re wicking with cotton

[bewlay]

ok still asking daft noob questions, but im learning fast, thanks to this forum.

as a precursor to taking the plunge and building my own coils, I have of late been rewicking my attys with cotton, as per numerous videos ive watched on you tube and links from here. first time i tried, apart from getting the darn stuff into the coil, worked brilliantly, and the end result was a vape quite unlike anything ive had so far, really good flavour, and decent clouds. second attempt a bit later was much the same...me = a happy bunny.

but now, i don't think i,m doing anything different, maybe some other component is failing, but the same rewicking procedure, is now producing gurgling in my tank and too much juice is making it into my mouth. not happening with bought coils just the ones ive rewicked.

my set up at the moment is kanger pt2 and a kanger vv battery, with airflow controller. for the moment im happy with this basic set up, though im sure ill venture farther in the future.

any thought on the gurgling / spitting juice issue? am i using too much / too little wicking? also wondering if the flvour wicks on the kanger need to be there,and if whats the best way to replace those with cotton?

 

[K31Scout]

Good question. I made a coil today for my pro2 and got the spit and gurgle. I even had a "flavor" wick of cotton on top. I think maybe my coil was not deep enough in the head of the atomizer. I'm going to try some 2.5mm rayon wick on my next order.

 

[Tucsonian]

My step by step guide to rebuilding kanger coils.
Tools needed:
Straight edge nail clippers
30 gauge kanthal wire
Drill bit or precision screw driver that is small enough to fit down into the main coil housing
Tweezers (nothing fancy)
Butane torch, either one from hd lowes RadioShack or even the crack lighters from the gas station will work
Cotton balls, organic or regular (decide for your self on that one)
Ohm reader, if you have an itaste vv3 it works just fine
I know this may seem as a bit of an investment, but all totaled it saves a lot of money compared to 2.50 a pop for new coils.

1) remove the chimney, a little tug and wiggle it will come right off.
2) pull the small pin from the bottom
3) carefully pull the rubber insulator out from the bottom. Try to be gentle as to not damage it. The old coil/wire may pull out with it at this point if not just pull it
Out from the top.
4) at this point I rise the parts off with water to remove any build up and reduce messy fingers while rebuilding. Be careful not to drop any thing into the drain (done it a couple of times and it sucks).
5) dry off the parts and gather your tools, it's time to build!
6) cut off a length of kanthal.
7) use your drill bit / screwdriver to wrap around and make your coils. 6-8 wraps will give you 1.5-2 resistance.
8) once your have your could wrapped hold it with your tweezers and heat it up with the torch, this cleans the wire and helps take some of the spring out
Allowing it to remain nice and tightly wrapped.
9)place the could back on to the drill bit/screwdriver and lower the coil down into the base. This will allow you to hold the coil in place at the correct depth while
you insert the rubber insulator and pin
10) from the bottom bend one of the wires off to the side and leave one straight. Place the straight wire on the inside of the rubber grommet and press the
grommet back into the base. Making sure to have one wire on the inside of the hole and one on the outside.
11) take the wire that was left on the inside of the insulator and bend it off to the opposit side that the other wire is bent. Take the small pin and insert it up into
the base.
12) clip the excess wire off with you clippers, as close as you can without clipping the insulator.
13) take a small wisp of cotton and roll it into a short length. The amount of cotton is critical and can be a hard thing to get right. This is where the flooding
gurgling, or even dry hits come from. Too little cotton and it will flood and too much will cause dry hits. A bit of trial and error will get what works for you.
14) remove the drill bit/screwdriver from the coil, make sure the coil is in the center of the opening and not touching a side. If need be you can push it a bit to
center it.
15) take your length of cotton and twist one end tightly to allow for easy threading, and place it thought the coil. If it begin to bunch up as your threading it you
are using too much cotton. If it is easily moved or falls out you have too little. You want it snug within the coil. I do not use any flavor wicks with this build.
16) place the chimney back on to the base along with the rubber top piece. Then use you nail clippers to trim off the excess cotton.
17) place the coil onto an ohm reader to make sure that everything is working. If you get a good reading, congratulations you have rebuilt your coil and started a
great new hobby and way to save money.

One thing I have ran into, is when I go you use the coil they seem to not read or work on my battery. Commonly this is resolved by pulling the small pin on the bottom out just slightly so that when placed back into the tank it is able to press against the connection points.

 

[readeuler]

Well, I certainly can't offer the step-by-step Tucsonian (with the awesome Bubbles avatar, no less) was kind enough to write up,

I find that too much cotton causes leaking for me. Flavor wicks, at least when they're cotton, only make things worse; it's just another thing to wick up too much liquid that doesn't get vaporized quickly enough.

 

[MedicatedDeveloper]

Did you place a flavor wick on top? I've always had gurgling issues when I try and use one.


With the right amount of cotton it should be lightly twisted and feel nice n snug but not bunch up. Use less than you think. One cotton ball should be 25+ wicks. Also it helps if you 'unroll' the cotton ball. Rip the outer layer across the height of the ball and it should unroll into a more or less even strip. Furthermore, when you snip the wick I find it works best to snip it diagnoally to increase the surface area that comes in contact with the liquid. I'll have my scissors touch the base of the coil above the threading then tilt it so it touches the top (without chimney attached) and then snip.

Here's what it looks like when I do it. The coil is 11 wrap 28g Kantal a1 1.4ohms do reccomend! A very tight fit, but boy does it preform well.


Wet the wick with your liquid prior to putting the chimney on, add the chimney and screw it into the base. Take a small screwdriver and gently splay the cotton by pushing on it. This will expose more of the fibers to the liquid and make it wick much better.