The ZAP Rebuildable atomizer (RBA)

[kiba]

ten chars of wrong page

you might also want to sand the top and bottom of the spring, pin, and post to get a better contact, use 800 and up. wet-sand. and make sure everything is perfectly flat (esp the top and bottom of the spring, it will help if you flatten it out a bit, since they are rounded just sand it flat), just gives it a better contact surface i pretty much do this with all contact surfaces in all my devices.

i noticed you had a black 'vari.... you can do the same thing to the ugly satin beaty ring, just sand with medium then fine emery then scotchpad then mothers polish, then scotchpad again then 800 wet sand under running water, ends up like this (on the left. before anyone says anything, the top cap is ugly bc its a 1st gen zap and zen top caps looked like that back in the day i cant do anything to it without removing the logo too. now they look nice n purty like the one in front)...

 

[MikeE3]

Looks like I have the coil portion of this mod pretty well figured out, now with a question.....how long should I expect the wick to last? it seems the wicking has slowed down from the begining (a week). I have to tilt it longer before I take a pull.
Same juice...by the way.

With periodic cleaning, like once a week, I've had wick/coils setups last 6 weeks to 2 months. When the coil get gunked up vapor production will fall off. Be patient if you dry-burn a coil to clean it if your setup includes the insulator. If you get the mesh too hot, you'll melt the wick to the insulator. Pulse, let cool, pulse, let cool - just repeat this process 'till the gunk turns to ash and brush it off. Then rinse under hot water.

 

[FrogHat]

With periodic cleaning, like once a week, I've had wick/coils setups last 6 weeks to 2 months. When the coil get gunked up vapor production will fall off. Be patient if you dry-burn a coil to clean it if your setup includes the insulator. If you get the mesh too hot, you'll melt the wick to the insulator. Pulse, let cool, pulse, let cool - just repeat this process 'till the gunk turns to ash and brush it off. Then rinse under hot water.

I'll give that a shot after this tank. I never thought about the wick sticking to the insulator....good call

 

[Nathanial]

I wrapped my own wick with 400x400 mesh today.. Torched it, quenched it, lit it on fire with VG, etc... It's nice and black like the "stock" wicks, but I'm finding I'm not getting as much vapor as I did with the stock wicks...

Any suggestions? Should I maybe wrap the wick tighter?

 

[ninfreak]

solid wicks!!!! big proponent of them

 

[ninfreak]

sadly the wicks zen supplies are garbage....they are just not dense enough.....if you vape 70pg/30vg liquids solid wicks are the way to go. high vg juices, a more straw like wick is better.

see the thing is the zen wicks don't wick, they drain. there is not enough mesh material to facilitate capillary action. the more mesh you cram into a given space the better the capillary action is

quoting myself from a few pages back cause i don't feel like typing it again

 

[Nathanial]

solid wicks!!!! big proponent of them

Well I rolled another wick as tight as I could, and it seems to be better. I'm pretty sure it's not an oxidization problem, like others have suggested.. I've got that part down. I've also gotten good at coils/getting rid of hot spots.. I can wrap a coil, and get it all going in about 2 minutes at this point...

I took a part one of the "stock" 325x325 wicks.. (I'm all out of 400x400) and noticed Zen's using about half the amount of mesh that I've been using!!

So perhaps I'll try again with roughly the same amount of mesh. It's not bad now, but it's not as good as I was getting before. Would you suggest I use less mesh?

Edit: I ordered some mesh from ElectronicStix, as well as one of the pre-rolled wicks they have for $2.50. Their site says it can be cut into 3 or 4 wicks.. I'm starting to wonder how many wicks you can get out of a 6x6 sheet they sell on their site...
I figure you'll save money buying the mesh and rolling your own, but unless it's like 25 wicks for $9 or 4 wicks for $2.50.. Maybe I'll just buy pre-rolled to save the trouble, so I just have to oxidize?

What's your thoughts, ninfreak?

 

[FrogHat]

Does anybody sell decent pre-made, pre-oxidized wicks? Link?

 

[neoexodus]

10 char of pm'd

 

[Nathanial]

Does anybody sell decent pre-made, pre-oxidized wicks? Link?

Would also like to know, if there is anybody that does.. It wouldn't be a bad idea for ProVape to start offering the same type of wicks that come with the ZAP..

I'm starting to get pretty frustrated and suddenly the classifieds are where I see me putting this thing up at this rate.. If I can't get this going and it's just out of my league, it isn't worth it to me.

 

[GreenEyes14]

I just received my z atty Wednesday, I took the insulator out so I don't need the wicks that came with it
So if anybody wants them pm and I will send them to you. I have 9 of them left.

 

[kiba]

nathaniel use 500 mesh, about 80mm by 50mm if your using the insulator, 120mm by 50mm w/out it, torch it before you roll it, roll it up real tight, so that it barely fits in the hole then torch it one more time... NO JUICE BURNS (it clogs up your mesh esp #500). then go ahead and wrap the kanthal around the wick, some people say to use the petar K method, and I would aggree just not for a beginner bc its real easy to get it too loose and have problems, so just for now wrap it loosely on the actual wick itself, (if you can put the zap on a mech mod using a 510 adapter it makes the next part a lot easier but it can be done on the vari, sometimes you will get error codes though) then just pulse it, while poking at it, untill all coils light up evenly... make sure their arent any coils that are too far away fromt he wick, i mean you dont want the coil strangling the wick as you wont get any juice flow, but you dont want it too loose either, as you wont get any flavor, and sometimes a burning metal taste. Once you get them all lighting up evenly, drip some juice on there a couple times, and check to see if theyre still lighting up evenly, then you should be good to go, make sure the top of the wick isnt touching the top cap, should be lower than the post with the top screw off, and make sure the bottom of the wick isnt touching the bottom of the tank... should be blowing plumes.

 

[GreenEyes14]

The wicks have already been put into the mail box for Vap Khymst.

 

[Nathanial]

nathaniel use 500 mesh, about 80mm by 50mm if your using the insulator, 120mm by 50mm w/out it, torch it before you roll it, roll it up real tight, so that it barely fits in the hole then torch it one more time... NO JUICE BURNS (it clogs up your mesh esp #500). then go ahead and wrap the kanthal around the wick, some people say to use the petar K method, and I would aggree just not for a beginner bc its real easy to get it too loose and have problems, so just for now wrap it loosely on the actual wick itself, (if you can put the zap on a mech mod using a 510 adapter it makes the next part a lot easier but it can be done on the vari, sometimes you will get error codes though) then just pulse it, while poking at it, untill all coils light up evenly... make sure their arent any coils that are too far away fromt he wick, i mean you dont want the coil strangling the wick as you wont get any juice flow, but you dont want it too loose either, as you wont get any flavor, and sometimes a burning metal taste. Once you get them all lighting up evenly, drip some juice on there a couple times, and check to see if theyre still lighting up evenly, then you should be good to go, make sure the top of the wick isnt touching the top cap, should be lower than the post with the top screw off, and make sure the bottom of the wick isnt touching the bottom of the tank... should be blowing plumes.

Hrm, I'll have to look into 500x500.. I just ordered two sheets of 425x425 so that's a bummer.

Anyway, I've been doing juice burns when oxidizing because of a video I saw on Zen's Youtube; I'll try without juice burning..
All is well with the coiling, and making sure the wick is aligned & isn't touching the bottom of the tank. It's not bad vapor, but it isn't vapor I'm used to after using the stock wicks.. Maybe I just need to be patient for the wick to break in? Although I doubt it.

I'll try to find some 500x500 next, and will be sure not to do juice burns. I'm wrapping the wicks pretty tight, so they slide right into the hole in the ZAP at this point. I was wrapping them before so they went in a little snug - when the insulator is in.

I've at least got enough vapor to be somewhat satisfied and get my nicotine. My post earlier was during the middle of a withdraw because I spent a couple of hours trying and wasting a lot of mesh and butane

Sorry if I made an ... of myself earlier, just was getting frustrated. I figure with enough practice I'll get it sooner or later.. I just hope when I do, I can be consistent with any future wicks... I don't want to end up wasting a ton of mesh when it goes for $9.00 a sheet LOL

Thanks again for the awesome tips; I can always rely on the great folks around here.. Will keep you updated if I run into any better luck with it

Any suggestions on the actual rolling? I tried a paper clip but can't really wrap it that tight.. I'm not that good at it. I usually end up rolling by hand lol..

 

[Nathanial]

Just an update: I got it! Torching it up before rolling did the trick. I also found it was easier to roll once it was already torched.. So I had a much better time rolling it up.. Didn't juice burn it.. And I'm over here vaping plumes...

Let me buy you a beer sometime, kiba!!!

 

[kiba]

awesome, glad you got it....

for the rolling i just take a strait edge and rake it across the mesh a couple times, and it starts to curl up on its own, then i just roll it as solid and tight as i can, no paper clip.

 

[Idaholandho]

Kiba as usual thanks for everything. I have been itching to use ribbon wire for a while and have half azzed even searched. I am familiar with my Zatty's and Genesis styles and am comfortable coiling eyes closed but is ribbon worth the effort in your opinion?
Thanks for the mesh supplier hook up. Love it.
We can pm a mod and rename this thread, "Kiba's Personal Zap RBA advice and instructional thread", or simply "Kiba or g t f o".

 

[kiba]

lol, only bc i made a bunch of mistakes when i started... the ribbon I dont know... I just ordered some and I'll let you know when I get it.... I use twisted 32 (and 28 for when i just dont feel like dealing with it) which works best for me but gunks up super fast so if it works as good as that without gunking up so much I'll be all about it in the zaps you want something close to 32ga though bc they do better w/ a higher res coil, i ordered one thats close to 28ga for my mechanical stuff and one thats close to 32ga for my zaps and foggattipro.

 

[ninfreak]

this makes me sad i guess im chopped liver

 

[MikeE3]

this makes me sad i guess im chopped liver

I liked chopped liver.