proper size silica wick for T3S/Protank coils?

[AndriaD]

Well, that one I was so pleased with, did finally start leaking. I think I may need to use cotton as the flavor wick, though I really didn't care for the taste of it, *in* the coil. Also, I'm going to get some of that braided hollow ekowool silica, it's got to be more absorbent than this stuff I have. And I finally have determined that for these coils, wrapped on a 5/64 bit, 3mm seems just about perfect; it will slide thru fairly easily, but there is a tiny bit of resistance to it, so that seems just about right to me, based on what I've read so far on the subject.

Had a strange experience today, which I cannot explain, with my current very-limited knowledge of how coils work. Today I was working on a protank coil again, and this time I wasn't aiming for really high ohms, but maybe something between 2.5-2.8, so I did just 8 wraps of the 32ga. Got it all done, in the head, it looked great -- but the vv3 kept telling me "non", it wasn't detecting the presence of any coil or resistance at all. Was worried I might have pushed the battery contact in, but I put my mini PT II back on that vv3, and it works fine, so no problem there. Which leaves me with no explanation; clearly something about that coil wasn't right, but I have no beginning point to try and figure out what I did wrong with it. Any ideas?

Thx
Andria

Edit: as I was just ordering that hollow silica-ekowool wick, I decided to hold my ruler up to the supposedly 3mm silica that a friend PIFed to me; but it doesn't look at all like 3mm to me, it looks more like 2mm. so then I held one of the 5/64 bits up to the mm measure side of the ruler, and it's not even close to 3mm wide, in fact it's somewhat less than 2mm. So I'm going to order the 2mm, I think; not even sure I could get wick that's *actually* 3mm thick threaded through those tiny coils; it's hard enough with this, which is clearly not 3mm thick.

 

[JeremyR]

This morning I checked the old jewelers screwdriver I used to use 3mm with and its 3/32 comparing to a 3/32 drill bit.

Sounds like sliding with some resistance is good dry, when it's soaked it should swell a little and be somewhat snug so that it doesn't slide as easy.

Non is no atty detected. For some reason your were not getting contact with the positive post. Or no continuity like both leads to neg or positive, instead of on each side of the grommet.

Cotton will work great, there is a trick to it and you get no cotton taste past 2 hits if you do it right. None if just right. Check out this video.. This broke the cotton curse for me.

It's xobe from the micro coil thread.
http://youtu.be/RtN0Sg4XZbo


Make it just like that, make it so the middle is about the size you need for overwick.

Like I said I got 50.00 worth of silica sitting in a drawer now.

 

[AndriaD]

This morning I checked the old jewelers screwdriver I used to use 3mm with and its 3/32 comparing to a 3/32 drill bit.

Sounds like sliding with some resistance is good dry, when it's soaked it should swell a little and be somewhat snug so that it doesn't slide as easy.

Hmm... 3/32 is just slightly larger than 5/64, so I think my measurements were accurate; this isn't 3mm here, it's gotta be 2mm, nevermind what the guy said. And it's very difficult to thread into a coil wrapped on 5/64, though I finally figured out how, using scotch tape twisted to a point; it slides thru fairly easily, with just a little slight rubbing on the coil itself. So I'll order 2mm of the hollow braided ekowool, that should be the same diameter as what I have here, but more absorbent.

I started watching the video, but he's talking about cotton balls, of which I have none. I've been using P&C yarn, which is easy to deal with, easily boiled, and easy to manage the width of, by pulling strands out of it. I'll bookmark it, and later if I get some cotton balls, I'll watch it to figure out how to do it that way. But I really want silica in the coil, so it can be dry burned, and not have to be threading a wick every couple days, it's a huge pain in the ... which I'd rather keep to the absolute minimum. On the other hand, it's very easy to replace a flavor wick, and I boiled a couple feet of yarn the other night when I started working on this, so I have plenty usable yarn right now.

Non is no atty detected. For some reason your were not getting contact with the positive post. Or no continuity like both leads to neg or positive, instead of on each side of the grommet.

Ok, that gives me something to be sure I don't do again; I have no idea if they ended up on the same side, but it's possible I guess, since I didn't know it mattered. Really I'm pitifully ignorant of the entire subject; never had any reason to learn this much about how electrical stuff works.

Here's an oddity: that coil I did that had the very high resistance, after I changed the wick to something less substantial, it actually ended up at 3.8Ω, which obviously is a lot higher than I really need, but I'm not getting a burnt taste either, and I have it turned up to 8w -- previously I was getting the burnt taste if I went over 7w, and even sometimes *at* 7w. It's definitely a cooler vape, and absolutely requires a long slow draw, but I thought I'd keep experimenting with it, see how high I can get it before it starts that burnt-taste stuff again.

Andria

 

[JeremyR]

Just keep in mind a burnt taste is usually a wick problem or a hot spot in the coil or leg.

 

[AndriaD]

Well, I'll work on it tomorrow. Actually I just got tired of being so hyper-vigilant, what's it doing, how's it taste, is it leaking, gurgling, tap-dancing, shooting stars? So I put a stock 2.5Ω T3S coil into my black MT3S and put it on my Twist, at 4.2v... simple, elegant, and tastes just fine, and I'll worry about all these infinitesimals tomorrow.

On the lightning vapes site, he's got some coil building videos under the "tutorials" menu choice... I briefly watched the one about T3's, and he's got a piece of 3mm silica there, and it's clearly much fatter than what I have here, so I think ordering the 2mm is the best choice. I sent him a contact the other day, suggesting that he start carrying a selection of driptip o-rings, he replied that it was being considered "as we spoke," so I hope I might see them there pretty soon; all these driptips seem to need a different size or shape of o-ring to fit in different devices, it's getting really tedious trying to figure out what fits where.

Andria

 

[JeremyR]

Uh we've skipped a part.. What blend of juice are you using?

You can not tighten the t3 tank all the way and get good vaping in my experience. When the t3 starts to hint at a dry hit unscrew the tank a little till you see a bubble or 2 rise. Starts to hint dry unscrew more till you see bubbles rise. Once your at a point it's not going dry. That's your juice flow setting. You can screw it back tight and count the turns. That's where you need it with your juice and wick set up.

I think there is plenty of air flow down into the well to feed the t3 with te ring all the way tight.

 

[AndriaD]

Hmm.. my usual vape, 98% of the time, is about 85% PG.

So far, having the T3S "finger-tip" tight, and the ring loose, seems to be working. Also I suspect I got so used to the high wattage I was using on the vv3, I had no idea that I would need to set the Sigelei much lower, to get an equivalent vape.

Also, in the T3S I'm using right now (actually MT3S but same-same), I'm using one of the coils *I* built, rather than a stock coil. It's got the 2mm silica in the coil, and 3-ply (1 strand pulled out) P&C yarn for the flavor wick, haven't gotten a burnt taste all evening, and no leaks either, so I think I finally got the coil building whupped.

Today I realized that while I may have figured this coil-building thing out, if I do get one of those RBA's, I'm going to need a real multimeter -- yeah most RBAs have 510 connectors, and the vv3 accepts those, but I've discovered how resistance can change from device to device; a *real* multimeter would solve that problem and give me a lot more peace of mind. Saw a really nice one at Home Depot for about $20 I think; maybe less, but it wouldn't be a terrible expense.

Andria

 

[Exchaner]

Hi everyone, I might be a bit confused, but doesn't higher resistance consume more power, and therefore discharge the battery faster? If I am interested in prolonging the the battery's charge, why would I opt for higher ohms?

 

[JeremyR]

Hey exchaner, good to see you. You are mistaken.. Higher amp load drains battery faster regardless of voltage. Higher resistance will have a lower amp drain at the same power/wattage level. Think of it this way. - a .5 ohm of 20 g is near a dead short of 0 ohms. It can run a battery down in a half hour. Where as a 5 ohm for instance for simplicity sake will last 10+ times longer. Use ohms law to figure ( or chart linked above) the amp draw of your resistance and power. Lower amp drain drains less. See my knowledge is power blog for other posts on the subject.

Gauge of wire matters too, obviously taking a 28 g wire to 3 ohms just isn't going to work with 25 wraps it would take 10+ seconds to heat up because you have so much mass.

 

[Exchaner]

Thanks Jeremy for setting me straight. I always appreciate your objective stance on things. Now I know why my Ego is running out so fast; too low a resistance in a quest for Throat hit. BTW as I recall Ohm's formula was V=IR correct? or was it R squared? It's been years....Thanks again.

 

[AndriaD]

Gauge of wire matters too, obviously taking a 28 g wire to 3 ohms just isn't going to work with 25 wraps it would take 10+ seconds to heat up because you have so much mass.

I've found out that's absolutely true; with 9 wraps I was getting 3.5Ω and it was taking so long to heat up, the 10-second flashing would start before I felt I'd really gotten a hit; even 8 wraps, giving me right at 3Ω, was still taking much too long. But the 7 wraps of 32ga on 5/64 is just about perfect; I did 3 of them yesterday, and all were solid at 2.7Ω on the vv3, or 2.6Ω on the sigelei; all gave excellent hits, and the 18650 I put in *yesterday noon* still shows a charge of 3.8v. Granted, I was using some other devices for a while, trying to solve the problem of the Nautilus, but still, not having to worry about a battery all day long is a great thing, and I have to remind myself that THAT is why I bought a device that could take 18650s, not because I thought it would be "vaping nirvana"...


Andria

 

[JeremyR]

Thanks!!
Links to shadows chart and ohms law calculator is in that blog.. I really need to start a thread on this because there is so much misinformation and misunderstanding in the community. Hampering happy vaping without being tied to a charger all day.. I recording some tests over the next week in preparation for it even though I know the outcome.

 

[JeremyR]

Don't be afraid to take it to 3.5v andria, No sense charging before 3.6

 

[sc12]

On a Mini PT II, I read that the silica wick is 2mm and the flavor wicks are 1mm. Used those to sizes to rebuild and they came out perfect. Didn't use braided ekowool though so I guess I'm no help. LOL

Hi, coil rebuilders. I'm just about to undertake learning to rebuild the coils for my T3S's and also my Mini PT II and Hypertank (same Protank coils), and after trying cotton for flavor wicks, I've recently decided that I much prefer silica in my atomizers. I've decided on 32ga kanthal, to build coils with higher Ω, but I don't know the proper mm size of the silica wick I should buy. I'm looking at the braided ekowool hollow silica wick at Lightning Vapes, and the choices are 1mm, 2mm, or 3mm... which size is right for those small coils?

TIA!!!
Andria

 

[AndriaD]

On a Mini PT II, I read that the silica wick is 2mm and the flavor wicks are 1mm. Used those to sizes to rebuild and they came out perfect. Didn't use braided ekowool though so I guess I'm no help. LOL

I did end up ordering the 2mm ekowool... which is silica too, just a name brand I think, for that particular kind of "braided" silica; also I got the hollow kind; in another thread I was following, someone opined that it's the air spaces in a wick that make it absorbent or not, and that makes a great deal of sense to me. I'm using 100% cotton yarn for the flavor wick, with this thin juice I really need the extra absorbency of cotton; the ones I made yesterday turned out just about perfect -- 2mm "regular" silica in the coil, 3-ply (1 strand pulled out) of the yarn for the flavor wick.

Once I do get to the bigger coils, I may try cotton again in the coil, since a bigger coil seems that it would just about have to be easier to thread a wick into; for now with these tiny coils, I'm sticking with the silica for the coil, so I don't have to replace that wick so often.

Andria

 

[JeremyR]

Hey I just rebuilt the t3 for my wife and I was amazed with the performance on a 650 ego battery. I did a 1/16 micro coil at 7/8 wraps for 2.2 ohms. (8/9 was 2.7, much to high for an ego) the trick I remembered was that the wick should slide through the coil and ALSO the over wicks should be able to slide back and forth too. I built it with straight hemp fiber. But the overwick slide applies to all wicks. If the over wick doesn't slide it's too tight.

Also just remembered another thing.. Different attys like different draws! If your getting dry hits you may need to take stronger draws. Faster/ harder pulls, pulling more air through cools the coil and draws more juice in to te chamber with the stronger vacuum.

 

[Just Don]

I know this is an older thread but, I saw a video online and the guy uses a 4-40 screw to form his coils. I'm new to this, but I tried it and it makes perfect coils;evenly spaced turns in the coil. Then he uses a bead/needle threading device to pull the wick into the coil. the video is here . He has a couple of videos that shows the entire process. It works well for me and makes it faster than messing with the coil spacing and uneven coils than the other methods I've seen. Machine screw coil wrap for Vivi Nova / Kanger T3 - YouTube