The Billow v2!

[Mad Scientist]

hi Mad, thanks for taking the time to read into my situation.
Tried the wicking like you had described on the previously built 2.5mm coil, followed by newly built 2mm coil, and both did not work. A little disheartening. Do you own a Subtank Mini, and what would you say the differences are between them in regards to flavor?

Havent used my STM in a while so hard to say. I would say when the wicking is just right, billow v2 is very close to a dripper with an identical build. It is fussy to get the wicks just right though -- I think it's the juice channels being just a bit small. Over the past week or so it was driving me crazy and I thought maybe it was the cold weather thickening the juice or barometric pressure or just the demon in the machine lol. I'm still not sure exactly what the solution is other than just enough but not too much wick density and just enough but not too much tail length. I fuss with it until it gets going well but I can't get to the point where I could exactly reproduce exactly what I did to get it going without at least a little more fussing at the next wick replacement time. It seems it does have to be "just right" otherwise it's just not.

Right now it's wicking like a champ -- on that razor's edge just short of leaking but without leaking, 80/20 VG/PG.

I do have a Goliath v2 inbound. I'm interested to see how that one does in comparison.

 

[heliguy]

Well guys I just tried rayon for the first time. Just finished wicking my Billow about ten minutes ago. Back to back hits as long as I could pull and not a single dry hit. Couldn't do that with cotton. I think I'm a converter! I don't even know what to do with this 500ft box I have. Its enough for a 100 life times. I'm getting a huge nic Buzz at 6mg. Might have to cut it down.l

 

[Mad Scientist]

Well guys I just tried rayon for the first time. Just finished wicking my Billow about ten minutes ago. Back to back hits as long as I could pull and not a single dry hit. Couldn't do that with cotton. I think I'm a converter! I don't even know what to do with this 500ft box I have. Its enough for a 100 life times. I'm getting a huge nic Buzz at 6mg. Might have to cut it down.l

That it good to hear. I have a box coming from Amazon but it won't get here until next week.

I've read that the rayon needs to be pretty tight in the coil. Can you share what procedure you used -- I'm curious about how much to use and what works (and doesn't lol).

 

[heliguy]

Really I just kinda guessed as I read you needed more than cotton as it shrinks. I read the first 125 pages of this thread while I was waiting for my rayon. I'm new to rtas so I'm just a few weeks into cotton as well. I used enough that I was able to tightly pull about 1/3 through before it stopped without distorting my coil. At that point I twisted the rayon a few turns to be able to pull it through the rest of the way. Then I untwisted it a few turns. To tell you the truth I may have gone a little overboard on the amount but I wanted to err on the side of to much than to little.

The one interesting thing I noticed is I'm getting crackling when I'm taking pulls. With cotton when it starts to crackle it means I'm about to get a dry hit. With rayon it crackles the whole time. Not sure if this means I used to much and I'm choking it off a little. Either way it's hitting like a champ!

 

[heliguy]

Also are you sure you got 100 percent rayon from amazon? When I looked it was the cotton type?

 

[gone3uo6]

Crackling usually comes from thin wicks in my experience and I think it might be from pockets of air or voids in your wick...I crackle all day long


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[Mad Scientist]

Also are you sure you got 100 percent rayon from amazon? When I looked it was the cotton type?

Yup. There are at least three if not four different kinds, all called cellucotton. The one we want is 100% rayon without the internal reinforcement cords. The "part" number is 44130 for the 40' box.

 

[Zuhaili]

Dual twisted 28awg, 7 wraps, 3mm ID, 0.4 ohms.
Awesome vapor and flavor production at 40 to 50 watts! Doesnt suck juice so much actually and wicking was fine with diy 90/10 vg/pg.

 

[CaliVaper]

Got my drip tips from FT the other day. Paid AVG ~$2.50 each, not sure if they're authentic or not and don't care, look great on this RTA.

The 2puffs is definitely my favorite, and hits the best too. Not a fan of the "shorty" drip tips, so I bought the cheap crappy "marble" looking delrin/glass one just for the longer glass. The specs were off by a .1mm or so, so I wasn't sure if it would fit good, but it does . Left most drip tip is the stock BV2 tip.

 

[gone3uo6]

No more cracked tanks!


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[CbrVapeRR]

Looking at that deck, with it's designed layout. It appears that with the right build, you could have simular flavor characteristics as an Orchid RTA. Can anyone whose used an Orchid, attest to this? Because my trigger is very close to being pulled on this one! I try to only buy vape gear that really works for me (less is more attitude) . But this one has caught my attention.....

I don't know if you have picked up the billow V2 yet, if not go for it! I went from an orchid v4 to this and never looked back! I build dual 2.5mm 8 wraps 26ga wick with rayon. Ohms right around .5, flavor is spot on. I can go a couple weeks on a build before needing to re wick. It's atop a smpl ss mod and looks/works killer.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Well my Billow V2's are officially getting their gold watches for retirement to my almost ran drawer. After wicking a few different attys with rayon, and using 80% VG juice, the differences in performance become crystal clear. While it was a great performer and one of the best designs out there, the juice channels are just too small. No easy fix for that. Attys with larger juice channels allow the rayon wick to bring the vape to the next level.

Sorry Billow V2, but you are just so June, 2015. Four months ago you were the best. Now you've earned a leisurely retirement lol. Here's to hoping there's a V3 with enormous juice channels.

 

[gone3uo6]

Well my Billow V2's are officially getting their gold watches for retirement to my almost ran drawer. After wicking a few different attys with rayon, and using 80% VG juice, the differences in performance become crystal clear. While it was a great performer and one of the best designs out there, the juice channels are just too small. No easy fix for that. Attys with larger juice channels allow the rayon wick to bring the vape to the next level.

Sorry Billow V2, but you are just so June, 2015. Four months ago you were the best. Now you've earned a leisurely retirement lol. Here's to hoping there's a V3 with enormous juice channels.

What are you moving on to?


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[heliguy]

How are the juice channels to small for you? Im wicking with rayon and can chain vape as much as I want without a single dry hit. As long as your not getting dry hits what is a larger juice channel going to do? Im just curious. Im also using like 95 VG and dont have a single problem.

Also, This is my first RTA so take that with a grain of salt. Im really glad I got the billow though. It has far exceeded my expectations in every way. I only had one issue with a bad o-ring when I recieved it. Besides that it has worked perfectly. I have even had it lay on its side overnight without a single leak. Im really liking the rayon too. Im on day 11 of my first rayon wick and have ran 110 ml through it. The wick is as white as day 1 and still tastes great! The coils are looking a little dark though but still tastes great. Part of me wants to rewick this weekend just to dry burn the coils but another part of me wants to see how many ml I can put through this thing before the wick needs to be replaced.

 

[gone3uo6]

Higher Than 30 VG in the Billow has definitely given me issues


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[heliguy]

Are you using Cotton? Im new to RTAs but I first wicked with Japanese Cotton and would get dry hits if I took to long of a pull or chain vaped. This was using about 70VG 30PG. Then I switched to Rayon and I can chain vape all day long on 95VG without a single dry hit no matter how hard I try. I dont think I could ever go back to cotton. Rayon wicks so fast its crazy.

 

[gone3uo6]

I use cotton but have used rayon. I happen to enjoy 70/30 anyways so it does bother me!


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[heliguy]

OK, I guess I do understand how the juice channels are too small for some people then. I was even having problems before I switched to rayon. Didn't even think of that before. Luckily the rayon fixed the issue for me at least.

 

[CbrVapeRR]

With the rayon I've learned to trim the tails really thin, like at least 50% the thickness, that way the important part of the wick(in the coil) is being delivered the juice. I vape at 90-95vg and since figuring the wicking don't have any issues. I'm sorry to hear others are, as I feel this is a stellar tank.

 

[Kloudz]

I use rayon and use "loose" wicking and run 90vg at 70 watts without a single issue. Must be user error.