Rewicked my Protank heads with a cotton ball

[fido5150]

Well, as my Protank heads get spent, and they seem to be out of stock almost everywhere, I decided to parlay some of my iGo-L rebuilding materials on a quest to get a better vape out of my Protanks.

I've tried several silica styles (single, double, tripled, with or without 'flavor wicks') and 400 mesh SS, but I think I hit the mother lode when I tried a cotton ball, on a lark.

I wound the coil out of 33awg Kanthal on a round toothpick, with a 3/2 wind for 1.9 ohms, then took a tuft of the cotton ball, rolled it into a wick, and threaded the tapered end through the coil.

Then I reassembled the head like normal, though after the first time I found it beneficial to prime the wick, like you would a carto tank, before you put the top piece back on the head, or you'll get quite a few harsh hits before the liquid works its way into the wick.

I must say that the vape is out of this world. On my original Protank heads, any wattage over about 6.7W tasted burnt to me, but I'm now vaping at a full 8.0W, getting a very nice consistent crackle, and a load of vapor. I'll have to be extra careful not to burn the wick, but I'm really enjoying the vape. Plus, it's cheap to replace if I do, so that's another win.

Just wanted to toss this out there in case anybody else has been toying with this idea.

 

[MiamiMom63]

I have enjoyed making cotton wicks but haven't yet on the Protank so thanks for letting me know! Been using them also on the Igo-l. Thanks!

 

[supermarket]

Well, as my Protank heads get spent, and they seem to be out of stock almost everywhere, I decided to parlay some of my iGo-L rebuilding materials on a quest to get a better vape out of my Protanks.

I've tried several silica styles (single, double, tripled, with or without 'flavor wicks') and 400 mesh SS, but I think I hit the mother lode when I tried a cotton ball, on a lark.

I wound the coil out of 33awg Kanthal on a round toothpick, with a 3/2 wind for 1.9 ohms, then took a tuft of the cotton ball, rolled it into a wick, and threaded the tapered end through the coil.

Then I reassembled the head like normal, though after the first time I found it beneficial to prime the wick, like you would a carto tank, before you put the top piece back on the head, or you'll get quite a few harsh hits before the liquid works its way into the wick.

I must say that the vape is out of this world. On my original Protank heads, any wattage over about 6.7W tasted burnt to me, but I'm now vaping at a full 8.0W, getting a very nice consistent crackle, and a load of vapor. I'll have to be extra careful not to burn the wick, but I'm really enjoying the vape. Plus, it's cheap to replace if I do, so that's another win.

Just wanted to toss this out there in case anybody else has been toying with this idea.

I just ordered 5 pro tank heads and 10 evod heads @ discount vapers, if you are looking for somewhere to get some coils

 

[BostLabs]

Other than working the cotton balls into a wick, do you need to do anything special to it? Like boil it or something?

 

[chronikalz]

good to know. ive always thought about using cotton balls on my protank but then i got a true rba as a gift. makes vaping much more fun.
protank IS a very good though. air flow is awsome by default. hows the flow after you switched to cotton ball?

 

[fido5150]

Other than working the cotton balls into a wick, do you need to do anything special to it? Like boil it or something?

I didn't do anything but thread the cotton through the coil, and pre-saturate it with e-liquid so that it started wicking faster.

good to know. ive always thought about using cotton balls on my protank but then i got a true rba as a gift. makes vaping much more fun.
protank IS a very good though. air flow is awsome by default. hows the flow after you switched to cotton ball?

I don't notice any difference in the airflow. It still draws nice and airy.

I just ordered 5 pro tank heads and 10 evod heads @ discount vapers, if you are looking for somewhere to get some coils

That's great to know. Thank you.

I have enjoyed making cotton wicks but haven't yet on the Protank so thanks for letting me know! Been using them also on the Igo-l. Thanks!

No problem at all. The thing that I really like about this community is how much people share with one another, so I just thought I'd toss in my $0.02 on something I had tried.

 

[Nicadmus]

I appreciate the thread as well. I look forward to giving this a try.

Thanks.

 

[fido5150]

I appreciate the thread as well. I look forward to giving this a try.

Thanks.

I'm glad to share.

I took a picture of the completed wick before the top cap goes back on, just so people can get an idea of what it looks like. This is the point where I put a few drops of e-liquid on the wick to prime it. Then the top cap is reassembled.

The pic is sideways, but if you tilt your head to the left you can see it.

 

[MiamiMom63]

Lol. I think pics being posted in here lately are always loading upside down, etc. the last couple pics I've posted were upside down even though they were right side up when I loaded them.

 

[Maylar]

How did you thread the cotton through the coil?

 

[Boiler]

I've been using cotton yarn the same way.

Burn it? So what, throw in a new wick.

 

[TomCatt]

Just be sure your cotton balls are 100% cotton - you can get USP/sterile cotton balls too.

I picked this up at CVS pharmacy last year and still have 90% of it left
CVS Rolled Cotton - CVS pharmacy

 

[TomCatt]

How did you thread the cotton through the coil?

You can pull and twist the cotton to form a wick, then thread it through a pre-formed coil - like the OP did, wrap the coil around a tooth pick or something similar, install coil and remove toothpick.

I've also removed the silica wick from Protanks, evods, T3s, CE2s, CE4s, etc and just threaded a cotton wick through the stock coil.

 

[Leithan]

Just Rebuilt my third protank head using a cotton wick, I'm sold! I liked the protank before but now I love it. Way easier to rebuild than it looks. I haven't been all that successful rebuilding a genny, I got this right the first time. Maybe a happy accident.........I'll take three happy accidents in a roe any day. I wound my coil on a 1/16 drill bit, tried a few different sized mandrels to wind the coil on. 1/16 seemed be the best balance for keeping the coil small and ease of threading the wick. After I wind the coil, I hold the drill bit in a pair of pliers and heat the coil up cherry red with my torch, after it cools I then install it. The coil seems to hold its shape a lot better after doing this.

 

[HughDaHand]

I have been doing this with my t3's for a few months now. The flavor is so good that I am kinda spoiled with it now. I got some new evods and coils in on Monday and the sillica was adding a bad taste to the juice. I quickly found myself ripping apart brand new heads to replace the coils and wicks. The funny thing is I also wrap my coils on a 1/16 drill bit.

My only complaint is that my wicks only seem to last about 12-15ml of juice through them before they start to under preform. I use 60pg/40vg juice and it seems to gunk them up quickly. It's a good thing that it is super easy to replace the wicks, and its super cheap as I am still working off of the first cotton ball.

Anyone know if Kanger uses Kanthal or Nicrome? I was just wondering if I got that bad taste from the sillica or the coil.

 

[Smokachino]

I've been rewicking my T3s with cheesecloth, but have yet to rewick the ProTank. Glad the cotton ball is working out so well for you! What is everyone using for magnification? The ProTank heads are even tinier than the T3s!

 

[iPWN]

I find these rather handy ....

Helping Hands w/ Magnifying Glass

 

[Leithan]

No magnification, I leave one tail longer than the other, I use the longer leg for the negative end, I insert the coil, put in the outer stopper thingy, pull the coil down into the cup using the negative tail, I just go slow making sure that the positive leg gets in the center pin hole. I pull the coil down into the cup a skooch deeper than i want it, insert the center pin, clip the tails as close as possible and then reinsert the drill bit into the coil and pull it up to where i want it. This hides the ends of the tails in the insulator rubber thingy and prevents shorts, I think. Everything really just falls in place, it's rely a lot less fiddly then the size would have you think. I don't know if its because I’m making such tiny coils or what, but they have all been spot on perfect with out any adjustment or fiddling at all. So far this has improved my vape experience so much and it was so easy to do that I kind of lost motivation to keep finking with my genny style RBA.

 

[Smokachino]

I find these rather handy ....

Helping Hands w/ Magnifying Glass

Thank you! I saw these on Amazon as well, so may have to get one if I start rebuilding coils.

 

[Leithan]

My precision RBA and coil rebuilding rig, Notice the expertly punched hole in the center for holding my RBA and or protank base and the precision raised lip around the edge of the lid to keep me from loosing all my fiddly little parts. Plus it's metal so if you were to drop a red hot piece of SS cable wick on it, it wont burn a big mark into it, like would happen if you dropped it on your wife’s brand new dinning room table.......I just sit on the couch, watch TV with this on my lap and coil away. Bonus, you get to eat the cookies! Royal Dansk butter cookies and black coffee are a combo made in heaven.