1st wicking attempt, any good?

[Deaf Vaper]

Well. it is your first build. It's pretty damn good. My first few RTAs were a disaster

I'll be having a go at building with the Doggy next!

Noticed that the cotton had slumped on to the deck again..so definately something to watch out for when i rewick the Siren, i clearly put too much in the first time around.

 

[Fuctifino]

Heya chaps, thanks for the additional advice. Still playing around with the Siren, as they is still a leakage issue. I guess i need to adjust the coil position, so will try that matchstick trick...i think i still got some somewhere. Failing that, i do have plenty of clean 2.5 mm drill bits, that should suffice.

@rew I've noticed this air pocket issue too, the dome is very close to the tube. I've refilled it 3 times now, and it's still seeping, even doing the upside down trick. The tank is nearly empty again (doesn't take long cos half of it leaks out!), so, i'll take it apart and re do the whole deck set up again.

But as for it;s performance (when it's not leaking), yep..good little tank this, very nice flavour response. Just a bit finicky to set up.

Ensure the grain is running through the coil, don't have it spaced too much, but enough to spread across the air block,
increase the height a smidge, use a slightly thicker VG juice on certain known leaky tanks - yes a few said the Siren "can" leak
(but tbh most tanks "can" leak until you suss each tank's little qwirks)

Looking at your pic.....

The coil is a bit pissed tbh, and you could ensure the coil's outer wrap(s) are inline with edges of airblock
(that way the underside of coils are fully supporting the cotton away from touching the outer edges of air block)

I mean the coil has probably shifted a bit if you have been messing with rewicking
but from pic the edge of the coil at bottom could have come over a bit to the bottom right to be inline with block
to ensure no cotton could touch the block and transfer juice from saturated wick to block and down the air inlet etc....

When looking at the positioned coil you are finally content with its height/position most if not nearly always
the coil will sit a hairline fraction not 101% pinpoint accurately bang on dead centre left to right
(ULTRA OCD kicking in here but I'm talking like 1/100th fractions of a millimetre or something but I do notice it)
Well that is when I decide I'll wick from that side and in "theory" the wicking "should/perhaps" tend to pull coil back to 200% centre

This whole RTA bollocks often comes down if YOU can get on with THAT tank
Many say this Xxxxx tank is the nutz, others say it was a pile of shit & get on with other tanks better

Some tanks you just need to learn its qwirks and suss the exact technique
The good news, though it may not seem like it at times of grief
is that it all adds to improving your overall technique - a lot of shit you can't just learn from vids
you have to learn from doing & screwing up (numerous times), before you see any improvement or results

I dare say we would quite likely coil/wick slightly differently, some tighter wick, some a bit looser
others would use a lower/higher sitting coil with varying resistance or stuff
we would use a variation of juice & viscosity and no wonder we would get slight variations of success/fail

It was only a few weeks ago I was thinking just WTF am I doing wrong ???
my results were still a bit hit n miss - but just recently in last couple of weeks have I "seemed" to have more success
(a couple of times I thought fuck this RTA bollocks)

you will suss it I'm sure

 

[Deaf Vaper]

Ensure the grain is running through the coil, don't have it spaced too much, but enough to spread across the air block,
increase the height a smidge, use a slightly thicker VG juice on certain known leaky tanks - yes a few said the Siren "can" leak
(but tbh most tanks "can" leak until you suss each tank's little qwirks)

Looking at your pic.....

The coil is a bit pissed tbh, and you could ensure the coil's outer wrap(s) are inline with edges of airblock
(that way the underside of coils are fully supporting the cotton away from touching the outer edges of air block)

I mean the coil has probably shifted a bit if you have been messing with rewicking
but from pic the edge of the coil at bottom could have come over a bit to the bottom right to be inline with block
to ensure no cotton could touch the block and transfer juice from saturated wick to block and down the air inlet etc....

When looking at the positioned coil you are finally content with its height/position most if not nearly always
the coil will sit a hairline fraction not 101% pinpoint accurately bang on dead centre left to right
(ULTRA OCD kicking in here but I'm talking like 1/100th fractions of a millimetre or something but I do notice it)
Well that is when I decide I'll wick from that side and in "theory" the wicking "should/perhaps" tend to pull coil back to 200% centre

This whole RTA bollocks often comes down if YOU can get on with THAT tank
Many say this Xxxxx tank is the nutz, others say it was a pile of shit & get on with other tanks better

Some tanks you just need to learn its qwirks and suss the exact technique
The good news, though it may not seem like it at times of grief
is that it all adds to improving your overall technique - a lot of shit you can't just learn from vids
you have to learn from doing & screwing up (numerous times), before you see any improvement or results

I dare say we would quite likely coil/wick slightly differently, some tighter wick, some a bit looser
others would use a lower/higher sitting coil with varying resistance or stuff
we would use a variation of juice & viscosity and no wonder we would get slight variations of success/fail

It was only a few weeks ago I was thinking just WTF am I doing wrong ???
my results were still a bit hit n miss - but just recently in last couple of weeks have I "seemed" to have more success
(a couple of times I thought fuck this RTA bollocks)

you will suss it I'm sure

Er...yeh thanks for that Fuctifino! lol!

Have now repositioned the coil (using the matchstick trick), as it was nearly touching the base before, hence leakage. It's now spaced over each edge of the air holes, and straighter than it was. I've used a little less wicking this time...and so far..appears to be leak free. One other little quibble i've noticed with this tank, is when screwing the dome/glass back on, it sometimes goes on skewed if not careful. After doing the reposition/rewicking, i put the dome/tube back on, then attempted to refill...it pissed out at the bottom...oh how i cursed!

So...after a quick clean, correctly screwed the damn thing back on again..and this time, it filled up nicely! Another little irksome issue with this tank, is that bottom seal...it's not very secure, sometimes comes off with the glass and then falls off.

So like you say, funtifino...every tank has it's issues..but when it all works.....it works nicely!

Good job i'm a patient man!

Will update, when i come to refill it again!

 

[iqon]

you got one made on a friday

 

[Deaf Vaper]

Siren tank remians leak free..hurrah! I#'m doing something right!

Started making coils from scratch today....easier than i thought....just winding the wire around a small screwdriver shank..does the trick..just gotta get the right number of wraps so i can get the desired resistance right.

Fun this isn't it?!

 

[Lung Redemption]

What you aiming for? I've found my sweet spot at 24ga, 5 wraps (spaced)... bang on (mostly, .1/.2 here or there) 0.5 ohms.

I can sling you a few coils in a box if you like, 28/27/26 spaced out nicely.. (i'm getting handy with the jig)..

Noone is touching my precious 24ga though, it's servicing 3 tanks on my perfect build, lol.

 

[Deaf Vaper]

What you aiming for? I've found my sweet spot at 24ga, 5 wraps (spaced)... bang on (mostly, .1/.2 here or there) 0.5 ohms.

I can sling you a few coils in a box if you like, 28/27/26 spaced out nicely.. (i'm getting handy with the jig)..

Noone is touching my precious 24ga though, it's servicing 3 tanks on my perfect build, lol.

Thanks for the offer, but i do have many spools of wire already..just trying to figure out what they are! I've got one spool of 26AWG Kanthal round wire, one 28GA kanthal Clapton wire, and several spools of S/S 316l wire. I've no idea what resistances can be obtained from any of these yet..so just playing around with different wrap numbers, to see what they come to. So, i'm still experimenting with all that. At the moment, i'm trying to get 1.0 ohm, with the 26AWG kanthal, as it's for a MTL tank...but i also have a mech epipe and found that 1.0 ohm isn't quite cutting it, so might go for something lower, say 0.6 ohms. Making the coils is pretty easy, it's just choosing the right wire thickness, material and numbers of wraps required.

I received a rather nice looking little coil making & wicking tool kit, free from @Coolie27 today, along with yet another spool of S/S 316 wire! I've got Stainless steel wire coming out of my ears now! lol! Thanks @Coolie27!

BTW...can somebody tell what the difference is with GA and AWG please? I understand the different gradings of AWG..but can't fathom out what GA stands for. Some of spools using this grading....i have one that says 28GA..what is that?

 

[ObiWanVaponi]

Thanks for the offer, but i do have many spools of wire already..just trying to figure out what they are! I've got one spool of 26AWG Kanthal round wire, one 28GA kanthal Clapton wire, and several spools of S/S 316l wire. I've no idea what resistances can be obtained from any of these yet..so just playing around with different wrap numbers, to see what they come to. So, i'm still experimenting with all that...at the moment i'm trying to get 1.0 ohm, with the 26AWG kanthal, as it's for a MTL tank...but i have a mech epipe and found that 1.0 isn't quite cutting it, so might go for something lower, say 0.5 ohms. Making the coils is pretty easy, it's just choosing the right wire thickness, material and numbers of wraps required.

I received a rather nice looking little coil making & wicking tool kit, free from @Coolie27 today, along with yet another spool of S/S 316 wire! I've got Stainless steel wire coming out of my ears now! lol! Thanks @Coolie27!

BTW...can somebody tell what the difference is with GA and AWG please? I understand the diferent gradings of AWG..but can't phathom out what Ga stands for. Some of spools using this grading....i have one that says 28GA..what is that?

As you probably know AWG is short for American Wire Gauge. GA is just short for 'Gauge' so assuming you are talking about AWG (which they are) then GA is just short for that. and abbreviation of an abbreviation if you like.

I MTL and just use 7/8 wraps 2.5ID of 28AWG Kanthal for almost everything, the only time I go for something different is if the RTA is a bit small or the chimney is a bit tight. I think all the fancy wires are designed for less and less resistance, ie subohming so kanthal has kind of been left behind as the choice for MTL. Thats all I use anyway lol.

 

[Deaf Vaper]

Morning @ObiWanVaponi,

Thanksfor that info...so it's the same thing then. Yes, i'm sticking with Kanthal for now...i made a coil using some the S/S316l wire..then dry burned it @30 watts...it knackered it! Too much power i 'spose! lol!

I'll see what i can come up with with that 26awg kanthal for now..i don't wanna get any more wire for the time being...i've got spools of it piling up!

Cheers mate!

 

[ObiWanVaponi]

Morning @ObiWanVaponi,

Thanksfor that info...so it's the same thing then. Yes, i'm sticking with Kanthal for now...i made a coil using some the S/S316l wire..then dry burned it @30 watts...it knackered it! Too much power i 'spose! lol!

I'll see what i can come up with with that 26awg kanthal for now..i don't wanna get any more wire for the time being...i've got spools of it piling up!

Cheers mate!

Yeah I've got ss316 , N80, some clapton stuff and various others but to get anything anywhere near 1.0 ohm or above you need to wrap so many times the coil won't fit in the tank! Its one of those things that I keep thinking 'oh I'll try some of that' but its just a waste of time and cash. I'm happy enough now with about 1.3ohm @ about 14W ish nowadays