If you have read this far without snoozing, you are probably anxious for some action, romance, intrigue, sex, mayhem, or at least a plot line. Boy meets coil, coil gets hot, wick pulling, clouds of tasty vapor, and they all lived happily ever after sorts of things, right?
OK, but first we have to introduce the characters:
Ego one Mega VT (my first love of the summer of '16), Tron-s, the Vincent Price of the family,
little siblings XL and Mini, and their fancy new relatives, the stylish Mega V 2 and 2.0 ml.
In case you are wondering, Tron-t will not make an appearance here, as he is keeping a low profile somewhere in the Aleutians until the scandal blows over.
The entire family come equipped with no coil at all, or one of those floods waiting to happen, the CL guys. (You can get a decent vape from a CL coil for a few hours, before it asserts its constitutional right to make you miserable.)
Speaking of the CL coils, they have value as a source of spare parts. Don't throw them away.
You may eventually find use for the o-rings, and especially the insulators and bottom pins.
Let us now make the acquaintance of a CLR coil head, and look closely at each of its parts.
The top cap, somewhat like duct tape, holds the world together. You can install a coil without it, as I have once or twice, if you dislike a good seal between the coil head and chimney, and enjoy finding e-juice oozing from the afc (air flow control) slots onto your mod and fingers. It has an o-ring. Leave that alone please, or the o-ring police will give you a talking-to. Though it looks like a singe threaded nut, it has two pieces. Squint at the inside from the bottom.
There is a lock washer thingamajig. I suppose this is intended to keep the cap on the threaded body, but it only does that if you tighten the cap really well. Prof. Cheech is known to remove the lock washers, making extra room for runic inscriptions? You may tighten the top cap firmly without the lock washer in place.
Dear Readers- this is a draft. It's a work in progress, not finished and polished. Below are some of the topics to be addressed in the coming days. Let me know what I've left out, please.
list, and then discuss each of the many variables we have wrestled with:
In random order-
1. Coil position: high, near top cap, medium---centered in slot, or low rider
2. SS alloys, pros and cons of each
3. wire gauge
4. wire sources?
5. wicking material, sources
6. wicking techniques (by Dr. Cheech)
7. Wick volume, main
8. flavor wick do's and don'ts
9. How many wraps?
10. touching, spacing wraps
11. Single annealing, double annealing, or none at all
12. wire cleaning?
13. Ohms targets, wraps needed
14. Mandrels, spindles, drill bits, screwdrivers, rods, etc.
15. Installation techniques, leg trimming
16- tools
17. Things to avoid.
Top cap, lock washer, O-ring. We haven't talked about the o-ring yet, have we? It has three
purposes:
1) forms a seal with the coil assembly and the chimney in the tank;
2) identifies the original stock coil as having kanthal (black), titanium (red), or nickel (blue)
wire. We ignore this color scheme soon enough, as we are prone to yank the entrails out of the stock coils and replace the wire and wick with better materials.
3) Adds visual interest to an otherwise boring mass of stainless steel and steel coated brass.
We have now arrived at the coil body. It is fairly rugged. It has two long juice slots. It does not like opera, but enjoys classical music, jazz, and some folk music. If anyone woukd like to contribute further information about the coil body, please do so.
Now down we go to the interesting stuff, the insulator and the bottom pin. To re-wick and/or install a new coil, we have to get the old stuff out first. Do the following please:
1) Use long nose pliers to pull the bottom pin out. Place it in a cup or tray. If left on a flat surface it will try to roll off onto the floor, forcing you into a vulnerable, and even comical posture as you hunt for it.
No, Dear, I am not presenting my posterior as a target for dive-bombing crows. I am seeking a
wayward coil bottom pin, somewhat akin to a .... plug for vaporizing gear. Must you smirk and chortle? This is serious!
2) You may now use the same tool to remove the insulator.
OK, but first we have to introduce the characters:
Ego one Mega VT (my first love of the summer of '16), Tron-s, the Vincent Price of the family,
little siblings XL and Mini, and their fancy new relatives, the stylish Mega V 2 and 2.0 ml.
In case you are wondering, Tron-t will not make an appearance here, as he is keeping a low profile somewhere in the Aleutians until the scandal blows over.
The entire family come equipped with no coil at all, or one of those floods waiting to happen, the CL guys. (You can get a decent vape from a CL coil for a few hours, before it asserts its constitutional right to make you miserable.)
Speaking of the CL coils, they have value as a source of spare parts. Don't throw them away.
You may eventually find use for the o-rings, and especially the insulators and bottom pins.
Family portrait
Tron-s was in the ultra-sonic bath, and couldn't attend.
The Coils
photos coming soon*
* "soon" is an undefined weasel wordTron-s was in the ultra-sonic bath, and couldn't attend.
The Coils
photos coming soon*
Let us now make the acquaintance of a CLR coil head, and look closely at each of its parts.
The top cap, somewhat like duct tape, holds the world together. You can install a coil without it, as I have once or twice, if you dislike a good seal between the coil head and chimney, and enjoy finding e-juice oozing from the afc (air flow control) slots onto your mod and fingers. It has an o-ring. Leave that alone please, or the o-ring police will give you a talking-to. Though it looks like a singe threaded nut, it has two pieces. Squint at the inside from the bottom.
There is a lock washer thingamajig. I suppose this is intended to keep the cap on the threaded body, but it only does that if you tighten the cap really well. Prof. Cheech is known to remove the lock washers, making extra room for runic inscriptions? You may tighten the top cap firmly without the lock washer in place.
Dear Readers- this is a draft. It's a work in progress, not finished and polished. Below are some of the topics to be addressed in the coming days. Let me know what I've left out, please.
list, and then discuss each of the many variables we have wrestled with:
In random order-
1. Coil position: high, near top cap, medium---centered in slot, or low rider
2. SS alloys, pros and cons of each
3. wire gauge
4. wire sources?
5. wicking material, sources
6. wicking techniques (by Dr. Cheech)
7. Wick volume, main
8. flavor wick do's and don'ts
9. How many wraps?
10. touching, spacing wraps
11. Single annealing, double annealing, or none at all
12. wire cleaning?
13. Ohms targets, wraps needed
14. Mandrels, spindles, drill bits, screwdrivers, rods, etc.
15. Installation techniques, leg trimming
16- tools
17. Things to avoid.
Top cap, lock washer, O-ring. We haven't talked about the o-ring yet, have we? It has three
purposes:
1) forms a seal with the coil assembly and the chimney in the tank;
2) identifies the original stock coil as having kanthal (black), titanium (red), or nickel (blue)
wire. We ignore this color scheme soon enough, as we are prone to yank the entrails out of the stock coils and replace the wire and wick with better materials.
3) Adds visual interest to an otherwise boring mass of stainless steel and steel coated brass.
We have now arrived at the coil body. It is fairly rugged. It has two long juice slots. It does not like opera, but enjoys classical music, jazz, and some folk music. If anyone woukd like to contribute further information about the coil body, please do so.
Now down we go to the interesting stuff, the insulator and the bottom pin. To re-wick and/or install a new coil, we have to get the old stuff out first. Do the following please:
1) Use long nose pliers to pull the bottom pin out. Place it in a cup or tray. If left on a flat surface it will try to roll off onto the floor, forcing you into a vulnerable, and even comical posture as you hunt for it.
No, Dear, I am not presenting my posterior as a target for dive-bombing crows. I am seeking a
wayward coil bottom pin, somewhat akin to a .... plug for vaporizing gear. Must you smirk and chortle? This is serious!
2) You may now use the same tool to remove the insulator.
