Dripper for taste testing?

[InMyImage]

So my 510 atomizer died and I need something new for tasting because dripping onto my EVOD wicks is kind of pain. I have not used a rebuildable before so I want to make sure that I get some advice for my needs.

So my wife is using EVOD 2 batteries at 3.7v
We use Kanger dual bottom coil atomizers at 1.5 or 1.8 ohms
I use an MVP 2.0

So... I'm looking for a cheap intro RDA (right?) that is easy to rebuild, will let me change flavors quickly and often.
USA shipper that takes PayPal

What supplies should I get to go with it for building 1.5 - 1.8 ohm coils?
What wick and cotton should I get that will best simulate what is in the Kanger atomizers so that the flavors my wife gets is similar to what I get from the RDA?

Thanks and let me know if I'm missing anything.

Bill

 

[Hermit]

I've got a kayfun mini clone coming that I intend to use in dripper mode, with the same aim as you in mind, except that I use single coil mini protanks. Building a single coil on it looks pretty easy (compared to the Anima clone I'm using now, which is tricky to rewick, but otherwise a great cheap dripper). It has air coming up underneath the coil, so that should help simulate the Kangers a bit. It might even be possible to use the inner chamber and chimney, if the juice channels can be blocked up, using the chimney as the drip tip, to simulate the central tube of protanks/evods. Hopefully it will arrive this week so I can play!

Coil-wise, I'm using something like 6/7 wraps of 30 AWG (0.25mm) wound on a 2mm former which comes out at around 1.6 ohms, and rayon for wick.

Another thought would be to get a mini protank 3, assemble it without the glass and o-rings, and put some cotton or rayon around the head (to hold a bit of juice, feed it to the coils and stop too much air getting in from the sides). Sounds like a pain to me, buit it might work

 

[Bitgod]

Got my magma clone this week, haven't gotten around to messing with it other than giving it it's bath. I plan on just single coiling it, can't wait to try a bunch of different flavors.

 

[Bart]

I literally JUST went through this same situation...

I am quite happy with the IGO-W (v4, I think?) I bought for $15 at my local vape shop. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I had only planned to use when tasting. Works like a champ! I drilled out my air holes to 3/32 with a regular old Dewalt 18v cordless drill. The flavor, air flow and vapor production are all pretty remarkable for $15!!!

Visit a Walgreens/CVS and pick up a huge bag of organic cotton balls for wicks (less than $5 for almost a lifetime supply of wicks).

I use 26g wrapped around a larger diameter (3/32, i think?) drill bit with less wraps. I try to keep it around 1.4Ω. I do this so that I can more easily and quickly change wicks, as I'm usually tasting 2-3 different bottles each time. That way I have ZERO flavor carry. I just burn the bare coil between wicks and all of the prior juice goes away.

Coil building IS NOT HARD! Just always check your ohms! If your device does not have a built-in ohm reader, pickup one of these awesome 2-in-1 ohm testers.

I wasted almost $20 trying to get the little 510 drippers to work and I was never satisfied with them -save your money and just get the IGO-W!!!

I hope this helps, cheers!

 

[Bart]

Got my magma clone this week, haven't gotten around to messing with it other than giving it it's bath. I plan on just single coiling it, can't wait to try a bunch of different flavors.

I also just recently purchased a Magma clone - it's wonderful but I honestly prefer the drag of my IGO-W4 to it. (I know, call me crazy... LOL). It is very nice though! I am just not a big fan of the airflow on the Magma, TBH... I run dual micro-coils, which land me at about 0.7Ω. I use organic cotton wicks with juice that ranges from a (40/60 all the way to max VG).

 

[KamenRider]

Bart's on the right track here. The IGO-W series from Youde have been surprisingly good for flavour even after being drilled out. Stock airflow on the W's is great for intense flavour but it's like sucking a golf ball through a straw. My cloud-chucker W4 with 3.5mm holes produces some of the best clouds and flavour of all my drippers.

If you want a 'dedicated' flavour dripper look into either a Magma or the Origen V2. Both are excellent choices for flavour-chasing.

 

[InMyImage]

Thanks everyone. I have had recommendations for clones of the Mephisto, Magma, and TOBH. It's nice to see the feedback on the Magma, and I'll have to check out that IGO-W.

I'm waiting on my new A-Mod ZNA 30 that I won during Nikitta6's contest and after chatting with her a bit, she is piffing me some some basic rebuild supplies along with an "A7" RDA so that I can have something to learn on.

In case you have not seen it yet, somebody recommened the steam-engine.org calculator during one of the vapers.tv broadcasts for Nova Broadcasting or Vapenet (can't remember which). It has an Ohm calculator and a Coil builder calculator.

Been watching a lot of videos by riptrippers on youtube also. Never figured that there were so many ways to make a coil!

Looking forward to hearing more about people's time with the Magma's. I have no interest in sub-ohming but am interested in max flavor so based on what I've seen, the A7's will probably be good for tasting to ensure new juices will taste good for the wife, but if I like it, I'll probably be looking for a better RDA for myself Will just have to find a way to sneak it past her...

Bill

 

[BigDog99]

Bart's on the right track here. The IGO-W series from Youde have been surprisingly good for flavour even after being drilled out. Stock airflow on the W's is great for intense flavour but it's like sucking a golf ball through a straw. My cloud-chucker W4 with 3.5mm holes produces some of the best clouds and flavour of all my drippers.

If you want a 'dedicated' flavour dripper look into either a Magma or the Origen V2. Both are excellent choices for flavour-chasing.

agree with both you guys, love my w5. first dripper I bought, still my fav, 5 rda's and a year later.

 

[BigNasty]

Nothing wrong other than tiny airflow in the IGO series.
pound for pound they can hold their own.

 

[MKPM]

I also just recently purchased a Magma clone - it's wonderful but I honestly prefer the drag of my IGO-W4 to it. (I know, call me crazy... LOL). It is very nice though! I am just not a big fan of the airflow on the Magma, TBH... I run dual micro-coils, which land me at about 0.7Ω. I use organic cotton wicks with juice that ranges from a (40/60 all the way to max VG).

Ditch the air flow ring on the Magma and you will fall in love with it. I've done the same on mine and my two Zeniths

 

[MKPM]

tight coils that are not smothered in cotton = flavour. A common misconception with people that venture from tanks to dripping is the belief that the wick materiel is a reservoir for juice. It is a method of bringing juice to the coil from the drip well. You only need enough wick to accomplish that efficiently. A coil that is too wet is not generating enough heat to properly atomise the juice. Beyond that.....ENJOY the rush of flavour that non rebuildable tanks rob us of.

 

[BigNasty]

Ditch the air flow ring on the Magma and you will fall in love with it. I've done the same on mine and my two Zeniths

I call those air restriction annoyances.
If they stayed put and machined correctly then I would not have an issue with them.


OH and if you can find them and not overly interested in rebuilding a dripper check out the 306 attys.
5 bucks for a taster you don't have to rebuild is pretty cheap, or a smok squid. I think Timeless has them for dirt cheap.

 

[MKPM]

I call those air restriction annoyances.
If they stayed put and machined correctly then I would not have an issue with them.

Yep. They bollocked up a great idea on the Mutation X by not cutting the restrictor bits in the top cap at the same angle as the air holes. For that reason, I still rate the Magma, Tobh, Plume Veil above the Mutation X

 

[BigNasty]

Magma less but it is not my cup of tea, the plume veil I thought it would be but find it more hassle that it is worth..
Tobh outside of those dumb ass deck flanges is rock solid Just wish I would have used a drill press for the enlarged holes I did.
The mutation x has it's place and damned good ideas just possibly a poor follow through.

Now the one I am seriously debating spending the priced on is the Hobo.

 

[indian ocean steamcloud]

tight coils that are not smothered in cotton = flavour. A common misconception with people that venture from tanks to dripping is the belief that the wick materiel is a reservoir for juice. It is a method of bringing juice to the coil from the drip well. You only need enough wick to accomplish that efficiently. A coil that is too wet is not generating enough heat to properly atomise the juice. Beyond that.....ENJOY the rush of flavour that non rebuildable tanks rob us of.

+1 for this post

 

[InMyImage]

Lots of great info here everyone. Thanks to the kindness of @Nikkita6 I now have an A6, A7, Tobeco Stillare and Kayfun Mini Lite v2.1

Have watched a lot of vids on youtube and have a lot more research to do to figure out how to build, but really looking forward to playing with all of them. Especially since I like to switch between flavors all day and night given my chronic insomnia

Will post up some questions and pics as I go along... She built a couple of them for her reviews over at VapingCheap.com and left the coils in so I can get started dripping immediately.

Bill

 

[Bart]

Lots of great info here everyone. Thanks to the kindness of @Nikkita6 I now have an A6, A7, Tobeco Stillare and Kayfun Mini Lite v2.1

Have watched a lot of vids on youtube and have a lot more research to do to figure out how to build, but really looking forward to playing with all of them. Especially since I like to switch between flavors all day and night given my chronic insomnia

Will post up some questions and pics as I go along... She built a couple of them for her reviews over at VapingCheap.com and left the coils in so I can get started dripping immediately.

Bill

Keep us posted. There are a lot of incredibly helpful anf knowledgeable vapers here. I could not have asked for a better experience tackling my learning curve. Now I am building all sorts of coils and combos. #bigtastyclouds

 

[Talon4x4]

My favorite thing for juice testing....wickless coil. So easy to keep switching juices and not have to worry about always changing cotton. It's a pain in the ass to build but once you do, it will last forever. Simply because you aren't using it all the time. And this will work in any RDA that has holes in the postitive and negative posts suitable to accommodate the wire size. Which nowadays, is almost all of them.

Here's the video I followed

 

[MKPM]

I thought I'd be clever and invent the coil-less wick............turns out that the cotton ball already exists. I must cry now

 

[Bart]

My favorite thing for juice testing....wickless coil. So easy to keep switching juices and not have to worry about always changing cotton. It's a pain in the ass to build but once you do, it will last forever. Simply because you aren't using it all the time. And this will work in any RDA that has holes in the postitive and negative posts suitable to accommodate the wire size. Which nowadays, is almost all of them.

Here's the video I followed

Duuuuuude. That looks awesome, thanks for sharing!!!

 

[InMyImage]

My favorite thing for juice testing....wickless coil. So easy to keep switching juices and not have to worry about always changing cotton. It's a pain in the ass to build but once you do, it will last forever. Simply because you aren't using it all the time. And this will work in any RDA that has holes in the postitive and negative posts suitable to accommodate the wire size. Which nowadays, is almost all of them.

Here's the video I followed

How people come up with ideas like this is beyond me. Added it to a playlist for future references.
Thanks

 

[MKPM]

How people come up with ideas like this is beyond me. Added it to a playlist for future references.
Thanks

Every great invention began with "What if?"

 

[Hobby Kid]

Every great invention began with "What if?"

maybe. or "wtf"

 

[InMyImage]

Ok, so after playing with the coil calculator at http://www.steam-engine.org it doesn't look like the 32g wire I have will really work for a single coil build so I decided to use the Tobeco Stillare for my first build since it has more room in it than the A6 and A7.

Here is a vid of the build at 1.2 ohms using 32g Kathal A1 with a 2.5mm core using a 6/5 wrap.

I can't seem to get the coils to compress any tighter but I don't have a regular set of tweezers, just one of the that you squeeze to open vs squeeze to close.

Lessons learned so far, I need thick wire... I don't plan to do anything lower than a 1.2 ohm build so I'm thinking about 26g. Any advice here?

I need a magnifying glass. My eyes are starting to suck and this stuff is way to small for me.

Bill

 

[Bart]

In my experience, its best to get them as tight as you can. Then check your ohms and put the coil on the atty. Dry fire pump it a few times. This works out hot spots. Then I hold power to it, heating the coil red hot. As soon as I let go of the fire button, I take my needle nose pliers and pinch it. The heat helps to stiffen the wire and removes some of the springiness. After a couple times, the coil is as tight as it is going to get. It really doesnt need to be perfect. You just want to make sure the glow comes from the middle of the coil and heads outward.

Important note. DONT EVER fire your atty while you're pinching the coil with pliers. Quickly lock it if you have to...

 

[InMyImage]

Ok, thanks, I'll try heating and squishing to see if I can get them tighter.

 

[Bart]

Ok, thanks, I'll try heating and squishing to see if I can get them tighter.

No problem! It should do the trick. Good luck!

 

[InMyImage]

Thanks @Bart that tip worked really well. Now I just have to try to get the wick through them and it will be time to test them out.

 

[Bart]

Thanks @Bart that tip worked really well. Now I just have to try to get the wick through them and it will be time to test them out.

My pleasure. Wicking is cake, but remember that all the cotton needs to do is suck up juice. Dont overload your coil with cotton. It should slide easily inside the coil (It swells when wet).

 

[BigNasty]

@InMyImage A trick I use when making my mom's coils with 34 ga. is use a bic lighter and heat the wire to remove some spring in it prior to coiling.

While 26 is wicked easy to coil with you are going to loose a ton of resistance, low ohm land with a dual coil set up.
28 ga and 30 are goo middle ground wires to work with, still torch/heat to remove the springy aspect of them. But for single coil builds you will be in 1+ ohm land.

 

[InMyImage]

I used the 2.5 silica wick that @Nikkita6 sent me. And it was easier to thread through the coils than I feared. I got it all loaded up to taste a new DIY cherry I whipped together and other than the fact that the juice tastes like cough syrup, everything seems to be working like it should. Thanks again for the help everyone.

Bill

 

[BigNasty]

I used the 2.5 silica wick that @Nikkita6 sent me. And it was easier to thread through the coils than I feared. I got it all loaded up to taste a new DIY cherry I whipped together and other than the fact that the juice tastes like cough syrup, everything seems to be working like it should. Thanks again for the help everyone.

Bill

the coil on the right seems a bit tight almost choking the juice off and is why it is looking a tad scorched.

 

[InMyImage]

@BigNasy to you tight core size or tight compressed to much?

 

[BigNasty]

Since you are using silica I would say a bit tight on the inner coil diameter post compression.

 

[Bart]

Cherry is tough. Try the Forest Fruit Mix from TFA. DELICIOUS! !!

 

[InMyImage]

@Bart I'll have to try that next go around. I'm waiting on my next batch of flavors and stuff from Wizard Labs right now. SWMBO and I are really big fans of the Cinnamon Red Hots juice I mixed up last time so I have 2 bottles of it coming so I can mix up a large batch
Have some more flavors coming with it, but the Red Hots is the priority mix as we have been out since Friday ;(

 

[Bart]

@Bart I'll have to try that next go around. I'm waiting on my next batch of flavors and stuff from Wizard Labs right now. SWMBO and I are really big fans of the Cinnamon Red Hots juice I mixed up last time so I have 2 bottles of it coming so I can mix up a large batch
Have some more flavors coming with it, but the Red Hots is the priority mix as we have been out since Friday ;(

Lol I get it! I would go insane if I didnt have my very own, "Vanilla-Iced Almond Cookie". #smellslikeabakeryinhere

 

[BigNasty]

Another trick on the coil is once you get it compressed lock the button and put the mandrel back in the coil to center it up if a coil has slipped or not.

 

[InMyImage]

Ok guys... any idea why the bottom coil is not wicking the way the upper one is? I checked to make sure the legs are still in the posts and they appear to be okay.

Also, the wicks went into the coils pretty easily and are not constricted by the coils, so do you still think that they are too tight @BigNasy ?

 

[BigNasty]

From the first angle and vid ya I thought they might be a tad tight creating a choke point.
But the above picture it appears more loose than tight, is it giving you a hot spot when you fire it?

 

[InMyImage]

I don't think so. The last vid shows them firing up after compressing them. I assume that a hotspot is an area of the coil that heats up before the center heats up and starts working it's way out. Right?

 

[Bart]

I don't think so. The last vid shows them firing up after compressing them. I assume that a hotspot is an area of the coil that heats up before the center heats up and starts working it's way out. Right?

Your coils shouldnt glow at all, anywhere, once they're wicked and wet. If they do, you have a hot spot.

 

[InMyImage]

Your coils shouldnt glow at all, anywhere, once they're wicked and wet. If they do, you have a hot spot.

I didn't see any glowing spots in the last video I posted after the wicks were in and wetted out. I went ahead and put more cough syrup I mean "cherry" on them and fired them up again and no glow.

I pulled the wicks out and they are about as close to the same length as I could make them, although it looks like the one that was complete used up was more centered than the other one. Oddly enough when I wetted and fired, the one that still had fluid on it after the other was all used up was actually producing more vapor than the other one.

Maybe it's a simple case of dripping more onto one than the other? Or maybe the coil is touching more wick on one than the other?

 

[Bart]

The burnt look concerns me. Ive never used silica. I know it doesnt help you now but you may want to consider stopping by a drugstore and picking up a bag of organic cotton balls. They work incredibly well.

 

[InMyImage]

Okay, I have some sterile cotton pads, I assume that the guts of them would work just as well right?

 

[Nikkita6]

Ok guys... any idea why the bottom coil is not wicking the way the upper one is? I checked to make sure the legs are still in the posts and they appear to be okay.

Also, the wicks went into the coils pretty easily and are not constricted by the coils, so do you still think that they are too tight @BigNasy ?

Well it looks like your coils are not firing together, which can happen when attempting to run dual coils. All four leads have to be caught well underneath the screws. Sometimes it appears that they are when in fact one or more leads are not completely caught.

You can try to unscrew the catch screws and reposition the coil leads, and catch them again, although with 32 gauge which is a thin wire you may snap the leads as they become more brittle the more they are fired. Also on your next build try to make a wider coil so that your leads are not being pulled too much when you are threading them through the post holes.

If you are concerned about keeping your resistance low, then you can also double over and twist the kanthal which will effectively cut the resistance down to about .6ohm per inch making it closer to 30 gauge in resistance. Google "twisted Kanthal" and you will find loads of pics and how to's for twisting Kanthal. I twist by hand with pliers and a paper clip, but many use an electric drill and pliers to twist their wire.

 

[InMyImage]

Also on your next build try to make a wider coil so that your leads are not being pulled too much when you are threading them through the post holes.

Is there an upper ohm limit that I shouldn't pass for a single coil build with a regulated wattage mod?

If you are concerned about keeping your resistance low, then you can also double over and twist the kanthal which will effectively cut the resistance down to about .6ohm per inch making it closer to 30 gauge in resistance. Google "twisted Kanthal" and you will find loads of pics and how to's for twisting Kanthal. I twist by hand with pliers and a paper clip, but many use an electric drill and pliers to twist their wire.

it sounds like instead of putting in a single coil, I could put in a dual parallel to get the twisted data right?
So if I use the coil calculator over at steam-engine.org it sounds like instead of putting in a single coil, I could put in a dual parallel to get the twisted data right?

 

[Nikkita6]

Is there an upper ohm limit that I shouldn't pass for a single coil build with a regulated wattage mod?


it sounds like instead of putting in a single coil, I could put in a dual parallel to get the twisted data right?
So if I use the coil calculator over at steam-engine.org it sounds like instead of putting in a single coil, I could put in a dual parallel to get the twisted data right?

The ZNA has a max firing resistance of 3.00 ... I don't really understand your second question, or what you mean when you say "twisted data". If you are looking to do another dual coil build then you will need to make to identical coils of the same resistance. If for example you want a 1.5 ohm dual coil result, then you will need to build two 3.00 ohm single coils.

 

[InMyImage]

I don't really understand your second question, or what you mean when you say "twisted data".

Sorry, I meant the resistance of the wire after 2 strands are twisted together.

I succeeded in twisting the 32g and making a single coil setup. It ended up being 1.9 ohms. I had put dual parallel into the steam-engine calculator and was expecting a 1.5 coil, so obviously there is not a direct relationship between twisting 2 strands together and making a single coil vs making two single strand coils and putting them in a dual parallel configuration.

Either way, the coil is firing up nicely. I tried using the cotton I have and it failed. Burned up cleanly in the coil, so I went back to the silica wick and everything is working well and wicking nicely.

I had to close the air holes of the Stillare completely in order to get a stiff enough draw for my liking. I'm not sure where the Stillare is pulling extra air from with the holes completely closed given that it does not have a hole for the 510 connection. I don't know if this affects the performance, but it does produce more vapor than my Kanger tanks, and definitely has more throat hit but I'm not sure if I like the flavor change and will have to try more flavors in it. I'll have to build out the A6 and see if it more closely matches the Kanger tanks for taste testing. I have decided that it should be relatively easy to rebuild the Kanger coils now though, so I should save a bit of money there

Thanks again for the advice everyone,

Bill

 

[Hermit]

Got my KF mini clone yesterday and set it up in the by-the-book dripper mode.

The airflow is quite tight with the air control screw in - roughly similar to mini protanks (and you can adjust between not-drilled and drilled, or even airier with the screw removed).

Flavour is fuller than a protank, no doubt of that. Perhaps a long (50mm+) metal drip tip would get it closer.

Considering the small size, it's very easy to put a coil onto. With a screwdriver or drill bit through the coil, hold the coil onto the deck, wrap the wires around the screws, tighten them down, then lift the coil a little off the deck. No hovering in mid-air or fiddly reaching around obstacles! This coil is 8 wraps of 29 gauge around 2mm, coming in at 1.60 ohms. (Since the wires come off the coil in opposite diirections, it's an exact integer number of winds).

Might have used too fat a wick (this is rayon) but it does need to get down the sides when in dripper mode, to pick up juice. Trimmed to just above the lower threads that the outer casing screws onto.



Next try will be to set it up using the inner chamber, the tall chimney, a short wick... and something to block the juice channels, if I can decide what!