Simple Hints, Tips, and Tricks for Vapers [To Save Time And Money]

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super_X_drifter

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Totally agree with you on rebuilding atomizers and DIY liquid. My DIY is plain old unflavored nicotine liquid, straight from the bottle. It is pennies a ml. Here is a short sequence of pix to illustrate how easy coil building and rewicking is. It is not nearly as hard or intimidating as you may think...
If I can do it, anyone can!
DSC04542.jpgDSC04544.jpgDSC04545.jpgDSC04547.jpg.
 

OnTheFidele

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Thanks super_X_drifter!

For those afraid of building coils, all you have to understand the very basic theory:
Resistance wire gets hot when it is directly connected to electricity. The most efficient method of directing this heat onto a segment of wicking material so an adequate amount of vapor can be produced is a coil. It's this simple!

Once you grasp this concept, building a coil should be simple (as long as you have the patience/dexterity). Once you've mastered the simple coil, the sky is the limit!
 

dosu24

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Thanks super_X_drifter!

For those afraid of building coils, all you have to understand the very basic theory:
Resistance wire gets hot when it is directly connected to electricity. The most efficient method of directing this heat onto a segment of wicking material so an adequate amount of vapor can be produced is a coil. It's this simple!

Once you grasp this concept, building a coil should be simple (as long as you have the patience/dexterity). Once you've mastered the simple coil, the sky is the limit!


Every rebuilder says rebuilding is simple. It still just looks so confusing to me lol
 

OnTheFidele

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Every rebuilder says rebuilding is simple. It still just looks so confusing to me lol

Hey dosu24, you really just have to try it. Most RBAs just involve wrapping a wire around a thin rope (the wick) a few times and sticking each end of it to connections. It's like tying a shoe: try explaining it and it's very dificult, but show someone how to do it and have them try and it turns out to be very very easy.
 

OnTheFidele

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  • A cheap bottle of vodka goes a long way. Soak parts for a few hours (don't forget to swirl), take them out, and wipe exess with microfiber. They dry in minutes and are now very clean! Also much safer than "rubbing alcohol" and other potentially dangerous solvents. Also more convenient than boiling parts all the time.
  • Keep those brass contacts clean! You'd be surprised at how big of a negative difference an accumulated amount of oxidation makes. (This is why Super T plates their contacts in rhodium.)
  • Invest in a cheap microfiber cloth. Any type of tissue/paper towel/napkin flakes and leaves residue. Cotton is not very absorbent and does not wipe as well. This will save money in the long run.
 

HK-47

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I thought that would be a good idea myself. I don't know where to look for the tiny rubberbands though. (?) What's working well enough for me is numbering my eVods with silver Sharpie and keeping a register in my case. It's not terribly unattractive, and the Sharpie washes off the metal tube pretty easily.

Well if you can't find rubberbands, try those shops that sell all the girly accessory stuff. You should be able to find hair ties in a wide variety of different colors and sparkles and all sorts of crazy stuff. Should be able to pick up quite a few for pretty dirt cheap. They're just elastic and cotton mostly.
 

juicejunky

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My tip:
Summer is not the time to order Armageddon quantities of ejuice or DIY nic supplies online. Anywhere along the mail chain they can sit in hot boxes, trucks, airport tarmacs, and your mailbox. Heating up your ejuice to those temperatures will significantly shorten its lifespan. Best to stock up early depending on where the vendor and you are located temperature wise or order ejuice only as fast as you use it during the summer months.

OnTheFidele, Great thread and tips . I'm getting some cheap microfiber cloths, a dedicated ohm reader, and will pay more attention to my contacts now.
 

juicejunky

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I thought that would be a good idea myself. I don't know where to look for the tiny rubberbands though. (?) What's working well enough for me is numbering my eVods with silver Sharpie and keeping a register in my case. It's not terribly unattractive, and the Sharpie washes off the metal tube pretty easily.

Amazon.com: Neon 5/16" 4.5 Oz - Orthodontic Elastic -For Braces - Dental Rubber Bands: Everything Else

Orthodontic elastics for braces, also the ones for hair are on Amazon.

Dollar type stores usually sell them too. Pick up some cheap mirofiber cloths while you're there.
 
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OnTheFidele

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Thanks juicejunky!

I started this thread because this forum helped me save so much potential time, money and FRUSTRATION in my transition to vaping. I've found most people at ECF are both extremely practical and helpful. I just hope that this thread can be a no-nonsense area where we cab help maximize all of our vape quality.
 

Faylool

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TRY to wait a few days before buying something you read about on ecf. If your till wanting it father waiting o ahead. I waited 4 months on my Reo. Of course I've also hit some ones link and bought stuff with in minutes of finding out about it too...last time being for the Pro Tank presale shipping from Kangertech in China. Took me about 2 minutes and I didn't even like the way it looked very much! Such a passionate hobby sometimes. I love love Pyrex glass. Hate hate plastic
 

serenity21899

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I thought that would be a good idea myself. I don't know where to look for the tiny rubberbands though. (?) What's working well enough for me is numbering my eVods with silver Sharpie and keeping a register in my case. It's not terribly unattractive, and the Sharpie washes off the metal tube pretty easily.

By the combs, brushes, barettes, etc. at the drugstore. The ones used to hold ponytails.
 

vernhall

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To speed up steeping get an 'ultrasonic cleaner'... Find a small container that will fit inside to put your bottles in (or rubber-band them together), take the lid and drip-top off, fill the cleaner with just enough water to float them, and run thru about 10 cycles... It can knock a couple weeks steeping time off the process...
 

vernhall

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...DIY liquid will save you a fortune.

And DIY doesn't have to be complicated or the recipe involve a dozen or two ingredients to be good either... In fact, the best (in my wife's opinion) is a Raspberry/Cream juice I made for her that was my 3rd attempt at DIY... 3 ingredients - 50/50 24mg PG/VG at 10% Raspberry and 5%Cream... She loves it and I have to admit, though I'm a tobacco kind of guy, that it ain't half bad... :)

Now, having said that (a recipe doesn't need to be complicated) I'm planning on mixing up an RY4 variant later today that has more than a few ingredients to it, but that mainly because I feel like experimenting and I really like RY4s...
 

supertrunker

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Make your coils - make your liquid. Buy a decent PV, anything under $50 is likely to be a tiresome waste of money long term and make sure what you buy fits with the life you have rather than you one you wish you had! An eVic would last me 10 minutes at work and less if i dropped it with the regularity i knock my REO or silver bullet over.

Buy a decent charger with maybe 4 battery spaces in it, If you get a few devices it is annoying to find the charger for button tops, another for flat top batteries etc and always make sure you have spares of everything, because if you have a device fail then you'll likely just buy a packet of ciggies as wait 3 days for a replacement to arrive.

The upfront costs of vaping can be depressing to smokers but there is a payoff and the time it takes to arrive depends on how much you lash out in the first place - i recommend a reliable multimeter too. When my wife and i smoked - tobacco was running me $400 a month. I have to buy a lot of gear to even get close to that figure!

T
 

Cjax

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Here's a tip for those who use cotton wicks in rba's. Simple enough but some may have overlooked this. After they get gunky from a few days use, don't pull the whole coil out of the rba to rebuild from scratch, dry burn that sucker off! Dry-burn some more to fully clean the coil, and re-thread a new wick! You're left with a perfectly coiled atty, sans wick. Saves a ton of time, and wire!
 

Cjax

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Also, like others have said, DIY juice doen't have to be scientific. Take a little time to mix up small batches of flavor individually, at a certain drops/ml ratio, say if it's a 5 ml batch, use either 5 or 10 drops of flavor, and get to know how strong they are by themselves, then use that experience to judge how many drops/ml to use when mixing other flavors together. Some ppls recipes are so complicated, mine are never so. Takes me about 15-20 minutes to whip up 5 or 6 new batches.

Also, if you are starting from concentrated nic, mix up a base; meaning mix up your pg, vg, and concentrated nic in a very large amount first to your desired strength, then fill your small bottle batches from that pre-mixed base to add your flavors to. They won't have to steep near as long and it's safer that way, avoiding concentrated nic pockets floating around in very thick vg, tl;dr. Trust me.
 
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