Originally I started with the stm because of the rba....I loved building coils, but after a while I just couldn't get my wicking to work right, so I gave up frustrated. At the time, I was dealing with a lot of stress in my life, close family members passing away.....so my wicking wasn't up to snuff, which led me to go back to analogs for a while. The first couple of months were great with the rba base, and my wicking and coils lasted me a good 3-4 weeks using 100% VG juice. Anyway, a buddy of mine got a pack of these ceramic coils, and gave them to me to try. I LOVE these ceramic coils!!! Not great with thinner juices, but I've got this coil still going after a month running at 37-42 watts depending on juice flavor. I loved rebuilding, and have tons of wire/cotton, so maybe I should try out the rba deck and see what happens. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't remember having all these leaking issues when I used the rba. Maybe it's time......I have a couple of the newer rba decks, I guess it's time to research the best wicking methods for it again. I can whip up a good coil wrap in no time.....I stick with single spaced coils around 0.7-0.9 ohms, and have 28 and 30 gauge wire. What do you find works best as far as the wicking method? What's the percentage vg/pg juice do you use? Thanks for getting me thinking of going back to rebuilding before I give up again.....I didn't mention wicking because I thought I remembered you saying it leaks even with the disposable coils but those pics you just posted look like there is not nearly enough wicking in there. This would definitely cause it to leak. Here is some pics of my wicking. I leave it sit for a couple days sometimes and not a drop leaks.
Anyhow good luck, it really sucks to hear. STM is one of my favourite tanks ever. Ol' reliable.
What do you mean? Like the glass isn't sitting properly and tight at the base?? I can assure you it is.....for what it's worth, with the white tank and the black o-rings, I can see how it could look that way....but I think it's just the reflection of the glass....there is no gap there at all. I never get leaking there anyway. My biggest problem comes from the af base getting flooded, and juice spilling out the air holes. It's constant blowing it out, checking to make sure it's tight....checking all rings/seals, even checking the itty bitty clear ring at the base of the coil, where it threads to make sure it's there and not damaged.....
What do you use for wicking material?
Thanks for the details....I never had issues with dry hits ever, I think my wicking issues lied in using not enough cotton...my head got caught up in the fear of having too much, and then having to deal with dry hits and breaking things down again. I'm actually looking forward to trying these newer rba's because the larger holes might be the ticket.....I've heard of people wicking these in crazy ways....straight thru the juice holes, thru coil and out the other side cut flush to barrel...and also heard of people doing this same thing, but placing a bit of cotton on the deck first (just the floor of deck, not thru coil) to help keep the chamber from flooding.....I dunno, lots of different ways to wick now that the deck is different.
I have some RBA's with the smaller holes and was thinking of picking up some cylindrical files when I plan to use them to widen them. Reading this makes me think I might just try them how they are. Still don't understand why they made the holes smaller though. Was reading that because of the top fill model if the holes were any bigger it would leak, sounds legit.
