The effort to match up the air holes on the AGA-Ts is A+ service in my book. I hope to have a review of some sort done soon.
Steam Monkey Product Updates and Discussion: Join the Troop!
- Thread starter Lance_Wallen
- Start date
- th_trl_thread_readers 0
- Status
tonight is date night with the wifey, so no videos tonight most likely. (keep the jokes to yourselves boys!), I'll do some filming thursday or friday though.
As far as the device... I can't talk about other folks products but let's say I've got 4 RBAs now, two of which cost me well over 100 bucks, two did not, the aga-t being one of them. I use my aga-t every day. The big wick hole is a huge plus for me. With a fat 500 mesh wick tight rolled in there and a 2.0ohm coil (currently using some 30awg) it can keep up with my chain vaping no problem. My only complaint is that it's heavy and the air holes don't line up right on most of them out of the box, but like I said... I've rectified that and am working with the company that makes them on eliminating that issue in the future. (you other vendors can thank me later
)
Hey Lance.. quick question on the AGA-T
The description on the website says "1 section blah blah blah SS blah blah Mesh"...
How big is one section? I assume it is not a 12x12 section, right?
The description on the website says "1 section blah blah blah SS blah blah Mesh"...
How big is one section? I assume it is not a 12x12 section, right?
nope, it's nto a 12x12 lol, that'd be a whole sheet
The peices are ~2inches by ~5-6 inches. When I process the 12x12 sheets, I have a strip left over, I cut that into ~2inch wide sections to put with the aga's to 'test' the different mesh. You also get ~6-8inches of each of my kanthal wires. It' sjust a goodie bag to try out all the wires/mesh types I sell so you can figure out what you need to stock up on.
If I was putting a whole sheet of each + 3ft of each wire, I'd have to raise hte price quite a bit.
The peices are ~2inches by ~5-6 inches. When I process the 12x12 sheets, I have a strip left over, I cut that into ~2inch wide sections to put with the aga's to 'test' the different mesh. You also get ~6-8inches of each of my kanthal wires. It' sjust a goodie bag to try out all the wires/mesh types I sell so you can figure out what you need to stock up on.
If I was putting a whole sheet of each + 3ft of each wire, I'd have to raise hte price quite a bit.
I figured it was a super market sampler size. Just enough to know if ya like it or not!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Nicely written. If I may offer some suggestions.
28 awg takes quite a lot of wire to get any semblance of "standard resistance', and you will definitely want to check the resistance before, and after wick installation if you're using that method (building coil, inserting wick). Even if it looks like it's glowing evenly, it can be shorting somewhere and creating a lower resistance.
I've found the 500 mesh to wick faster and better than the 400 across the board, I've also found that rolling it as tight as possible and as large as possible for your given wick hole tends to provide the best vapor. The 400 and 500 both use the same diameter wire in their weave, the 500 is just 'tighter'. Both of my meshes are twill weave so they've already got a pretty tight pattern.
The top leg hotspot is the bane of all new RBA builds. If your wick is perfectly vertical you probably have a decent run of wire going from the wick to the center post. Try shortening this run so the wick bends a little towards the center post. You'll get more hotspots initially from doing that but that +Leg burn will go away.
Be careful testing an extreme LR coil on the twist, ego batteries are good, but the draw from a real LR coil can over tax them. If the tube starts to feel hot, giver her a break
Thank you for the review, it was well written and you obviously did your research on the device before you started out. My first 4 days with an RBA were basically just me wasting kanthal and mesh lol.
28 awg takes quite a lot of wire to get any semblance of "standard resistance', and you will definitely want to check the resistance before, and after wick installation if you're using that method (building coil, inserting wick). Even if it looks like it's glowing evenly, it can be shorting somewhere and creating a lower resistance.
I've found the 500 mesh to wick faster and better than the 400 across the board, I've also found that rolling it as tight as possible and as large as possible for your given wick hole tends to provide the best vapor. The 400 and 500 both use the same diameter wire in their weave, the 500 is just 'tighter'. Both of my meshes are twill weave so they've already got a pretty tight pattern.
The top leg hotspot is the bane of all new RBA builds. If your wick is perfectly vertical you probably have a decent run of wire going from the wick to the center post. Try shortening this run so the wick bends a little towards the center post. You'll get more hotspots initially from doing that but that +Leg burn will go away.
Be careful testing an extreme LR coil on the twist, ego batteries are good, but the draw from a real LR coil can over tax them. If the tube starts to feel hot, giver her a break
Thank you for the review, it was well written and you obviously did your research on the device before you started out. My first 4 days with an RBA were basically just me wasting kanthal and mesh lol.
Nicely written. If I may offer some suggestions.
28 awg takes quite a lot of wire to get any semblance of "standard resistance', and you will definitely want to check the resistance before, and after wick installation if you're using that method (building coil, inserting wick). Even if it looks like it's glowing evenly, it can be shorting somewhere and creating a lower resistance.
I've found the 500 mesh to wick faster and better than the 400 across the board, I've also found that rolling it as tight as possible and as large as possible for your given wick hole tends to provide the best vapor. The 400 and 500 both use the same diameter wire in their weave, the 500 is just 'tighter'. Both of my meshes are twill weave so they've already got a pretty tight pattern.
The top leg hotspot is the bane of all new RBA builds. If your wick is perfectly vertical you probably have a decent run of wire going from the wick to the center post. Try shortening this run so the wick bends a little towards the center post. You'll get more hotspots initially from doing that but that +Leg burn will go away.
Be careful testing an extreme LR coil on the twist, ego batteries are good, but the draw from a real LR coil can over tax them. If the tube starts to feel hot, giver her a break
Thank you for the review, it was well written and you obviously did your research on the device before you started out. My first 4 days with an RBA were basically just me wasting kanthal and mesh lol.
Thanks for the tips. I'll redo the wick tonight, so I'll use 500 and try that. I think most of my problems were just shorts from not enough carbon buildup.
I've taken to torching my wick piece before I roll it too. Basically my build process is this: (and theres a billion different ways to do this)
1. Cut mesh to length/width with a little extra for trimming.
2. Torch mesh, front and back, not excessively but paying special attention to edges (helps you identify loose wires)
3. Fold one edge of the mesh over on itself and begin rolling from oppotise side (this puts a clean edge on the outside of your roll with no loose strands)
4. Torch mesh again, just to barely glowing inside the tip of a blue pointed flame.
(note, I do not do the 'burn off some juice' step anymore)
I make my wicks as tight and as thick as possible, this takes a sizeable piece of 500 after I've rolled the hell out of them. When rolling I leave 0 'center hole'.
5. Insert wick into device, all the way to the base. Trim the top right at the top of the center post.
6. start wrapping coil from the negative screw, as many wraps as desired, straigtening and spacing each wrap as I go with a toothpick/dental pick.
7. attach to positive post and tug the wick just a little bit to pull it as close to the positive post as I can without the wick actually touching.
8. put on a low voltage battery, either a twist cranked all the way down or the zmax cranked all the way down.
9. Dry fire to look for hotspots (note: no liquid is in the tank, none is on the wick, it has a cooling effect and can give you issues identifying shorts, etc).
10. Poke the coil up and down, adjusting to eliminate hotspots/shorts.
Once all the coils light up at approximately the same time and 'all' the coils light up, I'll check the resistance and juice it up.
I was wondering if torching before the roll would be better. Can I ask what size mesh you start with, and what your resulting resistance and number of coils is? This would give me a baseline to work from.
well, with the 500 I'm using a rather large piece. I havn't actually measured it, I think it's about 5 inches. (I'm using scraps from my bulk order to make my wicks so not a lot of reference points) and I roll it for a long time to get it as tight as possible.
As for the coils, currently I've got the 30 at about 7 wraps for ~1.7ohms. I think my bottom wrap is touching the base of the device though and negating part of that coil so it's hard to really define. This is why I love my zmax lol. VW makes it 'easy' once you've got the coils glowing evenly, who cares what the resistance is
As for the coils, currently I've got the 30 at about 7 wraps for ~1.7ohms. I think my bottom wrap is touching the base of the device though and negating part of that coil so it's hard to really define. This is why I love my zmax lol. VW makes it 'easy' once you've got the coils glowing evenly, who cares what the resistance is
Vivi nova video is almost complete. I'll do the aga-T video tomorrow and I"m doing some comprehensive wicking tests on my 400 and 500 mesh which I'll include results from in my mesh video.
just did some wick tests.
PG Test: 2"x1" section of 500 and 400 mesh, 2inches long, 1 inch wide, rolled tight in PG: same sized containers, same amount of liquid in each container, both wicks rolled to comparable tightness, no center hole, solid wick.
500 wicked faster, I lit the PG on fire and the 500 mesh not only kept the flame longer, it kept a larger flame, it was supplying more liquid at a faster rate.
400 did fine, more than enough to keep up with a vaper but just not quite as good as the 500.
VG Test: Same set up as the PG test, this was specifically to see if lower numbers matter. The 500 out performed the 400 again. I'm hesitant to order 325 mesh at this point because I'm not seeing any results that would point towards it being an improvement. This aws 100% vg and the 500 wicked faster and held a flame longer htan the 400, I can't imagine 325 being 'better' VG is 'thicker' so to speak but it's not about viscosity when you're dealing with capillary action like this.
Fat wicks: 400 and 500 mesh wicks, 2"x5" fat 2inch long wicks, one rolled tight of each mesh, one rolled with a paperclip hole in the center, same amount of PG in identical containers.
In all cases the tight wick, no hole, 500 mesh was the top performer, the 400 mesh I have is twill weave so it's also pretty dense, it kept up with the 500 nicely in the tightly rolled category but did lose in the end.
The center holed wicks did fine at first and wicked almost as quickly to the top as their tightly rolled counterparts, however during the burn test they died significantly faster an couldn't hold the flame which tells me I was seeing the outer edges where the most material was getting wet 'as fast' as the tight rolled wicks but overall less juice as moving up the wick over any given amount of time.
SO, my take aways... 400 is great, 500 is better, center hole is ok, tight wicks are better, 500 out performs 400 in 100% vg so theres no reason to go to a lower mesh count (in my mind).
I would be more than happy to hear other folks test results regarding the 325 and VG, that was my primary fact finding mission tonight, it's been pretty well established that a tight 500 mesh wick is a top performer. The 635 stuf that's available out there has shown only marginal improvements over the 500 and the cost difference is... significant. I don't plan on carrying the 635. If some one has some compelling tests as to why I should carry 325 I will consider it though
Thank you for tuning into the Monkey Science Channel, we now return you to your regularly scheduled poo flinging.
PG Test: 2"x1" section of 500 and 400 mesh, 2inches long, 1 inch wide, rolled tight in PG: same sized containers, same amount of liquid in each container, both wicks rolled to comparable tightness, no center hole, solid wick.
500 wicked faster, I lit the PG on fire and the 500 mesh not only kept the flame longer, it kept a larger flame, it was supplying more liquid at a faster rate.
400 did fine, more than enough to keep up with a vaper but just not quite as good as the 500.
VG Test: Same set up as the PG test, this was specifically to see if lower numbers matter. The 500 out performed the 400 again. I'm hesitant to order 325 mesh at this point because I'm not seeing any results that would point towards it being an improvement. This aws 100% vg and the 500 wicked faster and held a flame longer htan the 400, I can't imagine 325 being 'better' VG is 'thicker' so to speak but it's not about viscosity when you're dealing with capillary action like this.
Fat wicks: 400 and 500 mesh wicks, 2"x5" fat 2inch long wicks, one rolled tight of each mesh, one rolled with a paperclip hole in the center, same amount of PG in identical containers.
In all cases the tight wick, no hole, 500 mesh was the top performer, the 400 mesh I have is twill weave so it's also pretty dense, it kept up with the 500 nicely in the tightly rolled category but did lose in the end.
The center holed wicks did fine at first and wicked almost as quickly to the top as their tightly rolled counterparts, however during the burn test they died significantly faster an couldn't hold the flame which tells me I was seeing the outer edges where the most material was getting wet 'as fast' as the tight rolled wicks but overall less juice as moving up the wick over any given amount of time.
SO, my take aways... 400 is great, 500 is better, center hole is ok, tight wicks are better, 500 out performs 400 in 100% vg so theres no reason to go to a lower mesh count (in my mind).
I would be more than happy to hear other folks test results regarding the 325 and VG, that was my primary fact finding mission tonight, it's been pretty well established that a tight 500 mesh wick is a top performer. The 635 stuf that's available out there has shown only marginal improvements over the 500 and the cost difference is... significant. I don't plan on carrying the 635. If some one has some compelling tests as to why I should carry 325 I will consider it though
Thank you for tuning into the Monkey Science Channel, we now return you to your regularly scheduled poo flinging.
When my 500 Mesh gets here, I'll play around with it some and see if I can replicate your results. As I said in the other thread, I've come quite a way with my coil/wick building skills since the first time I tried 500.
Well I had to get it out anywhere I could, Lance Thanks for this deal and the hard work you put into these, it does mean a whole different experience for us vapers doing the ordering... I replied to Killnine's blog and then had to put up a repost in the Rebuildables section here:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...a-t-steammonkey-com-just-wow.html#post7974128
Thank you very much for the kind words. I have a feeling thats why I just got a monster run on 500mesh and ran out =\
And... bonus, my supplier is being elusive so my follow up order is backed up >< I'll have more in stock soon hopefully.
And... bonus, my supplier is being elusive so my follow up order is backed up >< I'll have more in stock soon hopefully.
I'm glad I got my order in then! Hopefully your supplier is quick to catch back up for your orders; your mesh prices are going to continue to bring you a lot of business.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked
- Locked