Currently making the same transition.. Ive researched quite a bit and want to make the jump to full mech
Excellent! Let me be the first to welcome you to the club ;-) So.... let's get started.
The first thing you need to learn is to rebuild attys. This is a pre-requisite for mechs. As I said, building coils in different resistances is the only practical control you have. (I'm on my tab, I can't link you. Search for it. Nothing here you can't buy on eBay.)
1)Go online and buy a cheap dripper clone. A Patriot will do, anything that can be built with dual coils (dualies can also be built as singles.) Try not to spend more than $15 or so. I broke a few posts and lost a number of screws myself while learning how. We'll worry about tanks later, if you want. Drippers have big decks and are easy to build. Besides, even if you don't like them, a dripper is easy to re-wick to test juice flavors and whatnot.
2) while online, you also need a short roll (25 feet is plenty to start, you're gonna use it 4-6 inches at a time) of 28 and 32 gague Kanthal A1 resistance wire. It's cheaper per foot in longer lengths, of course. $2-3 bucks a roll for the shortys.
3) you will also need a screw-in atomizer resistance meter, $10-15 online.
4) Off to the hardware store; 2 or 3 bucks for a 2, 2.5 or 3mm drill bit (5/64, 3/32, 7/64 inches) and 6 or 7 dollars for a small point screwdriver set. You need 0, 00 phillips and 1/16 slotted points, minimum. Tiny, in other words. You'll want a 3" pair of smooth-jaw pliers (like needle nose, but preferably wider points) and some wire cutters in the same size, 3 or 4 bucks each.
4a) an alternative is one of the "complete coil making kits" with all this stuff in it, $15-30 or so online.
4b) a pencil butane or larger propane torch is useful to anneal the wire. Not a requirement, but it makes life easier. Wire can be annealed on the gas stove in the kitchen for starters.
4c) I have found an assortment of tweezers useful from the hobby store, particularly a set with spatulate points and cross handles, the kind that open when you squeeze them and close when you let off. For contact coils, I put a twisted coil in them, let the tweezers squeeze the wire together, and use my pencil butane torch to anneal them in that position.
4d) if you are old and blind like me, but a gooseneck lamp with a magnifying glass. Get the best you can afford, it will quickly become your favorite light for everything.
5) to the drugstore for a $3 bag of organic cotton balls. Unroll one, divide it in half long ways, and that's your wick. If you don't have a good scissors, you need one.
While you are waiting for vape mail to bring your stuff, go online and watch several videos of coil builds. At first you're looking for general technique, not specific instructions. Hit the RBA boards here, look at the photos to getvan idea of what kinds of coils can be built and why people like them.
Go to ohmslawcalculator.com and check it out. You know your voltage, somewhere between 4.2 and 3.5. Resistance is the coil you build, read off the atty meter you bought. Play with that some. Input a resistance and change the voltage from 4.2 down to 3.5 by 1/10th steps. See what this does to watts and amps. Set 4.2 volts (full charge) and vary resistances by 1/10ths, see how that moves. Input 4.2 volts, and 80% of your battery's ampacity, and see how low a coil you can build and the watts it will provide.
Then build coils! Put the dripper on your regulated mod -- perfect if it also does VV mode, so you can simulate a full and partial discharge mech-- and vape it. See what you like. Subohm is not required at first, but it will be on a mech for more watts later. When you get ready, and you're confident, (and many more conversations, I'm sure) we'll go to mechs. For starters, buy a copper Nemesis clone and/or an authentic Smok Magneto (V 1, 2 or 3, all are good.) Buy at least 2 Sony VTC4 batteries-- get real ones, from orbtronic.com, rtdvapor.com or illum.com-- and a good charger, an Xtar or intellicore.
Keep in touch. I'm sure you're going to have fun.
