Build issues.

[EquivalentExchange]

I feel like I've posted a hundred questions but I've watched countless videos, read through other articles and I feel like my vaping experience has become more frustrating than enjoyable. I probably put a new build on each device at least on e a day because I continue to fail to get a pleasent experience. Lately I've been experiencing the following issues.

1.Nasty metallic/burnt taste from fresh coil and wire build that isn't tight but also isn't loose. Check the cotton and it's not burnt at all but their is juice still on the sides, like I'm not getting any juice. It's not being chocked out, I've made sure of it each time I build.

2. My mods aren't hitting at all. I have a Legendary Sub Zero Mod/RDA and a Copper Broadside w/ a 25 Copper Kennedy RDA and both might as well be a 25$ vape pen. I clean them religiously, I use mothers polish, vinegar etc. I take them apart and clean and wash them making sure threads are clean and both are running okay builds. Subzero at a .22ohm build and the Broadside at .18. My batteries are VTC5As authentic straight from IMRBatteries.

3. I've experimented with builds and I feel like I'm literally throwing material in the trash because I can't tell if it's my mods that aren't performing or that the only way to get a good experience with vaping is to sub ohm which is not what I want. It seems like anything above a .20 just doesn't perform. I'm not picky about what I get, I just want flavor, a good hit and some decent clouds because to be honest it soothes me.

4. This one literally just showed up as I'm writing this and I can't seem to fix it but now my Broadside literally will not fire at all. Checked my RDA in another mod, works fine. I've taken it apart, chucked a new battery in it and nothing. All the pieces are there it's just not doing anything.

I apologize ahead of time if this came across whiney. I love vaping, it has done so much for me. It calms my anxiety, has had positive effects on my ADHD. Its just something I really love and makes me happy. However lately it has done the opposite.

 

[Paratech]

I can't help with all that especially since no pics were included but with everything you listed, you didn't include wire type or medium.
For a low cost test, try these with cotton bacon:
https://www.fasttech.com/product/5835104-demon-killer-staple-staggered-fused-clapton-pre
When having issues, the more pics you can include with high resolution in good light, the better chance you have of someone being able to help.

 

[conanthewarrior]

Hi man, I am sorry to hear you are having some issues in regards to vaping- I am sure they will be easily solved though!

1. What wire type are you using? And if you check the cotton inside of the coil, is this as wet as the ends of the cotton?

2. As long as your mods are clean, and you are using good batteries (which you are), the only thing I can think of is you are using wire that is too thick. It would have to be a heavy gauge though to perform as bad as a pen at 0.18 though.
I generally build at around 0.25 with 26G SS316L, and this ramps up fast, and provides plenty of warm vapour.

3. As it is happening with 2 mods, I doubt it is the mods at fault, and I don't mean it is your fault either, it is just likely part of your learning process.
What wire types do you have? You mention not wanting to Sub Ohm, but if you want a fair amount of vapour, you will have to with a mech. I am not a very high wattage vaper, yet have to build under 0.25 to get a vape that I enjoy. This is with 26G SS316L, not the thickest wire out there, yet I still need to build here to achieve a warm, tasty vape.

4. This one is quite baffling. Everything is making contact as it should, but it is not firing? Have you checked the pin at the 510 to make sure this is making proper contact with the RDA?

Nothing whiney about your post at all mate, and I am glad it makes you happy and helps your ADHD. Try not to get worked up over what is happening at the moment, I know this is easier said than done, but I am very sure it is something simple going on here that can be sorted easily .

 

[f4milytime]

For me kanthal & ss mixed, taste really horrible together. You could say it's a metallic type taste.

 

[EquivalentExchange]

Hi man, I am sorry to hear you are having some issues in regards to vaping- I am sure they will be easily solved though!

1. What wire type are you using? And if you check the cotton inside of the coil, is this as wet as the ends of the cotton?

2. As long as your mods are clean, and you are using good batteries (which you are), the only thing I can think of is you are using wire that is too thick. It would have to be a heavy gauge though to perform as bad as a pen at 0.18 though.
I generally build at around 0.25 with 26G SS316L, and this ramps up fast, and provides plenty of warm vapour.

3. As it is happening with 2 mods, I doubt it is the mods at fault, and I don't mean it is your fault either, it is just likely part of your learning process.
What wire types do you have? You mention not wanting to Sub Ohm, but if you want a fair amount of vapour, you will have to with a mech. I am not a very high wattage vaper, yet have to build under 0.25 to get a vape that I enjoy. This is with 26G SS316L, not the thickest wire out there, yet I still need to build here to achieve a warm, tasty vape.

4. This one is quite baffling. Everything is making contact as it should, but it is not firing? Have you checked the pin at the 510 to make sure this is making proper contact with the RDA?

Nothing whiney about your post at all mate, and I am glad it makes you happy and helps your ADHD. Try not to get worked up over what is happening at the moment, I know this is easier said than done, but I am very sure it is something simple going on here that can be sorted easily .

1. I'm using 24g Kanthal at the moment at about 6 wraps. Both builds, one may have longer legs which is why it's a .22(Kennedy/Broadside) and the other is an .18(Legendary Sub Zero). The center wick is dry but it's like the sides are still really wet, I used to be able to have it be one dry, or at least to where you had white cotton by the point the flavor was going away. I'm also using cotton bacon.

2. Yeah I'm using 24g Kanthal and it's just not doing much at all. I wanted to aim for .25 ohms but the way this .22 is performing it's like it's not hitting at all which makes me super hesitant to invest in more wire as I'm afraid anything above a .20 won't give men much of anything.

4. I've actually fixed the Broadside I had knocked the connection pin out of place a little and although I wasn't having battery rattle it wasn't hitting the Kennedy at all. Thanks for the information!

I really appreciate all the help, this is a lot of good information. I really want to maximize the effectiveness of these mods and I'm afraid I'm wasting materials. Hoping I can get this figured out.

 

[USMCotaku]

for your first issue.....what is the ID (inner diameter) of your coil, and how many wraps? If your ID is too small for the number of wraps you build your coil to, the center of the wick will dry out.

on the others with the no fire...sounds like a connection issue. may need to gently pry up the 510 on the mod, sometimes they get stuck down too low....or, if the atty has an adjustable 510, back it out a tad.

 

[KingPin!]

How are you wrapping your coils out of interest? Are you dry firing them as well to ensure they heat evenly? What do they ohm out at before firing

 

[conanthewarrior]

1. I'm using 24g Kanthal at the moment at about 6 wraps. Both builds, one may have longer legs which is why it's a .22(Kennedy/Broadside) and the other is an .18(Legendary Sub Zero). The center wick is dry but it's like the sides are still really wet, I used to be able to have it be one dry, or at least to where you had white cotton by the point the flavor was going away. I'm also using cotton bacon.

2. Yeah I'm using 24g Kanthal and it's just not doing much at all. I wanted to aim for .25 ohms but the way this .22 is performing it's like it's not hitting at all which makes me super hesitant to invest in more wire as I'm afraid anything above a .20 won't give men much of anything.

4. I've actually fixed the Broadside I had knocked the connection pin out of place a little and although I wasn't having battery rattle it wasn't hitting the Kennedy at all. Thanks for the information!

I really appreciate all the help, this is a lot of good information. I really want to maximize the effectiveness of these mods and I'm afraid I'm wasting materials. Hoping I can get this figured out.

Ok, I personally find 24G Kanthal a little thick for my liking especially on a mech mod, but at 0.18 you should definitely be getting much better performance than a Ego style pen. I would rebuild, and try and get the leg length equal. You don't have to get a ruler out to do this, just put them both in place, get them even then tighten down.
Give the wire a snip, then centre the coils and give them a quick dry fire to make sure they are heating evenly, with no hotspots, and with a contact coil they should heat from the inside out.

I wouldn't think the cotton is an issue, Cotton bacon is used by a lot of people, I just use Muji or Cotton puff myself though.

I can understand you not wanting to get more wire incase you do not get better performance, but I think some 26G SS 316L will work well for you, or even some 24G for singles. I find I get similar vapour production with 26G SS316L duals at around 0.25 as I do with a regulated mod firing at around 40-55W or so, so well enough to cloud up your room if you wanted too.

I am glad you fixed the broadside and everything is connecting well.

Are you pretty new to mech mods by the way? Maybe try a single coil for now at say 0.5 with a 2.5MM ID, around 6 wraps. This should still provide some nice vapour, and will allow you to get used to the mods more before you advance onto anything else.

 

[nightshard]

1. You get constant burned/metallic taste either because your wire is low quality/dirty or because you have hotspots.
Also try when pulling out a used coil to loosen the wick from both sides then pull it out from one side, if you end up with half a wick with burn marks at the end it means the cotton is stuffed too tightly in the coil.

2. If 0.18 isn't enough for you, you should consider either going with serial/parallel mech box or switching to high powered regulated.

3. At the 0.2 range, 24G would give the best results IMO.

 

[conanthewarrior]

1. You get constant burned/metallic taste either because your wire is low quality/dirty or because you have hotspots.

2. If 0.18 isn't enough for you, you should consider either going with serial/parallel mech box or switching to high powered regulated.

3. At the 0.2 range, 24G would give the best results IMO.

That is a very good point, I am so used to most people buying wire from quality vendors that did not even occur to me that it could be low quality wire causing the bad taste for the OP.

I think 0.18 should be well enough too, and if anything lower is needed then a regulated mod would be better, or a serial or parallel mech mod used safely, but think a nice vape will be possible in the OP's range hopefully.

What kind of size coils do you find best with 24g at 0.2? As I have found 26G, 2.5MM coils to work well, but do like experimenting, but have found 24G to be a little slow on ramp up for me but this could be my builds, as I know people do enjoy Claptons on mech mods and there is more mass there.

 

[ApolloKen]

Sounds like Hotspots bud. Hope you get it worked out!

 

[EquivalentExchange]

I'm still having issues with this and considered a new thread but this one has a ton of information I never answered because for a little bit it was doing decent. Here is what I have ATM

I'm using the same set up as before. A Sub Ohm Inovations Legendary Mech Mod with matching RDA as well as a Broadside mod with a Kennedy RDA. I'm using 6 Wraps of Master of Clouds 24 Kanthal which is at about .18 ohms with a circumference of 3.0. I tried doing 5 wraps, got it to .15ohms but it wasn't stronger and made things worse. I clean my mods religiously, and use authentic Sony VTC5As. I follow ohms law and use the steam engine to see where my builds should work.

I don't know how to check for hotspots. It I don't think that's the issue because my coils burn evenly and I don't get the cotton burnt when removing it. I'm just at a loss for understanding what to do. Any information would be appreciated.

 

[KingPin!]

Try getting some other wire metal types. Also as Conan mentioned get them at 26g rather than 24g

304
316L
317L
NI80

A lot of people prefer the taste of stainless steel...I'm not one of them I'm the other way I like NI80 and kanthal but it's worth experimenting with it even if you just buy small sample size

(I'd avoid Titanium and NI200 unless you want to temp control on a regulated mod)

Next ...Is the kanthal dirty? When I straighten my wire I get a little splash of vodka on a kitchen towel and wipe the wire a few times especially for kanthal

Finally....In terms of checking for hotspots and addressing them here's a vid I pulled from YouTube on a simple wrap ...just go easy on the pulsing don't make the coil ever go white hot ...no need for it just a short gentle orange glow is enough

(use ceramic tweazers if pinching the coils not metal - just in case you miss that important note in the vid as you'll cause a short when firing )

If you have a persistent hotspot it might be the clamps on the legs of the coil need tightening further...the coils should heat from the middle out and warm at the same time if using dual coils

 

[EquivalentExchange]

Try getting some other wire metal types. Also as Conan mentioned get them at 26g rather than 24g

304
316L
317L
NI80

A lot of people prefer the taste of stainless steel...I'm not one of them I'm the other way I like NI80 and kanthal but it's worth experimenting with it even if you just buy small sample size

(I'd avoid Titanium and NI200 unless you want to temp control on a regulated mod)

Next ...Is the kanthal dirty? When I straighten my wire I get a little splash of vodka on a kitchen towel and wipe the wire a few times especially for kanthal

Finally....In terms of checking for hotspots and addressing them here's a vid I pulled from YouTube on a simple wrap ...just go easy on the pulsing don't make the coil ever go white hot ...no need for it just a short gentle orange glow is enough

(use ceramic tweazers if pinching the coils not metal - just in case you miss that important note in the vid as you'll cause a short when firing )

If you have a persistent hotspot it might be the clamps on the legs of the coil need tightening further...the coils should heat from the middle out and warm at the same time if using dual coils

Thank you for all the information! I'll definitely take a look at that video when I get off work. A part of me is worried it may be my mods themselves and not the builds. The Broadside out performs the SOI most of the time and was curious if anyone else has had similar issues with their Legendary SOI's of if there are things I should look out for when cleaning. I can upload pictures of everything if they would help

 

[USMCotaku]

I'm still having issues with this and considered a new thread but this one has a ton of information I never answered because for a little bit it was doing decent. Here is what I have ATM

I'm using the same set up as before. A Sub Ohm Inovations Legendary Mech Mod with matching RDA as well as a Broadside mod with a Kennedy RDA. I'm using 6 Wraps of Master of Clouds 24 Kanthal which is at about .18 ohms with a circumference of 3.0. I tried doing 5 wraps, got it to .15ohms but it wasn't stronger and made things worse. I clean my mods religiously, and use authentic Sony VTC5As. I follow ohms law and use the steam engine to see where my builds should work.

I don't know how to check for hotspots. It I don't think that's the issue because my coils burn evenly and I don't get the cotton burnt when removing it. I'm just at a loss for understanding what to do. Any information would be appreciated.

24 gauge kanthal is a lot of wire mass for a mech mod. What you are experiencing is slow ramp up time due to that mass. Try using smaller gauge wire (I like 26 on a mech, or 28 if doing twisted or parallel builds), or try using different wire types. 26 gauge stainless steel wire ramps up rather quickly, and has the added benefit of increasing its resistance as it heats up, almost giving you a temp control like experience.

 

[martnargh]

Stop using kanthal, it sucks for mechs.
Use low resistance wire, specifically stainless steel.
Don't know where your comfort zone is for resistance but my go to build for a tube is 2x24ss fused claptons about 5 wraps. Ohms out low, lower than a lot of people are comfortable with, not me though. Provides a nice hot steamy vape.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[conanthewarrior]

Stop using kanthal, it sucks for mechs.
Use low resistance wire, specifically stainless steel.
Don't know where your comfort zone is for resistance but my go to build for a tube is 2x24ss fused claptons about 5 wraps. Ohms out low, lower than a lot of people are comfortable with, not me though. Provides a nice hot steamy vape.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

Kanthal really does suck for mechs for sure.

I wonder why SS wasn't used for mechs until TC devices come around? Or maybe it was used by some people and I just wasn't aware of it. I do remember Nichrome being used though.