Silica & Kanthal - Torch/Flame, Boil, Alcohol - Finally?

[Jonathan Tittle]

So I ordered 100' of 32g Kanthal and 3mm Silica from eBay since it was what most everyone links to for bulk orders outside of vendors. After breaking open the package I inspected both and both looked good to go, so I broke out a few 1.8 Attys that were burnt up from my Protank II and began rebuilding. Setup a few really nice 1.5 and 1.8 coils and thought I was ready to vape, but I was wrong.

The first go around, using both straight from the package, metal & silica taste, heavy. I would have burnt up the coils before I got rid of the flavor, so I figured there was some machining oil or similar on the Kanthal, so I put a flame to it, got it nice and glowing and did a quick rebuild on one of them. This time the silica was the issue.

Fast-Forward an hour later, I had to torch the Kanthal, clean it with Alcohol, re-torch it, boil the silica for about 30 minutes (changing the water 3 times - once every 10) and finally, that horrid taste is completely gone.


All coils verified - not hot legs, even glowing, and no shorts during all stages. Just curious - is going through all of this normal when getting stuff from reputable vendors on eBay? Straight out of the pack, never had an issue with any new Atty. Local dealer I'm sure doesn't do any of this to theirs, yet the flavor isn't as bad as what I tasted on the ones I built.

 

[super_X_drifter]

I have not had any issues like that. I just torch the Kanthal before I wrap it.

I also use roiled cotton for wicks because it produces fantastic results right out of the box and is much simpler to use than any other medium.

I wrap my coils, mount them then install wick.

The first two - 5 hits can have a little bit of a metallic / cottony taste then it's game on.

Here's a pic of my typical setup

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Did you forget to torch the silica??? Might take care of the alcohol and boiling part..

Make your coils, ensure you have 1 longer leg on the wire you can hold on to and torch the whole thing before putting in a device. Both will glow and be free of oils and taste afterwards.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

I've not yet tried cotton as this wasn't for a true RBA, rather, a Protank II, so sliding the cotton down and through a coil, due to the way the atty is setup, is a bit more difficult there . I have an Octopus I can try cotton on and I'm actually boiling some right now, so it's up next.

The steps I took were as follows:

1). Flame the Kanthal to remove potential machining oil(s).
2). Boil the Silica Wick (3mm) for 30m, alternating every 10 with fresh water.
3). Wipe down the Kanthal with Isopropyl Alcohol, re-flame to bright red.
4). Dry Silica / Build Coil to ~1.8 and test resistance
5). "Harden" it by pulsing it on the octopus at a slightly higher resistance than I vape at.

All coils glowing bright red, no shorts or hot spots. I didn't apply a flame to the Silica as the last time I did, it turned brown and gave off an equally horrid taste. It is silica as it doesn't catch on fire or anything like that, but the flame does tend to brown the outside and lock in a flavor I can't really describe.

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. The above got rid of the taste, just trying to shorten the process. It's not like I'm doing this every day, but it is time consuming for something I think should be a little easier.

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

Just dried off some of the cotton with a microfiber towel to speed up the process a bit, wicked it through a coil that I had originally built for the Octopus (a 2.1) and fired it at 8 watts to test it out and it actually works pretty well.

First time using cotton and I'm not getting any sort of taste from it, so that may be what I switch over to . It's definitely cheaper than Silica by a long shot, which will also reduce my costs, so I'm game!

I don't really notice too much of a difference in flavor, though I've never been one to vape at higher wattage/voltage. How long does the cotton tend to last? And what do you normally vape at?

 

[super_X_drifter]

Just dried off some of the cotton with a microfiber towel to speed up the process a bit, wicked it through a coil that I had originally built for the Octopus (a 2.1) and fired it at 8 watts to test it out and it actually works pretty well.

First time using cotton and I'm not getting any sort of taste from it, so that may be what I switch over to . It's definitely cheaper than Silica by a long shot, which will also reduce my costs, so I'm game!

I don't really notice too much of a difference in flavor, though I've never been one to vape at higher wattage/voltage. How long does the cotton tend to last? And what do you normally vape at?

I vape unflavored nic base mostly in 90%VG. I change my wicks no earlier than once a week.

Most of my recent builds are around 1.5 ohms at 4 volts. I like a cooler vape with very little TH.

Cotton rocks

 

[Jonathan Tittle]

Thanks SXD - Much appreciated. I plan on dropping down to 1.5 once I can get some 30-31g Kanthal. The Octopus is the only RBA I have right now and 8-10 wrap setups don't fit in that small cylinder all too well on it, although with cotton being as absorbent as it is, I may be able to do a vertical coil...hmmm. May work out better than I thought.... .