SS mesh wick help

[jharres]

Can anyone point me to a good tutorial on making SS wicks? I tried my first one tonight, using 500 stainless mesh, rolled tight. I have wrapped several coils and I just can't get them to fire properly. The top section between the wick and the positive post gets glowing red, but the rest doesn't. I've tried tweaking the coil and wick and the best I can do is get rid of the glowing top link, but the rest of the coil fires at ridiculously low levels. I've wrapped coils with kanthal 28 and 30, 4 up to 8 coils to no avail. Help!!!


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[jharres]

My apologies, that was a bit of a desperate post. It was 1:30 in the morning and I was really frustrated. I had been jacking with that stupid thing for hours and just couldn't get it working properly.

Here is a little bit of more useful information. I ordered an AGA-T+ from Steam Monkey. It came with a roughly 2"x4" sheet of 500 SS mesh. I rolled the whole thing into a nice, tight wick (folded over the outside end), cut it to length and did 4-5 rounds of burning the juice on the end where the coil would go. Of note, I did not torch the mesh before rolling it, nor did I burn juice on the entire length of the wick, just the area that was to be above the top of the tank.

The first coil I did was with 30 awg kanthal, wrapped snug, but not tight. I put a 5/4 coil on it and attached it to the atty. I started with a glowing top lead, though after some tweaking was able to get about 1/2 the coil to glow. After further tweaking, it was back to the glowing top lead and I ended up popping the coil at the top.

When I went to build a second coil, I grabbed some 28 awg and did the same setup. Same issues with the glowing top lead. I snugged the wires down around the contacts and then wasn't able to get any of it to glow. It was firing, just really weak. I tweaked and tweaked the coils, the wick and what not and somehow ended up getting it to work. Though, with the 28 awg, I couldn't get away from the burning taste. So, begrudgingly, I took that off and rebuilt it again.

I went through 3 or 4 more coils, all with the exact same symptoms/results. I know, I know, insanity and doing things the same... I guess there was a bit of hope that I was just one tweak away from getting it to work, after all, I had gotten it to work once before... Anyhow, after getting so frustrated I wanted to throw the thing, I posted my previous post.

Through the whole process, the SS mesh wick was delivering the juice quite well, I just couldn't get a good coil to vaporize the stuff! I think I probably went through 3 entire tanks of juice just messing with this thing.

Best I can figure is I have a short, but I'm not completely sure, as this is the first time I've done the SS mesh wick on a genesis style atty. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience and can offer some tips or tricks to help me on my way? I have watched several videos and done lots of reading own how to build them, but apparently missed something...



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[jharres]

After doing some more reading, I'm starting to wonder if I have the coils wrapped too tightly around the SS wick?

 

[kingpin0089]

I've had the same issues getting my AGA T+ set up. I found many helpful tutorial vids on Youtube showing how to roll and oxidize the wick, as well as wrap the coil and work out the hot spots. Hope that helps.

 

[jharres]

Are you doing a full oxidation as well as torching the SS prior to rolling it? Part of my problem is that the information is inconsistent. Some folks say you have to have this full ritual of torching and oxidation, some say it's not necessary, other say just to oxidize the top part that the coil wraps around, etc... I just want to get this thing working. Maybe I just need to order more 500 SS and try several methods until I get one to work.

 

[Ohfreak]

If the hot spot is where the post and wick is loosen up the tension there maybe that's what helped mine fire up evenly.. And maybe try to get wick close to the post as possible too.. In a YouTube video I saw some twist the wire on top before too

 

[tartanraven]

the secret is twofold. Cut your mesh on the diagonal.....burn the mesh till it's all nice and dark grey, then roll it up (no quenching nonsense) and give it another burn till it's glowing...then when you wrap your coils..."hug the wick, dont strangle it". Some lean the wick into the centre post, I dont. You can oxidise your wire if you choose, just dont over-do it or it will become too brittle when fired. REMEMBER, wet coils do not glow. If you use the drill bit method, pulse fire your coil about five times to "set" it before you drop in the wick......again, it should hug the wick, not strangle it.

 

[tartanraven]

Use what works, but I have set up a LOT of RBA's and own 11 of them.

 

[jharres]

Ok, a friend of mine sent me an AC9 clone and I attempted to set it up today. I made a solid core wick of 400 SS Mesh. I torched it prior to rolling and again after I rolled it tight (no oxidation). I wrapped a kanthal 30 awg, 4/5 coil around a drill bit, got it mounted and pulsed it 5-6 times. I put the wick in and pulsed it a few more times. After a couple of adjustments of the coil, I added juice and its been working like a champ. First try on the AC9 and this thing is rockin', clouds of warm and tasty vapor.

So, feeling good from my success, I repeated these steps on my AGA-T+ and no love. All the same problems as before. After tweaking and playing, I got about half the coils to fire, but that is about it. I'm really beginning to regret buying the AGA-T+.


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[Ink Stained]

I never had any real luck with the aga myself to be honest. I mean it worked, just not like it should. try loosing your coils up a little and see what happens. It is supposed to be the best out there, but the t2 is far better in my opinion.

 

[urby2112]

Heres something that helped me after like 50 videos. I think I saw one of Zen rolling a wick. Before I coil I drop some clear vg on the wick and light it with a lighter. As soon as I see the blue flame I blow it out. It will light once more and I blow out again. Do this procedure once more. This gives a carbon layer to further aid the oxidation and prevent shorts.

I wrap on a straightened small paperclip. I wrap counter clockwise to shorten the distance between neg and positive posts. You should be able to move the coil on the wick while twisting. If not it's too tight.

When I attach to the atty, I put the wire on the side opposite of the direction the nut or screw turns, so not like an electrician would where the cut end of the wire follows the direction of the screw turning. I noticed that if you do it that way the tightening of the screw tightens the coil as well. Same on negative and positive screws.

Put the completed atty on a VV at 3V and dry fire to check and stroke with paperclip WHILE they are glowing. Be careful not to short them. Something happens if you do it while firing that just fixes the hot spot, but it does not work if you fire, stop, tweak, fire, etc.

32ga kanthal and 400 mesh seems to work best for me. I don't anneal (pre burn the kanthal) as some suggest.

I hope you can draw something out of this that helps. Stick with it though. When you find that one little tweak that makes it work for you , you'll never look back. My wicks last for months and I only change because of flavor bleed when switching juices.

GL Brother!

 

[rolf]

just a thought ...I saw a thread about using a very thin cotton layer on a wick . turn your wick on a cotton makeup ball to pick up and roll it on ...not to much so .also have it go a little down on the wick where it could shorten to the negative tank.
just don't dryburn fill your tank ..a drop of yuce on the coil and vape away .
never had a problem since no matter what method I use to wind my coils ....remember wet coils don't glow

 

[tsunami987]

I just recently started getting into using my aga-t2... I had originally tried build protank replacement coils with ss mesh and I kept getting shorts and such. I figured it'd be much easier to do with the t2, but it wasn't. After several different wicks (I have serious problems getting them rolled to the right size and then staying well rolled) and tries on the coil, I decided to try the cig paper trick. Well, I didn't have any rolling paper, I used an old wick, and my coils are somewhat too big, but it still works. I have hotspots, but when I have time to go get something to keep the wick stable while wrapping and I grab some actual rolling paper, I think it'll work well.

I am curious though... How do people roll mesh so well? The only thing I can think of is just oxidizing the .... out of it before rolling, but that seems to make it harder to roll anyway.

Edit: For clarification, I used some paper from a cig tube from my SYO days... I think my big issue there was using too much so that the coils were visibly way the heck off of the wick.

 

[phee]

I have been messing with my AGA-T on and off for months and the wick has always been a problem for me. I can get the coils right quite easily, even glow with almost no effort but getting the mesh to wick juice is my issue. I've tried every method out there: nail, paperclip, rolling-paper; little oxidization, a lot of oxidization, even over-kill oxidization; different mesh amounts, angle cuts, straight cuts - i can't get the thing to wick right at all. It's been a long journey and I'm still not where I want to be at but I haven't given up yet, any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated.

 

[scooterholic]

I had good luck learning from eHuman http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ly-opportunities-hone-your-skills-part-1.html. You could try to make your own ceramic wick (no hot spots) I love this setup but it's to fragile for me at work starts on about page 21, http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/362182-next-big-thing-porous-ceramic-wicks.html. This is my current setup wicks awesome, with the coil on the wick then torch and twist, it all gets oxidized together I have only had miner hot spot issues http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/rebuildable-atomizer-systems/398282-victory-over-aga-t.html I used 400 ss and cut it straight and it still works great. I hope this helps.

 

[toughguitar]

I wrap the mesh with a straightened paper clip in the middle. Leave the clip in while wrapping the coil, and gently remove before pulsing. Since using this method, never have a wicking problem.Use a small piece of rolling paper around wick where you wrap coil and make the distance between the wick and center post as short as possible. Pulse the coils slowly until they all glow evenly, this was the hardest part for me to learn, but with each setup it gets easier. I've had successful builds with mesh that has been torched, partially torched and not torched at all, with the same results. Don't try so hard, you'll get it.

 

[Ebred]

The big thingnwith the ac9 clone aka Smoktech RSST is the wick hole is insulated and the tank has a plastic bottom. No grounding. I did a minimal burn on the wick. Used the pulse method until everything was glowing, done. Took about 15 minutes the first time. That wick and coil lasted about a month and a half. The only reason it didn't last longer was my fault bthe topmwas getting a little ugly. So I unwrapped the coil to clean the mesh. When i put it back together I broke the Kanthal wire. I'm using the same mesh going on 2 months now. I can't see any reason bthe mesh will ever go bad. Will it? When it gets a mess I just burn it, rinse and it looks good as new.

 

[phee]

I figured out my issue's got to be oxidization. Sometimes under, sometimes over - I've recently switched to SS cable and was still getting .9ohms on a 5/6 wrap, it shorts somewhere. I've ditched the SS wrap over the SS cable and have gone with using a SC116 diaper and that solved all of my problems. I've rebuilt my AGA-T 60+ times now and it's never been as flawless as using a silica diaper, I'm betting that if I had started out with an RSST I wouldn't have had these issues because of the insulation wick hole but all is finally well! I got an RSST and SSmesh wick with a silica diaper and that thing too, is now flawless.

Ceramic is very tempting but hearing about how fragile it is, I'm going to stay away for now.

Looking into ekowool for better flavor but I'm hearing mixed opinions (it vs SC), I'll probably pickup some cotton and try that as well.

In short, having a non-conductive buffer between my wick and my coil solved 100% of my issues.