rebuildables! I said i wouldn't... but I did.

[TorontoJay]

So I was really ok with my twist - said no way to anything heavy, big, or really odd looking. Then i got my Provari. Then i said carto tanks are the end all for me. Well, i still love them - but now trying my hand with an Ithaka clone (iSmoka Magoo-S... really guys? Magoo?)

My question is this - keep in mind I'm waiting for some Kanthal (and silver) and wick (trying some cotton wick i found online) - I'm using the stock 2.5ohm single coil as it came until my supplies get here to rebuild it.
I was expecting the world from this device since so many people say how wonderful the taste is. I seem to be getting a lot of metallic taste and flavor that isn't quite there with my carto-tank (boge standard res). Is this likely due to the prebuilt coil just not being great? Or am I doomed to only love carto-tank? Help!

 

[Baditude]

Probably a bad wick/coil build. A rebuildable will only perform as good as the wick/coil is.

Expect some early frustration. These are not your simple cartotank or clearomizer that can be expected to work correctly out of the box. They are by the way called advanced delivery devices for good reason and require some knowledge and experience to get right. It took me 2 - 3 wick/coil builds until I finally got something that vaped nice. Even then, it can take nearly a tankful of juice for the wick and coil to "season".

I'm not familiar with your RBA, but you may need to enlarge the air hole in the cap. I suggest doing a search for the iSmoka Magoo-S on You Tube or here on ECF to find out tips for that particular model.

 

[retired1]

Moved to Rebuildable Atomizer Systems.

 

[retired1]

I'm not familiar with your RBA, but you may need to enlarge the air hole in the cap. I suggest doing a search for the iSmoka Magoo-S on You Tube or here on ECF to find out tips for that particular model.

No need for drilling. The Magoo-S has adjustable air flow. Thinking seriously about snagging one myself.

 

[TorontoJay]

Some say it still benefits from drilling, but i find the airflow pretty good. I definitely understand it's an advanced device and i have no issue tinkering with it - but wanted to be sure a decent wick and coil would yield a better result - ie - no metallic taste.

 

[TorontoJay]

Oh, and FYI, the unit is very well built and looks like a quality piece, clone or not.

 

[dyebartdie]

Did you clean it out very well before using it? I would take it all apart and clean it very well with hot soapy water. after cleaning run a few q-tips through the mouth piece.

 

[shroom]

Watch youtube videos how to rebuild Ithaka. You need to know what coil you are going to build before you purchase the all needed material for it.
I personally would build a single microcoil out of 30 guage resistant and non-resistant wire then I would stick cotton in it as my wick.

 

[Jazzi Mike]

Definitely you should clean your Magoo-S. Mine came with extra supplies for one build. Perhaps you should try out your own build? I really am a big fan of my Magoo. The vapor is very flavorful and thick.

One of the things that people rave about is setting up the Magoo with dual coils.

 

[TorontoJay]

I realize i have to plan my build. I tend to research quite a bit before doing anything. Had planned on doing a 32g single coil build (I'll try dual coil later - right now it's atop a Provari, so it makes it a bit less fun then with a mech). Perhaps before i build a DC I'll see what this hype is about a microcoil. That's my next research project. I would love to understand the path of electricity through a microcoil and how it affects resistance/performance.

And yes, my Magoo also came with enough supply for a single rebuild which i will try tonight when i have some time to see if it helps. Do you happen to know if the supplied wire is kanthal or NiChrome? One of my thoughts is that i simply don't like nichrome - if that's what this is.

 

[Jazzi Mike]

I'm pretty sure the wire supplied is nichrome with NR leads.

 

[Thrasher]

Personally I have yet to see a prebuilt coil/wick in a device out of china (especially with clones) perform anywhere near the quality of a new properly built one. usually the spacing is off causing hotspotting, or the actual wick is loose or too thin.

 

[TorontoJay]

OK - so here's what has happened since my last post - perhaps I can get some guidance:

First, I tried the included wick and coil for my first build. It was an awful build. It worked however, but still got the same metallic-y taste I found in the prebuilt coil (and yes, I washed it out before I recoiled).

Then, I got some supplies and build a rather interesting single coil setup using Kanthal (32g) and silver - using 3mm cotton wick. Yay, no metal taste. However no matter where I set the flow control, I couldn't get vapor or flavor that rivaled my good 'ol carto tanks. I have a feeling I didn't wrap my coil tight enough. Or to tight. I'm not sure just yet.

Finally, I just wrapped a dual coil because I was curious about them really. I know, the Provari is too amp limited to make much use of it - but I wrapped what came out to be a 1.4ohm dual coil. Not bad actually for a regulated mod. I doubled the wick at the coils. Probably where I went wrong.

Now, the damned thing overwicks like crazy (just crack the FC and it's flood city), and when I do vape it out of it's flood I STILL don't get the flavor I am used to. Granted I think this has to do much with the fact that I have way too much wick in there and impeding the airflow (and overwicking) and I should truly be using a thinner wire to do what I attempted to... so it's back to single coil for now.

My real question is where's my flavor? What did I do wrong? I know, without seeing it it's hard to say - but I'll take speculation

 

[Thrasher]

ill i can think of is when using cotton the coil/wick has to be just right, too loose or tight will throw things off. and not having that actual atty I cant even guess as to how it works/wicks.

 

[TorontoJay]

Is there a bit more room for error with silica? I'll get some to try it out...

 

[super_X_drifter]

Jay, that there is a true micro coil. Wrapped 27 ga Kanthal A1 around a .055" mold / jig / mandrel. About 12 wraps, touching or as close as possible. Then mount, fire mod to get coil glowing, release fire button and squeeze with needle nose to compress the wraps (I do that several times) make sure you release fire button before squeezing

Then I wick with a tightly twisted dense wick of rolled cotton. It is very dense bit slides thru the coil with very little resistance. Trim, saturate, vape thru the first like 10 hits of metallic / cottony taste then it's game on bro

 

[TorontoJay]

Very cool. My next build when I toss out this dual coil (which is any minute now, when the tank is dry) will be a microcoil. Great... now I'm running out of wire... off to (e)shop I go.

 

[LeoRex]

Heh.... Super_X is like that grandpap that randomly whips out picks of his grandkids....

OP: I'm having issues building coils on my my Ithaka clone

S_X: Here's a closeup of my Reo!

(heh)

 

[super_X_drifter]

Just want everyone's vapeing to be as AWESOME as mine

 

[TorontoJay]

So in case anyone cares - i finally got some supplies in and rebuild my setup. Now I'm using 32g Kanthal, silver and silica 2mm wick. I did a funky flavor wick setup that criss-crosses on top of the coil. Put it all back together and i finally "get it". Pure, clean flavor and huge TH. Vapor is good, I'm sure a DC would make it great, but to be honest, it's not enough for me to give up the battery life that it costs.

I guess i either don't love cotton, or need the learn how to wrap it better with my coil. Now that i know how to build a good normal coil (2.3Ohm as it stands now), i will try a microcoil with 30g kanthal. Is that a huge pain in the ... on an Ithaka clone to deal with?