New to RBA's - Few questions (Wicks, coils, etc.)

[Dissonance]

OK, this first paragraph is just background so skip it if you don't wanna read a wall of text. Started vaping a 'lil before Christmas (I never smoked cigs, I smoked hookah almost 24/7 tho, so it was a pretty easy transition) on Protanks, didn't take long before I wanted something a little better. Looked into rba's, figured with the way I like to tweak things til I have them perfect it'd happen eventually so just took the plunge. Ordered an IGO-L and an AGA-T2 (Well, AGA-T+ but I ordered a glass tank to go with it so I guess technically it's a T2 now). Been trying to roll microcoils but I'm still new enough that anything I can get that fires and heats evenly is good enough for me. Also been messing around with wick types, I have a few thicknesses of silica, cotton (from store brand cottonballs), and 400 SS mesh. Cotton seems to be working well in my dripper and Protanks (Actually, the rebuilt protank 2 is my favorite so far, having wicking problems with the AGA-T2). Silica I haven't used much of yet, I have a single strand set in my AGA-T2 atm that's working better than the cotton/ss I've tried but still have to hold it the right way while I'm taking a hit. I've tried stainless steel 3 times... First time I got it to fire easily, but there was next to no wicking (It was dry ~ half a hit in, 500 rolled very tightly no center hole). Second try I couldn't get it to fire (kept shorting out) and third I was having hot spot & wicking issues (400 rolled semi-tightly with a medium center hole). I want to try ekowool & ceramic, but don't have any on hand. All of my builds end up around 1.5-2 Ohm, I have a Vamo V5 & MVP V2 so sub-ohm coils won't work for me. All that out of the way...

1) What are the pros/cons of each wick material? (Including ekowool & ceramic)

2) Where do you buy your materials from? (Again, including ekowool & ceramic)

3) Are there any good coil "types"? (I mentioned I've been trying microcoils; anything like that without going into sub-ohm territory)

4) Ekowool & Ceramic wicks... Pretty interested about these, anyone have anything notable to say?

5) A little more specific; I'm new and wasn't expecting to be messing with my AGA-T2 yet but my dripper really doesn't leave me much to play with... I haven't been able to come up with a good wick for this atty yet, I tend to chain vape and the best I've done is the silica wick that's in here atm and I have to hold it so the juice is on the entire strand while I'm hitting it to keep from getting a dry hit. I tried a cotton U-wick with a single coil and it did amazingly for 1 tank then on the 2nd one stopped wicking all together. All 3 of my attempts at a stainless steel wick have been pretty bad... Any suggestions?

6) (Last one I swear) My experiences with the T2 are making me realize I really like bottom fed tanks... What RBA would you recommend that's bottom fed? (I did recently buy an EHPro Kayfun Lite, just got it yesterday so still playing with it. Reminds me a lot of a protank)

Sorry for the giant wall of text, and thanks in advance to anyone who took the time to read it all xD

 

[retired1]

Moved to Rebuildable Atomizer Systems

 

[maxd]

hm, you might expect some problems in answering all of your questions
main reason - there are different thoughts and preferences,
( while waiting - just spend some time reading forum )

just to start good discussion:

1) simplest silica -> best cotton
2) online, for the stuff I like ( or like the price ) otherwise -> a local shop ( I like to try it first )
3) Depends, really ... start from using youtube and search for name of your RBAs and you will find a lot ,
what is more important - you will see how to make it, after this : try it -> try it -> try it
4) not really, they are good to try, I like ( as above ) cotton now, tried many different once
5) allow me to skip this one for now
6) Kayfun Lite , I love bottom fed

hope it would help