Typically I'm about 50% on the tails, KF2L and Skyline clones. (The skylines do have juice flow control.)
I don't have the Kayfun X (decided to pass). Love the Prime's.
I have a couple Kayfun lite 2019's (and a few older Kayfun's). Your Kayfun X has the same style build deck as the Kayfun Prime, KFL19 and KFL21. I switch off between cotton and Tidi rayon in all my RBA's.
Using rayon or cotton in my Kayfun's I trim ~30% off the tops of the wick tails, as shown in the photo.
Wick tail on the right trimmed, left side tail was left to show how much I trim (pic is from a tutorial I did for another ECF member).
KFL19 build deck with a 26/36 SS316L Clapton.
With the wick tails trimmed to the top of that o-ring they just touch the bottom of each juice well. That's exactly where you want the tails to be.
As far as break-in time, with the Tidi rayon balls it only takes about 12-16 hits before a wick is set. Tidi rayon does not have the "funk taste" that Cellucotton has. After I tried the Tidi rayon I gave my Cellucotton away.
My rayon wicks last 14 - 18 days with my DIY mixes and a month with flavorless.
I get great flavor in all my Kayfun's (zero leaks). Doesn't matter what flavor profile.
I mixed up 8 new testers since yesterday -
5 are in the spirit of Vapetasia's Royalty 2 (custard/cream/nuts/Soho or RY4 Double)
a nilla wafer banana pudding
a strawberry jam cookie
a peach/mango/milk & honey/cream mix
5 are in the spirit of Vapetasia's Royalty 2 (custard/cream/nuts/Soho or RY4 Double)
a nilla wafer banana pudding
a strawberry jam cookie
a peach/mango/milk & honey/cream mix
That's exactly the method I used for my 35% cut. I usually opt for a >50% straight vertical cut after splitting top and bottom in half.
I've been shying away from balls because of pure laziness: the Cellucotton is so darn easy to just pull apart, size, and thread. How hard/easy is it to straighten out the fibers in the Tidi rayon balls?
No, we did afternoon shopping the other day because of all the work that has to be done this weekend
For me, it's easy to unroll the Tidi rayon balls. The fibers don't need to be straightened once a ball is unrolled.
Just shot this photo so you can see what I'm saying.
Top shows one of the balls where I began unrolling. Once unrolled it's pretty long.
Bottom is a piece cut off from a ball. If I had another arm and hand I would have stretched it out so you could see the rayon fibers are all straight.
That bottom piece, the width of one ball, once rolled into wick shape, will fit a 3mm ID coil perfectly.
@Rossum turned me on to using the Tidi rayon balls.
Details: Tidi Rayon Balls #969162
Good luck to you.Got my BP Mods Pioneer Insider from HealthCabin yesterday, in only 13 days! Cleaned it yesterday and set it out for the internals to dry completely.
My plan is to coil and wick it. Juice wells looks very small so I'm going to try a 50% or greater cut of the tails. I'm excited to jump into the world of rebuildable boros. As a former tube mod purist, I can now admit the form factor is just fantastic
I was just going to ask you how you trim your tails. I've been using the mullet method. I
I've used rayon exclusively for over a year now, and I still have trouble with it turning black inside the coil after a week or two. I'm sure it's something to do with my tails, but I have no idea what. One time, and one time only, I had a wick last longer--a whole two-and-a-half months, and that with a very gunky juice--but I don't know what I did right that time and so can't replicate it.
I usually end up junking an inch or so from the inside of the ball but otherwise have no trouble straightening the fibers out.
I've been in and out to the back deck and now it has gotten way too hot. It was nice to be able to sit out in the sun for a while.
SIL is working in my room so I came in dd's office to use my puter. The builder needs to come through the wall and there were 2 live wires in the way. That's why there has been so much outlet work this weekend. Those two live wires are now dead and can be removed.
I'm still puzzled by that. Never had that experience. Seems like you've been trying to resolve that for well over a year.
If you want, I could shoot some photos the next time I wick my KFL19 and PM those to you.
Or, you could send one of your KFL19's for me to wick with Tidi??? Then you would see how I do mine.
Just some thoughts.
Some step-by-step pics would be great!I'm still puzzled by that. Never had that experience. Seems like you've been trying to resolve that for well over a year.
If you want, I could shoot some photos the next time I wick my KFL19 and PM those to you.
Or, you could send one of your KFL19's for me to wick with Tidi??? Then you would see how I do mine.
Just some thoughts.
I wish I could figure out what I am doing wrong. There has been improvement, but I'm just not getting something. When I pull the wicks, the tails are saturated, so I know the juice is flowing fine, but inside the coil the wick is black, sometimes even burned in two. This happens in every atty. My theories are that either I'm stuffing too much in the coil or my tails are too big (though I have no idea why the latter would cause the wick inside the coil to scorch).
I'm using 28ga kanthal, by the way. Six wraps, 2.5mm. I cut away a third to a half of the wick at a slant, although sometimes I tease up the portion I'm removing and snip it off at the coil.
I wish I knew how I did that one magic wick that lasted such a long time. I was finishing up Castle Long in that tank, and that is one filthy juice, but the wick just kept going and going. When I finally pulled it because the coil had gotten gunked up, it was uniformly saturated, no scorching at all inside the coil. Broke my heart to retire it.
Using unflavored nic juice for a while is the best way I can think of to really dial down your setup. It took a long time for me to learn rayon, and this is what I did when I finally put my brain in overdrive to figure out the optimal strategy. It worked. Unflavored simply does not gunk and has nothing to mask the potential issues you might be having with your wicking. Issues with wicking show up right away when you're vaping unflavored. It's also far easier to gauge the exact moment a wick is "broken in".
Have you tried a very big cut? I've found that a 90% trim (what I think you're calling a "mullet cut") is possible if you have an RBA with juice flow control. This is how I run my Kayfun prime. The tiniest little tails that I taper-cut in a "v" shape so that less than a square mm actually touches the bottom of the juice wells.
I know you spent much time in the Rayon Pt1 and Pt2 threads and then much more time trying to get your rayon wicking down.
When I pull a rayon wick through a coil it's firm. And I do mean FIRM, but not overly firm.
As you read in those threads, firm = hearing a "squeaking" sound OR feeling that as a "vibration" on your fingers. Rayon requires 30% more versus cotton. [contraction vs. expansion]
I don't use 28g wire anymore, it's too flimsy (for me). With 28g wire you need to hold the coil in-place with a fingernail when pulling rayon through or it can (will) move the coil. I do use 27g SS316L in some builds.
Just curious, have you tried running flavorless in one of your RTA's with a rayon wick?
If so, did you get the same black rayon?
Here is a photo of my Creek RDA with a Tidi rayon wick. I run it on a squonker with flavorless. The wick has been used for just over a month. Daily use.
I pulled the wick through the coil so you can see the part of the wick that was in the coil. No part of the wick shows any burning. And there is no crud on the coil (as expected w/flavorless).
FWIW, I run that setup between 24w - 32w. The coil is a SS316L 26/36 Clapton with a 3.5ID.
I will shoot some step-by-step photos next time I rewick my KFL19 and send those off to you.
Probably be in the next 1-2 days.
SuccessGood luck to you.
Airflow: 1mm
Coil: 26 gauge KA1 + 9 wraps around 2.5mm (accidentally went 1 more than I was going for because I'm not used to full wraps) + small spacing within the coil ==> ~1.08 ohms
Wick: Cellucotton Rayon + 50% "mullet-cut" + Very sloppy (was fasting so hands were a bit shaky)
Liquid: FA Fuji 3% + TFA Honeydew 0.5% + INW Grape 3%
Break-In Period: 25 puffs
Vapes great. I think I need some Shinyitis Support...
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