Advanced E-cig users and oil/wax, how-to "one-hitter-quitter"

[ixtapa]

Some quick notes on titanium wire:

GalliumSource sent "black" wire not "clean". This results in the familiar black streaks when wiping with alcohol on a rag. I hit it with a butane blow torch on high and the wire glowed bright... and was heavily covered in flaky oxidation (likely very bad wrt inhalation). I then turned the flame down to min and waved the heat back and forth across a fresh wire. As soon as I started seeing any glow, I moved the heat. The end result was a non-oxidized wire that wipes clean. This will be my go-to method for cleaning black wire. I feel very comfortable with the result.

This oxidation creates serious issues wrt weaving the wire for a wickless build. I built a quick proof of concept weave. The resistance was very low. However, under power, the crisscrossing serves to make the weave massively parallel. The end result was glowing leads (higher resistance) and not much heat through the weave (lower resistance). As a test, I then hit that same weave with a hot torch to get the wire to oxidize (converting the massively parallel weave into a continuous wire weave, evidenced by a dramatic increase in resistance). This resulted in a perfectly heating weave... with possibly carcinogenic oxidation. The solution is worse than the problem!

I haven't given up on Ti yet - I have some more ideas that might get around the above issues. That said, the oxidized weave should work great with Kanthal, so I will probably have better luck with a non TC wickless build. More info when I have it.

 

[2clicker]

Some quick notes on titanium wire:

GalliumSource sent "black" wire not "clean". This results in the familiar black streaks when wiping with alcohol on a rag. I hit it with a butane blow torch on high and the wire glowed bright... and was heavily covered in flaky oxidation (likely very bad wrt inhalation). I then turned the flame down to min and waved the heat back and forth across a fresh wire. As soon as I started seeing any glow, I moved the heat. The end result was a non-oxidized wire that wipes clean. This will be my go-to method for cleaning black wire. I feel very comfortable with the result.

This oxidation creates serious issues wrt weaving the wire for a wickless build. I built a quick proof of concept weave. The resistance was very low. However, under power, the crisscrossing serves to make the weave massively parallel. The end result was glowing leads (higher resistance) and not much heat through the weave (lower resistance). As a test, I then hit that same weave with a hot torch to get the wire to oxidize (converting the massively parallel weave into a continuous wire weave, evidenced by a dramatic increase in resistance). This resulted in a perfectly heating weave... with possibly carcinogenic oxidation. The solution is worse than the problem!

I haven't given up on Ti yet - I have some more ideas that might get around the above issues. That said, the oxidized weave should work great with Kanthal, so I will probably have better luck with a non TC wickless build. More info when I have it.

i would avoid any wire that needs to be torched to clean it. soak it in ISO for a day or two and see how it comes out.

otherwise find another Ti wire vendor. so far spider silk has been the cleanest i have found, but its damn expensive.

 

[CalyxSmokr]

Hi all. New member with a couple noobish questions if anybody has time or an opinion.
Been reading this thread and just now getting into variable voltage mods.

Previously running a dual coil Patriot with stainless mesh wick and a Nemesis clone mech mod and looking to step up to a lower temp and more convenient RDA and coil.

I have gotten a IStick 30W and running that with an Evil Monk built with a ss stovetop coil wicked with ReadyXWick. So far this is working 1000% better but still not dialed in. Does anybody have an opinion on what ohm I should make the stovetop. 0.6 seems a little hot and 0.9 seems to take a while to heat but I am still getting used to the variable power. Any wattage or volts that you think would be good to start target especially on the 0.9 on there now? Still pulsing on and off to prevent any burned taste.

Most importantly I wonder if there are any opinions on a need for a different mod. Would I see better functionality with the 40W TC IStick if I am running stainless karanthal? Is that just for nickel wire or can I get a more gentle dab with that mod and this RDA/coil? Will I still be pulsing to prevent burn on the 40W TC or can I dial that in smoother than the 30W when using stainless coils? Is that the border of the game changer I see being referred to here? - the TC on the 40W vs. the 30W?

Plus I am just finding out about the DivineTribe donut and wonder if the 30W IStick will do a good enough job if I order one of those or should I look at the 40W TC for that too (as the site recommends). Anybody have an opinon if I will find an easier and better hit with the Donut or is the stovetop kind of equivalent?

I have 18650s that I can use so I wonder if there is another mod that would suit my purposes and accepts these batteries. If I understand correctly we don't need a huge amount of power for wax vaping so I don't want something with huge power capabilities but am looking for functionality and a nice low temp dab. I see the Kangxin Mini VF 50W Mod KX - 50D Chip Variable Wattage Mini Box Mod Temperature Protection VW Mod mentioned. Is that a good option but just bulkier than the IStick rechargable line?

Any recs as far as mods and builds/coils/rdas is greatly appreciated.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

I'm getting so frustrated. I have tried about 3 to 5 different builds with nickel wire wrapped around 1 or 2 pieces of fc-2000. I thought it was the DBW on my mod but i just got a brand new eVic vtc mini less than a couple of hours ago and I'm having the same result.. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but It's getting really annoying. I just can't really get the build to fire properly it seems. It seems like temp control is working too well, like without all of the e liquid in the atomizer to saturate the coil It hits temperature ceiling too fast and is slowing the power down because of that. When i just fire the mod and look at it within 1-2 seconds the mod gives me the "Ni protection" warning and it never really fires. It says its already hitting 500f and shutting the power down but the truth is that I could touch the coil less than two seconds after firing it and Its not hot at all and certainly not 500f. It doesn't make sense and I'm thinking that it's something to do with the atomizer.. it's never happened to me but clones are known to fail sometimes.

 

[Joel W.]

@gladthaturaglide

What gauge wire? how many ohms now?

I'd try switching to power mode and pulse the fire button a little till there is good vapor but not glowing. then reset the ohms and go back to temp mode. see if your ohms changed. try it.

Some here have switched to ti wire recently.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

I've tried them both here in the last couple hours. Will try to pulse at about 10 watts and see what happens. The first nickel read at .2 ohm and the first ti I tried was .33. Both at 40 watts and 420-500f and I got nothing. Just wasted about .5 g of oil.. Well I think most of it is trapped in the wick

 

[Joel W.]

Ya i'd pulse it at 35w for a second until vapor in power mode then I run mine at 60w @ 520f to 540f
in temp mode with .5 ohms.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

Ya i'd pulse it at 35w for a second until vapor in power mode then I run mine at 60w @ 520f to 540f
in temp mode with .5 ohms.

Are you using nickel or titanium? I'm assuming ti with a resistance that high?

 

[Joel W.]

I am using ti now but I had the same thing happen with nickel wire and ti wire.

Edit: I can't explain it other than I think I was annealing the wire in power mode.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

That seemed to help. If the ti glowed for just a sec. When pulsing is that coil unuseable?

 

[Joel W.]

That seemed to help. If the ti glowed for just a sec. When pulsing is that coil unuseable?

Id use it but I don't know any better. I think you're ok if it is not white oxide. Glad it helped..

 

[gladthaturaglide]

Yeah, It doesn't have any white dust. I think this works much better now. i just need to try some different builds. Thanks man!

 

[fernand]

I wonder if Titanium Dioxide's unique whiteness and opaqueness isn't making a bigger deal out of it. We really don't know if it's any more toxic than other ultra-fine particulates, other oxides, silica, ceramics, etc. It seems that it's more of a mechanical irritant than a classical carcinogen, like tars. But because it takes very little TiO2 dust to be visible, we may be freaking out at it while overlooking fine particles from other alloys, other materials, that may be more transparent, less obvious.

IMHO it stands to reason to thoroughly rinse atomizer materials, especially those that have been brutally heated, say to glowing. But I still see dry-burning as a good method for strongly cleaning coils of residues -- ones that could be more toxic than oxides. Then rinsing in hot water, and/or liquids that fully evaporate, like alcohols.

Temp control is an excellent way to prevent exposure to heat-decomposing stuff. With TC we can use wicking materials like cotton without burning them, and oils/waxes without ever burning/breaking them down. Fuck combustion! What a total waste. TC is fantastic, a whole new world!

I don't think any of the curves on these devices are lab-acurate, and the different temps along the wire also throw it off. So IMHO just experimenting and adding/subtracting offsets can work OK for different metals and alloys.


It's very important to "listen to your body". This isn't some hippy new age BS. Just being observant. To me Nickel coils were causing some sort of malaise, not an allergy, so for me, I see no point in using Nickel.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

So apparently Evic vt and Vtc minis are an extremely buggy mod with all sorts of chip problems. Not saying they all have this but it seems to be a reoccurring issue. I even updated the firmware and the mod still works the exact same. Mine pretty much refuses to register the new coil the way the manual says it should. On top of that, this mod is misreading the temp of the coil and hitting the temp ceiling almost 1-2 secs into taking a hit off the atomizer and essentially doing exactly what dry burn warning is doing on the sx350j chip mods, it shuts down the power. I think when Joel w was telling me to pulse it in watts mode I was changing the resistance of the wire and thus tricking this mod into firing properly in temp control mode. This video explains exactly what I am experiencing with this mod. Fast forward to the two minute mark!

Also! Have you guys seen the low pro rda!? I think it's on vapordna.com and this rda's build deck seems to be absolutely perfect for what we are trying to use these for. Next to the evil monk this seems to be the best I've found.

 

[ixtapa]

Had some time to get a little more serious with a wickless build. No wax yet, so haven't actually tested it live.

Started with five 5in lengths of grade 1 24 gauge Ti. Cleaned them with alcohol and a light blowtorch (no glowing - just enough heat to make gold/blue, if you see white/gray you've gone too far). Three strands were braided and two were twisted. I tried to get them different colors to see the contrast.

I then wrapped the braid around a 2mm rod, trying to overlap a bit as I went around. The result was almost exactly what I hoped for - lots and lots of holes all the way through.

It's hard to get a good sense of this from the photo, so I took a contrast picture to give a better idea of what is going on here.

I then wrapped the twist around this inner braid coil, and jammed the five leads into the posts as well as I could. The final resistance is around .185ohm and it heated up wonderfully in TC mode on my IPV D2.

There are some obvious issues. Without drilling out the posts to a larger diameter, four 24 gauge leads is all that will be practical. This explains why it sits unusably high off the deck. The overall diameter is too wide to fit between the posts, so I will try wrapping the braid around a 1.5mm rod next. I think the twisted outer coil is probably overkill, so next go will probably just be the braid core with a single wire coil around it. I really wasn't worried about aesthetics, but I could certainly make this prettier with more time invested. I really just wanted to see if it would fire, and it did. Exciting!

Also! Have you guys seen the low pro rda!? I think it's on vapordna.com and this rda's build deck seems to be absolutely perfect for what we are trying to use these for.

Dude that looks amazing for my purposes! That huge space in the middle would allow more strands (I have an amazing 6/8 strand weave idea that would never work on a stumpy, but 3 and 3 or even 4 and 4 might work there in dual coil mode!).

*For anyone with an evil monk, could you tell me how many 24 gauge leads can be crammed in the holes?*

 

[Joel W.]

My evic temps are off also when in Ti mode. No big deal really. I don't care what the display reads as long as I am not burning my oil.

I have over 15,000 seconds of runtime on mine.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

agreed joel w! i just got fed up with it. If i buy a mod, i expect it to work correctly, I shouldn't have to trick it into working correctly! But if it works for ya, then it works! I just heard some DNA 200 mods showed up at my local brick and mortar and I rushed down to get one because i despise waiting 3 days to get things in the mail when it's friday and I want to play with it! hahaha.. Well let me tell you that as far as temperature control technology goes.. this thing is firing everything perfectly. No more wasted oil in my wick!




Ixtapa! yeah i know, I went on a man hunt across the internet looking for an rda that allowed me to build two coils facing each other closely but not touching.. I really thought what I was looking for didn't exist yet but I happened upon the Low pro right as I was about to give up! I can't wait to get it, going to order it on monday!

 

[2clicker]

So apparently Evic vt and Vtc minis are an extremely buggy mod with all sorts of chip problems.

i would have to disagree with this. i have both and have no problems with either. on the VT people experienced the device jumping out of TC mode, but from my experience its only because the leads are loose. my VTC has worked perfectly and is my favorite mod to date. i even did the firmware update and it worked great. i have not watched your video yet, but will and will reply after i do.

when you did the firmware upgrade you changed the way the device displays the resistance. before the update you would set your resistance and the display would show it at that resistance even while firing. after the update your device nows shows the resistance relative to the temp of the coil. so basically as your coil heats the resistance changes and now, after the update, your device will show the resistance change in realtime as you fire it. what you need to keep in mind here is that even though the display is showing you the realtime resistance change... that the chip is still operating the device with your set resistance ensuring that TC is working properly. the chip is NOT reading/activating the resistance changes while you fire it.

also, while you are firing it you will see the temp rise. depending on what wattage you are set at will determine how fast your device reaches your set temp. once the coil gets to that temp, and likely over it a bit, the display will say "protection" and will cut the power to the coil. when this happens you DO NOT have to to stop firing. this just means its cooling down to get back to your set temp. as soon as the coil gets below your set temp the device will fire again and the display will show the current temp. so if your device is working properly then you fire it, it shows the temp rise until it reaches/go over temp, then it shows protection until its slightly below temp, then it shows the temp rising again. so in short it will go back and forth between showing the temp and "protection". this is a properly working device.

i have my device, when the coil is new, around 420-440F, 25Watts, and the coil is at .37ohms. i load a dab, it fires almost immediately and produces tasty and plentiful vapor. because im still working with a wicked coil i do turn the temp up to 500-520 sometimes to get the last of whats in the wick. seems like an overkill on temp but the oil still does not burn so im good with it. i think this speaks to what @fernand and @Joel W. mention when they talk about the chips not being accurate in regards to TC. as long as it doesnt burn shit then i am good.

*EDIT. i just watched your video and what you are showing is accurate regarding the resistance changing on you. when its unlocked and reading .10ohms, then you fire it, that is raising the temp of the coil of which will raise the resistance of the coil. so when you take it off and back on then it shows the .14 or .15 or whatever. that is just the device showing you the new resistance of the heated coil. and that is exactly what it is supposed to do. id be wiling to bet that if you did that same trick from cold, but this time took longer 10 second pulls, and then took the atty off and back on... that the resistance would read .20 or higher. it will however top off resistance wise depending on your set temp. for instance, my VT i would start cold from .20ohms, i would tap the fire button a few times and take the atty off and back on. then it would read like .24ohms. if i ripped it really good for 10 seconds or so, then off and on, the resistance would read at like .37ohms. if i turned the temp up higher i could get even more of an increase in resistance. this is normal and is why you shouldnt be firing it and taking the atty off an on. unless of course the resistance is locked then you can take it off all day long and it wont change.

what is fucking with me is why you are getting such little production from the start tho. that def does not seem right. my VT with your settings rips like it should. i just checked it. if i were you i would send that video to MVS and ask them to replace it. or even just get a refund and stick to your VTC or your new DNA device. what problems were you having with your VTC?

 

[gladthaturaglide]

So that's not actually my video. I just did a lot of online digging and found this guy who is having the exact same problem that I am essentially, but with the VT. I only have the VTC mini; I just was having a hard time putting into words my problem but this guy nailed it. The VTC mini was basically giving me a dry burn warning in a sense. It was showing I was hitting the temp ceiling, but I wasn't any where near the ceiling in real life. The device was reading this wrong and cutting the power to protect against dry burning like it is supposed to. After alot of experimenting with the Dna 200, which worked amazing for the first two hours on the same atomizer/build I was having trouble with on the VTC, but it ended up having the same problem at one point while experimenting with a new titanium/fc-2000 build later that night. I think It is when the wick gets almost dead dry that the temp begins to do this on my mod. I was almost thinking that the oil is just not enough to saturate the coil and allow it to work, but with all you guys having such success I'm thinking it's something I'm doing. Do you think it could be that I'm wrapping the coils too tight around the FC-2000?


So this morning I decided to start over, I rebuilt a very simple nickel coil today around 1/8 fc-2000 coming out to about .07. I built it in a standard atomizer just like an single ecig coil because I really wanted to solve this problem today and I needed to just experiment with a coil I knew worked. After I finished the build I decided to just drip very small amounts of ejuice on top and really play around with the settings on the device to see if It will work and where the sweet spot in terms of temperature is. I am still in the middle of playing with it now. I haven't tried any concentrate yet but I will try some in just a bit and report back with the results but I have been dripping ejuice on it and It is chucking clouds as far as that goes so hopefully it will vape the dab right up. We'll see soon.

 

[Joel W.]

I did not realize you were using ejuice. I leave gaps/loose wrap as seen on page 82 here but I know nothing about ejuice clouds really.

 

[gladthaturaglide]

I haven't been using ejuice until this most recent build. I just decided i needed to quit wasting oil until I can figure out what was going on. This thing is working great for ejuice though. I am litterally about to load up a dab right now. Will report back.

 

[Darb]

How does everybody keep their coils so tight? Every time I remove mine from whatever I'm winding around it springs apart and is way too long.

 

[Joel W.]

I use a lighter and I quickly run it down the length before wrapping it (Not really glowing it). Takes most of the spring out my ti wire.

 

[2clicker]

I haven't been using ejuice until this most recent build. I just decided i needed to quit wasting oil until I can figure out what was going on. This thing is working great for ejuice though. I am litterally about to load up a dab right now. Will report back.

so how did it go?

How does everybody keep their coils so tight? Every time I remove mine from whatever I'm winding around it springs apart and is way too long.

I use a lighter and I quickly run it down the length before wrapping it (Not really glowing it). Takes most of the spring out my ti wire.

interesting... i have not had this issue with Ti. mine stay put almost just like kanthal. i am using 26g wire ATM. what gauge wire are you two experiencing this with?

 

[Joel W.]

Mine is from k.bee vapor, 26g awg-25t grade 1