Petar K Method with a hybrid Wick

[EDO]

OK Cool.....No Biggie with drilling out the fill hole. Since you sanded down the cap so you should know.....is the cap chrome plated brass or is it stainless steel? If it is brass you can use a dental tool instead of a drill and gradually increase the air hole to your liking....when you have the perfect draw stop increasing the hole diameter.

 

[larktdl]

I am glad I came across this thread. Thanks very much to EDO for all the great tips and advice. When I read the thread about the possible forming of chromium oxides on the ss mesh due to the oxidization process I decided it was required to find another method to isolate the mesh from the coil.

The combination of the two methods as described by EDO works just great. I use a Vamo with the AGA-T+, my coil is now holding steady at 1.6 ohms (32 awg Kanthal). At 5.5 watts I am getting a decent vape: the flavor is good and lots of vapor.

The wicking action is pretty good however I think it could be better. Maybe the issue here is I am using 400 ss mesh instead of 500 ss mesh as recommended by EDO.

This method works and is worth a try if you are worried about the possible health concerns introduced to the mesh by the oxidization process. I know I will sleep better tonight knowing I have solved another problem ...

Once again thanks to EDO.

 

[EDO]

Lark...Honestly I have never used 500 mesh....I have only used 325 mesh and I have never had wicking issues. Most people seem to prefer the 500 mesh though. IF using 400 mesh or the 5000 mesh.....make sure the grain of the mesh is vertical with a rolled up wick. Also just use the bare minimum amount of cotton and you shouldn't have wicking issues. IF you do come back here and let me know.

I think the Petar K method can be used without the cotton and still be safe if your are careful. Now I only hold the wick over the stove three inches from the flame and just get a slight frost going on the wick. Then I do everything else the same as before....except now I am using mechanical device and using 28g wire. The reason for the 28g wire is that once you do the initial set up you never have to touch it again....with the 32g wire every couple of days I had to readjust the the coil because I would get hot spots developing. I didn't know but adjusting the coils dry or dry burning can cause the the wick to glow red. With the 28g wire you don't need to do that. If I need to clean out the set up, I slide out the wick and just boil it to get rid of the gunk. I clean the coil by glowing it for a couple of seconds.....glowing the coil itself as far as I know is not a problem.

 

[48lowes]

.is the cap chrome plated brass or is it stainless steel? If it is brass you can use a dental tool instead of a drill and gradually increase the air hole to your liking....when you have the perfect draw stop increasing the hole diameter.

Well the cap is supposed to be stainless but is still slightly magnetic. I have carefully sanded, (very slowly checking the fit very often), the cap with a belt sander then finished up by hand sanding with 800 grit paper. I drilled out the cap to 1/16 and that was another mistake on my part. It is way to airy. I would suggest getting an assortment of drill bits smaller than 1/16 and working your way up, testing as you go, until you have the draw you like. I know better but screwed up anyway. I'm going to try epoxying the hole shut and then starting over with various sizes of drill bits. The cap gets warm but I don't believe it's hot enough to effect the epoxy.

Now about the wicking, my setup is not up to the task. I used 400 stainless with the gain the right way, a nice slip fit through the coil and the wick hole. Also I went to a 5/4 wick 32ga kanthal @ 1.8 ohms. I have set this dud aside for the moment but the last thing I did was remove the cap and fire the coil. The top part of the wick seems dry and the top coil will glow red if I hold the power on long enough. This gives me the scorched taste, I've become pretty much and expert at detecting this very early on. So other than epoxy to adjust the airflow in the cap I'm not going to touch it.

Again thanks for hanging in there with me. I'm pretty sure this process with help others avoid some common mistakes.

 

[EDO]

48lowes....then you have to find a metric drill bit set.

Regarding your wicking....I can't wrap my head around it. IF you have done everything we have discussed and it still doesn't wick for you....I just don't get it.

Just a quick check list:
when filling tank don't fill all the way...leave 1/3 unfilled.
Make sure to line up the air hole and the wick....this is very important.
Leave the fill screw out.
Tilt device when vaping and make sure the wick is at the 6 o'clock position.

IF you're doing all this and you are sure it isn't your juice at fault go to the RBA forum and ask them there. You can always ask me questions here but maybe they will suggest something to you that I overlooked.

 

[48lowes]

EDO
I'm going to roll a wick w/o much of the center hole/straw. I'm also going to fix my air intake to a smaller hole size. I'm still in the hunt, just a little less aggressive. Then maybe to RBA forum.

 

[drunkenmonk]

10 char....

 

[EDO]

EDO
I'm going to roll a wick w/o much of the center hole/straw. I'm also going to fix my air intake to a smaller hole size. I'm still in the hunt, just a little less aggressive. Then maybe to RBA forum.

Thats not a bad Idea...make the wick more solid. For example for a 2.5 mm (3/32 drill bit) I use 50mm of mesh to make it.....try that or may be use 60mm of mesh. I would hold off in trying to repair the air hole until you get a good working set up going....once you are blowing ridiculous vapor you might like the larger air hole.....if you don't then you can adjust the air hole later.

Just make sure all the coils are glowing evenly and at the same time before adding juice to the tank.....a top hot coil or two makes it seem like you are having wicking problems when in fact you are not.

 

[Chris474]

...With the 28g wire you don't need to do that. If I need to clean out the set up, I slide out the wick and just boil it to get rid of the gunk. I clean the coil by glowing it for a couple of seconds.....glowing the coil itself as far as I know is not a problem.

The 28g kanthal cleans awesome if you pull the wick and dry burn...my turns back to silver from black that way. I just blow it off after the burn....good as new.



Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[EDO]

Chris, I try not to glow the coil too long though and too often....since it will make the coil slowly deteriorate. Also every time you do it you make the resistance of the coil slightly go up. So a lot of times I use a toddlers brush to get the coils clean and once in a while I will glow the coils.

Continuing our conversation from the other thread ...have you ever done a PetarK set up without the cotton?

 

[Chris474]

Chris, I try not to glow the coil too long though and too often....since it will make the coil slowly deteriorate. Also every time you do it you make the resistance of the coil slightly go up. So a lot of times I use a toddlers brush to get the coils clean and once in a while I will glow the coils.

Continuing our conversation from the other thread ...have you ever done a PetarK set up without the cotton?

I'm so not good at tapa talk and missed this. The 28 g coils have been running for over 2 weeks and now they have seemingly all inched up about .1ohm, not bad. Yes, I'm only using PetarK with cotton. I keep a bit of cotton ball in my wallet should I feel the need to change it on the go, it takes about 2 minutes to rinse and replace.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[EDO]

Yes the 28g wire is pretty resilient isn't it.... Far more than the 30g and the 32g wire and far more than I thought it would be. Because I love the 28g wire so much....I don't use my VV/VW devices anymore. I would advise everyone to get a nice mechanical mod. You just can't get all the potential out of 28g wire unless you do sub ohm set ups on a mechanical mod. It literally takes me couple of minutes to set up a new coil with 28g wire and a mechanical device and the build lasts me a couple of weeks. Maintenance is also super easy. But the important thing is you can never get the taste and performance with a VV device that you can get with a sub ohm coil and a mechanical device. If you get the newer high ampere IMR batteries....the voltage drop is so little and gradual that the vape seems just as consistent as with a VV device and the batteries last way longer. My VV devices are voltmeters now.

 

[Koman]

Yes the 28g wire is pretty resilient isn't it.... Far more than the 30g and the 32g wire and far more than I thought it would be. Because I love the 28g wire so much....I don't use my VV/VW devices anymore. I would advise everyone to get a nice mechanical mod. You just can't get all the potential out of 28g wire unless you do sub ohm set ups on a mechanical mod. It literally takes me couple of minutes to set up a new coil with 28g wire and a mechanical device and the build lasts me a couple of weeks. Maintenance is also super easy. But the important thing is you can never get the taste and performance with a VV device that you can get with a sub ohm coil and a mechanical device. If you get the newer high ampere IMR batteries....the voltage drop is so little and gradual that the vape seems just as consistent as with a VV device and the batteries last way longer. My VV devices are voltmeters now.

Didn't know that, thanks for the useful post!

 

[EDO]

KomAn...with 28g wire on a provari v2 the most you'll get out of it is about 12 watts. With other VV devices you won't even be able to use 28g wire since they have 1.2ohm cut off. So in order to make it work on a Vamo for instance you would have to do 10 wraps and the response times would be slow. Even with a provari v2 12 watts is way too low for 28g wire...I change my battery on my mechanical mod usually when I am at around 12 watts. Also As I mentioned in the previous post VV devices eat up your batteries like crazy. So even when vaping at higher watts with a mechanical device you are getting better battery life.

A decent mechanical device with a good IMR battery and 28g wire is a winning combo. Even if you prefer VV devices it is far easier to set up on a mechanical mod.....that's why I got one but now I just don't use my VV/VW devices anymore.

 

[discooby]

EDO
I just wanted to post a ‘thanks’ for this! I wasn’t getting any flavor from my aga-t2 (first rba) and I had ‘jumping’ ohms on my Vamo (I’m sure it was due to ‘micro-shorts’). After adding just a small amount of cotton (and rebuilding a 1.6ohm coil), the ohms are stable and I’m getting good flavor. So, thank you

-Cheers!

 

[rolf]

thanks for the thread ...enjoyed it
just tried a thin layer of cotton , works great but using a ss rope 7by 19 strands ...just torched it to burn any impuritys.
I am using diy pipe tobacco exstract ....it clogs attys fast so I am looking for a fast way to clean and or change coils .
also got some kanthal ribbon on the way ..still will be using the cotton it just works .
using aga t and did clones.

 

[EDO]

@rolf....I have never tried using ss rope but using cotton to insulate it would make sense. It is amazing how such a thin film of cotton totally insulates ss mesh and makes it completely non conductive. It should work the same with ss rope. The only problem with cotton is that it gets gunks pretty fast. You can just rinse the cotton by holding the top deck of the atomizer under the tap and then dry of the cotton hybrid wick with some paper towel....add juice straight on the cotton and your good to go...it will perform like brand new.

 

[rolf]

hi edo !
working with diy pipe tobacco extract but clogs the " works " much faster ! but love the flavor .
water works just as good as alcohol or pg . put it in a drinking glass and used an acid brush with the hair cut down to make more stiff to wash the atty . that thin film of cotton makes a difference like day and nite I wish it would improve my spelling in English ....lol
the rope is a little more of a heat sink but fast to make and should last fore ever . will play with scubatdans idea of a 3 mm pyrex tube.
it should be even faster to change and not have to redo the coil so often since there is no juice on it.
are we having funn jet ? tnx the reply ...rolf

 

[EDO]

Well I would rinse the cotton everyday and every two or three days I would slide out my wick and replace the cotton and slide it back in. I imagine you won't be able to that with the ss rope....since you are probably wrapping the coil straight on the wick instead of making the coil first and then sliding the hybrid wick into the coil like I described in the original post. If you can't slide out your wick for maintenance then I would use the cotton with ss mesh instead of the ss rope. The ss mesh lasts forever with the cotton protection.

Right now I am getting the best results with silica on my genesis devices. Silica works really well with tobacco flavors....which are the only flavors I vape. Silica wick last a couple of weeks of heavy vaping for me and they can be dry burned.

I haven't checked out Dan's pyrex thread in a while.....I think the consensus was that the pyrex would take too long to heat up. If I was going to experiment with pyrex hybrid wick....I would use it on a mechanical mod and 26g (or lower gauge) wire. I don't think it would work well with a regulated device since I think higher watts are needed to heat the pyrex faster. You have to find the sweet spot where the pyrex heats up fast enough but the juice doesn't get cooked......Again I have never tried using pyrex wicks so I am just guessing here.

 

[rolf]

hi edo
jes the ss rope like everything has its limitations to .I agree what you said . but nice to play with new things .just modded my did clones and tried 10 mm wide 400 mesh used 28 kanthal .not torched just e juce and lighter.a very thin cotton layer .works great !I know I will get an argument from the tight wound crowd !! for now its working ..great hit and flavor.vaping at 10 to 12 watts . for some strange reason it does not clog as fast either...hmmm..like you said water is the best to clean them .the ss wick is like a wet noodle so .
now I don't wait until there is a reduction in vape ..cleaning more often. thanks the come back rolf