagonally across the deck. I use cotton for the wick that just has a little drag on it when pulled thru the coil. I cut the wick to the bottom of the base. I don't trim the out the tail of the wick and it fills the juice holes snuggly. It wicks very well and doesn't leak.

It also seems to work better if you line up the air holes on the inner chamber with the air slots on the outer chamber when assembling