What am I doing wrong!? Rebuilding

[EphoraL]

People on the forum helped me out yesterday with a lot of my questions on rebuilding.

Within the past 24 hours I have built about 10 heads and all of them taste burnt. What on earth am I doing wrong? I've had heads at 1.6 then 2.2 then 3 and everything in between. Maybe it's the cotton? I've done it from fresh package and after boiling but same results. Haven't smoked since I tried this and I'm getting stressed lol

If it helps my battery is a ego-t, the biggest one if that style, and a protank mini 2. And 32 gauge kanthal

 

[NineToez]

Are you priming your coils with juice?

 

[tcs007]

Are you priming your coils with juice?

This. Prime the new wicks or let them sit for 15-30 minutes to soak up e-juice.

 

[Nataani]

Where are you deviating from this process:

1) wrap coil
2) insert coil
3) secure grommet and pin
4) clip leads
5) check resistance
6) insert wick
7) attach post and seal
8) install coil
9) fill juice, screw base onto tank
10) puff twice without power
11) vape

Ps. Don't dry burn cotton
Pps. If you scorch the grommet it's going to be hard too get rid of that nasty taste

 

[EphoraL]

Are you priming your coils with juice?

Yes I am. I let it sit for 5-10 min and do a few dry puffs before I attempt to smoke it

 

[TheReign]

( vape it )

Check the grommet to make sure they aren't getting burnt. Check coil to make sure it's glowing evenly from the inside out.

 

[EphoraL]

( vape it )
Check the grommet to make sure they aren't getting burnt. Check coil to make sure it's glowing evenly from the inside out.

What's the grommet? Is it the metal and rubber sleeve at the bottom?

 

[Fortyniene]

What's the grommet? Is it the metal and rubber sleeve at the bottom?

It is the rubber sleve that you seperate the kanthal wires with when you stick it back in the head. 1 wire thru the middle and 1 wire on the outside then you shove it in the head. then you put the metal post thru it and the head and clip the excess wire.

 

[EphoraL]

Got the grommet part, so the metal thing, I just put it in with no wire thru it and get rid of the excess wire correct?

One wire through the grommet and one out, then metal thing both out if that's easier understood than above.

I can remake it and take pics at the end of my steps if that'll make it clear

 

[Fortyniene]

Got the grommet part, so the metal thing, I just put it in with no wire thru it and get rid of the excess wire correct?

One wire through the grommet and one out, then metal thing both out if that's easier understood than above.

I can remake it and take pics at the end of my steps if that'll make it clear

Correct.

 

[Fortyniene]

This traps the + wire between the post and the gromet and the - wire between the gromet and the head. Sometimes these wires get hot this low on the coil and burn the gromet.

 

[santoki]

how much cotton wick are you using?

if its too tight in the coil it wont be able to absorb juice well enough to keep up with the coil heating up.

 

[EphoraL]

This traps the + wire between the post and the gromet and the - wire between the gromet and the head. Sometimes these wires get hot this low on the coil and burn the gromet.

Ok got this down and one time the grommet got burnt but i cleaned it good.

how much cotton wick are you using?

if its too tight in the coil it wont be able to absorb juice well enough to keep up with the coil heating up.

And not too much. The same amount I used in the stock one when I replaced the wick with cotton. I also have silica wick if that would make a dif

 

[Asmo6]

how much cotton wick are you using?

if its too tight in the coil it wont be able to absorb juice well enough to keep up with the coil heating up.

^^^^

This is the problem.

The diameter of the coil and the amount of cotton wick you are using.

For Kanger coils I use a 1/16th drill bit. (.063") Now I use 28G Kanthal - you may be using something different. I like the slow even heat and the durability. They don't just go ZING! scorched wick. Take a little strip of cotton maybe a little less than .25" wide loose and about an inch long. Roll it gently and peel a little off so you can wind it through the coil without it tugging the coil around. Trim the ends JUST like the silica was. Wet wick. Pop atomizer head on. CHECK RESISTANCE!!! (make sure you aren't touching when the head goes on!) Pay special attention to the seal from the head to see the ends are filling the gap - but not PLUGGING IT. If the cotton looks like it plumped up to fill the hole when wet - but also looks TIGHT in the hole. Juice WILL NOT - repeat - WILL NOT flow through a pinch. It has to be able to flow through the strand. If it's pinched up - you'll have a sloppy sock on one end and a dry wick near the coil.

You want just enough wick in there to stop a flood of juice from pouring in, and not too much that it chokes off the flow of juice.

Over wicking is a guaranteed way to get dry hits.



(Mine are wound at 1.2ohm's for use on a mech - and they scream! You can hear the mini protank crackle louder than my darn kayfun! No burnt hits either.)

 

[fasttalker77]

my biggest problem when I first started with cotton, I thought more would be better. I know now less is more

 

[EphoraL]

^^^^

This is the problem.

The diameter of the coil and the amount of cotton wick you are using.

For Kanger coils I use a 1/16th drill bit. (.063") Now I use 28G Kanthal - you may be using something different. I like the slow even heat and the durability. They don't just go ZING! scorched wick. Take a little strip of cotton maybe a little less than .25" wide loose and about an inch long. Roll it gently and peel a little off so you can wind it through the coil without it tugging the coil around. Trim the ends JUST like the silica was. Wet wick. Pop atomizer head on. CHECK RESISTANCE!!! (make sure you aren't touching when the head goes on!) Pay special attention to the seal from the head to see the ends are filling the gap - but not PLUGGING IT. If the cotton looks like it plumped up to fill the hole when wet - but also looks TIGHT in the hole. Juice WILL NOT - repeat - WILL NOT flow through a pinch. It has to be able to flow through the strand. If it's pinched up - you'll have a sloppy sock on one end and a dry wick near the coil.

You want just enough wick in there to stop a flood of juice from pouring in, and not too much that it chokes off the flow of juice.

Over wicking is a guaranteed way to get dry hits.



(Mine are wound at 1.2ohm's for use on a mech - and they scream! You can hear the mini protank crackle louder than my darn kayfun! No burnt hits either.)

Okay that's good info... I just rebuilt a head that doesn't taste burnt anymore at 2.22 ohms, but has weak vapor... Almost at success.. So can you describe how much cotton I should use? Like compare it to something. I'm probably using too much.

 

[Asmo6]

Okay that's good info... I just rebuilt a head that doesn't taste burnt anymore at 2.22 ohms, but has weak vapor... Almost at success.. So can you describe how much cotton I should use? Like compare it to something. I'm probably using too much.

I just took a picture. But my photobucket app won't let me sign in to upload and post it. It looks like a dufflebag full of smashed buttholes since I've probably vaped 6 protanks through it now of a menthol tobacco juice that eats coils like candy. The gunk on the coil is leeching into the wick. Seriously it's nasty! But unlike the standard Kanger coils which, by now would be irritating the crap out of my throat. It's vapes fine.

As amazing as that is...

.063" wrap. 1.2ohm. 6/7 turns? 28G.

I made a smaller diameter coil to FORCE myself to use less cotton. I use a lot of .093 wraps normally.

 

[santoki]

if the vapor is weak, its probably due to your 2.2ohm coil. try building a lower resistance (like your 1.6 ohm) coil. lower resistance in essence means u get hotter vape with less power. you may also want to try checking out a variable voltage/wattage device like ego twist so you wont have to worry as much about matching the coil to your preferred vape

if you arent getting a burnt taste anymore, then you have the right amount of cotton. as a general rule of thumb the cotton wick should be snug enough that it wont fall out on its own (or have any space between the cotton and coil), but thin enough that it wont move your coils.

 

[EphoraL]

if the vapor is weak, its probably due to your 2.2ohm coil. try building a lower resistance (like your 1.6 ohm) coil. lower resistance in essence means u get hotter vape with less power. you may also want to try checking out a variable voltage/wattage device like ego twist so you wont have to worry as much about matching the coil to your preferred vape

if you arent getting a burnt taste anymore, then you have the right amount of cotton. as a general rule of thumb the cotton wick should be snug enough that it wont fall out on its own (or have any space between the cotton and coil), but thin enough that it wont move your coils.

Well now I got the setup down good, the vape can also be weak cause I usually smoke 10/90 or 100 VG but with all this rebuilding I used the juice I started out with which is like 70/30 so I didn't waste good juice.

The standard heads were 2.5 ohms so I did go down. So maybe it's the juice. I'll rebuild the other head I have and make it around 1.5-1.8 ohms and see. Happy I can smoke now though

 

[JMLuck66]

Use 4/40 machine and use threads to wrap coil. Pinch coils together as close as you want. you can feed widh through easily or double wick up and pull thru with needle bead threader and work coils over wicking. If doubling up, do not use flavor wick or rubber stem grommet. Cut wick as close as possible on each side of base.