Rayon wick, better flow, flavor, saturation and Nic Hit!

[wvducklady]

I think my hardest part is wicking. I have been using ekowool, and the only way that i can get it inside of the coil is to wrap around the ekowool as well. I just cannot not get it to thread without making a mess lol , and even wrapping around it i have problems cutting the ekowool or damaging it as i wrap. I do not know if there is an easier way of wicking the ekowool through the coil or not.

 

[cindycated]

I think my hardest part is wicking. I have been using ekowool, and the only way that i can get it inside of the coil is to wrap around the ekowool as well. I just cannot not get it to thread without making a mess lol , and even wrapping around it i have problems cutting the ekowool or damaging it as i wrap. I do not know if there is an easier way of wicking the ekowool through the coil or not.

I could never thread silica in any form. It always frayed too much, and I would cuss like a sailor each time. Rayon not only works better (better flavor, TH, nic buzz, longevity, etc.), it's also the easiest thing to wick - even easier than yarn, which didn't work as well anyway (but worked better than silica IMO). Just tear a little at one of the ends and it twists to a perfect, firm point every time. The only tricky part about rayon is getting the right density - can't be too tight or too loose. That's why you read about people sliding it back and forth to feel for a "squeak."

If you must wick with ecowool and it's the hollow kind, I suppose you could just find a skinnier mandrel to slide into it, then wrap your coil around that. That would keep you from overtightening your wraps around your wick. Then you can just slide the mandrel out after you've tightened and trimmed your coil legs. You need super sharp scissors to trim wicks, otherwise, you just end up tugging them out of the coil. Read back a little bit in this thread (or thread search "scissors"), and you'll find some suggestions of what to use.

 

[PaulBHC]

Someone posted a while back about twisting a piece of kanthal around the tip of a piece of silica to squish the tip and then feed it through the coil. I can't find the thread now.

 

[etherealink]

"skinny road" - I think I'll pass on those and we do have a few of them out here in the wilderness.

On the wire snipings I have been known to get down on the floor with a flashlight looking for one that went astray. I have a Cat (my best friend) and there is only one thing she likes better than catnip and that is anything shinny. I am not as worried about her getting it in her foot but she has a bad habit of having to taste anything she plays with. I can only imagine what would happen if she swallowed a one inch piece of 30 Ga. She would probably be better off swallowing a straight pin at least that would eventually dissolve but Kanthal doesn't break down very easily nor is it magnetic enough for a Vet to go fishing with a magnet.

Darn I wish you hadn't brought up this subject now I am going to be even more paranoid about any little piece getting away from me.

Just think construction magnet... great for the floor

 

[tmcase]

I think my hardest part is wicking. I have been using ekowool, and the only way that i can get it inside of the coil is to wrap around the ekowool as well. I just cannot not get it to thread without making a mess lol , and even wrapping around it i have problems cutting the ekowool or damaging it as i wrap. I do not know if there is an easier way of wicking the ekowool through the coil or not.

I've wrapped a small piece of scotch tape on one end to make a point and then cut off the part that's taped after it's threaded through. That was when I used ekowool but that's history now. You could use a dab of super glue also but your fingers will stick together.

 

[tmcase]

I've wrapped a small piece of scotch tape on one end to make a point and then cut off the part that's taped after it's threaded through. That was when I used ekowool but that's history now. You could use a dab of super glue also but your fingers will stick together.

Another thing I tried was wrapping a piece of mesh to a point at the end of the ekowool.

 

[SlickWilly]

For me, what works best is to match the width of the juice channels (the two slits on the sides of the coil). Just straddle your drill bit over the channels to find out what that is - I think it's about 1/16" on Kanger coils. If you went wider, your wick tails would be too fat for the channels and you'd have to figure out how much to thin them down. You'd also lessen the already-tight airflow inside that teeny tiny chamber. When you mount your coil, leave it on the drill bit, straddle the channels with the drill bit, tug down on the tails a bit, and don't slide the drill bit off until you've locked down and trimmed the coil legs - this will keep you from installing the coil too low, which would also screw up your wicking and airflow.

Exactly what I also have found to work best. Except I use a needle, my wife has a lot of knitting and sewing stuff, I found a large needle that just fits in the slots of the Kanger's, that's what I use to wrap and set into the slots while I install the coil.

I also drill out and enlarge the holes in the base pin of the Kanger coils as well as the three holes in the base, the part that the coil screws into. That really opens up the draw on those Kanger T3S clearo's.

 

[SlickWilly]

I'll never use any silica wicks again, one night I was wicking a coil under a bright light, when I snipped the wick I could see a lot of tiny fiber's floating in the air and it scared the hell out of me to think I was sucking them into my lungs. I've already upped my chances for cancer from all the years of smoking I don't need to make the odds any worse, that's defeats the whole point of vaping.

 

[cindycated]

Exactly what I also have found to work best. Except I use a needle, my wife has a lot of knitting and sewing stuff, I found a large needle that just fits in the slots of the Kanger's, that's what I use to wrap and set into the slots while I install the coil.

I also drill out and enlarge the holes in the base pin of the Kanger coils as well as the three holes in the base, the part that the coil screws into. That really opens up the draw on those Kanger T3S clearo's.

haha luckily I'm off Kanger coils. Hallelujah! Free at last!
Right now, I'm using a KFL, a Pulse genny and an Orchid, all with rayon. No more teeny tiny heads.

 

[cindycated]

I'll never use any silica wicks again, one night I was wicking a coil under a bright light, when I snipped the wick I could see a lot of tiny fiber's floating in the air and it scared the hell out of me to think I was sucking them into my lungs. I've already upped my chances for cancer from all the years of smoking I don't need to make the odds any worse, that's defeats the whole point of vaping.

I used to habitually lick the ends, like you would with thread, and think, oops, did i just eat glass? I knew I didn't, but it still freaked me out a little bit. Plus it never worked that well.

 

[SlickWilly]

haha luckily I'm off Kanger coils. Hallelujah! Free at last!
Right now, I'm using a KFL, a Pulse genny and an Orchid, all with rayon. No more teeny tiny heads.

I don't think I'll ever stop using clearo's, I do like my Fogger and dripper but they are more a novelty, for me. I love how easy the clearo's are to throw in your pocket and head out, plus I can fill two in the morning (one of each flavor I use) and vape all day without having to do anything else.

 

[suspectK]

Ramie is china grass, totally different thing. I was saying the tensel fiber arrangement is very similar to ramie in that it's straight long continuous fibers. - as is any fiber called top. It's similar to working with ramie. I have that too. Tencel is talked about most back around posts 200-400.

I got 3oz of tencel, and it's a lot! ... One oz is plenty to get you by for a long time, like maybe a year. I personally like the fluff rayon coil myself but they both have their advantages.

So list applications for each...and where one shines best(flavor, durability, reliability)...

Search engine won't work on phone... and it's for the greater good... and I don't care enough to personally find it at the moment.

 

[etherealink]

If you knew what's underneath that laptop...

My wife says she sees room for more mods... lol

 

[etherealink]

I recently just learned to rebuild coils (maybe a month ago). My favorote tank is my smoktech ARO bottom coil tank, and it is pretty much what I use all day long I also rebuild my kanger evod coils, top coil tanks such as vision vivi nova tank, and i have rebuilt my small smoktech dripper rda. Soooooo, to get to my point...haha..... I like my coils at or around 2.0 ohms to 2.5ohms and so far i have only wrapped around a 1/16 drill bit. My question is do you guys think that wrapping around something bigger is better than wrapping around a 1/16 drill bit. I have been thinking about making my coils a little bit bigger, like perhaps wrapping around a 3/32 drill bit. I thought i would ask you guys what you think about it. I also have an Acro5.0 tank and an aspire nautilus tank, but i have not tried rebuilding their coils yet. I wanted to get more cotton or rayon first. I have one more question (sorry guys) i had a couple organic cotton balls that I got in a little kit as a gift, and they lasted a while...lol Well, i have finally run out, and i have never purchased organic cottonballs, but i assume walmart would have them (my boyfriends workplace is not far from a walmart). Does it have to be organic cotton balls? I am getting ready to look on walmart website to see how much they cost and if they do have them. Thanks guys!

First off, if you're new to rebuilding, this thread might help.

Second, the thing about organic cotton balls is that they're not as heavily processed (bleached and etc). Non-organic ones work better if you boil and rinse them first and let them dry. I used to boil them for about 20 minutes and set them in a fine mesh strainer to dry.

As far as larger inside diameter coils, I normally run my coils at 3mm or ~1/8". The catch to the micro coil is that the wraps of the coils are very close and touching if possible. The tension keeps the wraps in place after you wind it and the larger section of wick covered allows for more efficient vaporization of the liquid per button press. That also explains why cloud chasers (sub-ohm) go through so much more juice (wick material not withstanding) as the coil is vaporizing more of it over the same time, and with a lower resistance wire they need a larger inside diameter to reach the same resistance as a wire with more natural resistance.

If that makes sense, if not let me know and I'll explain further.

 

[suspectK]

As long as it's sterile, don't boil cotton..

Use distilled water to boil..if you do boil.

 

[etherealink]

I could never thread silica in any form. It always frayed too much, and I would cuss like a sailor each time. Rayon not only works better (better flavor, TH, nic buzz, longevity, etc.), it's also the easiest thing to wick - even easier than yarn, which didn't work as well anyway (but worked better than silica IMO). Just tear a little at one of the ends and it twists to a perfect, firm point every time. The only tricky part about rayon is getting the right density - can't be too tight or too loose. That's why you read about people sliding it back and forth to feel for a "squeak."

If you must wick with ecowool and it's the hollow kind, I suppose you could just find a skinnier mandrel to slide into it, then wrap your coil around that. That would keep you from overtightening your wraps around your wick. Then you can just slide the mandrel out after you've tightened and trimmed your coil legs. You need super sharp scissors to trim wicks, otherwise, you just end up tugging them out of the coil. Read back a little bit in this thread (or thread search "scissors"), and you'll find some suggestions of what to use.

I've read of people using a stick pin inside the ekowool before wrapping a coil on it for that reason.

 

[JeremyR]

So list applications for each...and where one shines best(flavor, durability, reliability)...

Search engine won't work on phone... and it's for the greater good... and I don't care enough to personally find it at the moment.

Rayon fiber #1 - Sally's, balls, bottle all have been excellent for me - shine on Ray Of the suN.

Tencel - straight fiber a little stiff like silica, didn't get down with it too much seemed ok in short straight wick builds like kangers.

Ramie - straight fiber tastes like grass unless you do a uber clean like hemp. Stiffer than tencel gets weirdly stiff like stick when wet. Harder than tencel to work with. Can take a long time to figure out. Wasn't worth my time. Did ok in the short straight wick builds like the kanger.


Overall -

This wick is idiot-proof. Just so damn forgiving. It really opens up all kinds of builds that just weren't possible with other wicking materials. Looking forward to seeing some people think outside the "box", lol.

 

[etherealink]

Rayon fiber #1 - Sally's, balls, bottle all have been excellent for me - shine on Ray Of the suN.

Tencel - straight fiber a little stiff like silica, didn't get down with it too much seemed ok in short straight wick builds like kangers.

Ramie - straight fiber tastes like grass unless you do a uber clean like hemp. Stiffer than tencel gets weirdly stiff like stick when wet. Harder than tencel to work with. Can take a long time to figure out. Wasn't worth my time. Did ok in the short straight wick builds like the kanger.


Overall -

Jeremy, as I've said earlier I have tons of rayon... but ie be very interested in taking a crack at the tensel and ramie if you have a few inches to spare.

Might even have a new style coil build to send you as a thank you...

Still working on a reply to your pm BTW.

 

[ukeman]

Sorry if I missed this but have you all discussed Ready X Wick vs. cotton or CCR?
I tried it a couple years ago (nextel) along with eko wool, silica XS 116 etc, and even Twik (eko with cotton or slilica core) but didn't get into it and moved on to cotton ball. I've preferred "cotton" for its clean taste and ease of use.

Anyway I recently picked up some RxW after all the raves about it being the "miracle" wick and all. But it seems to me the main benefit is how it won't fray as much and won't burn etc.
What I'm interested in is ... does it bring the flavor like cotton (or CCR)?
I just tried it per the recommendation that it has to be in high tension micro coil and just snug enough so its not too loose, nor too tight to crimp the "hose type" fibers that are supposed to really "bring" the juice and flavor.
Hmm I didn't get that clean flavor that I get from both KGD and CCR... is that just me? And imo nothing wicks better than CCR.

 

[ukeman]

I've been using cotton for about a year now in my RDA and RTA's ... first cotton ball but lately there many types used: organic, organic raw, angel hair, pima sliver, hemp fluff (not cotton but similar) KGD, Japanese cotton pad (i like).
And recently I've added the CCR.

Some of these have different textures: the Pima sliver, and Angel Hair are fine straighter (like the CCR cellucotton rayon) fibers vs. the puff ball that's sort of ... in a puff and its a thicker texture.
I find that for straight RDA where the juice source is near the coil, the thicker stuff KGD, or just good old cotton ball will do...

I have another purpose for CCR and that's for my RTA/RDA's that have under the coil air posts that are elevated from the base or juice wells about 4-5mm, which means the juice has to come up the wick to get to the coil (kind of like a Genesis RBA but horizontal).
I've got 6 or 7 atomizers like this because I think under coil air improves flavor and so far CCR wicks the best and tastes damn good too!

sorry if I've already discussed this ( i don't remember so well these days ) but thanks for the great thread and keeping CCR alive here.