Rewicked my Protank heads with a cotton ball

[Cheechako]

I tried all sorts of cotton wicks and yarns because I liked the flavor a great deal more than silica,
Nothing was quite right until I tried cotton ball wicks. No boiling and pure flavor!
Changed to cotton balls on all my EVODS, Vivi Novas and AGA-T2.
Little tricky to get the right amount, but it's cheap and easy to thread through the coils.
Now I remove old cotton, dry burn and maybe rinse, thread new cotton through coil, prime, and vape
to my hearts content!
If you would like to try cotton, I cannot advise cotton batting or balls enough!

 

[fido5150]

Wow, this discussion is really taking off, lol.
I didn't realize how many people already do this.

Little tricky to get the right amount, but it's cheap and easy to thread through the coils.

I was actually just going to post this. It's kinda tricky, because if you get a little too much cotton, when you replace the top cap it compresses it into the side openings, and restricts liquid flow through the wick. It takes a little bit of trial and error the first few times, until you figure out just how much to use.

My rule of thumb is if it's difficult to compress through the coil, then it'll probably be too thick to work well. When the cotton compresses, it should slide through the coils with a little effort, but it shouldn't be compressed so much that it feels 'solid' (for lack of a better word), it should still compress a little.

 

[MiamiMom63]

Just be sure your cotton balls are 100% cotton - you can get USP/sterile cotton balls too.

I picked this up at CVS pharmacy last year and still have 90% of it left
CVS Rolled Cotton - CVS pharmacy

I have the same cotton and its worked well. I did boil it twice though. I'm not sure if it is necessary but heard some have a bad taste if you dont

 

[TomCatt]

I have the same cotton and its worked well. I did boil it twice though. I'm not sure if it is necessary but heard some have a bad taste if you dont

Some strings, yarns or [candle] wicks have what is called "sizing" incorporated into the material to aid in forming and retaining shape for said strings, yarns or wicks. This is the material that should be removed with boiling before use as an ecig wick.

USP / sterile 100% cotton should not need to be boiled; but then again, boiling isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[MetalRaven]

Works rather well for $1.77 @ walmart. Rofl

 

[DevastationWagon]

View attachment 214502

Works rather well for $1.77 @ walmart. Rofl

YUP! That's what I've been using too. I still haven't tried Cotton Balls yet. Reading this thread, I'm going to have to now.

I still have a hard time getting the leaking to stop without using a 'flavor wick' on top of the coil. Maybe I need to refine the whole building process and be more consistant with the coil and wick sizes.

 

[MetalRaven]

No leaking but I either double or triple the wick inside the coil. 32g kanthal a-1. Tighter draw, great flavor, and good clouds.

 

[ositestas]

here is my problem.
I have been rewicking DID, Mini Nova, Nova, evod, MT3 atomizers with cotton balls. I managed to get good wick twice on Nova, which lasted for week. Tried rolling the wick tight and not tight.
The materials used - 32 kanthal, 4/5 thread on Allen key from DID (1.9 Ohm resistance), Squeeze the cotton ball into coil.
Protank, leaks without extra flavor wick on top of the coil. On all other atomizers the wick gives good flavor and vapor only for like half an hour. On DID the taste was good for couple days always, but the vapor production was dropping rather quickly.
liquid - 50/50, dark and light ones.
What am i doing wrong? Any suggestions?

 

[Lucy74]

Ok. Stupid question, don't you need to test the coil when you rebuild? With some electronic gizmo tester thingy? I have been a lil bit curious about rebuilding, but haven't tried yet because I don't wanna blow myself up.

 

[cowboy6591]

Well, as my Protank heads get spent, and they seem to be out of stock almost everywhere, I decided to parlay some of my iGo-L rebuilding materials on a quest to get a better vape out of my Protanks.

I've tried several silica styles (single, double, tripled, with or without 'flavor wicks') and 400 mesh SS, but I think I hit the mother lode when I tried a cotton ball, on a lark.

I wound the coil out of 33awg Kanthal on a round toothpick, with a 3/2 wind for 1.9 ohms, then took a tuft of the cotton ball, rolled it into a wick, and threaded the tapered end through the coil.

Then I reassembled the head like normal, though after the first time I found it beneficial to prime the wick, like you would a carto tank, before you put the top piece back on the head, or you'll get quite a few harsh hits before the liquid works its way into the wick.

I must say that the vape is out of this world. On my original Protank heads, any wattage over about 6.7W tasted burnt to me, but I'm now vaping at a full 8.0W, getting a very nice consistent crackle, and a load of vapor. I'll have to be extra careful not to burn the wick, but I'm really enjoying the vape. Plus, it's cheap to replace if I do, so that's another win.

Just wanted to toss this out there in case anybody else has been toying with this idea.

I LOVE your post. As a hardware hacker innovative survival posts such as yours are priceless especially if there comes a doomsday for Vaporers like us. Thanx much, And I copy and pasted the post in wordpad and saved it in my DIY folder.

I was thinking of trying a dry herb ceramic disk element with nothing but a swab of cotton on top of it for a quick technique free way of rejuvenating a RBC [Rebuildable Cartomizer]. But I think you outflanked me with your idea. CUDOS!!

 

[cowboy6591]

How did you thread the cotton through the coil?

There is a simple way to do this in my head.
Use a super thin non resistance wire. Fold your wick in half run the wire through the folded area , twist the wire somewhat to give it a single strand personality and thread the wire through the coil and pull the wick through. WALA Git'er done!!!

 

[MetalRaven]

Just be sure to use a needle or similar object to space coils back after afterwards

 

[FaceT1me]

loving it just did my first pro tank coil rebuild. Used a cotton ball and man does this thing hit great now.

 

[Beerbrah]

So when you use the cotton ball as a wick im guessing that is enough wicking not to have to put more on top of it? Like when you get a new head and they have the silica wicking going through the coil and then the additional silica strands on top of the coil.

 

[MetalRaven]

it's all dependent on the amount used inside the coil. I don't use cotton balls but cotton material and when I do my rebuilds I double it over and need no flavor wicks on top. Tripled over it definitely makes the protank have a tighter draw to it.

 

[Leithan]

I don't use a flavor wick, I use the cotton from the heads of Q tips, I emailed Johnson&Johnson. No size or any other chemical in the cotton, there is a water soluble adhesive used to hold the cotton to the stick but I don't get down to that layer. I pull the cotton off, wet my fingers slightly with water and roll the cotton back and forth between my fingers till its small enough to slide into my coil. I don’t twist the cotton, just compact it down. Once it's whetted with juice the cotton expands, I leave about an 8th of an inch stick out each side of the cup, once screwed into the base I poke the wick down into the juice well of the base. Because the wick is just compressed not rolled it fans out and pretty much fills the well all the way around. I have one wick that’s got a weeks worth of hard vaping on it and its still going strong. If I do get leaks its because of the little silicone cup seal thing isn't properly seated on the shaft oh the head.
I think I used the words "shaft" and "head" enough times in that to make a 10 year old giggel for a week

 

[MetalRaven]

Tee hee hee....oh wait...20 years too late :/

 

[MsComptrtchr]

I'm so annoyed - I bought some cotton yarn at Michaels and it turns out that it has PERFUME in it! Well, $2 tossed. Who puts perfume on string???

YUP! That's what I've been using too. I still haven't tried Cotton Balls yet. Reading this thread, I'm going to have to now.

I still have a hard time getting the leaking to stop without using a 'flavor wick' on top of the coil. Maybe I need to refine the whole building process and be more consistant with the coil and wick sizes.

 

[MetalRaven]

It sucks but at least its 2 $ and not 60+ on a mod, rba, etc. Haven't looked at Michaels but picked up the pic I attached earlier in the thread after researching multiple threads on rebuilding the atties for the tank.

 

[Leithan]

Iv got a head right now that has a .8 ohm coil I wrapped from kanthal ribbon, we have nick named it the sledge hammer. It hisses like a ...... of snake and it hits like a freight train. It's become the dare vape. Hit it once and you wish the protank had a few more air holes. No burney taste either. Iv only had it wrapped for a couple of days so the jury is still out, I don't see how I can wrap enough coils to get the ohms up for a VV/VW so for now I can only test the ribbon on mechs.
I think I am becoming a protank cheerleader. They work so well for me and have improved my vaping experiance so much that I can't help but put my two cents in.