SS Mesh: torch, burn with juice or do not oxidize?

[ForeverDiving]

I've been building my SS wicks with SS 350, 400 & 500 mesh. I've also seen several guides and tutos instructing the torching, torching and then burning with e-juice and, recently, some advocating just making and mounting the coil, oxidizing by dry burning and then just place the wick inside.

My procedure so far involves fully torching the mesh several times and then rolling the wick and burning it with ejuice some five times. I place my coils in place before inserting the wick and it never has given me a short. They also seem to last forever.

What do you suggest is necessary? Recent articles I've read suggest torching is not necessary if the coil is well burned previously.

 

[vapdivrr]

When gennys first came out, everyone torched, so that is what I did. I pre torched the mesh slightly. I then rolled mesh up fairly tight. Once wick was rolled, I then torched then quench. I did this like 3xs. Once this was done, I juice burned X 2. I then installed wick in hole, then made my wraps. This method was indestructible for a long time and produced some of the best flavor I ever had. When pulse burning became popular, I tried it and it worked really well. I just slightly torched mesh before rolling, then twisted up wick, installed it in wick hole, then wrapped coil. At this point it's best with a mech mod to pulse oxidized the mesh. The coil only oxidizes the mesh under the coil and that is all you need. I liked the fact that my wick wasn't as dark and it had minimum oxidation. In the end the performance of both methods seemed about the same

 

[Rule62]

When gennys first came out, everyone torched, so that is what I did. I pre torched the mesh slightly. I then rolled mesh up fairly tight. Once wick was rolled, I then torched then quench. I did this like 3xs. Once this was done, I juice burned X 2. I then installed wick in hole, then made my wraps. This method was indestructible for a long time and produced some of the best flavor I ever had. When pulse burning became popular, I tried it and it worked really well. I just slightly torched mesh before rolling, then twisted up wick, installed it in wick hole, then wrapped coil. At this point it's best with a mech mod to pulse oxidized the mesh. The coil only oxidizes the mesh under the coil and that is all you need. I liked the fact that my wick wasn't as dark and it had minimum oxidation. In the end the performance of both methods seemed about the same

Yep. Everyone, including myself, used to torch the crap out of their mesh when they first started. I was never big on quenching, however, because it made the wick brittle, and it seemed to be counter productive. The layer of oxidation on these brittle wicks scraped off easily.
As time went on, those of us who have continued to use mesh are torching less and less. Personally, I just lightly torch my piece of mesh before I roll it. Then I roll it up; size it to the coil, which I've already installed and fired a couple times; slide the rolled wick down through the coil; and pulse out the hot spots. Some times, I may drip a couple drops of juice on the wick, before I install it, and light it with a lighter, to burn it off before installing. This just gets rid of whatever oil might have been on my fingers during rolling.
Here's a pic of one of my pulse oxidized set ups.

 

[CloudZ]

Like the others, I lightly torch the piece of mesh before rolling to clean it then roll the wick. Since I use an RSST, I don't need to oxidize most of the wick. I don't like the pulse method, and I've had better luck torching the tip of the wick where the coils wrap around. I will just get it red hot for a few seconds and let it cool down slowly. After that I wrap the coil and fix all the shorts and hot spots. Drip a little juice, fire the coil and adjust a few times until it seems stable. Then I fill and vape.

 

[WattWick]

I roll it and give it a juice burn. No torching, no quenching. Partially to clean it, partially to get an initial layer of oxidation. I find juice burning does not affect flavor or make the wicks brittle like a full-on scorching session does. Pulsing is also quicker and easier. I wrap directly onto the wick, tho... so I may have tighter coil tension than those who use the drillbit method. I imagine the latter makes pulsing an unoxidized wick easier.

Same as CloudZ I also drip a little juice and fire up the wick after initial setup. Some times I get hotspots after this. Once done, the setup is reliable for a very long time.

 

[ForeverDiving]

Thanks guys! I plan to rebuild my Dome clone tonight and will use unoxidized mesh. I like to preinstall my coils on the deck as I seldom seem to be able to wrap a good one directly on the installed wick; I'm always getting uneven firing and hot spots.

In any case, I seem to be oscillating constantly between vacuum tanks (aka Kayfun-likes), drippers and gennys. All have their very distinct characters and have become for me an analogy of smoking a given tobacco blend in different pipes (straight, bent; small, medium or large sized bowls; briar, meerschaum, corn cob; shorties, churchwardens, etc...). It all resumes to variety and I've found that in vaping hardware.

What I constantly do is experiment with different kinds of wicks; mesh, SS cable, mesh sleeved silica or cotton threaded ekowool sleeved in mesh (a big favorite). I also have been very successful with bare cotton braid, or just plain cotton, on my gennys but with the all the downsides of the stuff, namely no dry firing and thus gunked coils in less than a tankful.

Gennys are a bit quirky, specially with their demand to be kept upright, but I keep them ready at home and office since the builds seem to last forever. I just rinse and dry fire them when empty and they're as good as new (or newly built). So far I haven't shorted or burnt a coil except to impertinence.

Another related Q. Do you find new SS wicks to be piquant? I hardly can stand the chile pepper hit I get in the throat from new ones, even tho I use 0 nic or at the most very low concentrations for taste on bland juices (5mg). They do sweeten about halfway through the tank tho.

 

[WattWick]

I think most of the initial off-flavors can be avoided by not oxidizing a lot and cleaning the wick after rolling it. If you want to go really OCD about it, try running a little pure PG through the system before putting proper e-liquid in it. I do that when I change flavors or after a dry burn.

One trick to stop gennies from leaking is to minimize the fill hole size. E-liquid bottle nozzles may fix it for you. You don't need a big opening to prevent negative pressure in the tank by letting air in. ... and with just a tiny hole no liquids will get out. May take some experimentation to find the perfect compromise.

I've also found that with wire rope at 2.5mm or more (YMMV), I can plug all deck holes and still get good wicking. I make sure the mesh sleeve extends down into the wick hole to avoid seepage.

I left a gennie sitting upside-down over night just to prove to myself gennies don't have to leak. Whenever I go out, I keep a couple gennies pocketed, too. They're usually on their side and won't leak.

 

[ForeverDiving]

Excellent tips every one of them! Actually my gennies have their fill holes plugged; two RSSTs and one Dome. The former have a silicon plug and the latter a screw (plus metal plugs for the unused wick holes). I've left gennies on the side but with the wick facing 12 o'clock; no problem. I fear if the wick is at 6 o'clock they will seep substantially overnight. Even vacuum tanks do.

Sometimes when I'm carryng them in a pouch or satchel I find them all wet on the outside because of pressure or temperature changes. We're on the hurricane season and temperature, humidity and pressure can change dramatically during the day. Kayfuns, Foggers, Aga-T⁷, Nautilus, Clearos, all leak! Just a little most of the time but the do so. Oddly enough, most dripper keep dry on the outside unless wholly flooded.

Haven't tried the gennies tho. The only tank I've found to be leakproof is the Aerotank. Pity the puny heads (although there seems to be someone making them in 1Ω resistance now, I might try some).

 

[AMDTrucking]

Youde (UD) AGA-T6 . Is it a perfect Genesis Tank?
I was looking for that perfect Genesis Tank forever. I have almost all of the once available on the market. Finally I bought AGA-T6 thinking this could be the one! It is an interesting Upside-Down Genesis Tank with cooler vapor and gravity fed liquid down to the wicks.
I tried SS Mash, SS Rope with Ekowool sleeve around it and strait Cotton wicking. It vapes nice. It never goes dry. There is no need to tilt it to get wet. And the vapor is cooled then regular Genny. And it doesn’t leak when placed Upside-Down. BUT, it now leaks when placed Right-side-Up. Even though, I plugged my Mash wicks tight with cotton and installed a cotton pad underneath the wicks. It will transfer all the liquid from the tank down through the wicks slowly if left upright overnight. I could not find a permanent remedy other than storing it upside-down. Also, once built and assembled, and ready to fire – you have only two 6mm round access windows to work out your “Hot Spots”. That’s inconvenient. Yes, you can leave out that bottom outer portion and use an electrical wire jumper to connect the top part of the Atty to its bottom to provide Negative connection to the coil. That way you gain better access to your wicks and coils and adjust them while firing your device.
Here are my Mash and Cotton builds.

What is your experience with AGA-T6?