New to RBA's?

[Uma]

These Rebuildables are NOT, and I repeat, are NOT for the beginner.

If you're interested in building your own atomizers, the first thing you'll need is an OHM meter. I got mine at Madvapes, but COV and other places carry them too. These are handy for cartomiszers, atomizers, and RBA's alike. It will not be a waste of money if you later decide RBA's aren't for you at this time.

Here is a direct link to the one I have. http://www.madvapes.com/cartomizer-and-atomizer-ohm-meter.html

These will help prevent mod mishaps. It would be a shame to short out your expensive to you mod, when it could have been avoided with a 20 dollar bill. It's money well spent. Even the storebought plug and play cartos and attys sometimes arrive DOA or DyingOA, or the wrong OHMS marked, and worse yet, a faulty coil causing a short... being able to check your ohms before mounting onto the mod will spare many springs and mods both.

Now that you're convinced you need an OHMs meter, and you are, in fact, checking out your cart, we can now get down to some basic RBA tutorial stuff. I am not a whiz, or a pro, but I do have a tad bit of experience, and am more than happy to try to share my journey with you., until a Pro does come along and hopefully takes over.

(please!).

Edited January 24, 2013 by Uma

[Uma]

Genesis Attys. The genny (for short), uses a Stainless Steel (SS for short) woven mesh wire. It's important to use either the Food grade or the Kitchen grade type of wire, called #304 or #316. The sizes we use mostly, to date, are #325, #400, #500. The higher the number, the more strands of wire there are in each square inch. The more strands of wire there is, the better wicking there is... to a degree. Some vapers have had success with #600, but most of us seem happy in the 400 range.

The type of juice you use, of course, as well as how you yourself roll the mesh, comes into play as to what your preference will be.

Many retailers will include a sample of 325 and a 400 in your atomizer order, and many do not. Some Vendors will sell the mesh and wire separately. When you get them, you can tell which one is which, by holding it up to the light (like your monitor). The more light that shines through, the lower the count of threads there is. Just like a sheets or towels.

McMaster and Carr and The Mesh Companies are two popular mesh stores. I bought mine here: http://themeshcompany.com/acatalog/25-micron-super-fine-mesh.html There are other places too, of course. The ones I bought were large sheets, which will last me for forever. A wick will last over 6 months, and we use so little of it to make our wicks. (2mm x 3mm more or less, depending on your style, and on the size of your atomizer's wick hole)

You will "oxidize" your mesh after it arrives. This will be covered later.

The wire you will need is A1 grade, Kanthal. (Nichochrome is okay, too, but I am not familiar with it, so I leave it for others to write about). The popular gauges are #32, #30, and #28. The lower the number, the thicker the wire. The most popular to start with, is #32. The #32 gauge is the gauge that most often comes with the atomizer, if the atomizer comes with wire. The Resistance changes with the size (gauge) of the wire. Save the #30 and the #28 for when you are more comfortable and experienced, and have more research under your belt.

You will "anneal" your wire, after it arrives and you're ready to wrap your coil. This will be covered later.

As soon as your Atomizer arrives, wash it in hot soapy water, to remove any production machine oils. Rinse thoroughly, and dry even more thoroughly. Dry it over night. Make sure the "center post's TUBE" is completely dry too Take a hair dryer to it if you have to. After it's setup and you've been using it, a nice rinse with EverClear (vodka), will clean it just fine, with occasional hot baths as needed. Everclear dries fast, evaporates nicely, and is also a germ killer.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Uma

[Uma]

If you are quite familiar with the eCig products & know them like the back of your hand, & if you have a nice stock pile of plug and play attys or cartos on hand already, then read on. This might be for you.

These Rebuildables are NOT, and I repeat, are NOT for the beginner.

This statement should have been set in stone in the opening post. My bad. (edit! Sweet! It let me edit it into the opening post).

Which leads me to my next statement... I am a poster who doesn't notice typo's and the such, until AFTER I've posted. So, be sure to read further down the line and double check for corrections and whatnot.

I hope somebody else takes over. I really do. Just to spare YOU, the poor reader with all these new Learning Curves ahead of you. My apologies, in advance, for any backtracking that's sure to follow.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Uma

[Rixter]

Uma.

You must be psychic.I almost PMed you yesterday evening to ask if you thought a new thread about RBA setup and maintenance is something you might wanna take the helm of, 'cause I know from your previous posts that if anyone here knows about the mechanics of RBAs, it's you.

Glad you started this thread. I look forward to learning something new.

Rixter

[Uma]

Oxidizing: The first step towards setting the RBA up to vape, is to oxidize the Mesh. Some vapers like to first boil the mesh, change the water, boil again, to remove any residue. Others, like me, just like to dive in and get the show started, so let's get started.

Torch: One like the Chef's torches work great. The ones with Blue flame. (propane). You don't want a huge torch, or too hot of a torch, just a nice consistent blue flame torch.

Gas Stove: If you have a gas stove, use it! It takes less time, and provides the blue flame.

Hold the mesh in a set of pliers, and run your torch over the mesh, lingering in each spot until it turns a nice orange. Torch the entire mesh, both sides, and all edges. In your mind, divide the mesh up in a grid pattern, and be sure to torch every grid, on both sides. Notice how the frayed edges really light up lol.

Let it cool enough to handle (about 5 seconds if that long). Fold over an edge (an edge of the long side) and crease it tight, like a piece of binder paper. Straighten out a medium sized paper clip and lay that on the non-creased edge. Roll the paperclip towards the creased edge. This makes sure there are no frayed edges at the end of the rolling.

Roll it between your fingers, pressing from middle to end, to make a longer skinny noodle. Check for fit. If it's too skinny, just roll it in the opposite direction and it will expand instead of shrink. Once it fits inside the wick hole, not touching the edges of the hole, you are ready to optionally cut the end of the wick that goes inside the juice tank at a 45% angle, to help the juice find it's way up your wick's straw. After cutting, put it back onto the paperclip, and re torch the newly cut end. (frays).

Optional next step: Stiffening the wick. With a bowl of distilled (preferably) water nearby, torch the rolled wick and when it's glowing hot, dunk it immediately into the bowl of water. Roll the wet wick onto a paper towel, to wisk out the moisture. Repeat. Do this about 3 times in total. (I do this step all the time, because I live on a very bumpy road and don't like "flex" in my wick).

Optional next after next step: Seasoning the wick. With paperclip still inserted, drip your wick with e-juice. Light the wet wick on fire with your old bic lighter. Let the fire die naturally. Repeat for a total of about 3 times. (lucky number 3 eh). This seasoning step helps the juice to enter the inner depths of the wick, which will enhance the wicking, which is helpful if you're a chain vaper. It also helps the vape taste better if you use your preferred flavor. (less time will be spent trying to break in the flavor)

The more wicks you oxidize and roll, the more faster it gets. It takes longer time to read about it, than it does to actually get up there and do it. It's also easier to do than it is to try to picture it being done. There are quite a few different video's out there, and they all have their own way. I'm writing the way that works best, so far, for me and for many many others like me.

It's really very simple, and doesn't take that long to do. You'll be up and rolling in no time.

[mse12]

If you keep this up Uma, I see a sticky in your future!

[Uma]

Uma.

You must be psychic.I almost PMed you yesterday evening to ask if you thought a new thread about RBA setup and maintenance is something you might wanna take the helm of, 'cause I know from your previous posts that if anyone here knows about the mechanics of RBAs, it's you.

Glad you started this thread. I look forward to learning something new.

Rixter

haha, not at all psychic! I read your plea, in a thread, for a tutorial.

I just hope this will come out clear, and not confusing.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

I'm going to take a break, cook dinner, and when I come back, we'll talk about annealing the coil wire.

[Uma]

If you keep this up Uma, I see a sticky in your future!

LOL, now I'm nervous! Okay, then, I think it only fair if you joined in on this possible sticky tutorial, and help share the technique on Annealing the wire for coiling, while I go cook some dinner. :P

[mse12]

Annealing is about the most straight forward aspect of the build process after the cleaning. Annealing is simply the heat treatment of the kanthal to allow easier use of the wire. All wire that we use is wrapped around a spool. Anyone who has ever messed with any wire knows that wire has "memory" and that it will try to maintain that shape of the spool. Your entire goal with this step is to straighten and soften the wire to allow you, the end user, to wrap it without the memory effect.

To anneal my kanthal I simply cut a section of wire typically around 4-5". Once the piece is cut I simply take a regular lighter and slowly heat it until it glows. As you do this you will physically see the wire relax as the flame heats it. Once you've heated the wire just run it through your thumb and index finger to straighten it out. At this point any memory the wire previously had is gone. You are now ready to wrap your coil.

I now will pass the rba torch back to Uma for the coil wrapping step. I could try but as I'm still a fairly new rba user I will let her take it from here!

Happy vaping!

Edited January 25, 2013 by mse12

[Jeffb]

I take it you straighten the wire with your fingers after it stops glowing?

[mse12]

I take it you straighten the wire with your fingers after it stops glowing?

True story. Lol, it will only glow as long as the flame is applied. There is very little to no heat retention once the flame is off of it.

[Uma]

Thank you MSE! That was very nice. You have a knack for explaining! I'm wishing you had done the oxidizing post.

If you don't mind, go ahead and do the next step. You're on a roll!

Jeffb, I've only burnt myself once, trying to beat the cooling effect. Like MSE said, it cools quite fast!

edited to say: I'm full and sleepy, can't form words right now, so will come back tomorrow (hopefully) to help. Niters all.

Edited January 25, 2013 by Uma

[mse12]

Wrapping a coil 101:

This is just my experience of wrapping coils. I am a new RBA user at this point. So take this step with a grain of salt. I also highly recommend a few hours dedicated to watching YouTube videos.

Now then, at this point you should be ready to wrap your coil. By now you have cleaned your device, oxidized your wick, as well as annealed your wire. There are many ways to do this. Here are some very generic guidelines:

1. Your coil should be snug on your wick but: (A) not digging in aka too tight or ( no large gaps between the coil and wick aka too loose.

2. You should be able to remove your wick after the coil is wrapped but it should not fall out on its own.

3. You want all coil wraps evenly spaced.

4. You probably don't want to remove excess wire until you are sure the coil is performing like you want.

5. Once wrapped you need to fire the coil by itself, no wick, with rapid sort bursts to make sure that all wraps glow evenly. This also gives the coil more strength.

Now to wrap. I've used two methods so far. Free hand and a drill bit. Free hand is simple. Once your wick is in the hole just start at the base. You will need to hold one end down with your finger while bringing the wire around the negative screw and wick. Hold a little tension on the wire as you screw down the negative. This will free up that hand. Now I just wrap the coil on the wick going counter clockwise up the wick. Depending on whatever gauge your using determines your wraps. With 32 I make 4 or 5 giving a 1.4 to 1.7 ohm coil. Once you're at the top I wrap it around the positive post and run the nut down. After your top nut is down space the coils evenly. To use a drill bit find whatever size fits into the wickhole. You will want the biggest that will go into it. Now just wrap your wire around the smooth part of the bit. Your wrap count should be the same. Once its wrapped insert the bit into the wick hole threads down. Attach your positive and negative. Voila here's your coil. Wrapping a good coil is far from getting an rba running well. I can wrap a beautiful coil all day long but if you are covered in hotspots you may as well have no coil. I hope this helps someone and this part of the build is much easier shown in video or pictures vs written text.

Happy vaping!

[Uma]

Very nice MSE! It's hard to believe you just recently started your own journey with the Genesis type RBA's. It really doesn't take very long to get the hang of these does it.

[Uma]

MSE covered two of the most often used ways of wrapping a coil. I'll toss in a 3rd. Perhaps, you, the new user, will find a 4th!

With the smaller sized RBA's, like the Mini DID or Gemini, I like to:

Lift the wick off the bottom of the tank a bit, then grab the wick at the base, pull the wick out, and begin wrapping the coil, starting the first coil where my fingers grabbed the wick. Next, I'll insert the wrapped coil into the wickhole, tie off the negative post, and then finally crank down the Positive post (center post). Adjust the coils as needed, then pulsate the mod button, until the coils are settled in nice and happy.

When all is well, and with the wick lifted off the bottom of the tank still, I'll next trim off the top of the wick if needed. We want our wick to be the same height or lower, as the center post. If it touches the top cap, it will possibly short out or twist about. The goal, is to keep the wick from touching any of the metal parts, such as tank, wickhole edges, Top Cap Cover, Negative post, Center Post...

Hopefully, you've been using your new toy, the OHM meter, and have discovered what a handy toy it is for holding the atty upright while you attach this and attach that, wiggle this, move that. If it were on your mod, the mod would have fallen over 100 times already.

And if the handy dandy OHMs Meter was turned on, you undoubtedly had fun watching the OHMs readout go wild.

Once you have a solid coil, it will show a solid readout. I don't bother turning the meter on before all is rigged up, UNLESS, I want to know the resistance each length of wire will provide. This can be better explained later. Right now, let's just concentrate on getting a good solid connection.

With my Mini, I usually do a 4/3 wrap. When we wrap a coil, there will be 4 strands on the outside of the wick, and 3 coils on the inside. We call it 4/3 wrap. (saves confusion and words, actually, because otherwise we'd always have to say "4 coils on the outside, with 3 coils on the inside). After the atty breaks in nice, I'll sometimes remove a coil. I can adjust my OHMs at any time, by either removing a coil or two, or by replacing the wire and adding more coils.

For Mechanical Mods, a 4/3 or even 3/2 wrap is usually nice. The less wraps we have, the LOWER the resistance.

For Electronic Mods, a 6/5 wrap or even more, like 8/7, would be better. The more wraps we have, the HIGHER the resistance.

Electronic VV Mods don't like LR atties...

When the readout is nice and steady, go ahead and mount in on your mod. USE THE LOWEST POWER SETTING of your Provari. You don't want to pop any coils. If you don't have a VV mod, then use your low battery, one that is below 3.8, or better yet, 3.6. This is where dying batteries are our friend.

Push the button and hope for the best. The best is: All coils glow red at the same exact time. Sometimes it's perfection the first time around. Most of the time we have to:

Pulsate the button to warm the coils, but not to exert them. If the middle coil doesn't light up, then that usually means the bottom coil is choking the current. Make sure the bottom coil is close to the base of the atty, but not touching the base. Scoot it a bit, hit the button. If the top coil is red hot, but not the others, Scoot the middle coil, tighten the nut. Re-nut your top coil. Experiment until it's behaving nice. If all of them are "mostly" glowing, then just leave them be and Pulsate the button, they will usually heal themselves.

After you have a nice steady glow on all coils, go ahead and remove the extra wire from the negative post, (wiggling it in circles, or use nail clippers), and then cut the excess from the top nut. I like to leave enough at both ends to use as a handhold for any rewrapping I might do, just make sure that the ends do not touch the base or the cap, etc...

You are ready to add juice to your wick. They will not glow red when wet. That is good. Any red ones while wet, means there is a minor short somewhere, and is usually fixed easily enough. Pulsate, scoot, push... whatever needs doing. Pulsating usually heals most minor wounds.

Vapor is good, coils are good... now it's time to fill your tank.

I recommend vaping at 3.4 for 10 minutes, then at 3.7 for another 10, to set the coils good and solid, to make sure your wick is wicking right, etc. Nothing worse than a dry hit at high Volts as you know. Give the wick some time to fill nice.

SAFETY TIP: Be sure to dispose your wire pieces, your cut off's, in the can right away. These things embed in your skin, or in your pet's skin, too easily. They are sharp, tiny, thin, invisible, easy to lose, so get in the habit of tossing them straight into the can right off the bat.

(I hope this reads out okay. If not, don't worry! Between different speakers, we'll get the illustrations across. Feel free to ask questions!!).

[Uma]

<p>TroubleShooting:</p>

<p>We've covered this a little bit, but will expand upon it next. I like to do mine in a Check-off list fashion. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>1. Wick is not touching metal. (top cap, juice tank, etc..) check</p>

<p>2. Center tube was dry as a bone when setting it up. check</p>

<p>3. Center tube NUT was tightened down nice and firm. check</p>

<p>4. Wick was oxidized. check.</p>

<p>5. OHMS were steady on the OHMs meter. check</p>

<p>6. Top nut is tight. check</p>

<p>7. Twisted (spun) wick a bit, in case of a fray. check</p>

<p>8. Cut any lose/long frays. check</p>

<p>9. Wick is wicking. check. (if flooding, try pinching the top. If dry, stick your paperclip down through it, to reopen any kinks).</p>

<p>10. Removed that silly paperclip. CHECK lol</p>

<p>11. Using dull battery or lowest VV? Check</p>

<p>12. Retorch the wick, in case it needed more oxidizing? Check</p>

<p>13. The coils are snug, but not tight, & not loose. Check</p>

<p>14. The wick can be removed and inserted easily enough. Check</p>

<p>15. The coils are pretty much evenly spaced. Check</p>

<p>16. </p> did you click the right edit button lol? Dang it! What a mess this became. Sorry. I'll try to redo.

Edited January 25, 2013 by Uma

[Uma]

17. Did you hit the right edit button? NO! Dang it! Sorry that messed up. I'll try to fix it later when I get back from the Docs.

[Uma]

I can't edit, there is a time limit on the edit function. It's still readable once the < doodads > are familiar and overlooked, I hope.

A few things that need to be covered that were missed earlier:

1. Make sure the wick is as close to the center post as possible, without touching.

2. If you're over the age of 25, a good pair of dollar store reading glasses will be highly appreciated. I use these and/or a Jewlers Visor. (sometimes both, when my eyes are really tired).

3. Line the air hole in the top cap over your wick. If you desire a stronger throathit, move the top cap's air hole out of alignment with the wick. The further away from the wick, the stronger the hit. (less vapor results too tho).

4. If your air hole does not line up with the wick, you might have to wet sand the top cap down a notch. Just set the sand paper on the table, then wet the bottom of your top cap and plunk it solidly down onto the sand paper and move it around a little. Check for fit. Repeat as needed.

5. Videos! We need videos.

You're probably asking why I didn't include the videos earlier. Well, once we get to youtube, we have a tendency to explore and get lost... well, at least I do. This way you also have a nice place to find the post that explains whatever part you are looking for. Together, they will make sense.

There are tons of RBA tutorials on youtube. Look for Hybrid, or RBA either one. (the Hybrid's are RBA's). Everyone has their own style, their own way that works well for them. By watching many, you will get a feel for the way that would work for you. Some don't even torch their mesh anymore... which is cool... but.... it's also controversial due to the machine oils on the mesh and the Kanthal. I wouldn't advise avoiding the torch step, unless you boil your mesh. (many of them boil, but forget to mention that fact).

Otherwise, anything is a go. You'll see. Good luck, and good vaping!

(Feel free to clarify any steps, or add your own takes, or ask questions).

On to the videos:

[Uma]

This is a 3 part series, by Rick. It's a long video, and he takes extra time, to drive the point home. It won't take you, the user, near as long as he took. (and if you use a stove top's blue flame, it will be even faster). Rick is a good person, and very helpful with his vaping experiences.

Scott, Igetcha69, has a lot of RBA and Hybrid tutorials. Most of his oldest videos show how to oxidize and wrap a coil on each device. Lately he is skipping that part and getting right down to just the mod itself. This is one of the older videos where he oxidizes and coils the RBA that I own and love, the DID.

A lot of you will probably start out with the AGA-T series type of RBA. They are from China, like a lot of our vaping gear comes from. China is brand new to the RBA, and still have a lot of quirks to work out. But they are passable, workable, with work arounds for some of the quirks. They're dirt cheap, and an affordable way to learn how to set up an RBA. For a pleasurable experience, though, be sure to save your pennies for a genuine RBA from a reputable modder. The modders usually get the important things right, such as size and placement of wick hole and the air hole, top quality SS, and so forth. But these are nice for learning, and for in a pinch. (there are others, but you really don't want to hear my opinion on some of them).

Zen's tutorial is one that really helped me to "get it". His Zenesis is a Genesis style atty.

[Uma]

In case you didn't pick up this important tidbit in the video's, I'll say it here while thinking about it...

Whenever you vape an RBA genesis type atty, hold your mod so that the wick hole is pointed towards the floor. This helps to keep the wick inside the juice whenever it's tilted. Easy, common sense, yet one that's often overlooked just as easily.

[mse12]

I tried watching Rick's video awhile back when I was first building the aga-s and I got pissed due to the horrible audio quality. Sounded like his girl kept a finger over the microphone hole...pretty girl but he should have just opted for a tripod! Haha...off topic, sorry.

[Uma]

He fills in the missing spots in the comments section of the video. if that helps. But yes, you're right, and I wish he would have redone it, and made it shorter to boot, like it should have been. What the hay, it's my bandwidth overages, not his lol. With that said, it gives a good visualization of the mystical Oxiization method, called "torching".

[Uma]

Good news everyone! By the time you get back from youtube, there will be a new tutorial up on How to Set up the RBA, presented by CaseAce79, complete with pictures and perhaps videos!!! You'll be up and rolling in no time. I'll add the link here, as soon as it's up.

[Uma]

Phil Busardo is finally getting the hang of the Genesis attys! Here are two of his recent video's on the subject that might interest you.

He's not quite there in the first video, .... until towards the end.

By Jove, I think he's got it!! Congrats Phil!!

[Uma]

Just when you thought you had a good idea of how to do it, someone comes along and shows you yet another way to set up the genny. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the funnest part about the SS mesh Genesis attys.

In this next video, we get to watch Scott prepare the SS mesh genesis atty by using the pulsate method, without any preveious oxidizing steps. This method helps to keep your juice cleaner (especially good for those who don't refill their tanks a few times a day). It does have other drawbacks, of course, just like with any thing vape related, such as hot spots if (actually WHEN) your wick slides, jiggles, moves. You'll have to stop, re-pulsate the new area the coils are resting on, etc. I live on a bumpy road, so this method is not for me. Perhaps oxidizing just half the wick, the part that the coils rest on, would be better for my circumstances. This method, by Scott, might be perfect for your circumstances.

Without much more ado, I present Scott setting up the Doodlebug:

Some vapers like to first scrub the mesh with soap and water, rinse, then boil for 20 minutes, with water changes as needed). This replaces the flame method. Some do both the boil and the flame. Some just do the flame. Have fun!