Cool SMOK TFV4 review

Just a quick note for the sake of safety: Don't compress or dry-burnNi200 coils. I think @ckapp is referring to Kanthal or NiChrome perhaps when mentioning compressing.

 

Hey Scratchy! I must admit my ignorance on this... everything I learned as I moved forward in vaping has mainly come from endlessly searching for truth on YT. I've viewed many a build vid using Ni200 and all of them have been "glow and compress" as the standard for prepping Ni200 coils before wicking. That's all I've had to go on and have been doing so for nearly two months. Living and vaping mostly in Malaysia presents limitations due to the language barrier, especially in technical dissertations.

It was my understanding (again, from YT "experts") that it was dangerous and strictly inadvisable to glow Ti wire. Supposedly, when Ti reaches and surpasses 1300°F it forms a powdery oxide on the wire, which is a known toxin and can cause serious problems, health-wise. Again, I wasn't aware of this method as a potential hazard with Ni200.

So, may I ask you to elaborate on why the glow and compress technique when using Ni200 is a bad idea? It's just that it feels like you are aware of something that I and we could all learn from, given that you feel this is valid and important information. Yeah, sure... I used to use the same practice with Kanthal as well, but I haven't used Kanthal since buying my first VT40 a while back. Please know that I am not challenging you on this subject as it could be easily misconstrued as such. I'm just an info-junkie and feel that there's something of value in your advice to learn from.

Thanks, Scratchy! Looking fwd to your reply...

 

Not sure who you have watched on YT but its been generally recommended for quite a while to not dry burn Ni200 or compress the coils (usually necessitating dry burning but not always). Some people have some success compressing but it's not the norm as it makes for inconsistent resistance readings. Evolv back about a year ago had recommended against compressed coils as well.

As for dry burning it is because of Nickel Oxide...you want to avoid glowing Ni200 coils because of that. Maybe it isn't as bad as some make out but there's pretty much a consensus not to do it. Titanium as well though maybe not as risky mildly heating the wire. Some links below and you can find more with Google:

Titanium wire, vaping and safety | E-Cigarette Forum

Dry-burning metal coils: is it a good thing? | Thailand Vapers

Would you buy one? | Page 2 | Thailand Vapers
Titanium Wire for Vaping | Thailand Vapers

wicking ni200 spaced coils | Thailand Vapers

Tempered Ni200 | Thailand Vapers

The Dangers of Vaping with Nickel (ni200) : electronic_cigarette


Just to add I never compress Titanium either.

Sorry, I just read my post and it comes off a little badly. Don't mean to criticize or insult you!

 

Not in the slightest. Nope. No harm, no foul... just appreciation for taking the time to assemble the links for all of us. Chill, man... I am!

 

Cool-cool

 

yeah i would not do that, it would damage the seal and also over time damage the cap-joint.

**Updated**

i would not really recommend compressing Ni200 coils, in order to make micro-coils you would need to heat them up to a point where they glow and you would have to dryburn them to check for hot-spots. A slight imperfection would affect TC already. i much prefer working with thin Ni200 wire, it is very easy to build and once wicked one can adjust the spacing with a flat screwdriver. All i do before building is carefully wiping the wire with an alcohol pad as Ni200 often comes coated in oil to prevent oxidation. (that is why many people complain about funky taste, they do not clean the wire)
Dryburning Ni200 degrades the wire and can produce Nickel Oxide.

also i do not recommend building Ni and Ti in postholes, especially the thin wire but i also noticed that Ti 26g snaps easily. Even if you get a reading on your ohm meter and the wire sits tight you cannot see if the screw has partially cut the wire, it is saver attaching it under the screw.
Kanthal seems a lot more durable, never had issues with that.

**Updated**

oh one more thing, before making a new build, people commonly clean their atomizer. It is very important to make sure that the base is completely dry, i would take out the post screws and make sure everything is completely dry as nickel is water soluble.

 

Well, at last the TFR1 for the TFV4 arrived-and, never having had any SMOK products, I must say that I am very pleased with the build quality of both items--pulled out the original coil and put a 1.1 Ohm build back in--and, after an initial leak due to my lack of common sense--it seems to be well sealed; it vapes very nicely, and providing the fancy swivel liquid filler system works as it should, it should make for an easy tank to refill--although, i am slightly dubious--the swivelling top looks like somewhere that could allow for a bit of a leakage issue--but, maybe not.
As Randis, i think, said--this thing is 'Airy'--very, very airy--almost, dare I say it, too airy--I have been closing it down and it's now a lot better but it's almost completely shut.
It really is a nicely made tank.

 

Woohoo! New toys! Yay!

Haybilly: I wouldn't get too worried about the swivel pin on the closing plate. (Blush) I've got 4 of these and none of them have presented a problem. I think the durability factor on the swivel pin has been well designed and the tongue and groove clock at the end of the cap's travel is a fine touch of super-sweet machining, IMHO. There have been some reviewers online who have expressed skepticism about the method employed for top filling on the TVF4, but I ain't buyin' it simply because all of my tanks perform flawlessly.

Just make sure the top seal is flush with the cap's surface and the the fill hole slot in the seal is aligned correctly before closing it up. If there were to be a problem, it would likely come from the seal not being perfectly seated where the swivel-cap starts to close up the top of the tank. In the beginning, I wasn't aware of this and snagged it a couple of times. Now, I simply remove the top seal when I fill the tank and replace it as a separate operation so I'm focused only on seating the seal.

Happy Vaping on your new rigs!

Edit: Double post deleted. /SD

 

Well, just to update this thread--I remember that Vaping Kitty mentioned that, on first inspection, the glass tank section was stuck pretty firm to the rubber inside the seating at the top, or was it bottom, cap, and pulled away some of the O ring which needed rubbing off [as was mine, I mentioned]--well, after using this tank pretty extensively since it arrived, and being fairly lazy about doing a rebuild on the RBA--in fact, due to the ease of refilling, thanks to the swivel top cap cover, I probably didn't strip it down nearly as often as I probably should have done--it just kept working, so why bother--well, maybe this was a mistake because today, after deciding that it was well overdue for a strip and clean, I discovered that the glass section was fitted so tightly into the top cap groove that it refused to be removed--so, after using hot water, cold water and then hot water, and trying to remove it all the time--it finally decided to snap in my fingers- and still some of the glass remained in the groove--so, even if the TFV4 is working great, it might be wise to strip it down for a clean--you might save yourself a broken glass tube section--luckily I was holding it in a cloth, for traction, so no cut fingers, but this would have been a certainty otherwise.
Another 'spooky' co-incidence is that, after dropping my Lemo 2 and breaking the glass, about 3 weeks back--I had a mad idea to order spare glass sections for several of my glass RBA's--the TFV4 was one of them, so, the repair was made in minutes--after removing all the broken slivers of Pyrex/glass from the recess.
My mistake, I guess, for being lazy--but, that glass was in pretty darn tight from day one, also.

 

It's also a good idea that I've learned from experience to smear a couple drops of juice on the o-rings right before re-assembly. It helps to not only reduce friction and wear on the o-rings themselves, but also makes disassembly and re-assembly very, very easy on the parts and the nerves.

 

Yes, did that on reassembly, thanks.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

 

How I deal with leak problems is that after I refilled my tank, I open the juice holes for 5 minutes. Then I close it and open the air flow holes. After I take a piece of tissue and hold it around my tank and blow air inside covering up the airholes with tissue. Blow hard 4 times or so. Then open the juice holes and it good to go.. This method should work on any tank that's leaking thru the air holes.