Mysterious Vapeshell Short...

CJB85

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Okay, so last night I was on round 3 of trying to build a decent vape on my wife's BB/Vapeshell combo. With 2mm being the smallest airflow disk, we have given up on trying to build her an MTL setup, so DL was the order of the day.

I did a 5 wrap Geekvape Clapton (coiled myself from wire) that came out to 0.44 ohms after pulsing, scraping etc etc. After getting the coil glowing nice and evenly, I popped the top section on and dry fired again, with no issues.
I wicked it ever so carefully, making sure that everything stayed fluffy and poked a thin screwdriver through the wick holes to lift the tails a little (a-la @Rob Fisher ). I primed the wicks with some juice, still firing nicely, smooth vapour coming off the coil, no funny spatter. Popped the top cap back on, fired, no short.

Into the borrow we went, glass on, into the BB, juice into the borrow and glass sealed up. Popped the condensation plug on, took it up to 24w and vaped away. I got 6 good hits from it (flavour was getting a little better than before and no harsh throat hit, so I thought I was winning) and then... Huge dry hit. I thought maybe my wicking was the cause, so opened the panel and saw the resistance at 0.09. Being an SXK BB 70w, I thought the board had already gotten wet. Took everything out of the BB, no moisture anywhere, so had to be a short.

Got the bridge out of the freshly juiced up borro (boo-hoo for wastage), wiped it down, onto the pico and sure enough "atomizer short". I thought the expanding cotton had maybe pushed to coil onto the top cap, so removed it, but still shorting. Got the cotton out, checked every nook and cranny, no loose wire anywhere. Fired again without the Pico, no short, glowing evenly.

I am completely stumped. Where is this short happening? I had washed the bridge earlier and I never removed the airflow disk when I dried it off. Is it possible that with the expansion of everything under heat, or by the cotton pressing somewhere, that the short is due to some water lodged between parts? I assume that the juice can't be conductive enough to cause the short through the cotton, or am I wrong?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My apologies, but by the time I thought it would be a good idea to take photos, the build was already taken apart and it was 00:30 in the morning.
 
Not sure what to suggest @CJB85... is it an authentic Vape Shell?
Would if I could, but unfortunately it is an SXK clone.
I will treat my wife to some authentic gear when she is off the cigarettes completely and knows exactly what her favourite vape style is.

I am going to give it another bash tonight and see if anything shakes out differently.
I have done 2 full tanks on different coils before last night (poor vape quality in trying to force an MTL draw from it), so it caught me completely off guard.
 
@CJB85 the VapeShell isn't my favourite bridge by a long shot and I really hassled with it (and I love Atimzoo products) and I must say I retired mine in favour of the Exocet, Flow and now the best of the best which is the Xeta from Haku.
BB 002.JPG
 
Please send some pics
 
Please send some pics
I am definitely doing more photographs of the build than a mom at a matric farewell tonight. I will do that at every step and then pass them along.
 
@CJB85 the VapeShell isn't my favourite bridge by a long shot and I really hassled with it (and I love Atimzoo products) and I must say I retired mine in favour of the Exocet, Flow and now the best of the best which is the Xeta from Haku.
View attachment 177422
Stuff of dreams, that Xeta, but alas it is simply not within reach at the moment. Perhaps one day though.
 
That Geekvape Fused Clapton won’t just expand or change shape due to heating.

A few drops of water also won’t cause a short, think about wet firing a coil while it’s being cleaned and you will see it will still fire no problem.

The problem could likely be the coil itself. As you said after removing the cotton it fired but previously gave a dry hit. If it was me I would make another coil and try again, could be a hotspot inside the coil or even a break in one of the inner core wires causing a short that you won’t be able to see.
 
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