total frustration - protank 2 / re wick / sugar & cream

[Empi666]

As I sit hear waiting for my kanthal (going on 3 weeks due to out of stock) so I can make my own coils, I decided to start rewicking my stock protank coils.

First attempt was using cotton balls. Worked but was getting a lot of dry hits. I was continuously having to prime puff in between hits. It just seems so hard and inconsistent getting just the right amount of cotton from a ball. I was either getting leaking or dry hits.

So after work today I decided to get some Sugar and Cream 100% cotton yarn for my wicks. Got home and boiled a 4' strand. Rewicked my stock coil with 3 strands=leaked. Cleaned and dried and added 2 strands of flavor wick on top=leaked. Rewicked with 2 strands and 2 flavor wicks=leaked. Rewicked with 4 strands and 2 flavor wicks=leaked. After 2hrs of this and wasting 2 tanks o f juice I decided to throw in the towl. I put in a brand new coil and got a good vape.....

I am feeling defeated and frustrated. I can only hope that I will get better results using my own micro coils once I get my kanthal.

Any ideas of why none of the wicks worked out that I tried?

 

[DavidOck]

The combo of wick and flavor wick should just fill the gap on the sides. Too tight and when the cotton swells, it will choke off the flow, so you have to take hard hits. That can be the cause of one type of leak.

Too loose, and it's liable to leak down through the bottom.

You're saying "strands", so I'm guessing you're untwisting the yarn? The PT coils are, iirc, a 3 mm silica wick and two 1 mm silica flavor wicks, so shoot for that. I use 3 mm silica for my wicks, so I can dry burn a few times, but use a full piece of the same yarn as you for the flavor wicks - 4 strands.

Good luck!

 

[CloudZ]

For sugar and cream yarn, I use 3 strands through the coil and 3 or 4 over the top depending on how viscous the liquid is (4 for 70+ PG usually). Either way, I roll the strands that go through the coil just tight enough to get them through and the flavor wicks as tight as I can because they will expand easily. This is for 1/16" micros, but I think the stock coils are about the same size (not entirely sure, haven't seen a stock coil in a while). This generally reduces flooding and dry hits for me. It may also help to thermometer shake any excess liquid out the mouthpiece after you fill and assemble.

I used cotton ball wicks for quite a while in my clearos, but because it isn't easy to get the perfect amount put in every time I switched back to yarn. Both work just fine if done right.

 

[Empi666]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to give it another go this evening. Like I said, I tried 3 strands with another 2 for wicks and it flooded like crazy out the bottom. I'm using 50/50 juice so I didn't think I needed that many stands especially since the saying goes "with cotton, less is more."

That's the reason I want to use yarn. So that the consistency is there. It's much easier to use the exact number of stands than it is trying to gather the right amount from a cotton ball.

 

[Empi666]

Well... After reading your responses I decided to go ahead and retry. I loaded the coil with 3 strands and put 4 for flavor wicks on top.

Working perfectly now!

Thanks again! Man these things are finicky.

 

[DavidOck]

Glad you got it worked out. It can sometimes be tricky getting the first one (or few) right, but then you know

Of course, when your Kanthal comes in...

 

[Empi666]

Yeah, I can't wait to get some micro coils goin in this thing.

I actually went back and took one stand from the flavor wicks out. So now I am running 3 strands in coil and 3 on top. Seems to be working better especially with the 50/50 juice I'm vaping.