Coil rebuild

[ElConquistador]

The Makeup Facial Cotton - Shiseido | Sephora

This cotton is the BOMB, it's in little pads and the fibers are aligned, you just cut off a little strip, maybe 1/8" wide, round it up a little, twist the end to a point and stick it in. I can't taste it at all like I could with the yarn and some cottons I tried. I got mine at Sephora in J.C. Penneys, lifetime supply for about $9.50. Even better, I hear, is Koh-Gen-Do cotton, same basic stuff.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

I used 32 gauge kanthal for a long time in my builds. I find that 32 kanthal seems to distort, bend or kink as your replacing your wicking material so I switched to 30 gauge and being a thicker wire it holds up better in the long run. Trial and error will tell you how many wraps on what particular instrument to your desired ohm range. Once your tired of changing your cotton out every couple days, try hemp fiber it wicks better than cotton and lasts twice as long before pooping out.
Your PV of choice is also important in how you want your builds to perform. IMO the ego's don't have the knards to fire a good build properly and the battery life will be mighty short before recharging. Get into a 18xxx battery series mech or mod or the newer 26xxx batteries and you'll be a much happier vapor.

For someone new to building, the Peaches and Cream yarn is much easier to deal with. Since you like the hemp wick(me too) get some 1mm yarn. 2 strands of it makes your 32 ga. easy to wick and will slide right thru your coil with no mangling. If you're mangling your 32 ga. coils, you're using too much wicking material in those heads. Vape on!!

 

[Blue73]

Sorry bro, you got it backwards. I've built with 28 ga. in PT heads and you have to get 10 wraps of it of a 1/16 drill bit (really tight fit, must be micro)to get that high of an Ω. The thinner wire (32ga.) take less wraps for sure. Look inside a stock Kanger head. That's 32 ga. in there. 6 wraps on a 1.8Ω coil. I've built 100's of them, some with 28, some with 30 and most with 32. I like a 1.7 or 1.8Ω coil, 6 wraps gets it there. When I build sub-ohm in my drippers or gennys, I use 6 wraps of 28 on a 5/32 to get 1.2 ohm on each for a combined 0.6Ω build.

Big Cat,

So if I want to stick with what you're doing, I would use 6 wraps of 32g to give me 1.8ohms. Am I right in thinking that I should transition to VW instead of VV?

 

[Blue73]

Guys, a follow-up question: How long should I expect the cotton to last compared to silica? Normally, I get 7-10 days on a stock coil. Sometimes 2 weeks.

 

[epicdoom]

the lower the number gauge of wire the thicker it will be and the less resistance it will have, so 26g is thicker then 34g and is less resistant to electrical flow. Think of it like this you have 2 wires one thin/narrow one thick/wide, now think of them like a highway you have to get 100 cars through that stretch of highway in a millisecond the larger highway/wire will support more cars going through at the same time, the smaller highway/wire cant get as many through in that millisecond so it can be said it has more resistance then the larger highway/wire.

 

[Crystal Freeze]

Guys, a follow-up question: How long should I expect the cotton to last compared to silica? Normally, I get 7-10 days on a stock coil. Sometimes 2 weeks.

I'm on my 3rd day with cotton. I'll try to keep a count on how long it lasts. I can't remember when exactly I built my fiancé's coil but it's prolly around a week he's been on the same cotton. He hasn't complained yet so I guess it's still good lol

 

[DoubleEwe]

Hey Blue73,

I used to rebuild my davide glassomizer heads (identical to protank2 heads) using a coil of 10wraps of 33awg around a 1.5mm screwdriver, this to give me around 2.2 - 2.4ohms.
The wraps being close together, but not touching (not a microcoil). These coils I used to run at around 4V and were all good. (8 watts on my VW device was about as high as I wanted to go ever with this kanthal setup)

Recently I tried out using 30awg on a similar setup (10 wraps around the same screwdriver), giving me around 1.8 -2.0ohms.
But running the 30awg coil at 4V it takes an eternity to heat up despite the lower resistance, so you will need to up the Voltage/Power to get the best results if you opt for a lower AWG of kanthal.
It does seem to give better flavour though (using 30AWG).

Currently in my kayfun using around 8 wraps (same screwdriver), resistance of 1.7ohm and running at 11watts, it is an absolute delight, best flavour I have ever had.

So, the lower the AWG of the wire, the higher the power needed to heat the coils (quickly).

I hope that was a bit useful and not just a load of drivel to you.

 

[Rat2chat2]

Here are some links that might help ya. Hope they do.

Steam Engine | free vaping calculators

Coil Toy - Online calculator for e-cigarette resistance coil building

Good luck to you and happy wrapping.

Welcome to ecf. You can find out just about anything about anything but you do it with some wonderful people that are always in your corner. I just love ecf.

 

[dice57]

shooting for ~2 ohms, would use 30 gauge Kanthal possibly 28, almost any sterile cotton will work fine, though I have moved on to hemp & ramie fiber. Reading the Micro Coild build thread should be mandatory reading. We all started the same place you did, so start build already. lol

Vape long and Prosper.!!!

 

[leerm8680]

Go with the peaches and cream yarn. It's always consistent in size and performance. Fits perfectly in a microcoil formed over the end of a 1/16 drill bit. One roll of yarn will last you years.

 

[Blue73]

Thanks for all the great info! So much more to learn...

As for the cotton wick, when the wick goes bad, is it possible to replace just the wick, or does the whole coil need to be rebuilt?

 

[epicdoom]

you can replace just the wick and clean the coil to clean the coil remove wick heat coil to red. release the fire button and dip just the coil into water do this several times the hot to cold steams the gunk rite off the coil leaving it shiny and new looking. then just rewick it and have at it.

 

[Shootist]

For your wire having 26, 28, 30, 32, 34 gauge will cover all the basses. Ok here is why, your resistance will be determined by the wire size, the size mandrel you wind onto, and how many wraps you make lets say for instance you only have 1/16 mandrel to use you take 28g wire make 4 turns around it and set it in your atomizer you end up with 1.5 ohms, but you wanted 1.0 ohms. well having the other wire size you can use the 26g do the same number of wraps and end up at that 1.0 ohm you were hoping for. the reverse of this is also true you may have wanted 2.0 ohms take the 30g and do same number of wraps your resistance will be higher possibly hitting that 2.0. this is all for instance and not accurate just a way to go about making coils. I use a program that will give me exact numbers for my coil builds but on the fly this is how I do it.

I shouldn't bother but.

4 wraps of 28g Kanthal around a 1/16 mandrel will only give you about .407 ohms. I must say if you are going to quote wire gauges and numbers of wraps to get X ohmage you could be a little more precise. for a 1.5 ohm coil with 28G Kanthal and a 1.16" mandrel you would need 11.5+ wraps.

Sorry but that is how people get into trouble vaping. Following incorrect instructions. We don't need that.

Thanks.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

Big Cat,

So if I want to stick with what you're doing, I would use 6 wraps of 32g to give me 1.8ohms. Am I right in thinking that I should transition to VW instead of VV?

Yep, 6 tight wraps, evenly spaced on a 1/16 drill bit with 32 ga.A-1 kanthal will give you 1.7 to 1.8Ω every time. If you plan on getting into building your own coils hardcore, look into getting an Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo. You can wrap some great coils with that. The second smallest spindle = a 1/16 drill bit. You can find them at Hobby Lobby for $11, $7 or so with their 40% coupon from their website. I added a bolt, washers and a wingnut to the spindles to hold the wire. If I'm using larger size bits to wrap on, I use the base and some surgical clamps to hold the bit tight in it. Works great!! Artistic Wire also makes a great wire twister too. You can use up to five strands of wire with it and crank out some wicked twisted wire setups without needing a drill. Insane!!
Some like watts, some like volts. I'm a watts man myself.

 

[dice57]

I have on rba with 6 months on the same coil. Wicks need yanking and the coil needs dry burned and brushed clean on occasion, the re-wicked, but the coil will last longer than the desirer to try a different build. That's the beauty of micro coils, easy to re-wick.

 

[kgrunt]

For a Kanger coil, BigCatDaddy has it right...6 wraps of 32g around a 1/16" drill bit will give you 1.7-1.8ohms all day long. I like the cotton way better than silica, plus it's way cheaper. I just use organic cotton balls, and pluck what i need. Just pull it from the coil, dry burn the coil and re-cotton it when it needs changed or if you change flavors. As for the Question of boiling the cotton - the reason to do that is to get rid of the taste and chemicals in the cotton. Since the organic cotton doesn't use chemicals, and most importantly, doesn't use bleach to make it whiter, you can use it straight from the bag and it will not give you any taste outside of your juice. If you use regular, non-organic cotton balls/strips/yarn, you probably want to boil it.
For the question on VW vs. VV, there is technically no difference. All the VW does is do the math for you so you can keep things consistent. For example, if you like vaping a juice at 8.5 watts, you can change coils or tanks and keep it at 8.5 watts to get the same vaping experience. Basically, the formula you should know is that Volts squared divided by ohms will give you your wattage. So if you vape in your protank with a 2.0 ohm coil at 4 volts, you are at 8 watts (4x4=16/2.0ohms=8 watts) now if you throw on a tank with a 1.8 ohm coil, you will need to dial down to roughly 3.8v to get the same wattage, but it should vape the same. So with a Variable Wattage device, instead of having to adjust the voltage each time, you can just set the wattage and swap stuff out at will. If you don't mind doing the math, you don't need variable wattage, but it sure makes it more convenient.

 

[bover907]

Maybe a little late to the party, but what I use in Kanger Evod/protank2 heads is a .07" screwdriver for a mandrel, and 30awg Kanthal. 10 wraps gives about 2.4 to 2.5Ω. 9 wraps gives about 2.1 to 2.2Ω. That's the best to use on a standard, non variable ego style battery, if you're using an evod or mini protank. I just boiled some cotton balls, and dried them out. Six cotton balls lasted me and my wife like 2 months.

How often you have to re-wick strictly depends on the juice you use. My wife likes really sweet juices from Nicoticket which you have to re-wick almost daily. One juice I use lasts several tankfulls before re-wicking is needed. Just watch a youtube video or two on how to clean and dry burn a kanger head. what I do, is pull the nasty cotton out, wash the coil under hot water, dry it off, then put it on the battery (I check the resistance before and after every step, so I don't short out my battery).

Pulsing the battery, and blowing on the coil when it starts to glow, gets all the gunk off, and the coil starts to look clean again. Then, I rewash the coil, dry it, check the resistance again, and rewick the thing.

Sounds complicated, but after you get the hang of it all, it isn't hard at all.

 

[tayone415]

I have recently started rebuilding my coils and I love it, got it on the first try! Not as hard as I originally thought. I use Organic Cotton, I don't boil the cotton it's not a "must" do. As far as the Kanthal wire for 2.0 -2.5 ohms, it's not the size of the wire that matters its the amount of wraps. Hope this helped !
Good luck !!

Yes, no matter what gauge wire you use you can add more wraps for higher resistance, but the size of the wire does matter, especially what you're trying to build on. If I was to build my RDA I have 22, 24, 26 and 28 gauge kanthal, which all works except thinner wire can't go as low and for thicker wire to reach a higher ohm while fitting on the platform is an issue with thicker wire especially if someone is trying to build a pro tank for example, people tend to use 32 gauge kanthal for space restricted re builds and even on rebuildables where the kanthal is fed through the post does NOT fit all larger sized kanthal.