Vivi Nova Rebuild tutorial

[mrelwood]

^Gdeal, it could be that english as a secondary language prevents me from completely understanding how you set your wicks. My wicks are very loose at the slot, perhaps half of the available space when dry and squeezed. When I had it on tighter, it wouldn't wick more than a few puffs. Then the wick got swollen from the juice and blocked airflow.

Same goes for the wick. When the strands of cotton were about 3/4 of the available space inside the wick, the juice couldn't keep the coil wet in use. But I use single strands/threads of cotton, and I'm sure it behaves differently than cotton in other formats.

Currently the sweet spot for a Vivi Nova Mini seems to be the coil wrapped around a 3mm shaft, 2cm of mesh wrapped around a 2mm shaft, and 25 strands of cotton. The cotton wick is thin enough that it can be replaced without even removing the coil. I just wet the wick, wrap the end tight, and carefully aim through the mesh/coil.

 

[gdeal]

^Gdeal, it could be that english as a secondary language prevents me from completely understanding how you set your wicks. My wicks are very loose at the slot, perhaps half of the available space when dry and squeezed. When I had it on tighter, it wouldn't wick more than a few puffs. Then the wick got swollen from the juice and blocked airflow.

Same goes for the wick. When the strands of cotton were about 3/4 of the available space inside the wick, the juice couldn't keep the coil wet in use. But I use single strands/threads of cotton, and I'm sure it behaves differently than cotton in other formats.

Currently the sweet spot for a Vivi Nova Mini seems to be the coil wrapped around a 3mm shaft, 2cm of mesh wrapped around a 2mm shaft, and 25 strands of cotton. The cotton wick is thin enough that it can be replaced without even removing the coil. I just wet the wick, wrap the end tight, and carefully aim through the mesh/coil.

Hmm. Our different experiences could be based on a number of factors. Can you take a picture of your set-up describe above? Also, the second set-up ...mesh/cotton.. are you are threading the cotton into the coil next to a ss mesh? Why not just layer it on top?

 

[MISTer E]

gdeal, I hope to gain experience (only been vaping about a month) on flooding the down tube by matching wick & slot, I figured that was part off my constant flooding problem. I always use a sealed 510 adapter, like this

to keep fuel off my battery. I also make sure to blow into the vivi to clear out a drop or two, every now & then. I seem to be noticing less and less of it with time, as I hone & perfect my skills.

I would guess hemp twine gains about 30 to 35 percent when swelled, compared to a tightly twisted state. Here is a top secret image of my latest ViVi Nova mod.

I wound 32 gauge a1 kanthal 6 wraps, on a 2mm coat hanger wire, & used three 1mm strands of hemp twine, twisted super tightly with only a bit of spit/saliva to get the wick to hold its shape. I pulled the coat hanger, twisted the spit coated hemp, & threaded the 3mm worth of twine into the 2mm coil hole.

I agree mrelwood, going to tight in the slot chokes off fuel. A fine & slight line exists, between just right & too tight. When I do one just right, I feel like a Jedi knight

 

[gdeal]

MISTer E
Very nice, seems like you have perfect proportions. Ahh...is that a ceramic cup I see? Hmm, is that even a VIVI Nova, beside the tank and end caps?

 

[MISTer E]

As far as perfect proportions go, I owe some of that to my new experimental "ceramic holy grail head" mod. The reason for giving the ceramic credit, is that the walls of the ceramic are non conductive. I also twist the wire on the coat hanger like a spring going as tight as it will go, so the coils all touch. Then when I pull out the hanger, I grab each side very carefully with the tips of my fingernails & a head mounted magnifier, stretching it a little wider than the grails wall gap. The coil acts like a spring when it gets set in to the grail, thus making the outside wraps want to meet the walls of the ceramic every time. The trick is, to not pull the coil apart too much wider than the gap, or the middle non wall touching coils may be out of whack.

I do need to do a few more calculations on the spent coil wire length vs ohmage honestly before revealing the secret
<everyone reading wanting lustfully desiring one.

I am going to wait until the next documented rebuild to release the secret ingredients source, for three reasons:
1.) Its taken many failures & rebuilds to get it to this stage. To have others toil needlessly seems waste & I altruistically want to protect others
2.) I need to find a cheap source of them for myself, & fear shortages once word of my mad mod shop experiments cause pandemonium
3.) I want the ego based limelight soaked in a nicely put together show/pix & tell, then served with my egotastical discovery. Along with my butchery of word structure & giant images displaying my non professional cunning with free graphics tools, such as gimp.

COMING SOON...if you can mod it note: the following png image is animated, sadly not all stock browsers can see APNG

Just kidding, my 1.) is legit. 2.) Too funny, China made tons of em I would imagine & 3.) My ego is not that big, the ceramic came off a bauway ce4. That is what it was sold to me as. Tomorow I will take some images of what it is, after I make a run on them

It would be nice to have a bulk source for ViVi gaskets, which get torn after a few rebuilds & just the ceramic from these things. Madvapes or some other parts supplier heed my call!

It rocks!, the ceramic sets the head a little higher near the drip tip & grail/cups a little smaller, but it seems to remove the heat factor of the stock metal cup. It seems, I can go higher in volts without loosing flavor, than before the mod. (smaller tightly spaced coil plays its part as well)

Just vapin on thats me

MISTer E

 

[WindLvr]

As far as the gasket goes, are you talking about these? 510 Threaded Connector Insulators - Avid Vaper

This is the insulator that goes on the bottom of the head that pinches the wire for the positive and negative leads from the coil. I have found these work awesome for me!

 

[jralabate]

gdeal, I hope to gain experience (only been vaping about a month) on flooding the down tube by matching wick & slot, I figured that was part off my constant flooding problem. I always use a sealed 510 adapter, like this

to keep fuel off my battery. I also make sure to blow into the vivi to clear out a drop or two, every now & then. I seem to be noticing less and less of it with time, as I hone & perfect my skills.

I would guess hemp twine gains about 30 to 35 percent when swelled, compared to a tightly twisted state. Here is a top secret image of my latest ViVi Nova mod.

I wound 32 gauge a1 kanthal 6 wraps, on a 2mm coat hanger wire, & used three 1mm strands of hemp twine, twisted super tightly with only a bit of spit/saliva to get the wick to hold its shape. I pulled the coat hanger, twisted the spit coated hemp, & threaded the 3mm worth of twine into the 2mm coil hole.

I agree mrelwood, going to tight in the slot chokes off fuel. A fine & slight line exists, between just right & too tight. When I do one just right, I feel like a Jedi knight

Wut ohms r u getting?

Sent from my NS4G powered by CN ICS

 

[bmarley5780]

Where is that ceramic head?

I for the life of me can not get the legs not to touch!!!

 

[fakebook]

tried rebuilding for the first time.
minimal effort, works like a charm. but mine leaks. i can't seem to troubleshoot the source of the leak.
i screwed the head in pretty tight. any advice?

 

[jralabate]

Where is that ceramic head?

I for the life of me can not get the legs not to touch!!!

He said he got it from a bauway ce4.

Sent from my NS4G powered by CN ICS

 

[Errol]

It rocks!, the ceramic sets the head a little higher near the drip tip & grail/cups a little smaller, but it seems to remove the heat factor of the stock metal cup. It seems, I can go higher in volts without loosing flavor, than before the mod. (smaller tightly spaced coil plays its part as well)

Just vapin on thats me

MISTer E

Very ingenious and impressive work MISTer. Look forward to the next episode of your efforts.

Errol

 

[MikeE3]

I've been away for a few days and just catching up.

There was talk of coil sizes and how much wick to be using. I started w/ ~3mm coils wrapped on a machine screw. I found I had to use too much cotton or strands of bamboo yarn to fill the coil. With the oem 1.5mm slot opening, it seemed to create pinch points for wicking. I've made out better using ~2mm pre-wound coils and 'filling' this with bamboo yarn or cotton so the dry fit was just loose enough to slide the wick inside the coil. Too loose and I didn't get good vapor production - a lot of crackling and popping of the juice pooling under the coil instead of being vaporized from the wick.

As for threading the cotton or yarn through the wick. I use an oversized needle threader to pull the material through the coil. Works well.

Mister_E - nice work - thanks for posting your pictures and ideas - anxiously waiting to hear more on the ceramic cup.

 

[gdeal]

I know we are all waiting for MISTer E to come back and raise the curtain on his ceramic cup mod, but I want to share a quick, non-scientific test (and I repeat non-scientific test) on the wicking rates of four different materials.:

Bamboo Viscose (Aunt Lydia's #10) - 8 threads
Hemp Cord (Darico - All Natural) - 3 strands then 4 strands
Cheesecloth (Bed, Bath and Beyond) - 45 thread width
Cotton Wick #1/0.

I used a basic set up to approximating equivalent density of materials (slight twisted to ~3mm diameter), I fully wetted each material and placed in a cup of water with the ends wrapped over the side. I then used a paper towel covered by heavy grade sheet of plastic to have uniform pressure on each material.

Winner: Bamboo wicks fastest. Hands down.

Interesting that after the first test I looked at the hemp cord, which is very stiff, and thought I may have made it to thin, so I added another piece of cord.The extra strand added just under 1MM but put it over the twisted 3mm standard. However, it performed great. I was a bit surprised.

Materials:



Test Set up:



Results Test 1



Results Test 2

 

[MISTer E]

WindLvr is on the ball

. Thank U very much for you words of experience, I was going to try those to see if they would suffice. I would imagine the semiclear silicone has better high temp safety than the stock labgrown rubbery tire tasting ones.

jralabate

Wut ohms r u getting?

Fueled it an hour ago @ 2.72

Numbers are tricky with the vivi in general. Example, I made a simulated grail demo coil (currently in use)from memory, out of stainless steel 32 gauge wire, of the basic shape that the one grail head has. One leg is short (I will do a tutorial soon) & one partially twisted @ the bottom.

Then I straitened the coil wire giving me a tad bit less than 2.5 inches.

I suck @ math, but here it goes. A 2mm coil hole has a diameter of 2mm. PI times 2 = 6.28. 6.28 times 6 coil wraps = 37.68mm & 37.68mm = 1.48 inch.

In the name of vapor science my coil should be around 1.48 inch.

I then wrapped another & cut just the coil with no legs

They straightened out to just little over that (I did leave a micro tad on each side ). Wholly E grailoli!, salute to the vapor science.

The extra inch is in the legs, so technically, I with my possibly wrong maths assume, I am truely vaping on 1.48 inch of hot kanthal actually burning the Eliquid with the excess inchs heat isolated largely by the ceramic grail head. The beauty of this mod is that the vapor is still warm, but not hot.

Back to Vapor science. I decided to ditch the craft wire to use a1 kanthal, & because my math was weak, I used my griffin & a meter as an ohm wire checker.

Even If I suck @ math , my above demonstration in vapor science. Reassured me that I am doing OK



bmarley5780

Where is that ceramic head? I for the life of me can not get the legs not to touch!!!

An ordinary one holed leg tangle eating ceramic head is not, of the magical whole E grail head sophistication of design caliber. 3 the power of three, I say this is the exact CE4 ( some may differ).

& here is the heat element isolator itself [side the slips into the Vivi head.] Its an old image, of the exact one I just vaped on
3 holes to prevent tangled legs!

Coming Soon .. tutorial images shall be taken on rebuild.


MikeE3 that needle thread puller gadget is a true getter N keeper!

gdeal, awesome display of VAPOR SCIENCE! I figured bamboo was best in your materials line up. With hemp I try to always, beak each 1mm stand into its 3 strands(sometime a fourth is in there)& sometime add an extra .33mm strand to get just the right fit. I also only spit coat hard twist & do not braid the strands @ all. Sometimes I fluff it out like this & do wickidly wicky stuff.

Hemp twine like I currently use, is mostly the non absorbent outer fibers (so a hemp scientist with a degree told me on the phone the other day). This is the stuff of hemp absorbency that possibly beats bamboo.
F-DG1 - 100% Degummed Hemp Fiber - Hemp Fiber : HempTraders.com
The lignin is removed from the degummed hemp by way of sodium hydroxide aka NaOH aka lye. That is what the scientist @ that company told me. It would need to be boiled & baked if bought IMO, the scientist says all of the lye is gone from the finished product.

I might buy (if I can budget it) the above in the name of vapor science, &/or buy some fresh off the plant "bolls" from one of these sources:
Cotton Bolls
Floral Cotton (Uncleaned)

I shall defiantly plant some in my garden next year. Cotton that is

Until next time, always remember vapor scientists like us are really acheMISTs...

Sleepy Zzzz... EDIT: I can not leave out Errol!, for his awesome seemingly custom made avatar inspired the energy of my post, for his kind words were that last I read before starting.

 

[subdude]

MikeE3, looks like I'm not the only one who finds a second use for fly tying tools I'm thinking about respooling an old bobbin with Kanthal wire to make wrapping coils easier.

 

[WindLvr]

Looking forward to your tutorial with the ceramic cup Mister! Seems like the perfect addition to my tanks with the SS mesh. I can't wait to give it a try!

 

[Ignorant]

Ceramic cup ?? Seems interesting mod..

Been fiddling with gauze pad as wicking material. Seems to work. Taste is fine, better than silica what i have, wicking is fine, how long this thing lasts?? We´ll see.
2.7ohms@4.5V

 

[mrelwood]

Hmm. Our different experiences could be based on a number of factors. Can you take a picture of your set-up describe above? Also, the second set-up ...mesh/cotton.. are you are threading the cotton into the coil next to a ss mesh? Why not just layer it on top?

Layering the cotton wick above the coil didn't perform that well. My theory is that since a part of the wick is covered, there is less area (or length) where the coil can create vapor, as well as the bottom side of the coil and mesh without having a direct juice source getting dry during a single puff. Wick inside the coil and mesh gives atleast 30% more vapor, flavor and hit.

I tried to take pictures, but even the 1000W work light didn't give me good lighting conditions. Unfortunately I ain't a photographer...

Here's the assebled ato:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4poit1537tm019g/Photo 24.9.2012 9.55.53.jpg


Here's without the cap:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z876b1xsteou8v0/Photo 24.9.2012 9.54.23.jpg


Here's the coil, although you can't really see it:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1o0bdh4ajq4t9oy/Photo 24.9.2012 9.53.38.jpg

 

[bmarley5780]

?

eGo CE Dual Coil 3.5ml Clear Cartomizer | Ceramic eGo Dual Coil Cartomizers | CE4 EGO DC Carto's

 

[gdeal]

Layering the cotton wick above the coil didn't perform that well. My theory is that since a part of the wick is covered, there is less area (or length) where the coil can create vapor, as well as the bottom side of the coil and mesh without having a direct juice source getting dry during a single puff. Wick inside the coil and mesh gives atleast 30% more vapor, flavor and hit.

I tried to take pictures, but even the 1000W work light didn't give me good lighting conditions. Unfortunately I ain't a photographer...

Pictures are good. I believe I understand now. Is this similar to what you are doing? (Picture credit to TomCatt), This is not in a Vivi Nova head though...



Or does your mesh extend through the slot like MikeE3?

I am no photographer either; I use a three year old HTC Incredible phone camera.

I will try your method and specifications.