Recoiling Aspire BDC with single coil
Watch Rip Tripper's videos on recoiling Aspire BDCs and nautilus for ideas and a visual reference.
I will give you my experiences and realities after a few failed attempts, using common items.
Tools:
I recommend getting the cheapest Aspire ET ego style clearomizer. Dedicate the coil base to this project. It will get nicked and dinged in this process.
ego style battery that you don't care about in case the threads get damaged.
16 gauge needle on luer lock syringe or equivalent (inexpensive at DIY e-liquid suppliers or Tractor Supply for livestock.
Full size needle nose pliers. Smooth machined joint area on the side a plus for pushing the cap back on the coil housing.
Plastic or hard wood cutting board or other hard surface. A bench vise with smooth jaws would be better but not everyone has this.
Piece of thin flexible rubbery substance helps to remove coil assembly from base. Jar lid remover type thing.
3 inch or so tweezers (medical supply stores have a suture removal kit with blunt tweezers and small scissors)
Make your coil replacement(s) They must be narrower than the cap.
Update 7 wraps of 32 gives upper range 2 ohms and fits better. If they come out higher, try less wraps.
8-9 wraps of 30 gauge. I use pieces of cotton ball twisted for wick. Feed through coil and pull with tweezers. Compress coils on wick. Trim wick to 5mm. (take a business card and mark 5mm from an edge. use that as a quick measure tool)
Update 4/7 Used a 5/64 drill with 30ga A1 with 7 wraps was real close to 2 ohms and fits in housing better. I then fire the coil without wick and compress with flat tip tweezers. This is easier on an RDA.
Screw the coil assembly in the base tight enough to hold it. Remove cap with pliers. Leveraging against base may help.
Remove coil assembly and remove the bottom pin. Remove rubber insulator.
If you drop it, good luck finding it. May be wise to do this over a cake pan or similar.
Use tweezers to remove old coils.
It is good time to remove housing liner and clean all the pieces. Don't drop the insulator or other parts down the drain.
After all has dried, place the liner inside the housing, lining up the long slots in both.
UpdatePlace the coil legs down the hole and squeeze the coil so that it fits inside the liner, in the bottom slot with the cotton sticking out of the slot. Leaving the coil on the drill without the wick helps. Wick added later.
Bend one leg over the outside to hold the coil in place.
Slide the insulator over the other leg and press into place.
Gently pull on the leg to see that the coil is still in the slot above.
Bend that leg over slightly. Press the pin in the insulator.
Trim the lead wires with nail clippers as close as possible to the housing. Make sure no wire is sticking out.
Update Place a twist of cotton on top in the upper slot and trim so that a couple of mm sticks out.
Place the cap on the housing lining up the holes on the side with the long slots on the housing. Make sure there is no wick between the edge of the cap and the housing. If so, trim the wick.
Screw the coil assembly on to your base. Carefully press the cap on with the vise or place the cap side down on a firm surface, push on the base end with a firm object until the cap clicks into place.
Remove the coil assembly and pull the contact pin out slightly, then screw back into the base.
You are done except for testing the resistance.
Priming the new coil seems to flood it. I suspect that removing the filler is part of this and the cap holes are no longer restricted by the filler.
Update Using the bottom slot with some cotton draped down in the area of the cap holes seems to help this.
Works well for me with 50/50 on 7-8 watts.
Update 4/13/14 Having read and learned more about coils and wicks, I have pretty much settled on the above. Loosely twisted cotton, that slightly bulges at the outer sides of the coil, just enough drape down the side to be visible in the cap holes but not get in the way of the cap. The original filler must be to slow the flow. Too little wick or no top wick, allows liquid to flow right through the bottom, too much makes a hard draw, poor vape and maybe burnt taste.
I now test each rebuild with plain VG in an ET to make sure the draw and vape production is good before I toss it in the storage bin.
Update 5/25/14
Vertical Coil Rebuild
I followed this pictorial on rebuilding Kanger coils with vertical coils and cotton wick.
Kanger ProTank/EVOD Vertical Coil - Imgur
I removed the filler between the cap and tube and also leave out the cloth inside the tube. I found that a 20 gauge syringe needle was too lose and a large paper clip leg was a bit better. I used 30ga kanthal with 12/11 wraps. Gave 1.9ohms. I bent the legs down for the hot leg and up for the ground. After packing the twisted cotton into the tube around the coil, I bent the ground leg over the outside of the tube and folded it back. I trimmed it below the top of the tube. Removed the paper clip and put on the cap.
First attempt did not have enough cotton and leaked out the bottom right away. Second attempt was better but gave a snotty nose snorting sound and soon leaked out the bottom. Either I still don't have enough cotton in there or the holes in the cap are too big.
Just not having any luck with these.
Update 6/23/14
Might have finally had some luck. Reading other people's posts I thought that smaller size might be the trick. Went with 1/16 drill. Starting using rayon for wick. Disassemble head, remove filler in cap and fiber filler inside housing. Using bottom slot, thread the rayon through and clip off leaving a small amount outside of housing. Put on the cap with holes lined up with wick so that wick appears in holes after assembly. Dripped some liquid down the top hole and it quickly ran out of the bottom. Decided not to do that any more.
So far good results. Rayon wicks very well. Use 1.5 times the amount you would use for cotton. I pull off about a pencil size strip.
Watch Rip Tripper's videos on recoiling Aspire BDCs and nautilus for ideas and a visual reference.
I will give you my experiences and realities after a few failed attempts, using common items.
Tools:
I recommend getting the cheapest Aspire ET ego style clearomizer. Dedicate the coil base to this project. It will get nicked and dinged in this process.
ego style battery that you don't care about in case the threads get damaged.
16 gauge needle on luer lock syringe or equivalent (inexpensive at DIY e-liquid suppliers or Tractor Supply for livestock.
Full size needle nose pliers. Smooth machined joint area on the side a plus for pushing the cap back on the coil housing.
Plastic or hard wood cutting board or other hard surface. A bench vise with smooth jaws would be better but not everyone has this.
Piece of thin flexible rubbery substance helps to remove coil assembly from base. Jar lid remover type thing.
3 inch or so tweezers (medical supply stores have a suture removal kit with blunt tweezers and small scissors)
Make your coil replacement(s) They must be narrower than the cap.
Update 7 wraps of 32 gives upper range 2 ohms and fits better. If they come out higher, try less wraps.
8-9 wraps of 30 gauge. I use pieces of cotton ball twisted for wick. Feed through coil and pull with tweezers. Compress coils on wick. Trim wick to 5mm. (take a business card and mark 5mm from an edge. use that as a quick measure tool)
Update 4/7 Used a 5/64 drill with 30ga A1 with 7 wraps was real close to 2 ohms and fits in housing better. I then fire the coil without wick and compress with flat tip tweezers. This is easier on an RDA.
Screw the coil assembly in the base tight enough to hold it. Remove cap with pliers. Leveraging against base may help.
Remove coil assembly and remove the bottom pin. Remove rubber insulator.
If you drop it, good luck finding it. May be wise to do this over a cake pan or similar.
Use tweezers to remove old coils.
It is good time to remove housing liner and clean all the pieces. Don't drop the insulator or other parts down the drain.
After all has dried, place the liner inside the housing, lining up the long slots in both.
UpdatePlace the coil legs down the hole and squeeze the coil so that it fits inside the liner, in the bottom slot with the cotton sticking out of the slot. Leaving the coil on the drill without the wick helps. Wick added later.
Bend one leg over the outside to hold the coil in place.
Slide the insulator over the other leg and press into place.
Gently pull on the leg to see that the coil is still in the slot above.
Bend that leg over slightly. Press the pin in the insulator.
Trim the lead wires with nail clippers as close as possible to the housing. Make sure no wire is sticking out.
Update Place a twist of cotton on top in the upper slot and trim so that a couple of mm sticks out.
Place the cap on the housing lining up the holes on the side with the long slots on the housing. Make sure there is no wick between the edge of the cap and the housing. If so, trim the wick.
Screw the coil assembly on to your base. Carefully press the cap on with the vise or place the cap side down on a firm surface, push on the base end with a firm object until the cap clicks into place.
Remove the coil assembly and pull the contact pin out slightly, then screw back into the base.
You are done except for testing the resistance.
Priming the new coil seems to flood it. I suspect that removing the filler is part of this and the cap holes are no longer restricted by the filler.
Update Using the bottom slot with some cotton draped down in the area of the cap holes seems to help this.
Works well for me with 50/50 on 7-8 watts.
Update 4/13/14 Having read and learned more about coils and wicks, I have pretty much settled on the above. Loosely twisted cotton, that slightly bulges at the outer sides of the coil, just enough drape down the side to be visible in the cap holes but not get in the way of the cap. The original filler must be to slow the flow. Too little wick or no top wick, allows liquid to flow right through the bottom, too much makes a hard draw, poor vape and maybe burnt taste.
I now test each rebuild with plain VG in an ET to make sure the draw and vape production is good before I toss it in the storage bin.
Update 5/25/14
Vertical Coil Rebuild
I followed this pictorial on rebuilding Kanger coils with vertical coils and cotton wick.
Kanger ProTank/EVOD Vertical Coil - Imgur
I removed the filler between the cap and tube and also leave out the cloth inside the tube. I found that a 20 gauge syringe needle was too lose and a large paper clip leg was a bit better. I used 30ga kanthal with 12/11 wraps. Gave 1.9ohms. I bent the legs down for the hot leg and up for the ground. After packing the twisted cotton into the tube around the coil, I bent the ground leg over the outside of the tube and folded it back. I trimmed it below the top of the tube. Removed the paper clip and put on the cap.
First attempt did not have enough cotton and leaked out the bottom right away. Second attempt was better but gave a snotty nose snorting sound and soon leaked out the bottom. Either I still don't have enough cotton in there or the holes in the cap are too big.
Just not having any luck with these.
Update 6/23/14
Might have finally had some luck. Reading other people's posts I thought that smaller size might be the trick. Went with 1/16 drill. Starting using rayon for wick. Disassemble head, remove filler in cap and fiber filler inside housing. Using bottom slot, thread the rayon through and clip off leaving a small amount outside of housing. Put on the cap with holes lined up with wick so that wick appears in holes after assembly. Dripped some liquid down the top hole and it quickly ran out of the bottom. Decided not to do that any more.
So far good results. Rayon wicks very well. Use 1.5 times the amount you would use for cotton. I pull off about a pencil size strip.
