Before organic cotton became the go-to wicking material, stainless steel meshes were king. According to many, you just cannot beat the flavor your from an SS mesh build, although the vapor production is not too great.
I’ve been vaping for over a year now and I’ve stayed clear of stainless steel mesh. I did watch some videos a few months back, but it all seemed too difficult for me to do.
- There were different densities of stainless steel mesh and I had no idea which one to start with
- It seems like only some tanks (genesis-style ones) truly supported a SS mesh build
- There were a few steps involved, like torching your mesh and wrapping your coils around it, all looked like too much work
Recently though, I got myself an SJMY Nextasis clone and decided to give it a try. I bought two different stainless steel mesh density – 300 and 400 – from FastTech. I already have all the wire gauges but I got myself an extra 28g Kanthal A1 wire as well.
My first attempt was horrible.
No mod would read the resistance of my coils. I soon figured out that I had not torched my mesh enough to make it non-conductive. Therefore, the mesh was effecting the resistance.
In my second attempt, I torched the mesh a bit more and did a 28g 5-wrap build. This time I did get a reading on my mod, but it started at 2.5 Ohms! And the resistance kept jumping up and down – again its due to the SS mesh.
I did manage to vape it though, and I was getting clean, incredible flavor. For a while at least, before it started to get weird.
So, I decided that I just didn’t know enough and started to watch more SS mesh build videos on your tube. Here are two that were very helpful:
- VaporChase Tutorial – How to Make a Stainless Steel Wick
- Stainless Steel Mesh Oxidation Tutorial by Vapelyfe
Clearly my main problem is not oxidising the mesh enough. I was just about to continue when my torch ran out of juice. Now I got to buy some lighter fluid, refill it and try again.
To be continued..