SS Mesh - in serious need of help

[STVNMR]

I just started using mesh today, but I've been reading about it for the past week or so and thought I knew enough to be off to a good start once the materials came in the mail. I roll my mesh without a paperclip as tightly as I can, which still leaves a small hole in the center; insert a straightened paperclip through the hole and gently bend for a U-shape to fill the two holes on my Smoktech ViVi tank (Hyper SRT II); oxidize my U-wick 3 times on a stovetop burner without quenching; drip with juice and burn 3 more times; give it a 4/5 coil wrap before inserting wick into holes; then connect to posts and dry burn to test. I've used the same preparation method for small straight wicks in my Phoenix Bully, too, skipping the paperclip-bending step.

So far I've made about 8+ wicks and re-recoiled a few of them to try to fix hot spot sand shorts, but I can't seem to get it down. I can't get rid of the burnt metallic taste for the life of me, and the outer legs are always giving me hot spots. On top of that, my resistance is constantly fluctuating even after double wrapping around the spring-loaded posts on the ViVi tank.

So with all that in mind, I have a few questions that someone may be able to help me with:

1). When I oxidize the mesh, is it always supposed to turn a uniform gray color? Some spots on mine are lighter than others, and no amount of heating seems to make them turn darker.
2.). Is it possible to wrap the wick too tightly? As tight as my fingers can pull it around the wick, my coil usually loosens up when I'm connecting to the posts so I can see space between the coil and the mesh, so I'm wondering if I can dig into the mesh with it. Some say that will choke the wick, but capillary action should still take place all thorought the center of it, right?
3.) Aside from getting the coil tighter around the mesh, what can I do to remove the burnt metallic taste? Even on the couple occasions when the coil sat neatly on the wick, it still tastes like metal and burnt liquid. I try to stay under 8 watts with my Provari, so I know I'm not cranking up the voltage too high.

Any information that someone here can offer would be greatly appreciated. I'm losing a little more of my mind every minute with this *******, ************* ss mesh.

Sorry for the novel; thanks for your time.

 

[Trick]

1). When I oxidize the mesh, is it always supposed to turn a uniform gray color? Some spots on mine are lighter than others, and no amount of heating seems to make them turn darker.

That's normal. You'll never get it uniform no matter how hard you try.

2.). Is it possible to wrap the wick too tightly? As tight as my fingers can pull it around the wick, my coil usually loosens up when I'm connecting to the posts so I can see space between the coil and the mesh, so I'm wondering if I can dig into the mesh with it. Some say that will choke the wick, but capillary action should still take place all thorought the center of it, right?

Not only is it possible to wrap the coil around the wick too tightly, but I find that to be the main cause of shorts and hotspots. I wouldn't worry about choking the wick, but a coil digging into a wick can cut right through the oxidation layer.

Now, if your coli is way too loose, you can have issues with it burning red all the time and that'll screw with things, too, but it's much more likely that you're shorting out against the wick.

3.) Aside from getting the coil tighter around the mesh, what can I do to remove the burnt metallic taste? Even on the couple occasions when the coil sat neatly on the wick, it still tastes like metal and burnt liquid. I try to stay under 8 watts with my Provari, so I know I'm not cranking up the voltage too high.

You've got a short. That's really the only thing that'll cause that taste. Wrapping the coil tighter isn't going to help that; it'll more likely make it worse.

 

[STVNMR]

Thanks for the quick response, Trick. The coil I've got now isn't showing any hot spots, and I think if I loosen it up any it'll leave space between the wire and wick. What can I do to identify the short and fix the bad taste?

 

[dspin]

Here you go STV

 

[dspin]

Part 2

 

[STVNMR]

Thanks for the videos. I've been trying his suggestion about turning the atomizer with the wick already in the hole to wrap it without over tightening, but my coils spring up from the wick as soon as I let go, and adding more tension to the last wrap doesn't pull the others back down. Do any of you allow your coils to sit just a hair off the wick?

Edit: The last 3 coils I made showed tiny spaces under each wrap. It's always either too tight or too loose. Am I missing something?

 

[StaircaseWit]

Thanks for the videos. I've been trying his suggestion about turning the atomizer with the wick already in the hole to wrap it without over tightening, but my coils spring up from the wick as soon as I let go, and adding more tension to the last wrap doesn't pull the others back down. Do any of you allow your coils to sit just a hair off the wick?

Edit: The last 3 coils I made showed tiny spaces under each wrap. It's always either too tight or too loose. Am I missing something?

I'm not sure if they do so in the video (it's a bit long to watch all that while I'm at my shop), but you can run the wire through a flame first to "anneal" it. This takes away a lot of the "springiness" of the wire, making wrapping a coil a lot easier. You can use a simple bic lighter; just pass the wire through the flame as it glows red. I believe I learned that method from Scott (igetcha69) on youtube.

 

[STVNMR]

I'm not sure if they do so in the video (it's a bit long to watch all that while I'm at my shop), but you can run the wire through a flame first to "anneal" it. This takes away a lot of the "springiness" of the wire, making wrapping a coil a lot easier. You can use a simple bic lighter; just pass the wire through the flame as it glows red. I believe I learned that method from Scott (igetcha69) on youtube.

Good call. I had forgotten that step a couple times, so I'm sure that made the problem worse. Will burning it for a longer period of time increase the annealing effect (as is it possible to heat it too long?), or is a quick pass with a lighter all that's necessary?

 

[donnah]

I watched zen build the ZAP and followed exactly what he did (on my vulcan/did clone) It works, wicks and tastes great.

 

[StaircaseWit]

Good call. I had forgotten that step a couple times, so I'm sure that made the problem worse. Will burning it for a longer period of time increase the annealing effect (as is it possible to heat it too long?), or is a quick pass with a lighter all that's necessary?

I've only ever done the quick pass with a lighter (making sure every bit of it glows at least briefly red), passing it over three times. It doesn't spring back anywhere near as much after that process. I just wrapped a darn-near perfect coil on a 6-32 machine screw and it had almost no spring-back at all.

As always, experiment. It's a learning process.

 

[STVNMR]

It does help with the springiness now that I'm taking more care to heat the wire thouroughly, but the first and last wraps on the end still don't hold their tension as much as I'd like. Even when I do get the wire snug all the way around, the first wrap from the positive leg always becomes a hot spot when I test fire it. I've tried scooting the coils around to make them wider or narrower, and on the few occasions when they seemed perfect and glowed almost evenly, that hot spot came back the minute I dripped juice onto the wick and my Provari gave me an E1/E2 error.

I wish I knew someone in TX that would let me watch them rebuild their wicks so I can figure out what exactly I'm doing wrong. I've followed the steps that others recommend in countless videos, and they make it look so easy, but there's got to be something I'm missing. My unusually low resistances I'm reading on every coil I make tells me I'm overlooking shorts every time, because the same number of wraps yields ~2ohms when I rewick with silica or cotton. I don't know what more I can do to oxidize my mesh, though, so I'm at a loss with this stuff.

I've seen how well mesh works on videos and read its praises in how-to threads, so I really want to make this stuff work. If anyone has detailed troubleshooting advice (I've already been through a couple troubleshooting threads without much luck) or has found a sure fire method to wrapping the perfect coil, please share whatever you knowledge you can offer. For those that have tried the cigarette paper method underneath the coils, does that help to make more even contact, and does the layer of carbon it creates stay put after burning away the excess, or does it burn off as well and leave gaps after a while? I'm going to give the cigarette paper a try tomorrow and see if that does anything for my shorts.

I appreciate all of your suggestions so far. I wouldn't get anywhere without this awesome online community of ours. Anything else you can tell me about each step in your methods - no matter how insignificant - could really help me pinpoint my problem, so please stick with me on this.

 

[budynbuick]

It does help with the springiness now that I'm taking more care to heat the wire thouroughly, but the first and last wraps on the end still don't hold their tension as much as I'd like. Even when I do get the wire snug all the way around, the first wrap from the positive leg always becomes a hot spot when I test fire it. I've tried scooting the coils around to make them wider or narrower, and on the few occasions when they seemed perfect and glowed almost evenly, that hot spot came back the minute I dripped juice onto the wick and my Provari gave me an E1/E2 error.

I wish I knew someone in TX that would let me watch them rebuild their wicks so I can figure out what exactly I'm doing wrong. I've followed the steps that others recommend in countless videos, and they make it look so easy, but there's got to be something I'm missing. My unusually low resistances I'm reading on every coil I make tells me I'm overlooking shorts every time, because the same number of wraps yields ~2ohms when I rewick with silica or cotton. I don't know what more I can do to oxidize my mesh, though, so I'm at a loss with this stuff.

I've seen how well mesh works on videos and read its praises in how-to threads, so I really want to make this stuff work. If anyone has detailed troubleshooting advice (I've already been through a couple troubleshooting threads without much luck) or has found a sure fire method to wrapping the perfect coil, please share whatever you knowledge you can offer. For those that have tried the cigarette paper method underneath the coils, does that help to make more even contact, and does the layer of carbon it creates stay put after burning away the excess, or does it burn off as well and leave gaps after a while? I'm going to give the cigarette paper a try tomorrow and see if that does anything for my shorts.

I appreciate all of your suggestions so far. I wouldn't get anywhere without this awesome online community of ours. Anything else you can tell me about each step in your methods - no matter how insignificant - could really help me pinpoint my problem, so please stick with me on this.

Bump for 'STVNMR'. Hope it works out for you.