I haven't seen the VOCC heads in person, so please forgive me if I make some mistakes here. If I am looking at it right, it looks like the regular OCC head with only one hole in the side of it and the top not being removable. It appears the pin and grommet on the bottom are still removable. If that is the case, what stops someone from just taking a drill and drilling out the other side so you can just have both holes and rebuild it with horizontal coils? If not that, why not just save the grommets and maybe the pins from the VOCC heads and just use those when the grommets finally wear out from rebuilding the regular OCC heads?
- Status
I haven't seen the VOCC heads in person, so please forgive me if I make some mistakes here. If I am looking at it right, it looks like the regular OCC head with only one hole in the side of it and the top not being removable. It appears the pin and grommet on the bottom are still removable. If that is the case, what stops someone from just taking a drill and drilling out the other side so you can just have both holes and rebuild it with horizontal coils? If not that, why not just save the grommets and maybe the pins from the VOCC heads and just use those when the grommets finally wear out from rebuilding the regular OCC heads?
It does still have two holes. Two "juice holes" that are plugged up with wick (like the previous OCC) and then a hole in the top, where you can peek down and see the cotton/vertical coil. Unlike previous OCC heads I don't think there's any way to successfully gut it without slicing the whole thing open, at which point you'd render your head useless anyway.
I'm trying to upload a short video I recorded of me twiddling the VOCC in my hands so you can get a peek at what we're working with. It's not the best quality, but it gets the point across I think. Will update with link when it's finished.
I'm trying to upload a short video I recorded of me twiddling the VOCC in my hands so you can get a peek at what we're working with. It's not the best quality, but it gets the point across I think. Will update with link when it's finished.
I saw a VOCC head at a local shop last week. It does have two larger holes and they are countersunk. Hopefully this will result in better wicking with high VG juices. The head I saw was a spare so there was no way to give it a try.
Since switching to high VG juice the only way I have been able to use my STM is by modding the RBA by drilling two 5/32" holes in it.
Since switching to high VG juice the only way I have been able to use my STM is by modding the RBA by drilling two 5/32" holes in it.
If you could do that, that would be awesome. Where there is a will, there is a way. If it has the regular hole in the top for the chimney to slide in, and the same grommet/pin setup in the bottom, I think I can find a way to rebuild it. May be stuck with horizontal coils, but for people who have the nano with no RBA deck, it may be worth it.
Have you tried poking a hole all the way thru the OCC heads with a pin and try to "bore" the wick out a little? I push a pin thru there and use it like a little hand crank and actually bore a little hole in the wick. Haven't had any issues with high vg mixes since doing that. Here is a picture of the little hole bored thru the wick.
Eh, not the best quality, but gives a decent idea of what it looks like. The biggest problem I'd see is being able to gut it and then put it back together. Maybe it's possible to rip everything out through the bottom, but it doesn't seem to have any breaks or seams or anything that leads me to believe it'd be doable.
When my next head bites the dust I'll try to gut it without destroying it completely. No guarantees though. For science!
When my next head bites the dust I'll try to gut it without destroying it completely. No guarantees though. For science!
Thanks for posting that video! Yeah obviously rebuilding horizontal will work.. although it will be a LARGE coil in order to get the wicking right with the size of the juice holes.
Thanks! I will have to give that a try. If it works for me at least I can use the rest of the spare OCC heads that I have.If you could do that, that would be awesome. Where there is a will, there is a way. If it has the regular hole in the top for the chimney to slide in, and the same grommet/pin setup in the bottom, I think I can find a way to rebuild it. May be stuck with horizontal coils, but for people who have the nano with no RBA deck, it may be worth it.
Have you tried poking a hole all the way thru the OCC heads with a pin and try to "bore" the wick out a little? I push a pin thru there and use it like a little hand crank and actually bore a little hole in the wick. Haven't had any issues with high vg mixes since doing that. Here is a picture of the little hole bored thru the wick.
That can be rebuilt. Horizontal would be fairly easy. Vertical would be tough, but I think it would still be doable
Pop out pin and grommet on the bottom. Take a small screwdriver and just smash it thru one of the holes on the side. This will crush the coil in on itself. Now push the screwdriver through the bottom and shove the coil out the top. Build a new coil, drop it down the top, and then wick it just like if you were rebuilding a regular occ head.
For the vertical coil, you would have to do the same thing to knock the old coil out. Now you need to build the new coil. This is where it is going to get tricky. You will need some LONG strands of cotton. Build a normal coil(forward coil). Now, wrap cotton all the way around it so you pass each leg twice. Now, bend the bottom leg up half the length of the coil, and then back down and out the bottom. Make sure the bend goes OVER the cotton, pinching it in place. Now take the top leg, and just bend it down over the cotton, pinching that cotton in place. This should give you two cotton legs sticking out. Roll the ends of the cotton and as you are sliding it into the head, you will have to carefully pull the cotton out the wicking holes. Once the cotton is out the wicking holes, fluff it to make it somewhat snug in the hole. Place the grommet/pin/legs in the base as you would when you are rebuilding a regular occ head.
I will try to make a quick coil tonight explaining what I mean. Gonna go watch some shows, now.
Pop out pin and grommet on the bottom. Take a small screwdriver and just smash it thru one of the holes on the side. This will crush the coil in on itself. Now push the screwdriver through the bottom and shove the coil out the top. Build a new coil, drop it down the top, and then wick it just like if you were rebuilding a regular occ head.
For the vertical coil, you would have to do the same thing to knock the old coil out. Now you need to build the new coil. This is where it is going to get tricky. You will need some LONG strands of cotton. Build a normal coil(forward coil). Now, wrap cotton all the way around it so you pass each leg twice. Now, bend the bottom leg up half the length of the coil, and then back down and out the bottom. Make sure the bend goes OVER the cotton, pinching it in place. Now take the top leg, and just bend it down over the cotton, pinching that cotton in place. This should give you two cotton legs sticking out. Roll the ends of the cotton and as you are sliding it into the head, you will have to carefully pull the cotton out the wicking holes. Once the cotton is out the wicking holes, fluff it to make it somewhat snug in the hole. Place the grommet/pin/legs in the base as you would when you are rebuilding a regular occ head.
I will try to make a quick coil tonight explaining what I mean. Gonna go watch some shows, now.
The top part comes off easy. I rebuild them. put a pin thru the juice holes and a small wrench on the top. Twist it comes apart.
I re-watched Pbusardo's Youtube review of the Subox, where he talks about the new VOCC heads.
In this short clip, you'll see him pretty much destroy the head just to yank out the cotton.
I don't think it's going to be possible to gut it, install a new coil (how would you ever get the cotton on the outside of the coil..?) I'd definitely need to see pictures/videos in order to understand this explanation. If I had to guess, making the VOCC heads un-rebuildable may have been an intentional design choice to make you spend more money on the heads. At the same time, they do include the RBA deck which is clearly easier to build on (or in, rather) than the VOCC heads. If there was a way to get the top part off (as there is on the original OCC heads) then it'd probably be waaaay more straight forward. I think, however, it's one solid un-F-with-able hunk of metal. At least from what I can tell.
Actually I'm curious if there's still a press fitted top on them and maybe they just seal it off somehow. Maybe after one goes bad try and Yank it off like the old ones. I dunno lol.
Looks like we will have to stock up on the original occ coils. Eventually I'll just buy an rta. I wish I wouldn't have gotten the nano and got one of them with the rebuildable deck.
Looks like we will have to stock up on the original occ coils. Eventually I'll just buy an rta. I wish I wouldn't have gotten the nano and got one of them with the rebuildable deck.
Ok. forgive me for the bad quality. Sliced my finger open eating dinner, so it is kind of a pain trying to do this, but here we go
Start by pulling out the coil itself from the VOCC head. He was able to do this with no issues other than leaving the cotton in there. That brings us to removing the cotton. Forget about the cotton that is in there. Just burn it out of there while the pin and grommet are removed and then wash the head to remove any ash.
Now, to rebuilding. Start with a basic forward coil:
Take a piece of cotton, and just wrap it around the coil. Leave the legs on the kanthal pretty long. Once you have wrapped it around, bend one leg down over the cotton to hold it in place and just bend the other leg straight down:
You can see the REALLY long cotton pigtails. Don't cut them off just yet. This is where I can't take any pictures, because I don't have the VOCC head to tinker with(and all my regular OCC heads are freshly wicked. What you will want to do is start to slide the coil down the very top of the VOCC head. Once the legs start popping out of the bottom(hopefully before the base of your coil is in the top of the VOCC head), use a small pair of tweezers to feed one of the pigtails through one of the holes and pull it part way through, but leave enough slack to tilt the coil and feed the other pigtail out the other hole. Now, gently pull the pigtails through and this should slowly pull the coil into the head. When the coil is roughly centered, reinstall the grommet and the pin and it should work.
When one of my regular OCC heads craps out on me, I will try doing this method to see if I can get it to work.
Ok. forgive me for the bad quality. Sliced my finger open eating dinner, so it is kind of a pain trying to do this, but here we go
Start by pulling out the coil itself from the VOCC head. He was able to do this with no issues other than leaving the cotton in there. That brings us to removing the cotton. Forget about the cotton that is in there. Just burn it out of there while the pin and grommet are removed and then wash the head to remove any ash.
Now, to rebuilding. Start with a basic forward coil:
Take a piece of cotton, and just wrap it around the coil. Leave the legs on the kanthal pretty long. Once you have wrapped it around, bend one leg down over the cotton to hold it in place and just bend the other leg straight down:
You can see the REALLY long cotton pigtails. Don't cut them off just yet. This is where I can't take any pictures, because I don't have the VOCC head to tinker with(and all my regular OCC heads are freshly wicked. What you will want to do is start to slide the coil down the very top of the VOCC head. Once the legs start popping out of the bottom(hopefully before the base of your coil is in the top of the VOCC head), use a small pair of tweezers to feed one of the pigtails through one of the holes and pull it part way through, but leave enough slack to tilt the coil and feed the other pigtail out the other hole. Now, gently pull the pigtails through and this should slowly pull the coil into the head. When the coil is roughly centered, reinstall the grommet and the pin and it should work.
When one of my regular OCC heads craps out on me, I will try doing this method to see if I can get it to work.
OK so basically you're Doing a hybrid of the vertical and the horizontal by wicking through the juice holes like the original style?
The VOCC coils seem like they would be a massive PITA to rebuild, but the new RBA they released is so much nicer than the old one and a breeze to build on.
I wanted to see if the new version of the subtank deck would work in the nano.. not enough info out there to find out.
Gonna be honest, unless I can see pictures/videos of someone doing this successfully it seems virtually impossible. Assuming you made the right sized coil, and can pull it into the head (through the rather small opening at the top), that still doesn't explain how you get out the "underwire"/secondary coil that seems to hold the outer cotton in place (even when the first coil is removed).
The entire thing just seems too enclosed, and without a reliable way of pulling it apart I don't see how it's possible to get everything fitting nice.
I haven't had any VOCC coils to inspect myself, but I THINK they are press-fitted from the bottom.
You have the bottom pin that is removable like all OCC coils where the coil legs run through, but I THINK the threaded part on the bottom is separate from the top and those two parts are press fitted together. So basically you have a large square cap on top which is press fitted on to the base.
If you look at this picture:
You can see what appears to be a separate metal interior vs the exterior cap in both the top and through the wicking hole on the side. It would probably be a real PITA to remove the bottom section without damaging the threads, but I can almost guarantee you that's how these VOCC coils come apart. I'll be willing to bet that the seam is just underneath the o-ring on the top of the threads.
EDIT:
BINGO. Found this pic...
You can clearly see that the bottom post is separate from the square top with the seam between the two pieces just outside of the white o-ring at the top of the threading. Kanger builds and wicks the coils on the stem and then press fits it into the square top cap. The question is, how hard is it to remove that stem from the top cap? If it can be removed fairly easily then it shouldn't be too difficult to rebuild these coils.
You have the bottom pin that is removable like all OCC coils where the coil legs run through, but I THINK the threaded part on the bottom is separate from the top and those two parts are press fitted together. So basically you have a large square cap on top which is press fitted on to the base.
If you look at this picture:
You can see what appears to be a separate metal interior vs the exterior cap in both the top and through the wicking hole on the side. It would probably be a real PITA to remove the bottom section without damaging the threads, but I can almost guarantee you that's how these VOCC coils come apart. I'll be willing to bet that the seam is just underneath the o-ring on the top of the threads.
EDIT:
BINGO. Found this pic...
You can clearly see that the bottom post is separate from the square top with the seam between the two pieces just outside of the white o-ring at the top of the threading. Kanger builds and wicks the coils on the stem and then press fits it into the square top cap. The question is, how hard is it to remove that stem from the top cap? If it can be removed fairly easily then it shouldn't be too difficult to rebuild these coils.
Last edited:
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked
