Consider this...
There should be, if the wick and coil are done correctly and a proper vacuum (low pressure) is maintained, no reason for juice to drain into the "catch cup"... or rather, the collector tank as Svoe Mesto refers to it.
One of the main differences between the 3.1 or full size Kayfun/Russian and the Lite/Lite+/R91% units is the lack of a collector tank. When built correctly, these attys don't suffer from juice draining out the air vent system... and so, no appreciable amount of juice should be accumulating in your collector tank.
Most juice "run off" into the air vent
or collector tank, if any, occurs during the initial fill, or refill. This is due to a lack of vacuum in the "wet" side of the tank assembly. All these atomizers use "
pressure differential" (please read to have a better understanding) to maintain a
pressure boundary (as opposed to a wick type seal required for larger air orifices) between the wet or juice side and the dry or atomizing chamber side of the atomizer. If that pressure differential is not created - or immediately developed after assembly, then you run into drainage into the air vent system - in the case of the 3.1/Russian, it goes into the collector tank - in the Lite/R91% version, directly into the users hands.
I fill all (as do at least 75% of users) my Kayfun/Russian devices through the top cap, never using any "filler screw". Follow this guide:
1. Cover the air vent hole. (This prevents juice flow into the atomizer chamber by creating sufficient positive pressure to repel it's flow threw small orifices)
2. Remove top cap and fill from top, to top of tank section.
3. Install top cap 1 to 2 turns... sufficient to engage the chimney seal o-ring. (Too far, and you may force juice into the atomizer chamber)
4. Invert Atomizer. (Inverted, the pressure of installing the cap the remainder of the way cannot force juice into the chamber as the fluid level is below it)
5. Uncover air vent hole. (Now, air pressure, with the fluid "in between" the pressure differential can force excess air pressure out the vent - not juice)
6. Complete tightening of top cap.
7. Return atomizer to the functional position. (Done correctly, now there is a vacuum above the juice (created when the atomizer was returned to the upright position and the juice flowed to the bottom) and positive or atmospheric pressure in the atomizing chamber - a "pressure boundary")
The 4-7 parts are all done in one relatively smooth motion. If it leaks (and this is most obvious with Lite+/R91% atomizers - not so much with collector tank versions), with the vent hole covered, take several draws, lifting your finger near the very end of each draw... this will serve to create a vacuum in the juice tank.
Note: This same series of events
should occur when filling a Kayfun atomizer from a bottom or even side fill screw - but too many users "seal" the hole when filling, both over filling the tank so that there is an insufficient negative air chamber, and not allowing pressure to escape - the result is, too often, no vacuum in the tank.
Another consideration is the position (spacing) of the coil relative to the positive deck/screw-air tube. Too close, and juice can find a path to the air vent... and there really is no such thing as too far, within the physical confines of the chimney assembly that is. A good spacing gap is 1mm+. I tend to settle around 1.5mm for a horizontal/compressed coil. Vertical coils... well, that would require another few paragraphs to explain, and I don't have any indication you're using them, so no call to make you suffer through reading that as well. ;-)
The last consideration is wick. Too much wick or too much wicking ability (capillary action) can actually be a bad thing. Most folks simply use too much wick. Be it cotton or silica or ekowool... too much.
As an example using cotton, I finally settled on a modestly compressed and rolled wick that, before installation into the coil (28 ga. 1.5mm ID), is small enough in diameter to insert it into the coil with no special theatrics. It's small enough to insert simply by threading it through with one hand - with a minimum amount of drag. That gives you an idea of just how small in diameter it actually is. In your hand - slightly less than the ID of the coil. Finished length is between 7/8" and 1" - produced simply by cutting off the excess tails with scissors.
So, in closing, lets review:
- A proper tank vacuum is required and created during filling/assembly, or, if need be, can be produced after the fact.
- Proper coil spacing, providing at least a 1mm or more gap between coil and positive deck block, will reduce and/or eliminate juice transfer into the air vent screw/collector tank.
- Too much wick/juice retention can produce too much juice available at the coil, which can run off into the air vent screw/collector tank.
Addendum: I wanted to add, then forgot - the
Svoe Mesto user manual for the 3.1 in PDF form - please scroll to page
9 (second and following paragraphs) for an alternate version of an explanation of how pressure differential systems work. Some find the "straw & finger" explanation a bit easier to visualize and understand.
