I just wicked my first RTA! Input needed please?

Hey presto, I think you nailed your first rewick on a RTA. From here it gets easier and easier to the not so distant future where you will be to build and wick most atty’s.

Two pieces of advise I want to give you.

1: Don’t pulse your coils at a high wattage continuously, effects coil life. I dry burn pulse all my single coil atty’s just below 20w. Few short pulses just till it starts to glow is more than enough to burn of the gunk. Only time I’ll pulse a coil at the same wattage I plan to vape at is when installing a brand new coil, low wattage at first to work out the hotspots and then 1 or 2 pulses at wattage for said coil resistance just to make 100% sure there are no hotspots.

2: I don’t dip a hot coil in water, ever forged a knife or seen it down, hot coil in water is you basically quenching your coil and hardening it which is not a good idea in my opinion. Pulse dry burn, a few brushes with the coil brush, pulse again and then brush a bit. Let it coil cool down and then rinse the coil and deck in some water and then dry it ready for new cotton.

You will never get the coil to look shiny new, just clean the burnt on juice off and your good to go.

You on the money there bud.... good job there on your first attempt !!!!

CaliGuy said:

2 I don’t dip a hot coil in water, ever forged a knife or seen it down, hot coil in water is you basically quenching your coil and hardening it which is not a good idea in my opinion. Pulse dry burn, a few brushes with the coil brush, pulse again and then brush a bit. Let it coil cool down and then rinse the coil and deck in some water and then dry it ready for new cotton.

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I digress. I was taught by smilelykumeenit. Dish washing liquid and a soft brush to clean the coil after pulsing. Then you might as well clean and rinse your tank at the same time. Gunk does build up in the chimney.

Pat dry and pulse again, voila clean like new. I have a Geekvape fused Clapton in my Gear RTA and I estimate it to be nearly two months, still clean and like new because I give it a good wash.

Best advice I was told was to treat my coils as if they were my teeth and brush well before rinsing.

Stellar wicking job man! Looks good @CJB85 !!!

Great job bud!!

Aw that feeling when u first start off the journey and nothing will stop from doing a decent wick!! sleepless nights got nothing on a flavour banging setup lol. Good job bud!! Looks awesome!

Well done @CJB85 . Next thing you know you will be teaching us how to make double gargleblaster fused daemon coils.

Puff the Magic Dragon said:

Well done @CJB85 . Next thing you know you will be teaching us how to make double gargleblaster fused daemon coils.

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Whahaha... I highly doubt that... I will probably ruin the coil and wick on my next attempt!

Well done! Especially for a first time... I struggled a bit on my first 3 or so attempts with the Zeus. Not always the easiest atty to wick.

CJB85 said:

Whahaha... I highly doubt that... I will probably ruin the coil and wick on my next attempt!

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Well, at least you can now refer back to your own wicking tutorial!

Awesome stuff @CJB85, wish my first attempt was as good as that. Well done!

CJB85 said:

So it was 23:45 and shock/horror, I tasted burnt cotton. My zeus was coiled and wicked by a store last Wednesday and it was time for a new one.
I opened the atty and the cotton had essentially burnt through in the middle.
The middle wrap on the coil was VERY dark, so I proceeded to wipe and brush the coil, then started to pulse at 20w... still dark in the middle.
Strum and pinch, rinse and repeat... got to the point of the attached image (is this okay?)
Then wicked the atty as per the pictures. Primed it and vaped it a while. No dry hits so far and I see bubbles in the tank. Can you guys please have a look at the images and let me know if this looks a decent job? I did neaten up the wick in the ports a little after taking the pictures.

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good job !

Do not put water at any stage anywhere near those high-end coils! It will drastically reduce the life span. Rather dry burn/pulse your coils and LIGHTLY scrap off gunk with ceramic tweezers.

Looks very good for a first attempt by the way.

CMMACKEM said:

Do not put water at any stage anywhere near those high-end coils! It will drastically reduce the life span. Rather dry burn/pulse your coils and LIGHTLY scrap off gunk with ceramic tweezers.

Looks very good for a first attempt by the way.

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I have to disagree a little, how can one not clean the deck and coils in water to remove the old juice that is just going to get nasty over a few weeks of use.

Coils are not meant to last forever unless one likes using expensive exotic coil and even then you are supposed to rinse the gunk off as it gets traps between the wires where something like a tooth brush and some water go a long way towards getting all the ash and gunk off.

Quenching a hot coil in water is a sure fire way of reducing a coils life span along with excessive dry burning at high wattage. Continuous Hardening and Melting of any metal degrades it as it’s changes the metals melicular structure and effects in the case of a vape coil the flavour.

A special moment when one builds an atty for the first time. I recall doing this with the Serpent SMM (still the easiest atty to build for me). First try resulted in a short. Messaging with @Rob Fisher and second build was spot on.


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RenaldoRheeder said:

A special moment when one builds an atty for the first time. I recall doing this with the Serpent SMM (still the easiest atty to build for me). First try resulted in a short. Messaging with @Rob Fisher and second build was spot on.

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The good old days!

CaliGuy said:

I have to disagree a little, how can one not clean the deck and coils in water to remove the old juice that is just going to get nasty over a few weeks of use.

Coils are not meant to last forever unless one likes using expensive exotic coil and even then you are supposed to rinse the gunk off as it gets traps between the wires where something like a tooth brush and some water go a long way towards getting all the ash and gunk off.

Quenching a hot coil in water is a sure fire way of reducing a coils life span along with excessive dry burning at high wattage. Continuous Hardening and Melting of any metal degrades it as it’s changes the metals melicular structure and effects in the case of a vape coil the flavour.

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I have to agree with you @CaliGuy! I pulse my coils red hot and then put them under a running hot water tap. I do it twice and then once more and drop the deck into hot water with the rest of the parts. I find nothing cleans a coil quite like that. My Coils last about two months and I know I could get more out of them but with the continual quest for the perfect vape I change coils when I see the coil looks a little tired.

I have to agree with you @Rob Fisher that aiming for the perfect vape requires one to replace coils often and rewick often or have spare tanks setup waiting for juice. Not economical if the vape budget is tight but honesty I would rather throw out a coil and pop in a new one because the vape quality is worth the effort and expense.

Having a fresh vape is one of the reason why I have spent so time finding and testing low cost wire spools that make decent cheap coils that i can toss out after the 3rd or 4th rewick, helps keep the costs down for me and the vape is always on point.

Puff the Magic Dragon said:

Well done @CJB85 . Next thing you know you will be teaching us how to make double gargleblaster fused daemon coils.

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Lol I had just choked on my vape, reading that because I burst out laughing before I had a chance to exhale!!!!

CaliGuy said:

I have to disagree a little, how can one not clean the deck and coils in water to remove the old juice that is just going to get nasty over a few weeks of use.

Coils are not meant to last forever unless one likes using expensive exotic coil and even then you are supposed to rinse the gunk off as it gets traps between the wires where something like a tooth brush and some water go a long way towards getting all the ash and gunk off.

Quenching a hot coil in water is a sure fire way of reducing a coils life span along with excessive dry burning at high wattage. Continuous Hardening and Melting of any metal degrades it as it’s changes the metals melicular structure and effects in the case of a vape coil the flavour.

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You can clean coils by pulsing them(Low wattage) and if need be lightly scrape off the gunk. You can still clean the deck in water, just remove the coils. Water changes the coil's chemical composition, which dramatically mutes the flavor.

I do not expect coils to last forever but I do not expect the flavor to taper off after two weeks when they are placed in water, especially when they are supposed to last 4+ months without any noticeable flavor difference.

I didn't make this up, the coil maker who is well respected within the community told me after he noticed I was buying new coils every 2 weeks. I now only replace my coils after every 3-4 months with the pulse method.

I did not rinse the coil in water after pulsing (wasn’t sure which coild can handle that). Vapery in Centurion sold me these (Coil Factor Competition Aliens) and I nearly died when he rang them up... so I was not keen on destroying it just yet. Will definitely give it a better cleaning next time.
This time was just a good wipe and brush job.

Congrats @CJB85


Looks good to me!
Isn't it a great feeling when you've rewicked and you can taste the good flavour?!
Enjoy

CJB85 said:

I did not rinse the coil in water after pulsing (wasn’t sure which coild can handle that). Vapery in Centurion sold me these (Coil Factor Competition Aliens) and I nearly died when he rang them up... so I was not keen on destroying it just yet. Will definitely give it a better cleaning next time.
This time was just a good wipe and brush job.

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Those Coil Factor coils are good and lasted me around 3 months with frequent dry burning and washing. Don’t use expensive coils anymore, waste of money. A good way to manage coil life is to take note of the coil resistance from new, with wear and age the resistance will start going lower which is a sign to replace, let’s say the coil is 0.30ohm replace when it drops to 0.25ohm for example.

Or get some good premade exotic wire spools - Coilology and Geekvape have some nice Fused Clapton’s and Multi Core Clapton’s which is so cheap at like R120 and you can make easy 20 to 30 coils @ R4.00 per coil, so who cares if you put a brand new coil in every 2nd week, that’s what I do.

Aim for vape quility, a fresh build with a new coil and cotton will always give you the best flavour, vaping on a old build is lazy and shooting yourself in the foot.

Spools, not spoils @CaliGuy