wick size

[Crazy Diamond]

WOW! I'm so proud of you guys (that means ladies also)! I've read the whole thread too. I think I'll keep ordering replacement coils for now. I think this process would wig me out and have me capering around the house like a madwoman by now. Seriously, I really have a lot of admiration for you all and just wanted to let you know that and also wish you the best of luck! I'm going to keep following this thread because you are SO close to having it down to a perfect science.

 

[AndriaD]

Hey Crazy Diamond... shine on!!

I was terrified of all this stuff at first; I didn't even learn to do the dry-burning stuff until I was down to ONE working coil and knew the replacements wouldn't be here for a couple days, so I kinda had to learn it. It's easier than it would seem; when I heard "dry burning", horrors, I couldn't even imagine doing something like that, but it's not difficult at all (just getting the coil disassembled was a real challenge for me, the first time I did it!), and it really extends the useful life of a coil.

I was even more terrified of this rebuilding idea, but gosh, everyone here blathers on about it so incessantly, my curiosity finally got the best of me, I started accumulating all the various bits I'd need to get it done... then had to RE-buy wire, since 30ga seems to be for those who want very low-resistance coils. If you want a "normal" coil, like 2.5 ohms or so, you really need 32ga kanthal. Then I bought some 1.5mm silica, the regular "braided" kind (it's really just twisted, but they call it braided for some reason), and it's ok for flavor wicks, but really too small for the coil wick, and too fat to double in a 5/64-wrapped coil; actually I haven't tried doubling it in a 7/64-wrapped coil, but that might actually work.

But what seems to have solved it for me was getting this hollow braided "ekowool", which is a trademarked name for this particular type of silica. I got 2mm, and it seems to work really well in the 7/64-wrapped coils. It can be a real challenge to thread into the smaller 5/64-wrapped coil, so I'm sticking mainly to the 7/64 drill bit these days.

The thing I read that seemed to shine a light on what's going on, what's needed, for these coils to work well, is that there needs to be air spaces for the juice to occupy. Apparently cotton works well for some, in some types of atomizers; cotton's absorbency is well known, so it does seem like it would be a useful material. But with these tiny T3S/protank heads, the coil and wick are enclosed in a tiny space, and that concentrates heat, so much so that cotton just doesn't do well in these types of coil heads -- as Picowatt noted, you get a lot of burning in an amazingly short time, at an amazingly low heat, and once that cotton is burned *at all* it has to be replaced or the rest of the tank will taste like that, that bitter burnt scorched taste, ugh.

Some people have some sort of mental problem with silica, imagining all sorts of horrors like inhaling silica particles, etc, but I would have to say that it seems most unlikely to me. I mean sure, if you took that silica wick and ground it up and tried to snort it, that would definitely not be healthful, but for its intended use as a wick, I really don't see any problem. Silica stands up to high heat MUCH better than cotton, without giving that scorched taste. It's always possible to get a dry hit, if you have too much wick, and then you'll taste that burnt taste no matter what your wick is made of, but when the wicking is the minimum necessary to keep it from leaking, silica works GREAT -- and one thing I've noticed is that although it's possible to get a dry hit, that one dry hit doesn't ruin the whole wick, if it's silica. If you take a priming puff or two, really get the wick saturated, the burnt taste will vanish, even if you've had a dry hit from that coil already. Of course if you take too many priming hits, you'll flood the head, and then you'll have gurgling and leaking.

The hardest part of building these coils is finding the proper amount of wick, to prevent both leaking and dry hits -- and it will vary from juice to juice; the thick ones will tend to the dry hit problem more, because it takes longer for the wick to soak it up, but the thicker juices don't seem to cause the leaking problems so much. The thinner juices will just run right thru the head if there isn't enough wick to absorb it, and that can also cause that nasty "gurgling" when the head is flooded, under the coil. But if you use too much, trying to stop the leaking, then you run into the dry hit problem once again. It's a very fine balance indeed.

Hope that will help you shine on, you crazy diamond. But I still buy replacement coils too -- just on the chance that I won't have any good ones ready to use, I can always grab a 'store bought' and vape away.

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

Andria I think the small space idea could have a lot to do with it. Also as I wrote in previous post, these mods or RDA's have a much higher air volume flow and may have better fluid delivery creating better wicking.
I mean look at the air holes on some of these RDA or mods - they are huge compared to the T3S.
Also, look at the e-liquid reservoir and how the liquid is delivered / available to wick.
Looks like a lot of things tend to make the Mods RDAs work better with cotton and keep the temp down such the cotton doesn't burn so easily.

The more I consider it, the more I'm convinced of it. I cook, and have known for 30 years that something with a lid on it cooks much faster, and gets much hotter, than without the lid -- because the steam builds up and adds to the heat of the heat source. Steam is exactly what these attys are creating, so it's amazing to me that I didn't realize much sooner what the problem was, that tiny enclosed space. The mod attys are some 20-22mm wide, and the chamber they reside in is much bigger than the tiny space of these T3S/protank heads, so even if they're being fired at 15 watts, the heat won't build up and be so concentrated, as it is in these tiny heads, using as little as 8 watts, or even less.

EDIT: I have also noticed that in the T3S BCC where the air tube presses into the coil base - the part you take off the coil to see the wicks and coils - there is a gap at 4 places around the "Y" shaped slot where the air pipe presses in. It looks small but for me it looks like a constant leakage point even though the little gasket that sits on top of the coil covers most of it. Leakage is a big issue for me with these tanks.

I've read this paragraph at least 8 times, and completely disassembled and reassembled one of my T3S's, trying to figure out this "Y shaped slot" you're referring to, and for the life of me, I have no idea what you're talking about; I don't see anything Y shaped on mine.

I was having an enormous amount of leaking issues, and then I went too far with the wicking and started getting the dry hits, but the other day I brought on a leak with excessive priming puffs. I was wearing my pouch-lanyard, which blocks one of the airholes on my T3S's if I'm using my vv3, so I was taking a lot of priming puffs to prevent dry hits, and ended up flooding the stupid thing, which became clear to me when I pulled up at the post office. So, without any of my usual "tools" for dealing with a problem like this, I simply took the tank off, and sure enough, ejuice on the battery post, so I mopped it up with the hem of my shirt, and blew hard thru the end of the tank that contacts the battery post, and blew out several drops of juice; when I got it back together, it worked perfectly. So it's really a matter of balancing the amount of juice available to the wick, with the size/quantity of the wick.

Those kinds of leaks show up right on top of the battery post, but one of my T3S's came with a bad o-ring gasket on the base, it wouldn't lay flat, so it leaked, and those leaks weren't on the battery post, but *around* it, indicating the leak came not from the head, but around the seal of the base. I bought a replacement base, which is handy since now I have an extra I can use for dry-burning, coil building, etc.

Andria

 

[picowatt]

The more I consider it, the more I'm convinced of it. I cook, and have known for 30 years that something with a lid on it cooks much faster, and gets much hotter, than without the lid -- because the steam builds up and adds to the heat of the heat source. Steam is exactly what these attys are creating, so it's amazing to me that I didn't realize much sooner what the problem was, that tiny enclosed space. The mod attys are some 20-22mm wide, and the chamber they reside in is much bigger than the tiny space of these T3S/protank heads, so even if they're being fired at 15 watts, the heat won't build up and be so concentrated, as it is in these tiny heads, using as little as 8 watts, or even less.



I've read this paragraph at least 8 times, and completely disassembled and reassembled one of my T3S's, trying to figure out this "Y shaped slot" you're referring to, and for the life of me, I have no idea what you're talking about; I don't see anything Y shaped on mine.

I was having an enormous amount of leaking issues, and then I went too far with the wicking and started getting the dry hits, but the other day I brought on a leak with excessive priming puffs. I was wearing my pouch-lanyard, which blocks one of the airholes on my T3S's if I'm using my vv3, so I was taking a lot of priming puffs to prevent dry hits, and ended up flooding the stupid thing, which became clear to me when I pulled up at the post office. So, without any of my usual "tools" for dealing with a problem like this, I simply took the tank off, and sure enough, ejuice on the battery post, so I mopped it up with the hem of my shirt, and blew hard thru the end of the tank that contacts the battery post, and blew out several drops of juice; when I got it back together, it worked perfectly. So it's really a matter of balancing the amount of juice available to the wick, with the size/quantity of the wick.

Those kinds of leaks show up right on top of the battery post, but one of my T3S's came with a bad o-ring gasket on the base, it wouldn't lay flat, so it leaked, and those leaks weren't on the battery post, but *around* it, indicating the leak came not from the head, but around the seal of the base. I bought a replacement base, which is handy since now I have an extra I can use for dry-burning, coil building, etc.

Andria

This is the "Y" shaped area of the atomizer I was apparently unsuccessfully trying to describe. You can see the "Y" shape is where the coil/coil wick and flavor wicks go starting at the bottom of this "Y" shaped slot. That's the best way I can describe it- looks like a "Y" to me. This is the atty with tube on the top gone and no coil or wick etc......

So, if you look at this area with the top on it- gasket removed - all around the press fit / compression mating surface are these gaps. 9 out of 10 of these I get have this problem. I am lucky to get 1 that has a nice tight fit all around. Just more areas to leak and gurgle. The gasket is great to seal to the air tube going to the mouth piece - no good to seal up the atomizer.

I can just hear the comments from some now - picky - overly this and that, insignificant ... . Well , take a look at the area with tube pressed in without the gasket on it - with a small magnifier - worst fit I have ever seen!! That is where liquid can just constantly seep in. Eventually helping to flood your atty.

I mean heck , all Kanger has to do is flare the edges at very top 4 corners in 1/2mm and it would be a tight fit. It fits every else nicely, but apparently most of their dies are out of wack a bit and no changes until people get sick of putting up with leaking T3S BCC tanks.

Let's not forget about the OE factory gaps around the wicks.

It all amounts to a cheap, poorly made, leaky , gurgly , flood prone , overly hot , difficult to rebuild , short lived atty , factory damaged wick product.

Oh yeah , too picky - right.
Personally , I'm sick of the leaking. This is what you get for a few bucks from China. What do you expect - right.
Well anyway, this is another reason why I will stop using T3S in favor of more well made products like the Kayfun 3.1.

 

[AndriaD]

Oh yes, the head slots. Indeed that's the whole problem; you have to have wick *filling* those slots *completely* or they will leak, period. The liquid just runs right in, and floods the head, and you have the whole gurgle/leak gamut.

This is *exactly* why the hollow braided ekowool works so well. Here are the ones I did day before yesterday:

You can see, there are no spaces at all, the wicks completely fill those slots, as they're supposed to. Those are wicked with 2mm hollow ekowool in the coil, and 1.5mm silica flavor wick, though I may end up having to remove half of that flavor wick.


Now, here is the difference between 1.5mm regular silica wick, and 2mm hollow ekowool:

There's only .5mm difference in those, yet look at the difference at the cut end! Because that ekowool is hollow, a tube, the cut end is EFFECTIVELY DOUBLED. That "frizzy" stuff at the ends are supposed to fill those slots -- and it does!

The problem isn't the "cheap stuff from china" -- these coils work tremendously! The problem is in how, and with what, you wick them.

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

Hey... I have finally determined, the problem is not with cotton, per se... the problem is cotton *yarn* !!

I finally got some organic cotton balls, after I got my kayfun, and it works terrifically! Amazing taste!

Last night, I needed to empty my Kayfun, rewick it, and get it ready with the 9mg for this morning, so as a lark, I made a new coil for a T3S; nice 2.3Ω, nicely compressed; organic cotton wick in the coil, same for the flavor wick -- and the flavor is almost as good as the kayfun! No lie! I used it the rest of the evening, since the KF had the higher-nic in it, and I never did get a burnt taste or dry hit all evening. I was amazed, but very pleased to learn this.

I guess the cotton yarn just isn't absorbent enough to hold enough juice to keep from burning.

Andria

 

[coaldriller]

Cotton's the way to go, but if you want to try silica, use 2mm.

Bamboo is much better than cotton and wick's faster..Organic hemp is another great option..

 

[XenonRam]

I've been rebuilding the coils in my T3S tanks... using 32ga is good, but the more important aspect is, what are you going to wrap the coils ON? I've been using a 5/64 drill bit, because it's the largest drill bit that will fit in the slots of the T3S in order to mount the coil to the head (and then only if you use the end of the drillbit where the threads are, hard to wiggle out of the coil but it can be done) and the smallest I can get a wick into, and for that size, 2mm seems about right; I've tried doubling the 1.5mm silica I have, but I cannot get it into the coil no matter how I try to thread it. So yesterday I ordered some 2mm braided hollow genuine ekowool from Lightning Vapes... best price I've found, and free 1st class shipping.

Cotton is great for flavor wicks, but for the coil itself, it leaves a great deal to be desired -- such as a decent taste.

Andria

2mm HOLLOW Ekowool has an outside uncompressed diameter of about 2.5mm. When you buy hollow Ekowool, it is listed by the inside diameter. Honestly hollow Ekowool isn't the best option for your application. But since you already ordered it, try this... cut the ~1" your going to need of the Ekowool, then torch it till it glows red hot (this will stiffen it up) then take ~3" of your 1.5mm silica and unravel it (it should be 4 big stands to make the 1.5mm thickness) take 3 of the 4 stands and double them over and use a piece of the thinnest Kanthal you have and use it to thread it through the Ekowool to fill the inside of it.

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