Terminator/Nautilus/Choddy/Oddy Clone Pics, Tip,Tricks and Quirks

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upsetter21

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Tried the Vaseline. When I crank the top cap all the way down, MP has so much resistance from the compressed o-ring, I can't even turn JF. It has to be sealed, esp. when it's wet with juice.

I agree. Crank the mouthpiece ring down to compress the top O-ring against the mouthpiece and create an airtight seal. Moistening that O-ring with a tiny smidge of Vaseline couldn't hurt, either. When you feel resistance opening and closing the juice control, then you've gotten the mouthpiece ring cranked down hard enough.
 

rojo

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Tried the Vaseline. When I crank the top cap all the way down, MP has so much resistance from the compressed o-ring, I can't even turn JF. It has to be sealed, esp. when it's wet with juice.

Haha you don't have to crank it that hard. Just hard enough so the mouthpiece twists with a little tactile feedback. I admire your tenacity, though!

Hmmm. You could try adding an o-ring above and below the neg. wire knurled retainer ring, sort of like Kir Fanis recommends with his Penelope Fat upgrade. Not sure that's a long-term solution, but it might at least keep you from giving up completely on your terms without having experienced their excellent flavor.
 

upsetter21

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Thanks Rojo. I have experienced the wonderful flavor - so I remain tenacious. I'm very humble right now. Have I already said I've been trying this ever since Stormy first got the Term's? Somewhere along the way I got fixated on using cotton wick, and now I question that. It is so much cheaper and easier to get - and this Italian all-natural stuff I have is very thirsty -wicks great!

I guess I'm go back to the drawing board, to do some experiments like DW but I'm going to use water. I've dumped at least $50 of e-juice down the drain while screwing with these Term's.
 

UA72Riddle

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Well, what I would start with is putting everything back to original....orings, tanks, etc..

I have a spare oring kit if you don't want to invest anymore money in it. I can always get another one later, all of mine are in good shape and working perfectly.

I know it is still a little bit away, but it will be a good idea to figure this out before your kayfun upgrade comes in or you will have the same problem with it.
 

upsetter21

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"I know it is still a little bit away, but it will be a good idea to figure this out before your kayfun upgrade comes in or you will have the same problem with it."

Gulp! You're right! I hadn't thought of that!...

I'm following your advice UA72Riddle. I have a nice clean towel out with all clean parts laid out in an organized fashion. Thank you for offering up some O-rings; I think my stockpile is looking good for the moment. I'm working in natural light, and closely inspecting every component. I can't believe the variations I'm finding between parts as far as tolerances between threaded components.

I've selected the "best of" parts to build at least one solid complete atty. Starting with a genuine GGTS base, have assembled the positive post with one standard Terminator bottom O-ring, then the knurled knut, then the post shoulder, then the smaller insulating O-ring, against the Ceramic Housing, and through-bolted to the ceramic holder nut inside the cup - in that order. I have threaded the rebuildable portion down until the lower O-ring makes contact with 4 strands of cotton stuffed in the channels and pulled across the coil area. I have a rampage "large" clear tank, and rampage large MP so I can get as much water weight as possible and still see what's happening with bubbles and such.

For about 30 mins now it's sitting and holding water with the juice flow open wide. I'm thinking this thing is sealed. In fact if I crack open the top cap, the water all starts running out. That tells me, I'm achieving the vacuum that is necessary to keep the fluids in unless being vaped upon.

I guess I'll coil it up and see what happens. This all BTW is not very fun when you're running low on juice. I have my last 7ml of Houseblend sitting here waiting for a perfect atty. I have to laugh at myself right about now because smoking analogues was a lot easier.
 

Vego

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When I close my flow control firmly for whatever reason, I've discovered that sometimes, when going to open it up again, it seems to 'catch hold of' the thread ring below it and loosens that... ie they unscrew together. In fact, I'm experiencing it right now. Quite a pita. I know you're much farther along with the Term than I am, upsetter, so this may be something you're already aware of, and I apologize for wasting your time, but I wonder if you've closely inspected the flow control opening action to make sure this is not happening?
 

rojo

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For about 30 mins now it's sitting and holding water with the juice flow open wide. I'm thinking this thing is sealed. In fact if I crack open the top cap, the water all starts running out. That tells me, I'm achieving the vacuum that is necessary to keep the fluids in unless being vaped upon.

I guess I'll coil it up and see what happens. This all BTW is not very fun when you're running low on juice. I have my last 7ml of Houseblend sitting here waiting for a perfect atty. I have to laugh at myself right about now because smoking analogues was a lot easier.

I've done that before. I'll have a term all filled and innocent looking with no leaks. Then as soon as I fire up the coil or draw on the mouthpiece, the term says "ha ha they said I could be anything I wanted, so I became a sieve!"

Better wait til you have more juice before troubleshooting further.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2
 

bwxdme

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i finally took the plunge, after watching many videos and reading how-to's. i initially thought terms were just too much work. but now that i got my hands of them all i have to say is that I LOVE THEM! i went from having none to having a terminator v1, terminator-c v1, euforia (amazing) and a tobeco oddy(surprisingly better than what people say about them sanded it down and smoothed out the threads not bad for the price). of course in the end i can't keep them all which is sad.
 

upsetter21

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Indeed Vego. I experience this also. In fact I believe it explains the vaping with JF control closed scenario.

When I close my flow control firmly for whatever reason, I've discovered that sometimes, when going to open it up again, it seems to 'catch hold of' the thread ring below it and loosens that... ie they unscrew together. In fact, I'm experiencing it right now. Quite a pita. I know you're much farther along with the Term than I am, upsetter, so this may be something you're already aware of, and I apologize for wasting your time, but I wonder if you've closely inspected the flow control opening action to make sure this is not happening?
 

Vego

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Yeah, just another facet in the learning curve for me with the Term. I gotta remember to tighten that ring down real firm. Believe me, I share just about the same experience as you... sheer vaping bliss one moment, then all of a sudden, gurgles and leaks and waste of juice. If it didn't vape so good when it's kickin' I'd of put it away for good long ago.
 

rojo

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Whenever mine has leaked, I recover the leaked juice by squeezing the air from my juice bottle and letting the bottle slurp the leaked juice from my battery mod's juice well. Sometimes the recovered juice is a little darker, and sometimes it feels as crass as choosing to snort rather than blowing your nose; but this juice is precious, dammit.

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StaircaseWit

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Sometimes my Term is OK, but even on a build that works for a couple days, I just don't know when the next gurgle will pop up. I've even been able to vape with juice flow closed sometimes. I'm practically totally defeated - making my vape-ego very low.

I have long, medium, short MP's, Kir Fanis tanks, Rampage tanks, upgraded O-rings, tobeco lock-ring available, etc. etc. I mean I've really dived in on these. All along I've been reading a practicing, and blabby blah. I thought for a long time I would just need to learn my way on these, but I'm totally stumped at this point - moving toward totally bummed. I can't even begin to think of the vape gear I passed up while feeding money to my Terms.

The causes of 'gurgling' since I've had my term are very limited, and I've only experienced it a couple times:

If the NR wire is fat (I think it's 30g, but I didn't buy it so I'm not sure) and you try to lock it under the knurled ring, it will literally feed juice through the 'crack' and cause gurgling. (I know this is mentioned a bunch of times in this thread, but it bears repeating for those struggling).

The mouthpiece can easily cross-thread on the ceramic housing's outer threads, causing it to sit crooked and let juice into the channels. Make sure it's on there dead-straight (again, mentioned a bunch of times elsewhere).

And the recently discussed top o-ring seal. I crank mine down very tight and it's never too tight to restrict mouthpiece rotation, so I'm not sure what's happening there. I'd replace all the o-rings with a stock set from SVC, since the source of some of the parts seems in question.

Otherwise it vapes like a dream. I've never had a more consistent vaping device, including the euforia that performs almost as well, if a bit more finicky.
 

UA72Riddle

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As far as the ring turning when you loosen the mouthpiece, look at it carefully. Both of mine have a flat side, and the other side with a corner sanded down slightly.

But, I have also ground down the oversized base of the mouthpiece removing all of the knurling. With that removed, it might be helping to stop that as there isn't an edge there to catch on the knurling of the ring.
 

Jimmy_Noname

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So I've had my Term v2 for a little over a week now, and I absolutely love it. No leaking, gurgling, or flooding issues yet (grounded the negative around the wick inside the base). But my issue is with vapor production. Flavor is there, sometimes too much, throat hit is the same, but I'm not getting the plumes I see in videos I just get a very thin vapor. The coil I have in there now is at 2~ohms, I'm gonna try and rebuild it at lower resistance to see if I can fix it, but I don't see why 2ohms would be THIS poor. Just wanted to get your guys' opinions on the matter.
 

dwcraig1

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So I've had my Term v2 for a little over a week now, and I absolutely love it. No leaking, gurgling, or flooding issues yet (grounded the negative around the wick inside the base). But my issue is with vapor production. Flavor is there, sometimes too much, throat hit is the same, but I'm not getting the plumes I see in videos I just get a very thin vapor. The coil I have in there now is at 2~ohms, I'm gonna try and rebuild it at lower resistance to see if I can fix it, but I don't see why 2ohms would be THIS poor. Just wanted to get your guys' opinions on the matter.

And are you using a mechanical mod or variable voltage?
 

Vego

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This recent discussion of the top o-ring has helped me greatly tonight. I set it in there carefully, pressed it down snug with a poker, then tightened the crap out of it. For the first time, I experienced the slight resistence of the flow control mentioned here. Never had that before. Term has been rock solid for 6 hours now.

Of course, now that I spoke those last words, the Terminator Demons are going to mock me with massive leaking any minute now... I just know it. :D

Thanks for that tid bit, Riddle... I'll have to inspect the ring on mine and see what's doing.
 
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