Alright, so, after talking on a thread to one of our members about Protank coils (specifically in relation to Nicoticket's juices, since they seem to prefer lower ohms, I set out to rebuild and lower the ohms on my Aerotank coils, using Cotton and Microcoils.... (I know for a lot of you, rebuilding PT heads is old schools, so you might want to skip down to part three to get to the issue where I take care of the "extra space in the PT3 head)
First things first, Tools: Tweezers, 18gauge blunt syringe, 28ga A-1 Kanthal, Butane torch (or lighter works as well), Needle-nose pliers (not necessary, but they help in a few steps)... oh, and a disassembled PT3 head
Next, after you've gotten all this ready, you want to take your strand of Kanthal (in this case, 28ga) and anneal it with the torch/ lighter (heat it till it glows, basically) to take out the springyness in the wire.
Using the 18ga needle, I proceeded to wrap and 13/12 wrap as close together as possible, then using the pliers, pulled on the leg I started the wrap from, removing two wraps (this helps to tighten the overall coil (thanks Vapdivvr for that little trick!), giving me a 11/10 wrap:
Slip this off the needle and using a pair of tweezers held the coil in them and torched the coil until it glowed, gave it a good squeeze to tighten it all up, torched again, squeezed again.
(you do NOT want solid metal Tweezers here, try to find some with some manner of insulation, or to hold them too close to the tips!!!):
Notice how much tighter and close the wraps are now?
Slip the coil BACK onto the needle, and position it in the well of the PT3 assembly, leading the coil legs down and out of the assembly. Once the legs are through, bend one up and against the head assembly. This will be your ground wire. Insert the Silicone grommet back into the well, leaving the ground on the outside of the grommet, then bend the other lead up and away from the silicone grommet, finally inserting the positive pin. (continued in next post....)
First things first, Tools: Tweezers, 18gauge blunt syringe, 28ga A-1 Kanthal, Butane torch (or lighter works as well), Needle-nose pliers (not necessary, but they help in a few steps)... oh, and a disassembled PT3 head
Next, after you've gotten all this ready, you want to take your strand of Kanthal (in this case, 28ga) and anneal it with the torch/ lighter (heat it till it glows, basically) to take out the springyness in the wire.
Using the 18ga needle, I proceeded to wrap and 13/12 wrap as close together as possible, then using the pliers, pulled on the leg I started the wrap from, removing two wraps (this helps to tighten the overall coil (thanks Vapdivvr for that little trick!), giving me a 11/10 wrap:
Slip this off the needle and using a pair of tweezers held the coil in them and torched the coil until it glowed, gave it a good squeeze to tighten it all up, torched again, squeezed again.
(you do NOT want solid metal Tweezers here, try to find some with some manner of insulation, or to hold them too close to the tips!!!):
Notice how much tighter and close the wraps are now?
Slip the coil BACK onto the needle, and position it in the well of the PT3 assembly, leading the coil legs down and out of the assembly. Once the legs are through, bend one up and against the head assembly. This will be your ground wire. Insert the Silicone grommet back into the well, leaving the ground on the outside of the grommet, then bend the other lead up and away from the silicone grommet, finally inserting the positive pin. (continued in next post....)
